Midwest Showdown – Underclassmen That Piqued My Interest

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Midwest Showdown in Appleton did not disappoint this place weekend. It had good mixture of teams from Minesota and then of course Wisconsin. Taking in several underclassmen games on Saturday morning the below list is just the start of the young prospects that impressed. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2440788' first='Eli' last='Wintheiser'] | 6'0" | G | Pro Lane | Lake Country Lutheran HS</strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An active prospect that doesn't wait for the ball to come to him. Because he is moving through the offense, running the floor, or driving hard to the hoop he puts himself in a place to get opportunities. While I was watching he had a very tough finish in transition where he was sprinting towards the hoop, had to catch the ball at the last second, control it through the bucket all the while defenders on him. Almost the next time down he used quickness on a drive to get around the defender, help defense crash to him, and he freely kicked to the corner, for his teammate to hit the jumper. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2440785' first='Dane' last='Peters'] | 6'2" | W | Pro Lane | Kettle Moraine HS </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When sitting there watching the contest I did not get to see too many opportunities for Dane but at least two things jumped out quickly to me. He was going hard to the hoop on the left side. Going up for a normal left-handed layup when he must have felt some pressure come and easily switch hands for the finish. There was no bringing the ball down or pump faking, it was just very fluid and smooth. A few trips up and down the court later he had his defender on his back in the post. Displaying solid footwork, the tried and true up and under was a good move to finish </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Dane Miller | 6'0" | G | North Star Titans | Maple Grove MN </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This prospect was always around the ball and like his teammates I felt played a solid brand of basketball. He was active and was trying to impact the game in multiple ways areas. He had a tough drive in transition coming down the left side where he correctly chose to finish off of two field. If he doesn't finish that way, he most likely misses the shot or gets fouled. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Michael Fields | 5'10" | G | North Star Titans | Andover MN </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I like what I saw from this young prospect in the Titans' game against a [program_tooltip program_id='2141788' first='Mad' last='City Mambas'] club. He carried himself well, had the confidence to take some shots. Got to love that attitude as long as the shot selection is good, and Fields chose well on the contest. Thought that he and his teammate in the back court of the Titans played well off of each other. They actively worked the angles and looked for each other open. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Timmothy West 5'11" | G | Power 5 | Madison Edgewood </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This spring and as well as this event is some of the best ball I have seen from this prospect. It looks like he has taken his next step of improvement since the school ball season ended. He was doing a bit of everything, the long-distance shots, the pull ups, finishing in traffic, and driving and dishing the rock were all things I wrote down in my notebook. Also, I usually don't concentrate on the numbers too much with prospects, but I did a bit with this one. It felt like he was making an impact across the stat sheet, and I was pleasantly surprised at his overall production for the weekend. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->