AAU Weekend in Review + recruiting notes

Matt Jessen-Howard · Apr 30, 2017

Howard Pulley
The Panthers won all four games. They beat Oakland Soldiers 82-67, Spiece Indy Heat 91-70, Las Vegas Prospects 61-41, and NY Rens 74-62. Here's a quick rundown of Pulley's players:

Cretin-Derham Hall PF Sy Chatman: Tough, active 4 with developing perimeter skill.
Apple Valley PG Tre Jones: Similar to his brother except a worse shooter, slightly better defender, and a little lower ranked. Duke and Arizona are the runaway favorites right now, but Minnesota's become a little more involved recently. Don't get your hopes up though.
De La Salle SG Gabe Kalscheur: Gopher target that was offered at this time last year. He had an excellent first session last year then was up-and-down. Gabe's an excellent shooter, smart player, and good team defender. His foot speed isn't great so last I saw he could improve as an on-ball defender. For a high-major player, his handle could improve as well.
North St. Paul SG Goodnews Kpegeol: Long, versatile wing that will probably go to a low-major.
Braham PG Ryan Larson: High IQ point guard, good shooter.
Hopkins PF/C Zeke Nnaji: High-potential big that moves very well but is a little raw still. He's a 2019 and will likely be a high-major player.
Cretin-Derham Hall C Daniel Oturu: One of the very best rebounders and shot blockers in the Midwest. He's active on both ends. Some back-to-the-basket game and nice ability to face up and attack.
2019 Breck PF David Roddy: I don't remember seeing Roddy play but he's supposed to be a tough, high motor, undersized big that makes plays around the basket. Good at facing up, good finisher, some perimeter skill. He's a 2019 and through two sessions, it looks like he'll have a chance to be a high-major player.
Orono PF Jarvis Thomas: Slightly undersized but explosive 4. Rebounds well, runs the floor really well, blocks shots. Great at facing up. Has some perimeter skill. Offers from Arizona State, Iowa State, Marquette, and Oregon State.

Gabe Kalscheur continued his good play this weekend. He had 32, 9, 9, and 20 this weekend on 24/40 field goal shooting (60%), 14/31 (45.1%) 3PT shooting.

Daniel Oturu continued his excellent play and has proven why he's a four-star. This session he averaged 12.3 points on 67.8% field goal shooting, 12.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks.

Jarvis Thomas averaged just 7.3 points but shot 56.5% and averaged 6.5 rebounds. He's also second on Pulley in assists, although he's turning the ball over at a high rate.

Zeke Nnaji and David Roddy are 2019s to have an eye on moving forward. Nnaji is big but undersized and has just averaged seven minutes per game through two sessions. His numbers are low right now. Roddy had a huge weekend. He averaged nine points on an incredible 20/26 shooting (76.9%), three rebounds, and 0.5 blocks.

Other EYBL

Boo Williams SG Keyontae Johnson: Boo Williams has stats up through three games. Through those three, Johnson's averaging nine points on an excellent 11/17 (64.7%) field goal shooting. He's also averaged 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
PSA Cardinals SF Isaiah Mucius: Mucius and Forrester play on a very balanced PSA Cardinals team. Only one player averages double figures and that's five-star Cole Anthony. PSA still has another game to play today. Mucius averaged six points on 50% field goal shooting this session, along with three rebounds per game.
PSA Cardinals PF Jake Forrester: The four-star averaged 6.7 points on 6/9 (66.7%) field goal shooting. He also averaged 2.3 rebounds.

Team Melo SG Brendan Adams: Team Melo has played three of four weekend games. So far, Adams has averaged nine points on 8/18 field goals shooting (44.4%) and 1.7 assists.
Southern Stampede PG Jalen Lecque: Lecque is the best player on the 1-7 Southern Stampede of Atlanta. Through three games this session, he's averaged 20.3 points on 16/48 (33.3%) field goal shooting. He's a high-volume shooter but doesn't shoot a lot of threes, with just seven of his 48 attempts being from deep, and he's made two. He's also averaging five rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.3 steals.

Southern Stampede SF Kamani Johnson: Through three games, Johnson's averaged 6.7 points on 5/16 (31.3%) field goal shooting. He's been excellent on the boards, with an 8.7 average.
Expressions Elite PG Marcus Zegarowski: Zegarowski is a new offer. He's a three-star but Minnesota is his first high-major offer. He's been excellent for Expressions Elite, which is based out of Boston. Through three games this session, he's averaged 16.7 points on 17/32 (53.1%) shooting, 6.7 assists, and five assists.

D1 Minnesota
D1 is 3-0 this session with a 74-68 win over Indiana Elite, 51-48 win over K-Low Elite (Philadelphia), and a 55-54 win over Urban ASAK (Austin). Here's a rundown of D1's players:

