Saturday Notebook: The Last Dance

<h2>Wisconsin Crusaders 15U Feature Plenty of Prospects</h2>   <p><strong>AURORA, Ill. -- </strong>News and notes from Saturday’s action from Prep Hoops The Last Dance...</p>   <p>You’re not gonna see college coaches at many 15U games, but the Wisconsin Crusaders have a handful of quality prospects. Haven’t seen this group since they beat Wisconsin Playground Club at the Rock Spring Classic and they were every bit as good on Saturday.</p>   <p>Led by point guard [player_tooltip player_id=’1418511’ first=’Drew’ last=’Daoust’] (Southern Door), the Crusaders are a fairly deep unit. Daoust is a super skilled point guard with some scary good shot-creating ability. A high-IQ floor general and playmaker, Daoust could not be contained by EG10. He’s the type of prospect you want running the show, able to take over as a scorer and facilitator. </p>    <p>[player_tooltip player_id=’1289073’ first=’Keegan’ last=’Van Kauwenberg’] (Kaukauna) is another player to know. He’s listed at 6-foot-2, but has some added length. A sniper, Vankauwenberg has a smooth, effortless stroke from downtown. He uses that length defensively to get his hands on the basketball and showed off some bounce in the open floor. </p>   <p>[player_tooltip player_id=’1432910’ first=’Oskar’ last=’Kangas’] (Iron Mountain, Mich.), Nolan Jakubek (Little Chute), Carter Koch (Oconto), and Morgan Sleik (Kingsford) also impressed in Saturday’s win.</p>   <h2>Sleeper Watch</h2>   <p>Among the sleeper prospects who attracted our attention on Saturday, [player_tooltip player_id=’1522427’ first=’Kaine’ last=’Fort’] (Peshtigo) had a nice outing against Canada Elite. The 6-foot-9 senior displayed good hands to be able to catch the ball in traffic and powered home some tough finishes against contact. Fort averaged 11 points and eight rebounds per game last season while shooting 68 percent from the field. UW-Green Bay head coach Will Ryan plus an assistant were in attendance. Fort listed St. Norbert’s and Concordia (WI) as schools currently expressing interest.</p>   <p>Another name that jumped out Saturday was [player_tooltip player_id=’1139019’ first=’Cole’ last=’Uhlenbrauck’] (Saint Mary Catholic). The senior wing has a clean stroke and shot it well from distance during a blowout win over North Florida Elite. Uhlenbrauck has good positional size at 6-foot-4 and appeared comfortable defending multiple positions.</p>   <p>A potential steal at the Division 3 level as well is [player_tooltip player_id=’1257744’ first=’Hunter’ last=’Thiel’] (Little Chute). An intriguing athlete, Thiel had 18 points in a win over Minnesota Heat. Thiel is a big (6-5), strong, and bouncy prospect that impacts the game in a variety of ways. He had some acrobatic finishes at the rim in traffic and also passes the ball really well for his position, finding cutters or scooping the ball through the paint. Seemed very active and opportunistic defensively, not stuck to his man and always available to help out with a weak-side block/contest.</p>   <h2>Lawton Ready to Blow Up</h2>   <p>[player_tooltip player_id=’1043749’ first=’Emmett’ last=’Lawton’] (Notre Dame) might be the fastest rising prospect in the 2023 class. Putting together a monster July, Lawton put up 24 points, including 18 in the second half as Team 1848 held off WOTN.</p>   <p>Playing in front of about 20 college coaches, Lawton was simply fantastic. He scored the ball so efficiently from both 3-point and mid-range and did so against two pretty good defenders as well. One of the best shooters in the state with a hand in his face, Lawton is just unfazed by good, even great defense.</p>    <p>Saw some glimpses of this about a year ago in Las Vegas. Lawton has obviously put in a ton of time and effort into his craft since. He’s worthy of being a scholarship player at the next level.</p>   <p>While Lawton was fantastic, also credit 2023 guard [player_tooltip player_id=’1176560’ first=’Hogan’ last=’Demovsky’] (De Pere). Team 1848 got off to a rough start in the first half, but pulled ahead before the break. Without a nice spurt from Demovsky, who scored eight points in the opening period, and some timely defensive plays, not sure where Team 1848 would have been in that game.</p>   <p>A player that’s paid his dues in the program, Demovsky is a breath of fresh air from all the turnover in AAU basketball. Demovsky has been behind some talented guards. I’ve been to games where he plays very sparingly, if at all over the last two years. Yet, here is showing up with the same group again and has not only worked his way into the rotation and as an occasional starter, but getting crunch time opportunities as well. </p>   <p>Playing his best ball right now, Demovsky has defended at a high level this summer and often sparked his teams with perhaps unexpected offense at times.</p>   <h2>Young, Allen Lead ABC Young Lions to a Pair of Victories</h2>   <p>Capping off their AAU careers together, the Wisconsin Lutheran duo of [player_tooltip player_id=’1012675’ first=’Jamiir’ last=’Allen’] and [player_tooltip player_id=’951467’ first=’Prentice’ last=’Young’] were impressive in a pair of wins Saturday.</p>   <p>Young just stuffed the stat box. In the opener, he did a little bit of everything, recording 10 points, five steals, and four assists. If you play with the ball in front of young, be prepared to lose it. Didn’t see a better defender than Young all weekend. With those long arms and anticipation skills, Young just has a knack for getting his hands on the basketball and turning defense into offense.</p>    <p>Allen was electrifying as a scorer, posting two big efforts. Not gonna wow you with size or athleticism, but Allen knows how to create. He’s so good with the ball in his hands and you never know what’s coming. Allen is gonna throw head fakes, hesitation, change of speed, change of direction at you -- sometimes all in one possession. </p>   <p>But he’s efficient with it too. It’s not an and-one mix tape tour out here. Allen dribbles with a purpose and isn’t overly fancy with the ball. 1-on-1 on an island, there aren’t many more difficult players to stop in this state...if any.</p>