Fury/Heat Shutdown - Friday's 17U Five Best

Prep Hoops was at Shakopee High School Friday night taking in 17u basketball once again. Who were the top five standouts and why? College coaches take note! One. [player_tooltip player_id="891901" first="Ahjany" last="Lee"] of D1 Minnesota Prospects (6’9, PF, 2022 of Byron). If you are a school that generally waits too long to recruit a player, or if you are a school that is a copycat that waits for others to offer before you jump in, here is some help, jump on [player_tooltip player_id="891901" first="Ahjany" last="Lee"] now. Because those schools that do their homework, that trust their own evals, they will be on [player_tooltip player_id="891901" first="Ahjany" last="Lee"] with heavy effort soon. Lee is 6-foot-9 and growing entering his junior year, Ahjany is long and springy, and the skills are coming even though he is still raw. A year ago he was 2-3 inches shorter and there was a question if he was even going to be a varsity player. A year from now I think Lee will be a nationally ranked prospect among the top 5-6 guys in this Minnesota 2022 class. That’s how good I think Ahjany can be. He reminds me a lot of Jericho Sims as a young player although not quite as tall (yet), and maybe not a 44 inch vertical but Lee’s 39-40 inch vertical is pretty good too. More aggressive and more skilled than when Sims was this age. Last night Lee led his team to overtime against Fury Zurn with 17 points that included another pair of threes. His biggest highlight was the top of the key behind the back separation dribble into a one hand hammer dunk before the help could do anything about it. He also had a late game block and d-board that sent the game into a second overtime. This is a legit high major, nationally ranked big. Get in the game sooner than later. Two. [player_tooltip player_id="850728" first="Nick" last="Katona"] of Minnesota Fury Wilde 16s (6’6, SF, 2022 of Shakopee). Shortest drive to the game, biggest impact. Nick is the brother of UMD bound [player_tooltip player_id="846112" first="Charlie" last="Katona"] and there are a lot of similarities in how they have learned the game. One of those ways is their "let out of a gate" rim attack with or without the ball. The one difference is that I believe Nick is able to extend more to finish, he is able to lift a bit more to finish, and now that the strength increasing, Nick is blasting through contact to finish more as well. One thing I find amazing is that a lot of 6-foot-6 guys don’t seem to understand how to use their size and agility to go at the rim with pace, but Nick - like his brother - gets it. He scored on 8 of 11 field goals for his 20 points against the Lockdown. Also hit a pair of threes for the Fury. Heard from Utah State, Appalachian State, St Thomas, UMD, and South Dakota State in June and I suspect well will continue to see the list grow. Three. [player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"] of Minnesota Heat Tauer (6’8, PF, 2021 of Stewartville). From the broken record portion of the Prep Hoops creations, we are hear to tell you that Michigan committed 4-star prospect [player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"] is really good! The Playmakers gave the Heat a strong challenge especially up front. Tschetter took that challenge and raised the bar. Will scored on 10 of 18 field goals attempts for his 25 points in a 66-61 victory. Will has one of the best spin moves you will ever see as once he feels you lean to one side, it’s like a lightning strike quick turn and a score. Will also counters that with an aggressive shoulder turn that he can get himself in front of the rim, or fall back a bit with squared shoulders and hit the short jumper. Add in the two threes and it was the [player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"] show Friday night. [caption id="attachment_1022897" align="alignright" width="150"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/07/Noah-Paulson.jpeg"><img class="wp-image-1022897 size-thumbnail" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/07/Noah-Paulson-150x150.jpeg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="774755" first="Noah" last="Paulson"][/caption] Four. [player_tooltip player_id="774755" first="Noah" last="Paulson"] of Playmakers North (6’8, PF/C, 2021 of Duluth East). When we were researching our fifth guy for the Class AAAA preseason first team all state we had five names. There were two younger guys we knew well, a 2021 we knew well, and two guys we needed to look deeper in watching film and asking around. Noah was one of those guys. So we looked back at some winter video as well as a recent Playmakers