Fall League Review: Park Center vs Eastview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Park Center is a title contender, Eastview is going through change but has a star. They met recently in a Breakdown Fall League game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One</strong>. <em>[player_tooltip player_id='1549538' first='Jackson' last='Fowlkes']</em>. I've been high on [player_tooltip player_id='1549538' first='Jackson' last='Fowlkes'] potential and this video really helped show the range of his ability. You saw Fowlkes catch and hit with his feet (something that he will often get a chance to do with this team), you saw Jackson slash to the rim to score, and you saw multiple samples of the dribble separation into a score. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two</strong>. <em>New Eastview</em>. Who were some of those brand new varsity players on the floor for the Lightning making an impact? The 6'5 guard is [player_tooltip player_id='1549739' first='Kamryn' last='Mestas']. He's an agile playmaker that moved back to the Twin Cities from Iowa. He was one player with the skill and agility to get around a team like Park Center. The 6'6 face-up player that made three jumpers is [player_tooltip player_id='1575346' first='Jack' last='Frigstad']. Junior shooter [player_tooltip player_id='2405383' first='Derek' last='Thissen'] has had a good fall league, he's the corner shooter wearing number five and junior guard Abdul Abdulqadir was the guard wearing one that got some penetration for scores. The big doing things in the paint was senior [player_tooltip player_id='1798919' first='Nolan' last='Segner'] who will play at Dakota State next season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three</strong>. <em>My Intro to [player_tooltip player_id='1452542' first='Ari' last='Gooch']</em>. Ari is a senior high flying wing that flies up the floor and can lift into finishes. He returns to Minnesota from the east coast seemingly a much different player that has physically matured. The five second half buckets shown here from Gooch included two corner threes and three transition floor runs. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four</strong>. <em>Tough Spot Handled Well.</em> Colorado State signed [player_tooltip player_id='1287440' first='Jonathan' last='Mekonnen'] is a top ten kid in the state and nationally ranked top 300 talent. With that comes the expectations that an automatic 20 should come, and that automatic 20 is never expected as a sophomore or junior when less known, people just talk about how good you can be. But once you sign the heavy and often unrealistic expectations come. Mekonnen is out here against a high flying Park Center team that has the best shot blocker in the state and he's a forward playing with a new line-up. I thought, and heard, that Mekonnen handled this situation with positive results, a solid game, and a matured leadership approach. The buckets on the film around the basket are what we come to expect from him. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five</strong>. <em>Park Center Depth</em>. I don't want to scare the state of Minnesota but Park Center is as deep as they have been and they are going to come at you in waves again. [player_tooltip player_id='1172835' first='Casmir' last='Chavis'] is the ultimate athletic mismatch with his shift, burst, and strength and how he has Gooch running on one side, Fowlkes on the other, [player_tooltip player_id='2361368' first='Aiden' last='Memene'] to handle when he runs, and the ultimate lob finisher in [player_tooltip player_id='1284106' first='Chiang' last='Ring']. Not to mention [player_tooltip player_id='1574214' first='Temi' last='Omotoyinbo'], [player_tooltip player_id='1560839' first='Xavier' last='Frelix'], and I think another transfer from out east that are all depth as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I have Wayzata picked to repeat but the coaches of Minnesota AAAA basketball voted Park Center to win state this year with 57 percent of the vote to 30 percent, and the players had Park Center picked to vote with 35 percent (40 percent of the kids picked their own team no matter how realistic or unrealistic). This was in the Breakdown preseason poll. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neuZhssnyYs","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neuZhssnyYs </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->