Wisconsin State Tournament: Under the Radar '25s & '27s

Before diving in, I implore the coaches/team managers reading this to fill out your rosters completely and accurately. I could not attend, so I streamed the tournament and there are four more players who would have been covered by me, had I known who they were. There was not good online contact or roster information for the teams online either. I know scouts on-site had the same issue and even in-person it can be hard to track down players.   With that said, I do have three 2025 and three 2027 prospects to share with you, that I feel may be flying under the radar. I didn't use 17u and 15u, because one of the 2027s is playing 17u. Curious to find out who that is and learn more about the six players I choose to cover? Well, then read on...    Berruecos, playing for Wisconsin Truth, was one of a handful of contributors on the team in the game I watched. He stood out, though, as a multi-dimensional player who puts all of his 5'10" stature to use on the court. He helped the team get in rhythm early with a deep three, then proceeded to drive, dish, rebound, hit free throws, and splash more threes. Sam is a very good ball handler and is slippery when taking it to the hoop, flashing a smooth left-hand scoop finish on one particular drive.     I am intrigued by [player_tooltip player_id='2397552' first='Collin' last='Nichols'] of Chippewa Valley Select 17u G&S. He looks to be around 6'4" and needs to add strength and mass if he is to play inside, as he was. But something tells me he would look good playing more outside the paint. Perhaps it was situational, as he was the tallest player on the floor for CV Select, perhaps not. He does post up well and plays good position defense inside, putting his long arms to use. He also had a nice "and 1" through contact from the post as well. But at one point Collin received the ball in the corner, gave a little shimmy and took the baseline to finish over a smaller defender with ease. It looked natural. I'm going to check on him more in the coming weeks and months.     Wegner is a solidly built athlete who runs the floor well and had a nice put back on a fast break. He's a confident ball-handler who can bring it up and will use his good court vision to make passes many players would miss. He can also beat his defender off the dribble and will often kick it to the open shooter in the corner or find a teammate under the basket. He can score too, mostly off the drive, but also in the midrange and beyond the arc. He didn't shoot from deep often when I was watching but he can hit from that range. On one possession he went to his left and pulled up for a tasty 10-footer. Perhaps he was gassed, but I would have liked to see more on the glass and defensive end.     Backaus is the '27 playing on the 17u Foundation Athletics team. In fact, that team has several '26s on it as well. I watched him in a couple of games. He was solid in the first, but really stood out in the second. He pairs strong basketball instincts with hustle, which makes him effective in a number of ways. I saw him get on the floor after 50/50 balls, play aggressive defense both on and off the ball, and swipe steals in the process. Offensively, he can score at all levels and will come off screens tightly to ensure he has an unabated path to the hoop on the curl cut. Backaus is also a crafty interior passer and if picked up on the drive by the help defender, he'll make the dump pass to the open player. And again, he could be playing in 15u.     Jonah is a scorer; inside, outside, run-out, BLOB, finish through contact, scoop shot, deep threes, leak-out, you name it. What I liked was that he would adjust based on what the defense was giving him and how he was shooting. In the game I saw, he scored the first six points for [program_tooltip program_id='2413917' first='Wisconsin' last='Swish'] off deep triples. He then shot a few more and seemed to go cold. He adjusted and began to drive, using creativity to take the defender off the dribble. One move I liked in particular was a smooth delayed cross-over, on which the defender took the bait to the Cannizzo's right as Jonah went left and took the lane for the finish. He also showed good effort on loose balls and defensively.     An almost double-double for Pausch had me watching intently as the final second clicked off the clock of [program_tooltip program_id='2413917' first='Wisconsin' last='Swish']'s Sunday morning game. At 6'2" he didn't dominate the boards due to size, but it was the fact that he was always in good position and was aggressive to the ball that made the difference. Offensively he ran point regularly and on defense typically defended a wing, so it's not as though he was camped in the post either. He can knock down the three, can drive and score and will also turn his offensive boards into put backs or layups to secure double digit scoring. As with his teammate Cannizzo, he worked hard on the defensive end and got after loose balls.

Before diving in, I implore the coaches/team managers reading this to fill out your rosters completely and accurately. I could not attend, so I streamed the tournament and there are four more players who would have been covered by me, had I known who they were. There was not good online contact or roster information for the teams online either. I know scouts on-site had the same issue and even in-person it can be hard to track down players.

Marian (WI)