game, checked with people and came to the conclusion that [player_tooltip player_id="774755" first="Noah" last="Paulson"] deserved that honor. Then we showed up Friday night and saw him score on 7 of his 12 field goals attempts (plus all three free throws) for a 17 point, 13 rebound double double going head to head with Michigan commit [player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"] and Iowa offered [player_tooltip player_id="532587" first="Andrew" last="Morgan"]. After that we felt even better about our selection. Noah is D2 offered and those opportunities should be expanding quickly because this big man knows how to use his frame to get into agile bigs allowing for his extension to touch in shots. And defensively I was very impressed with his positioning as Morgan had some trouble with scoring over Paulson’s contesting arm. Five. [player_tooltip player_id="774810" first="Spencer" last="Swanson"] of Wear Out the Net (6’5, PF, 2021 of Waconia). We are all about the bigs today here at Prep Hoops! Two things you need to know about Spencer: 1) 18 months ago he was a sophomore not on the Waconia varsity team, and 2) Spencer is one of the best finishers in the state of Minnesota. Spencer’s confidence, touch, and ability to get himself balanced and into a window to score against bigger players makes him one of the best finishers. Every time he seems to shoot the ball I feel like it’s going in because he is that high percentage. Very few guys look this comfortable scoring inside against players 2-3 inches bigger than he. Great feel for the game and is about to have a massive year at Waconia. Led WOTN over Fury Zurn 52-51 with 14 points and six boards. ***You should know by now there is rarely a day I stop at five.   Five More! [player_tooltip player_id="774744" first="Eddie" last="Beeninga"] of Fury Zurn (6’1, Guard, 2021 of Wayzata). The Fury is still trying to find their comfort with one another which has led to a lot of close games and to win those games they have relied on [player_tooltip player_id="774744" first="Eddie" last="Beeninga"]. Last night he had 11 in the WOTN loss and then in overtime it was his game winning loose ball fight followed by the game winning attack (made the sudden death foul shot) that earned him high praise. One of the fastest guys on the court. [player_tooltip player_id="567126" first="Will" last="Blascziek"] of WOTN (6’4, SF, 2021 of Lakeville North). A smooth scoring wing that scored 14 a game for the Panthers and could be on the verge of an outstanding senior year. Last night when WOTN beat the Fury, Will took zero bad shots. His timing within a possession is something that has always caught my eye as he really forces a shot (at least in my viewings) meaning Will’s touch is higher percentage than most. Scored on four jumpers including two threes and a lot of Will’s scores were big impact in the second half. [player_tooltip player_id="532560" first="Ryan" last="Dufault"] of Minnesota Heat Tauer (6’0, PG, 2021 of Minnesota Heat Tauer). Ryan again? Yes. And every time I watch him play if he remains the most consistent guard in his class. Ryan never takes a game off, he is always a top player for the Heat. As dependable as they come and always ranks with the high percentage finishers for his team. Made 6 of his 9 attempts, a couple threes, all his foul shots, had five assists, and scored 16. He’s better than you, get over it. And Ryan makes a great pair with [player_tooltip player_id="774746" first="Joshua" last="Strong"]. [player_tooltip player_id="850731" first="Ayden" last="McDonald"] of Playmakers North (6’4, PG, 2022 of Playmakers North). Every time I looked back to the ball to see where a sharp pass came from for a possible attempt in space, it came from Ayden. It was quick skip passes, fast reversals, sharp zips, quick pushes with what used to be called a baseball pass, and the simple sharp two hander. Ayden just makes life easier for teammates and he almost led the Playmakers over the Heat with his dozen points and six assists. [player_tooltip player_id="850735" first="Brady" last="Helgren"] of Minnesota Fury Wilde 16s (6’8, PF, 2022 of Edina). I think Brady is on the verge of some big things. He had a very nice sophomore year for the Hornets and is a key part to how Fury Wilde dissects teams with execution. Brady has such a big, long frame that he looks like a natural skilled power forward that can play on the wing, in the high post, or around the basket. But he’s also very skilled showing a comfort away from the hoop and a lot of that seems to be his understanding of a halfcourt offense because all of his five field goals came immediately after a cut with purpose.