Howard Pulley Invitational 17u preview
The Howard Pulley Invitational is this weekend at the Maple Grove Community Center and it’s the only time the number one ranked Pulley Panthers are playing in the Twin Cities this weekend.
17U. This is an 11 team event with three pools. Pool A is the number one team in the nation the Howard Pulley Panthers who have lost one game all year. They play the CEO Kings (no idea) and Powerhouse White who is ranked 25th in the state with an 8-5 record.
The Panthers. They have arguably the best PG in the nation in the Tre Jones (he’s got my vote) who is putting up 20 points (10th in EYBL), 9.4 assists (1st), 5.3 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game (4th). Shooting 59 percent from the floor and 81 percent from the foul line. He has 113 assists to 23 turnovers.
Gopher committed Daniel Oturu is fifth in blocks (2.4) and seventh in the EYBL in rebounding (10.5) plus he’s scoring 12.2 points per game making 63 percent of his shots. Gabe Kalscheur is leading the EYBL in three point makes with 44 and is 23rd in scoring at 17.2 per game shooting 46 percent at the arc and 48 percent from the floor.
Also, Jarvis Thomas is putting up 7.8 points and 6.3 rebounds a game shooting 65 percent from the floor. 2019 David Roddy is scoring 9.1 points per game with three boards shooting 65.5 percent from the field.
With Pulley playing easily winnable games so fans can expect to see a lot of Ryan Larson, Goodnews Kpegeol, and Sy Chatman from the 2018 class and Courtney Brown Jr and Zeke Nnaji from the 2019 class. At the Jayhawk Invite Tre Jones didn’t play and Ryan Larson was fantastic.
Pool B is Powerhouse Minnesota, tMBA, Minnesota Select, and Minnesota Phenom. A four team pool of Minnesota teams and they are all top 25 teams in this state. Powerhouse Minnesota is 5th in the state with a 13-4 record and are led by Anthony Davis, Michael Schaefer, Jarius Cook, and Josiah Strong. Davis was outstanding last weekend, Cook was just offered by Idaho, and Schaefer is a top NSIC prospect.
Minnesota Select is ranked 7th in the state and led by Beijan Newbern, Luke Martens, Cire Mayfield, and Jake Binley among others. tMBA is ranked 25th in the state (tied with Powerhouse 2) and Phenom is ranked 19th with an 11-12 record.
The third pool is KC Run GMC, Omaha Elite, Illinois D1 Express, and the Super Seniors. We know nothing about Super Seniors and the Express but Run GMC and Omaha Elite are teams that Pulley has played and beaten in previous events.
KC 6-foot-7 wing Tyreese Davis of KC Run GMC is one of the top up and comers in the Midwest and he’s had a great spring for the Under Armour KC team. Point guard Damien Daniels is a 5-foot-7 sparkplug that is creating for everyone. Keenan Fitzmorris is a near seven footer who blocks everything and Noah Thomas scores for KC in numerous ways.
For Omaha Elite Ty Carroll is an explosive scorer that the NY2LA is having a terrible time shutting down. Nate Mohr is their shooting threat and Aguek Arop is a forward that at one point had an offer from Nebraska.