The Last Dance: Spartan Tough/Lightning Strikes!

Today we give you the top stories, the top few performers, and the best of the best from a great day of basketball, at The Last Dance!     <h2>Elite 16s: Minnesota Spartans 63 Iowa Barnstormers 58</h2>   One of the best games of the day saw the Minnesota Spartans knock off the Iowa Barnstormers in a fantastic contest. Injuries happened: [player_tooltip player_id=’1434057’ first=’Caleb’ last=’Shoenrock’] bounced his head off the floor, Demari Larkins hurt his wrist badly, and [player_tooltip player_id=’1171682’ first=’Caden’ last=’Wilkins’] left the game late because of an ankle problem. None of them returned. That left [player_tooltip player_id=’1284157’ first=’Jerome’ last=’Williams Jr’] to take the game over late with a pull-up jumper, an attack finish, and the game clinching assist to one of the best 2025 big men prospects in the country, [player_tooltip player_id=’1381402’ first=’Emiliano’ last=’Barrantes’]. Barrantes - from the Des Moines area after moving to Iowa from Mexico - hit a smoother 16 footer to earn the win.   Barrantes is a true 6’9, maybe 6’10. He might be one of the few bigs that’s actually listed at their real height these days. Barrantes has a really nice touch but more importantly he runs well and really gives great effort which is rare for young bigs at his size. Emiliano had ten points (5 of 6 shooting) and nine boards teaming with one of the best 2024 bigs in Minnesota, [player_tooltip player_id=’1284106’ first=’Chiang’ last=’Ring’]. Ring is an elite shot blocker (had three of them in this game) plus Chiang knocked out 8 of 10 foul shots.   The edge that Jerome Williams provided was his quickness. Jerome is not only quick physically, he’s comfortable with the basketball at an elite level so he’s ultra quick with it. Players can defend him for solid parts of the game in maybe a 50-50 way but eventually, they tire. And when you tire, Williams is as quick as when the game starts and he picks you apart. That happened against the Barnstormers when we saw the late jumper make, the late attack score, and the late creation for the game winning jumper. Larkins was outstanding scoring 13 on eight shots before hurting his wrist, the Spartans don’t get this win without his play in the meat of the game.   [player_tooltip player_id=’1171682’ first=’Caden’ last=’Wilkins’] scored a game high 20 points and he is every bit as good as advertised. There is a reason that Fran McCaffery has eyes on him. Wilkins - a 6’6 wing - has some of the best footwork you will ever see. Footwork in the post, footwork moving off the ball, and footwork with his dribble separation move, Caden is among the best. He’s also fairly long, has a really nice shooting touch at the arc and off the bounce, and a strong kid that took contact and stayed on balance. There is some burst to this young man as well. A prospect to really keep eyes on.   What’s even more exciting is that this 16u division also has a very high level of talent from Basketball Paradise and Midwest Basketball Club’s 15u team that has the size of a 17u team and more guys with D1 offers than many of the 17u teams!     <h2>Minnesota Lightning - The Team Game</h2>   The Lightning faced one of the better 16u teams out there in the Stars Basketball Club out of Nashville and earned a 83-71 win. How did it happen? Team basketball. Elite team basketball. The ball movement from this club is a team effort and has two really strong main reasons: 1) [player_tooltip player_id=’962224’ first=’Will’ last=’Opsahl’] is the main ball handler and top of the key decision maker and as an elite pass first player, he puts the ball where it needs to be, and 2) if you have seen Plainview/Elgin-Millville play you know they execute teams to doom and with [player_tooltip player_id=’1492565’ first=’Kaiden’ last=’Peters’] and [player_tooltip player_id=’1339196’ first=’Aeron’ last=’Stevens’] bringing that to this team, you see that combination game after game along with finding their other teammates.   [player_tooltip player_id=’1492565’ first=’Kaiden’ last=’Peters’] shocked some people with his drop step two hand dunk in the halfcourt set but if you have seen Kaiden on the court or on the football field, it was not a surprise to you. This young talent has a lot of athletic ability. Peters used that athletic ability to constantly be on the move to the rim for the Lightning scoring 22 points on 10 of 11 shooting! High school and Lightning teammate [player_tooltip player_id=’1339196’ first=’Aeron’ last=’Stevens’] had 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting including yet another outstanding, physical dunk that rocked the rim and had college coaches talking. Stevens is certainly a top D2 prospect but the way he is getting up and finishing, you have to wonder if Army, Navy, Air Force, Cornell, or whomever else has watched them play several times thinks maybe he is for them.   It was also a great game for [player_tooltip player_id=’962256’ first=’Buay’ last=’Koak’], maybe the best game I have seen Buak play this summer. His attack game was on, Buay’s one dribble pull-up was finished three times, and Koak got into that ball movement team game with finishes at the cup as well. Scored 16 while Opsahl stuffed the stat sheet again: 12 points including two great looking threes, five boards, and six assists. Will won’t be called a shooter because he is a pass first team player and doesn’t shoot many jumpers, but when his feet are under him and he is comfortable, that stroke looks as good as any.     <h2>Massai Graham - The Modern Explosive Forward</h2>   Massai Graham is a 6’7 explosive forward out of Buffalo that plays with NEBC. When I watched Graham he limited a bigger four man to five baskets while putting 23 points and 14 boards in the book for an 81-56 victory. Graham at one point attacked the cup and threw down a windmill dunk in the halfcourt set back across his body while leaning left. He then went back the other way telling his man about it, and getting a stop.   Physically Graham is ready. He is 6’7 and built like a future NFL defensive end. Getting up the floor is like an impressive 40 time for a big man. And bouncing off the floor with power Massai ripped boards off the rim before others could even react. In fact most just gave up knowing that the board was Massai’s. That’s how you pull down 14 rebounds to go with the 23 points most of which were in the paint. Graham was so good he had a group of Minnesota kids sitting in the stands watching and cheering for him.

Today we give you the top stories, the top few performers, and the best of the best from a great day of basketball, at The Last Dance!