If you are like me you can't get enough basketball. I particularly enjoy the spring and summer AAU sessions. But there has been no hoops since early March, so Monday's Midwest Festival of Teams couldn't come quickly enough.
AAU is particularly enjoyable if you live in the state of Minnesota. The state is crawling with high major talent, and the Grassroots Sizzle program has put together as much elite talent as anyone. Even despite being without a full roster, the 16U Sizzle squad was a last second jumper by Tamin Lipsey buzzer beater away from going 3-0.
Sizzle's Program Director and CEO, Brian Sandifer, spoke with The Gopher Report shortly after the event to provide us with an array of scouting reports.
Alonzo Dodd - 6-foot-2, St. Paul; South Saint Paul Secondary (2022)
Offers: Milwaukee, Morgan State, Western Illinois
Sandifer's scouting report: "Alonzo Dodd is probably one of the most underrated point guards in the Midwest in his class. In the past two months, Western Illinois. Morgan State, and Milwaukee offered him. I would say within the last two weeks he has gotten those offers. He would have blew up on the circuit. The big thing with him was just guys seeing him, like when Prince (Aligbe) blew up last year. Alonzo Dodd would have been one of the top guards in the Under Armour 16U division.
Right now he is picking up a buzz. My phone has been ringing off the hook all day about him. He has a change of direction and an ability to finish in traffic. He's ambidextrous. Sometimes you don't know if he's left handed or right handed, and he's a big time athlete. Alonzo Dodd can take off from the dotted line, windmill, and everything. So a lot of people sleep on him He's sneaky athletically and a real tough defender. I think he's got to tighten his jump shot up. He could be a high major player. He reminds me of Carlos Arroyo. That's who he is."
Donovan Smith - 5-foot-10, Minneapolis, Minnehaha Academy (2022)
Offers: Hampton, Morgan State, Western Illinois
Sandifer's scouting report: "J.J. Barea clone. He has a better jump shot. Probably about 5-10, lights out shooter. With the team he played that had (Jalen) Suggs and all of those guys, he always had the ability to sneak open because there was so much attention put on Chet (Holmgren) and Jalen, so he had the open looks.
Playing with those dudes for the past three or four years he has finally decided that he has got to be a point guard, but he's got to be a shooting point guard. He hit eleven three's Monday. He's got to learn to make everybody else on the floor better, because his role at Minnehaha was to be a striker all of the time. So now he's going to have to be a point guard. There's not a lot of 5-10 two guards. His handles are tight. if you look at the video you can see that. He's got wiggle, and he's become much stronger over the past six months. He works out with Suggs, my son, Jalen, Prince, and those guys all of the time. He's a lot stronger. He's not getting ripped. Tamin Lipsey and those guys have strong guards and they really couldn't block those guys up. My guys could get to where they wanted to get to and go downhill.
His ability to shoot in transition, you will see him many times catch the ball on the break, on the run, and catch and pull-up from thirty or thirty-five feet and rip it with no dribble. That's very hard to do. Rob Jeter at Western Illinois loves him. He had a guard a few years ago at Milwaukee about his size named Jordan Johnson. Jeter thinks Donovan can be like that. He really likes his ability to be efficient from the three. He doesn't make a lot of turnovers. If you look back at the game against Sierra Canyon, Donovan Smith came off the bench and was making 35-footers, and throwing lobs to Chet and those guys, and making plays in transition."
Chase Carter - 6-foot-6, Brooklyn Park, Minnehaha Academy, (2022)
Offers: Minnesota, Hampton, Vanderbilt. West Virginia
Sandifer's scouting report: "That's Udonis Haslam. If you look at the video of Chase Carter between the Minnehaha season and right now, he's probably lost twenty pounds. He's become way, way, way more agile. He's an underrated athlete. He probably has the best IQ on the whole team 6-6 and a half. He has the ability to make everybody on the floor better. He scored on all three levels Tuesday. He shot from the three fade away jumpers, finishing with either hand around the basket, taking charges. He's a glue guy.
West Virginia has offered. Ron Everhart has been all over him, contacting him, he called me last night. They showed him last night and they watched it. Chase Carter was a stat sheet stuffer Monday night. He rebounded, finished in the lane, blocked shots. He did it all for us. He was the leader of the squad I thought.
He's a high major in football too, but at the end of the day he's going to play basketball. His dad (Randy) was a stud for the Gophers. So that's what he's going to end up doing."
Demarion Watson-Saulsberry - 6-foot-7, Minneapolis, Minnehaha Academy, (2022)
Offers: Missouri, Morgan State, Western Kentucky
Sandifer's scouting report: "He has the most potential of anybody in our program. He's right up there with Prince and those guys. His thing is just reps. He's probably the eighth man on his team (Minnehaha). He didn't play as much as he should or could have. On any other team he would have played a ton. With him, he's 6-7, he can shoot it from all three levels. He's a freak athlete. You just see it in spurts, because he's not used to playing at a high level all of the time because of the minutes he got at Minnehaha. You're talking about a kid who already had Western Kentucky, Missouri, and Morgan State offers. So he's already got the attention of the schools. With him it's just repetition. The more he plays the better he's going to get. You can't coach what he can do, because he can score.