2020 Park Center PF Dain Daija: I haven't see Dainja play but he's on a major circuit team as a sophomore, which speaks volumes because D1 Minnesota typically plays kids with their age's team.
Austin SG Both Gach: I haven't seen Gach play but the word is he's a very good shooter.
Austin SG Duoth Gach: I haven't seen the Gach brothers, but Duoth is supposed to be the dunker, and Both the better shooter. Neither have been super productive for D1 Minnesota this year.
Rochester Marshall SF Matthew Hurt: Top Midwest player in the 2019 class. Thin but can finish near the basket well. Excellent shooter and can shoot with his feet set, has a good mid-range pull-up, can shoot off the dribble. Good rebounder and good bounce. I imagine that for this team he'll have to play more of a 4, but at the next level he'll be a 3.
Edina PG Anders Nelson: True point guard with a good shot. Probably a low-major/high D2 talent.
Sauk Rapids-Rice PF Cody Landwehr: I don't think he's received a ton of playing time, but when he's on his role is to rebound.
Lakeville South SF Shae Mitchell: Good size, has some explosion, good three-point shooter with his feet set.
Osseo SG Zach Theisen: Excellent shooter.
Robbinsdale Armstrong F Race Thompson: Can play either the 3 or 4 well. He can kind of do it all. Race has bounce and finishes well. He's a decent shooter and can hit threes with his feet set. He's excellent at facing up and attacking. He has a good handle for his position. He has a broad base and shoulders and that combined with his bounce makes him a great rebounder. When I watched him last year with D1's 16s, he was their best defender. What isn't he good at? His shooting is fine, but he's not a great shooter. His foot speed isn't at all bad but it could improve. If he's going to pay the 3 at the next level (although I think he'll be a 3), his handle could improve but it's fine as is.
Delano PG Cal Wishart: He's a winner for Delano. Decent size for a point guard, good vision, good passer, good shooter. Probably a low-major player at the next level.
McKinley Wright played for D1 during the first session.

Stats are only in through three games. D1 Minnesota beat Dream Vision this afternoon but I don't see the stats yet.

Matthew Hurt will still be out another month with a left hand injury.

Race Thompson scored 16, 14, and 14 on 15/37 (40.5%) field goal shooting, including 2/9 from deep. He remains D1's leading rebounder and averaged 7.3 rebounds. He also blocked seven shots.

There's not serious interest in Cal Wishart, but he did get a Gopher call within the last year. His numbers have been impressive: 12.3 points on 39.4% FG and 41.7% 3PT, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists.

Other Adidas Uprising Gauntlet

Iowa Barnstormers G AJ Green: Green continued his great play and through seven games has averaged 15.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. In three games this session, the Barnstormers beat Marcus Smart YGC (Fort Worth area), lost to New World (Maryland) and Team Arsenal (Oakland), and beat Compton Magic. This session, stats for only the first three games are in, and he averaged 17.3 points on 18/42 (42.9%) field goal shooting, including 9/15 (60%) from deep.
Team BBC shooting guard Montez Mathis: Mathis has been Team BBC's best player. This session, Team BBC beat Urban DFW and Juice All-Stars (NYC) and lost to Ramey Jets United (St. Louis) and Game Elite (Miami). He averaged 12.8 points on 23/50 field goal shooting (46%), and went 5/17 (29.4%) from deep.

UAA

We-R1 SG Tyrese Martin: We-R1 went 3-1 this weekend with wins over Illinois Wolves, Team Breakdown (Indianapolis), and CBC (Connecticut), and a loss to Team Charlotte. Martin is the second-leading scorer, at 12.7 points per game on 43% field goal shooting and 36% 3PT shooting. He's also averaging 1.3 steals per game and an incredible 7.4 rebounds per game.
New Heights SF Sidney Wilson: Did not play this session.
Team Thad C Javian Fleming: Team Thad lost to Sports U (New Jersey),
Louisiana Elite F Josh LeBlanc: Louisiana Elite went 3-1 this weekend with wins over Playground Warriors (Milwaukee), Atlanta XPress, and Texas Hard Work (San Antonio), and a loss to Team Felton (Charlotte). LeBlanc is averaging 12.9 points on 58% field goal shooting, 8.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 2.4 blocks.
2020 Grassroots Sizzle PG Jalen Suggs: Grassroots Sizzle is a local team that played in the NY2LA league last year. They're a distant third behind Howard Pulley and D1 Minnesota, with their only high-major player being Suggs. Right now, Grassroots is 1-7 and the UAA is the worst league (The order talent-wise this year goes Nike -> Adidas -> UA. Last year Adidas was just as good as Nike).Suggs is playing two years up but is still third in scoring in the UAA. That's impressive. He's averaging 19.6 points on 41% field goals shooting and 30% three-point shooting. He's also averaging 5.4 rebounds per game (that's excellent for a guard his size playing two years up, wow.) and 3.1 steals per game.

Recruiting Notes

Minnesota's not really pursuing any of the top 100 East Coast players they've offered (Carey, Mathis, Wilson, etc.). Eric Hunter also seems to have moved on and Minnesota is focusing elsewhere.

That leaves a handful of targets that we're most familiar with:

The locals: Daniel Oturu (committed), Race Thompson (top PF target), Gabe Kalscheur (top SG target)
Keyontae Johnson is visiting this summer and AJ Green has taken several unofficial visits, so those two out-of-state names to know most right now.

Other targets thought to be seriously pursued:

Tyrese Martin: New offer and there was contact with his AAU coach earlier this spring. Minnesota is his only high-major offer.
Jake Forrester: New offer and there was contact throughout the winter. Minnesota is one of several high-majors involved.
Jalen Lecque: New offer and at the time it was his second, but he's added several high-major offers since then.
Marcus Zegarowski: New offer.
Brendan Adams: Fairly recent offer and he tells TGR that he hears from Minnesota a decent amount.

Other targets where there's a little more uncertainty:

Javian Fleming: This is Ed Conroy's contact but he hasn't talked to the media much recently.
Josh LeBlanc: Ed Conroy is the recruiter and Minnesota seems to be interested but hasn't offered.
Jarvis Thomas: Local target but right now I'm not anticipating an offer.
I wouldn't be surprised if 2-3 more offers go out this week.

Matt Jessen-Howard · Apr 30, 2017