Coach’s Take: Iowa Barnstormers 16U (Part II)
Here’s our take: Logan Wolf is a vastly improved two-way threat with great length who will have a breakout season with Cedar Falls this winter. Noah Hart is an offensive catalyst with high passing skill who will can a ton of 3s this season as he breaks out with Waukee. Jake Hilmer is as fast as any guard in the state, and could lead all of Iowa in triple-double’s this winter. Here’s Barnstormers program director and 16U head coach Greg Stephens’ take:
Logan Wolf, 6’3 G (Cedar Falls)
Logan was definitely the most improved player from last year to this year. He came out kind of like wildfire in that first tournament when we really weren’t sure what to expect with him. He’s a kid that every other AAU program in the state was calling, trying to get him to switch over and go to them. He was kind of our 10th or 11th guy last year, and it would have been really easy for him to say, ‘OK, you know what, I’m going to go take the easy route and go be the guy somewhere.’ But, he said, ‘You know what, I’m going to bet on myself, and I’m going to prove to these guys that I belong in this group.’ And he really worked hard during the offseason, it was very apparent. He was actually working out individually with (Northern Iowa guard) Spencer Haldeman on his shooting. And it’s gotten to the point now where he started a lot of games for us, and he’s become one of our best defenders, both on and off the ball; using his length and athleticism. He’s been playing very, very well.”
Noah Hart, 6’3 PG (Waukee)
He’s a kid who is a true two-way player he has the ability to do a lot of different things; he plays point for us, he plays off the ball for us. He’ll guard the other team’s best player, and he’ll get into the other team’s best player’s head a little bit, he’s that good defensively. We ask him to play a lot of different roles for us and he fills all those roles. He was kind of buried on a really good Waukee team last year, and now all of a sudden, he’s kind of been given the reins to Waukee a little bit. And to people who don’t know basketball really well in the state, and they just look at stats, they’ll say ‘well here’s this kid who averaged three points a game or whatever for Waukee last season,’ and all of a sudden he’s in double-digits every game and leading the team in assists. Well, we all kind of saw that coming, that have watched him play. And he’s going to do some really special things the next two years for Waukee. And I think he’s going to be a real good player at the next level after that.”
Jake Hilmer, 5’10 PG (North Linn)
He’s so much fun to coach, he knows what I want to do before we do it. He understands the reads. A lot of times, if a teammate doesn’t remember a play, he’ll grab the clipboard off the bench and draw it out for him. You can tell he’s a coach’s kid, he’s been around the game his whole life; his grandpa is the all-time winning-est basketball coach in Iowa high school history. The other side of Jake is, he’s lightning quick. He’s really got a lot of gifts in terms of his quickness and his agility. He’s a pass-first kid, but he’s got the ability to get by just about anybody, so when you combine those two things, he can really make plays for his teammates. He’s just one of those guys that makes everyone around him better. There isn’t a kid on this team that wouldn’t pick him as the guy that they would want to play with if they were playing two-on-two, because they know that he’ll set things up for them and he’s going to do a lot of things for them and not just for him. And he’s a special kid in that regard.