He's kind of a hybrid Will Barton type. He's a big time athlete, shoots it. He had several blocks yesterday and changed shots because he's super long."
Willie Wilson - 6-foot-3, Minneapolis, North Community High School, (2022)
Offers: Florida, Hampton, Morgan State, and Western Illinois
Sandifer's scouting report: "He's just tough. He's like Patrick Beverley. He doesn't shoot it great. At times he'll be a little sporadic in his play, but his motor never stops. He can guard anybody. He and Tamin Lipsey went at it from the beginning of the event. He was the one that said, 'Coach, I want to guard him.' For the most part Lipsey made everybody better, but Willie contained him for the last couple of seconds of the game until he hit the game winner on us. Willie's a kid that's going to have to master the point guard position now, because he's always played off the ball. The next two years at Minneapolis North he's going to have to play the point. We're putting him a lot at the point now because that's what he's going to play in college. I don't think he shoots it good enough at this time to play the two. He's just a grinder.
Florida saw him last year at the Larry Hughes Camp and he had a great camp. That was when that offer came through. The biggest thing with Willie is tightening his jumper up and continuing to understand the nuances of playing the point. But he is a high level athlete. He's a football guy too, but basketball I think is going to be his calling. His ability to get to the basket and finish at contact, you will see in the video footage makes him really spectacular at times."
Braeden Carrington - 6-foot-3, Minneapolis, Park Center, (2022)
Offers: Florida, Missouri, Western Kentucky
Sandifer's scouting report: "He didn't shoot it that well Monday, but he and Donovan shoot it at a high level. If you watch any type of footage he shoots it at a high clip. He did a lot of different stuff Monday. Typically Braeden is not known for getting a lot of chase down blocks, but he really guarded hard yesterday and had a lot of chase down blocks. He defended well in transition. He played really, really tough. If you watch the video clips he shot the ball halfway decently, but Braeden shoots it 43% from the three for his high school team. He's the next big star to come out of Park Center after Dain Dianja. He's not most highly recruited player on that team. I think the biggest thing for all of them is that they didn't play on the UA circuit, but for now for us playing in an uncertified event my phone has been ringing off the hook. Today I heard from Central Michigan, Illinois, West Virginia, North Dakota State, Augustana, Southwest Missouri State, and the University of Minnesota. So we've heard from all of them just off of th video broadcast."
AAU is particularly enjoyable if you live in the state of Minnesota. The state is crawling with high major talent, and the Grassroots Sizzle program has put together as much elite talent as anyone. Even despite being without a full roster, the 16U Sizzle squad was a last second jumper by Tamin Lipsey buzzer beater away from going 3-0.
Sizzle's Program Director and CEO, Brian Sandifer, spoke with The Gopher Report shortly after the event to provide us with an array of scouting reports.
Alonzo Dodd - 6-foot-2, St. Paul; South Saint Paul Secondary (2022)
Offers: Milwaukee, Morgan State, Western Illinois
Sandifer's scouting report: "Alonzo Dodd is probably one of the most underrated point guards in the Midwest in his class. In the past two months, Western Illinois. Morgan State, and Milwaukee offered him. I would say within the last two weeks he has gotten those offers. He would have blew up on the circuit. The big thing with him was just guys seeing him, like when Prince (Aligbe) blew up last year. Alonzo Dodd would have been one of the top guards in the Under Armour 16U division.
Right now he is picking up a buzz. My phone has been ringing off the hook all day about him. He has a change of direction and an ability to finish in traffic. He's ambidextrous. Sometimes you don't know if he's left handed or right handed, and he's a big time athlete. Alonzo Dodd can take off from the dotted line, windmill, and everything. So a lot of people sleep on him He's sneaky athletically and a real tough defender. I think he's got to tighten his jump shot up. He could be a high major player. He reminds me of Carlos Arroyo. That's who he is."
Donovan Smith - 5-foot-10, Minneapolis, Minnehaha Academy (2022)
Offers: Hampton, Morgan State, Western Illinois
Sandifer's scouting report: "J.J. Barea clone. He has a better jump shot. Probably about 5-10, lights out shooter. With the team he played that had (Jalen) Suggs and all of those guys, he always had the ability to sneak open because there was so much attention put on Chet (Holmgren) and Jalen, so he had the open looks.
Playing with those dudes for the past three or four years he has finally decided that he has got to be a point guard, but he's got to be a shooting point guard. He hit eleven three's Monday. He's got to learn to make everybody else on the floor better, because his role at Minnehaha was to be a striker all of the time. So now he's going to have to be a point guard. There's not a lot of 5-10 two guards. His handles are tight. if you look at the video you can see that. He's got wiggle, and he's become much stronger over the past six months. He works out with Suggs, my son, Jalen, Prince, and those guys all of the time. He's a lot stronger. He's not getting ripped. Tamin Lipsey and those guys have strong guards and they really couldn't block those guys up. My guys could get to where they wanted to get to and go downhill.
