Scouting Minnesota – Five Best of 6AA
There is such quality basketball in 6AA. Picking the five best talents in that section is very hard but we grabbed our five players from five different teams. Section 6AA will be so tough next winter. Melrose, Mora, Annandale, and…
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Continue ReadingThere is such quality basketball in 6AA. Picking the five best talents in that section is very hard but we grabbed our five players from five different teams.
Section 6AA will be so tough next winter. Melrose, Mora, Annandale, and Albany, each of these schools were very good last year and bring so much of their top talent back. All four of those teams, along with potentially Eden Valley-Watkins will be ranked someplace between 6 and 20 to start next season.
So much talent but here is our five:
Rowan Nelson Rowan Nelson 6'6" | PF Melrose | 2021 State MN of Melrose (2021). Rowan Nelson Rowan Nelson 6'6" | PF Melrose | 2021 State MN has the luxury of coming into each game, looking at the person that is guarding him, and then deciding how he wanted to attack. At about 6-foot-5 you have to put a bigger guy on him and when that happens, usually Rowan’s agility and handles led to him attacking off the dribble. Bigger players couldn’t move with Rowan around the bucket, and often times Rowan was so crafty, he could score against a bigger player with his back to the bucket because of the quickness of his moves into space before the player could recover. Of course with that knowledge you now know that if a team guarded Rowan smaller he just over powered them.
Jay Neubert of Sauk Centre (2024). Only a few 2024 talents have been identified in Minnesota so far as “he can do that at the high school level now”. Sure there are some kids that played on some 14u or 13u all star teams that have talent but only a few were out there getting varsity numbers like Jay. Averaged 15 a game this year and Scored 20 plus against a barrage of quality teams. (Melrose, EGF, Morris twice, BOLD, Cathedral, Minnewaska, etc). Jay is about 6-foot-1 and simply full of skill and basketball feel.
Logan Purcell Logan Purcell 6'7" | C Annandale | 2021 State MN of Annandale (2021). As a hobby Logan Purcell Logan Purcell 6'7" | C Annandale | 2021 State MN has used his 6-foot-7 frontcourt body to lead a good Annandale program in scoring and rebounding the last two seasons. Very soon Logan will be a Gopher interior lineman in some way in TCF Bank Stadium but in our basketball world this is a player that is so hard to get a body on and then be strong enough and agile enough to move with him. Purcell is a top 30 level basketball talent in 2021 and a top five level football prospect.
Nolan Rueter Nolan Rueter 6'2" | SG Albany | 2021 State MN of Albany (2021). This 6-foot-2 guard is a natural. He loves the court and improving his way to compete as a hooper is one of Nolan’s life goals. Nolan has some of the deepest handles you will see and he is so much quicker than I thought. There is range to his jumper and it continues to become more consistent. Rueter has the skills to play both guard spots and we think he could be a top 17u stock riser this summer.
Joshua Streit Joshua Streit 6'9" | PF Eden Valley Watkins | 2021 State MN of Eden Valley-Watkins (2021). Recently something happened that had local college coaches looking at their assistants and firing explicits, Josh was offered by a division one school Cal Poly. You know that for years Cal Poly has been offering Minnesota kids. They not only are a favorite destination but a Minnesota trend setter. With that offer to Josh – who is 6’7 and 6’8, and one of the finest team players and college ready physical athletes out there – his name also jumped on the list of every school that recruits the Minnesota area.