Freshman Showcase: The Top Prospects

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Who were the players that I saw this weekend at the Minnesota Freshmen Showcase who I think will be top prospects? I give you my list now. Remember, this is NOT the top performers as some of the top performers may not be the top college prospects or top high school prospects going forward. This is top prospects!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560835' first='Tian' last='Chatman'] of Totino-Grace. The first thing the 6'3 guard did that caught my eye was his ability to use either hand to attack, and use either hand to finish on the way to the rim. Tian - brother of Tommy Chatman and [player_tooltip player_id='962198' first='Taison' last='Chatman'] - has that same ability to get middle and find the extra step to get a rim angle, or pull up and hit using the touch and length. A confident handle and a nice touch. Love how he used his length to contest/block on defense, his transition push was a 90+ percent success rate, and that ability to find the angle/window to score was constant. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560740' first='Dothan' last='Ijadimbola'] of Totino-Grace. At 6'5 Dothan is physically ahead a lot of the talent on the floor right now at his age and with his ability to handle the ball, and with the intensity that Dothan has brought often times, he's at a real advantage over many others his age. Love his handle and ability to finish at the rim and he caught me off guard once with how quickly he got up with a couple steps to the rim for a heavy finish. Physically ahead of people already but also skilled and played hard. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560744' first='Evan' last='Miller'] of Schaeffer Academy. Evan is a 6'3 guard from a small school in Rochester but there was nothing small about his production. He played hard and was constantly productive. After seeing him play one game I decided to chart his next game and I saw him score 31 points with 11 boards and 4 assists on 12 of 17 shot attempts and about 10 of those shots were active buckets. Love his touch and the constant movement he plays with. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560864' first='JP' last='Musoke'] of Breck. You will see a theme in this article and it's about good sized, agile prospects who produced because they were also putting in more effort than several others. When I saw Musoke in the second half of a game he had six baskets in ten minutes (total) simply hard charging from the wing, from the elbow, or in transition beating the defenses to spots to finish. At 6'4 and with a year of varsity to him already Musoke will be one of the more productive 2026 players. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560749' first='Colin' last='Piper'] of White Bear Lake. There is a lot to like about Piper's future. He is 6'5/6'6, has wide shoulders, moves well up and down the floor and sat deep in a stance defending on the perimeter. Colin finished well around the basket with a nice touch and seemed comfortable facing up or back to the basket. With a couple more inches of growth we are looking at the modern day versatile four man. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kenny Turner of St. Paul Johnson. Turned might be the most interesting of all the prospects I watched this weekend. He's 6'7 or 6'8 with great hands and feet in a large frame. Impossible to move on the block and when he turned his shoulders he was always on balance to finish. Does not have heavy legs either. The question will be, does his frame fill out to be more like a great offensive tackle at 6'7 OR will he grow a couple more inches and be a basketball low post big? Time will tell, and a bright future is ahead. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560867' first='Christian' last='Wiggins'] of BSM. The toolbox is big here. Wiggins looks to be one of the best shooters in his class but the length and size are there for him to slash and score too and we saw that as well. If he can grow from 6'2 to about 6'4 and the skills continue to move with Wiggins, we are talking about a very high ceiling. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560851' first='Hamze' last='Yusuf'] of Eden Prairie. At about 6'2 I thought was the best full court pressure pushing guard in the building in terms of beating the defenses back the other way. If you didn't turn and spring, Hamze had you. And he was one guard that made sure to make the right play, not just scoring his way, but making the right read for his team to complete. Really impressed with how hard he competed. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->