Breakdown Summer State: Class AA Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Who stood out for Breck and others at the Breakdown Summer State Tournament? Here's the names that deserve your attention!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1287442' first='Kole' last='Hanson'] of Holy Family (6'1 2024 PG). The recently committed Duluth guard has a much different team around him at Holy Family this year, one that is going to require him to score even more. And remember, Kole scored nearly 22 points a game last season! Hanson attacked Breck and others downhill all weekend and his final performance was a 30 point total making 9 of 18 shots including three threes, and nine of ten free throws. Hanson did his best to keep the ball moving and get others involved but most of the new Fire line-up isn't quite ready when it comes to confidence in being a consistent offensive factor. So Hanson mixed that effort with his own offense leading to a second place finish. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284180' first='Luke' last='Graff'] of Holy Family (6'2 2024 SG). Hanson has a really nice running mate in [player_tooltip player_id='1284180' first='Luke' last='Graff'] who played together for D1 Minnesota in years past. Graff is a shooter that is quality when his feet are set and he can catch and hit, but we've seen him do more than that with the Comets this 17u season and we saw Luke use the one dribble pull-up, we saw Luke do more around the basket to finish, and we saw Luke go at his man to get to the foul line more than we have seen in the past. Scored 16 points in the title game with six boards and four assists. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hanif Muhammed of Breck (6'0 2024 PG). The 2023 spring/summer of Hanif continues as his teams continue to win, win win, and win more. Watching his team win the AA championship game with Hanif scoring 19 I thought about how relentless he is both ways. Every time his man tried to score he had to do it over the top of Hanif, and it was draining for the other man. Every time Hanif attacked in the halfcourt or pushed pace, he did it going straight at his guy and as the game wore, those angles became easier to get to. Hanif Muhammed is relentless and it's led to constant wins. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574225' first='Miles' last='Newton'] of Breck (6'3 2025 Forward). The word combo I would choose for Newton based on what I saw last weekend was versatile and consistent. Miles is a forward that consistently produced in some way every possession. Breck is a team that shares the basketball and Newton was a big part of that with his six assists. For the Mustangs they dominated opponents on the glass and Newton was a big part of that grabbing eight in the title game. And he scored his points in active ways - cuts, putbacks, floor runs, etc - which led to him being a top three scorer on his team each game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284149' first='Jaden' last='Shones'] of Lake City (6'1 2025 Guard). If there was ever a guy that players hated getting back on defense and seeing with the ball coming at them yet again it's Shones. He is one of these "you better take a charge or I'm going to get attempts at the rim" kind of guys who does not give you the vacation of taking a long pull-up. Shones is a constant and he does it perfectly within the chemistry of his fellow Lake City 2024 teammates.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560856' first='Carter' last='Steinbeck'] of Breck (6'6 2025 Big). Carter provided something that every team Breck faced this weekend did not have, size. Size to grab a game high total in boards (eight in the title game). The size to have a long body in the paint that made finishing around the basket tough. And size to finish the few shot attempts that came his way including the nine points in the final contest. Carter played a role competing in about half of the minutes of each game and I thought he played that role well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->