PHBatl Powered by Dr. Dish: Friday Night College Coach Packed

Friday night at the Battle at the Lakes had a college crowd that looked like a live period. This is where you should be if you want to be recruited in this area.

We are in a time period where college basketball programs are looking more and more to experience, which means they are looking to transfers more than they are high school prospects. And I got bad news for you high school kids, with the five for five looming, it's about to get even tougher to get a scholarship at the higher levels.

The beauty of that is there is opportunity elsewhere. The division one interest in high school prospects is way down which means division two teams, NAIA teams, and division three teams can now get a higher level of talent. That means these programs are offering high school players more opportunity, and with D1 schools offering less opportunity, kids need to get in front of these D2s, D3s and NAIA more now than ever.

And when you have an event like Battle at the Lakes right in your area, you play in it. You don't get in a van and drive for 10 hours someplace else, you do that next week for the live period. You don't fly four states over, you do that next week for the live period. What you do the second weekend of May is play in Battle at the Lakes. And like the great James Earl Jones said..... if you build it they will come.

And they (college coaches) sure did come on Friday night.

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Division Three

There were more head coaches, there were several D3 assistants, there were UMAC coaches, we saw WIAC coaches, NAIA coaches, junior college coaches, etc etc. Over 60 to 65 college coaches in one gym, the Hopkins gym.

And there will be more tomorrow. So what was seen last night?

I entered the gym last night looking forward to seeing what some of the Minnesota Fury talents could do against the Under Armour sponsored team Martin Brothers from Iowa. Who would compete? Who would stand out? Who would face the level of size and skill of the Martin Bros and come out on top?

The answer was overwhelmingly Matthew Johnson Matthew Johnson 6'5" | SG St. Louis Park | 2027 State MN of St. Louis Park.

The 6'3 shooting guard has firmly put himself on the map. Minnesota-Duluth offered and they had multiple assistants watching. There were about ten more NSIC schools watching Johnson as well and he didn't disappoint. The key factor though was the things that Johnson did that separated himself and we need to run through those now in bullet points because they are all important separators:

We have spent a lot of time talking about how the D1 dreams of a lot of high school basketball players unfortunately will need a lower level detour before getting there in the modern game. It's true and we need that to be clear. That said, Vincent Cronin Vincent Cronin 6'7" | SF Edina | 2027 State MN of D1 Minnesota is one of those talents that is going to be physically ready for the low major level and the mid major level right away.

D1 Minnesota opened their Battle at the Lakes weekend with a 70-39 win over Team 1848 and when it came to the highlights Vincent Cronin Vincent Cronin 6'7" | SF Edina | 2027 State MN was all over them.

You can take two initial perspectives when you see the 6'7 Cronin dunk on 1848 last night: you can giggle and laugh in awe like we saw so many do, or you can look at what Cronin was doing physically and think, that translates to an early opportunity at the next level.

Cronin had the skills to handle when needed, he's done it for his high school. The touch is there and improving, he made all four of his foul shots last night. Cronin is more three than four, but he can play both forward spots if needed, and last night he continued to board for his team. And when Cronin goes at the rim it's a high level explosive finish that most teams can't get help to to stop the play.

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