Minnesota Sophomore ID Camp: Top Five Headlines

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Minnesota Sophomore ID Camp was an eye opener. A large number of campers coming together to compete and we give you the big headlines from the day. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One</strong>. <strong>163 Kids</strong>! Our first Prep Hoops Fall Expo event was at the Colin Powell Center and I think it was in 2016. That event was solid with about 80 kids from all ages. Fast forward eight years and there were 212 freshmen last week and 163 sophomores yesterday! And it wasn't just randoms: the Sophomore Camp had stars, it had prospects we needed to see, and the event had some players that made a big name for themselves. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Kids That Compete</strong>. Sophomores are still very young players so there is still time for them to grow. But yesterday you could see the clear difference between players that know how to play, and those that don't. You could see guys that want to truly compete, and others that want to just show up and make some plays and get some headlines. We saw a top prospect in the state compete harder than every single kid in the gym, and we saw some other players that took this as a chance to run up and down the floor without passing the ball making the day miserable for their teammates as those teammates didn't get to touch the ball while losing games by double figures. We saw young up and coming players with size fight for every board and defensive stop they could get, and other top bigs who sometimes got in the paint but also floated too much instead of dominating the game with massive paint numbers. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Those kids that have learned to compete, they will make their high school teams better this year and college coaches will pursue them with strong effort in the near future. Those that don't will be wondering why they are getting sat down during games more than they think they should be sitting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. The Star of the Show.</strong> The best player at the Camp was [player_tooltip player_id='2126467' first='Baboucarr' last='Ann'] and it wasn't even close. The 6'5 long armed Maple Grove wing could have had a "you cant shoot the ball" limitation put on him and he still would have been the best player at the camp. His defense, leadership, hustle, rebounding, ball movement and intelligent play reminds of an Isaac Asuma type only as a wing. The guys on Ann's team loved playing with him because he made them better with his effort and energy. His ability to finish attacks and score a high percentage of shots from 15 feet and in surely made him the top scorer at the camp but Baboucarr was so much more than that. If [player_tooltip player_id='2126094' first='Ty' last='Schlagel'] wasn't out here on an accepting offers tour in the Upper Midwest I would call Baboucarr the top guy to offer in the class. If schools get out and see Baboucarr soon they will be talking about him in their coaches meetings immediately. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Working Their Way Into our Heads</strong>. There were a load of players I learned about yesterday because their efforts forced their way onto these pages. Guards [player_tooltip player_id='1956268' first='Shay' last='Jackson'] of Totino-Grace and [player_tooltip player_id='2569231' first='Chaz' last='Clark'] used their speed and willingness to pressure to make an impact. BSM guards Connor Watts and [player_tooltip player_id='2140671' first='Milton' last='Nuahn'] made me think the Red Knights may have more depth than I thought because both played hard and played well yesterday. [player_tooltip player_id='2357544' first='Cole' last='Davis'] scored ten a game for Maple River last year as a freshman and based on what we saw yesterday he is looking at a big next three years. [player_tooltip player_id='2569235' first='Demondre' last='Collins'] of Richfield was a playmaker play after play. [player_tooltip player_id='2527105' first='Jameson' last='McCarthy'] of Southwest Christian out-worked a lot of bigs at this event to get the upper hand. And [player_tooltip player_id='2492960' first='Gideon' last='Horne']. The Hope Academy wing has stuff to learn but he is a physically strong guard that brings it to the rim play after play. He scored 14 a game last year and Im betting he will be at 20+ the next three years.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. [player_tooltip player_id='2126154' first='Julian' last='Smith'] in the Clutch</strong>. Outside of Ann, my next favorite performance of the event came from Cretin-Derham Hall guard [player_tooltip player_id='2126154' first='Julian' last='Smith']. With about four minutes to go Smith's team was down 56-64 and he got a steal for a push that became an assist. From that point on he led his team to a 71-66 win with a 15-2 final game run that included Smith forcing three turnovers, scoring five points from the foul line, scoring on his attack, and dishing out four assists with his attack. Do the math: the final 15 points came from Smith's basket, his five foul shots and his four assists.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->