His ability to shoot in transition, you will see him many times catch the ball on the break, on the run, and catch and pull-up from thirty or thirty-five feet and rip it with no dribble. That's very hard to do. Rob Jeter at Western Illinois loves him. He had a guard a few years ago at Milwaukee about his size named Jordan Johnson. Jeter thinks Donovan can be like that. He really likes his ability to be efficient from the three. He doesn't make a lot of turnovers. If you look back at the game against Sierra Canyon, Donovan Smith came off the bench and was making 35-footers, and throwing lobs to Chet and those guys, and making plays in transition."
Chase Carter - 6-foot-6, Brooklyn Park, Minnehaha Academy, (2022)
Offers: Minnesota, Hampton, Vanderbilt. West Virginia
Sandifer's scouting report: "That's Udonis Haslam. If you look at the video of Chase Carter between the Minnehaha season and right now, he's probably lost twenty pounds. He's become way, way, way more agile. He's an underrated athlete. He probably has the best IQ on the whole team 6-6 and a half. He has the ability to make everybody on the floor better. He scored on all three levels Tuesday. He shot from the three fade away jumpers, finishing with either hand around the basket, taking charges. He's a glue guy.
West Virginia has offered. Ron Everhart has been all over him, contacting him, he called me last night. They showed him last night and they watched it. Chase Carter was a stat sheet stuffer Monday night. He rebounded, finished in the lane, blocked shots. He did it all for us. He was the leader of the squad I thought.
He's a high major in football too, but at the end of the day he's going to play basketball. His dad (Randy) was a stud for the Gophers. So that's what he's going to end up doing."
Demarion Watson-Saulsberry - 6-foot-7, Minneapolis, Minnehaha Academy, (2022)
Offers: Missouri, Morgan State, Western Kentucky
Sandifer's scouting report: "He has the most potential of anybody in our program. He's right up there with Prince and those guys. His thing is just reps. He's probably the eighth man on his team (Minnehaha). He didn't play as much as he should or could have. On any other team he would have played a ton. With him, he's 6-7, he can shoot it from all three levels. He's a freak athlete. You just see it in spurts, because he's not used to playing at a high level all of the time because of the minutes he got at Minnehaha. You're talking about a kid who already had Western Kentucky, Missouri, and Morgan State offers. So he's already got the attention of the schools. With him it's just repetition. The more he plays the better he's going to get. You can't coach what he can do, because he can score.
He's kind of a hybrid Will Barton type. He's a big time athlete, shoots it. He had several blocks yesterday and changed shots because he's super long."
Willie Wilson - 6-foot-3, Minneapolis, North Community High School, (2022)
Offers: Florida, Hampton, Morgan State, and Western Illinois
Sandifer's scouting report: "He's just tough. He's like Patrick Beverley. He doesn't shoot it great. At times he'll be a little sporadic in his play, but his motor never stops. He can guard anybody. He and Tamin Lipsey went at it from the beginning of the event. He was the one that said, 'Coach, I want to guard him.' For the most part Lipsey made everybody better, but Willie contained him for the last couple of seconds of the game until he hit the game winner on us. Willie's a kid that's going to have to master the point guard position now, because he's always played off the ball. The next two years at Minneapolis North he's going to have to play the point. We're putting him a lot at the point now because that's what he's going to play in college. I don't think he shoots it good enough at this time to play the two. He's just a grinder.
Florida saw him last year at the Larry Hughes Camp and he had a great camp. That was when that offer came through. The biggest thing with Willie is tightening his jumper up and continuing to understand the nuances of playing the point. But he is a high level athlete. He's a football guy too, but basketball I think is going to be his calling. His ability to get to the basket and finish at contact, you will see in the video footage makes him really spectacular at times."
Braeden Carrington - 6-foot-3, Minneapolis, Park Center, (2022)
Offers: Florida, Missouri, Western Kentucky
Sandifer's scouting report: "He didn't shoot it that well Monday, but he and Donovan shoot it at a high level. If you watch any type of footage he shoots it at a high clip. He did a lot of different stuff Monday. Typically Braeden is not known for getting a lot of chase down blocks, but he really guarded hard yesterday and had a lot of chase down blocks. He defended well in transition. He played really, really tough. If you watch the video clips he shot the ball halfway decently, but Braeden shoots it 43% from the three for his high school team. He's the next big star to come out of Park Center after Dain Dianja. He's not most highly recruited player on that team. I think the biggest thing for all of them is that they didn't play on the UA circuit, but for now for us playing in an uncertified event my phone has been ringing off the hook. Today I heard from Central Michigan, Illinois, West Virginia, North Dakota State, Augustana, Southwest Missouri State, and the University of Minnesota. So we've heard from all of them just off of th video broadcast."
