Check Me Out Showcase in Minneapolis is one of the best
There is no shortage of camps and exposure events and showcases for players to show their stuff but one of the very best will be in Minneapolis this weekend – the Check Me Out Showcase. I attend pretty much all…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThere is no shortage of camps and exposure events and showcases for players to show their stuff but one of the very best will be in Minneapolis this weekend – the Check Me Out Showcase. I attend pretty much all of the major events in the Twin Cities, both those hosted by local people and those put on by out-of-towners, and I can tell you that the best event I have been to in the past year is Check Me Out. This year’s showcase will be hosted by Urban Ventures at the Colin Powell Center in South Minneapolis, which features four college-sized courts.
Check Me Out Showcases (eliteisearned.com/cmominnesota/) are open to all players who want to train and compete at an elite level. ‘Elite’ might be the most overused term in youth basketball – how many AAU teams have the word in their name!? – but in this case it definitely fits. The events, which are staged around the country, always attracts some of the top prospects from far and wide. Last year’s event attracted players from Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, even Utah. Among those who lit it up was 2023 phenom Jada Williams of Kansas City, who came with an entourage and was as good as advertised.
Highly-rated sophomore prospect Kaylee Van Eps of Chaska (left) says she improved her game as a result of an evaluation by Mercedes Wetmore of Seattle (right) in 2017.“The competition that they bring every year is great and the staff is awesome because they are always pushing you to work harder,” said 5’11 sophomore Kaylee Van Eps of Chaska (Fury 2021 Gauntlet), ranked #4 in Minnesota’s class of 2021 by Prep Girls Hoops. “The caliber of play is higher I feel because they are able to get the best out of everyone who comes. Everyone who is there wants to work which creates great competition.”
Staff includes well-known trainers Ashley Corral, Arvin Mosley and Mark Wilkerson. Camp director Chris Hansen of Seattle is a highly-respected, very connected player evaluator. Hansen is a member of the McDonald’s All-American selection committee and the Naismith Trophy Awards panel. He is the former director of scouting for ESPN HoopGurlz, the most high profile national rankings platform which recently rated Hopkins’ Paige Bueckers as the #1 player in the class of 2020 and her teammate Maya Nnaji among the nation’s top 20 freshmen. Hansen will be evaluating players along with the ProspectsNation.com Director of Scouting Keil Moore and national evaluator Mercedes Wetmore.
Elite is Earned essentially does the same thing as the Prep Hoops organization – scouting and ranking of players and staging of premier showcase events – but they do it on a national basis rather than state by state. Among the players committed this year are juniors Zareia Chevre of Simley (Fury 2020 Gauntlet) and Sydney White of Andover (Stars 2020 Antl), sophomores Selam Maher of Hopkins (Lady Get Shook) and Leah Dengerud of DeLaSalle (UVA Lady Rebels), and top younger prospects such as 2023s Molly Lenz of Eden Prairie and Aniya Reuben of Park Center.
Van Eps, who has several impressive college offers, will be participating in the Check Me Out event for the 5th straight year. “For me the exposure part of it has been helpful,” she said, “but I think my development as a player from the camp has also helped. I have used their evaluations on me to improve my game.”
Top photo: Paige Bueckers of Hopkins defended highly-rated Utah guard Kemery Martin at the 2017 Check Me Out Showcase. (Photos courtesy of Chris Hansen.)