The Expo: Top Five Headlines

What were the most noteworthy things taken from Sunday's (The) Expo? We give you the stars standing out, new names jumping forward, and everything that you would need to know from The Expo.... Now!   One. 133 Kids! That brings our three week total to 508 players from the state of Minnesota (mostly) that we were able to watch and evaluate the last three weeks. This event was for juniors and seniors which traditionally draws a lot of juniors and that was the case again with this event. We held this event at Bloomington Jefferson High School and had four courts running throughout the event.   Two. The Miller Twins. And another Miller! Coco and Kelly Miller were an incredible pair of basketball players in the 90s from Rochester Mayo High School. If they were playing today all of these video people would be flocking to their games to catch their amazing highlights. One time I saw Coco grab a rebound in the air with one hand and instantly took the ball and baseball passed it to Kelly as she was landing. The pass was completely perfect in stride and the ball was out of her hands before she even looked to see where he sister was. Their connection was incredible.   About a 30 minute drive north of Rochester is Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School and we have another set of Millers: [player_tooltip player_id='2120492' first='Ethan' last='Miller'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2411079' first='Aaron' last='Miller']. They are both 6'7/6'8 and they are both in that 2026 class. Last year Ethan scored ten points a game and he is the low post worker that gets double-doubles (and we saw that yesterday). Aaron was more of a face-up forward that was knocking out shots with his great size, and he played well yesterday as well. It looks like Aaron was more of a JV guy as a sophomore but it looks like he has the potential to help the varsity as an upperclassmen.   Speaking of Rochester and Miller, [player_tooltip player_id='1560744' first='Evan' last='Miller'] was a double figures scorer at Schaeffer Academy as a freshman. Evan is now at DeLaSalle and last year he played a role off the bench and he did a nice job. Yesterday we got a chance to see more of that creative scoring skill that we saw from Evan at this event two years ago and after watching Evan yesterday, I think we will see more of that this winter.   Three. Stars Playing Like Stars. [player_tooltip player_id='1574216' first='Azayah' last='Washington'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1574223' first='CJ' last='Armstrong'] were the highlight prospects at the event and in the coming days you are going to see their video highlight packages of the ton of baskets they produced. These are 30 point per game scorers from last year (as juniors) that in this scenario had an open run at the rim nearly all day. Both were for the most part excellent scorers in every scenario.   These are two scholarship kids. I understand that right now in college recruiting, the 6'1/6'2 combo guard is not the priority that it once was. Colleges would rather get a transfer down or a transfer up that is the same height and skill but with two or three years of muscle on their bodies from a college weight program.   I get it, but these two kids - and a player like [player_tooltip player_id='1574212' first='Anthony' last='Smith'] for example - have that full scholarship level talent so I hope they find that opportunity.   Four. New Names. I love this event because of the new names it generates. Over the next several days you are going to hear about the following:   Martevios Allen of Two Rivers   [player_tooltip player_id='1874936' first='Willis' last='Crudup'] of Osseo   [player_tooltip player_id='2175452' first='Great' last='Emadamerho'] of Champlin Park   [player_tooltip player_id='2411079' first='Aaron' last='Miller'] of Zumbrota-Mazeppa   [player_tooltip player_id='2120492' first='Ethan' last='Miller'] of Zumbrota-Mazeppa   [player_tooltip player_id='1560870' first='Elvis' last='Neckles'] of Park Center   Ikenna Nwacukwu of St. Cloud Cathedral   [player_tooltip player_id='2447540' first='Jayden' last='Schultz'] of Browerville   [player_tooltip player_id='2493846' first='Luke' last='Hill'] of Waconia   Five. Upperclassmen Approach this Differently. The freshmen and sophomores arrive at this event and they really compete at a quality level for what this event is. A good chunk of the top underclassmen are at these events and they try and prove themselves a lot more against the best and they often do it moving the ball more and defending more than the older players do. And playing with mostly brand new teammates having never practiced together, and mind you they are young players, the young kids do get after it.   The upperclassmen do this event differently. The guys trying to make a name for themselves for the first time, they are out there trying to compete on both ends. But there are way way way too many upperclassmen kids who seem to use this as a chance to make some type of highlight reel. For some, that works. But I think there are way too many upperclassmen who had a chance to completely defend somebody in a noticeable way, and they just don't. This a chance for a guy to rebound the ball 15 times, and they just don't. Too many guys had a chance to score a lot AND defend in a big way, or score a lot and grab 14 rebounds, or score a lot while also winning the game, and they missed that opportunity.

What were the most noteworthy things taken from Sunday's (The) Expo? We give you the stars standing out, new names jumping forward, and everything that you would need to know from The Expo.... Now!