ABC’s of the Summer
With summer finally winding down we say goodbye to the AAU circuit and hello to the new school year. Over the month of August we will be looking back at the summer months recapping players, teams, and more before looking ahead to the next high school season. To kick off our summer review, we present our AAU ABC’s.
All Iowa Attack 2021 EYBL
All Iowa Attack’s 2021 EYBL team ran through the EYBL circuit and won the National Championship in Chicago. This was after winning both Boo Williams and the EYBL event in Indianapolis. The group made it through the Nike Nationals with a perfect record intact.
Beyond Ball
Beyond Ball had a successful season this year as they toured the United States. Kendall Nead committed to UW-Milwaukee and Katie Keitges picked up more interest from schools at all levels. They had good showings at Run 4 the Roses and in Atlanta ending a successful season with momentum for next year.
Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark started the year with All Iowa Attack, but then she made the USA Basketball team. This ended her AAU career but allowed her to compete with the best players across the world. She ended her USA run with a gold medal after knocking off Australia in the championship game. Clark is the top ranked player in the state and has a host of colleges in which to choose from.
Decisions
It’s about the time that was see college decisions roll in. In the past couple of weeks we have seen Jordan Cunningham pledge to Missouri Western, Chloe Lofstrom to Morningside, Anaya Barney to Northern Iowa, among others. Be on the lookout for other college commitments become public over the next few weeks as we near the start of high school with several commitments not public quite yet.
Emerson Green
Emerson Green is the fifth ranked player in the 2020 class, but in any other class would have likely been higher. She’s one of the best pure scorers in the class, creates space well for herself, and defends at a high level. She had an outstanding summer running with the Lady Martin Brothers and we will be sad to see her leave next season, but excited to see how she carves up the MVC.
Forwards
Forwards are close to running the state. There are a lot of very good guards but the depth in the four and five spot is uncanny. In our rankings we have just one forward ranked in the top 10 in the 2020 class but in the 2021/2022 classes we have 8 post players ranked in the top ten, not including small forwards. Consistently throughout the state there are more forward prospects than guard prospects in each class although not as strong at the top.
Gyamfi’s
Maya and Jada are both dominant players in their respective classes. Maya is a 2020 who can play both on the wing and in the post while Jada is a 2022 who can also play both positions. They played this summer with All Iowa Attack and had excellent seasons as they both saw their stock rise. Maya committed to Northern Iowa this summer while Jada is the top uncommitted 2022 in the class.
Hannah Stuelke
Hannah Stuelke is our top ranked 2022 in the class and is committed to Iowa. She was the first 2022 to give a commitment and she’ll be joining the current duo of Iowa commits in the 2020 class in three short years. The Cedar Rapids Washington standout ran with the All Iowa Attack 2021 EYBL group this summer and was part of the National Championship group.
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Jenna Hopp
Jenna Hopp might be one of the best players in the state that no one actually knows…yet. She’s an incoming freshman at Glenwood and played on the summer circuit with the Nebraska Attack UAA program. Hopp actually played up on the 2021 team along with two other incoming freshmen from Nebraska. Hopp holds two offers from Eastern Illinois and Wichita State. She will soon be a household name in the state of Iowa.
Katie Dinnebier
Katie Dinnebier has been on the rise this entire summer. Coming off of a torn ACL her freshman season not many knew about Dinnebier until last high school season. She had her coming out party in the state tournament when she scored 31 points against a Caitlin Clark led Dowling Catholic group. Dinnebier has been on the rise all summer long and sits at #2 in our recently updated rankings.
Lady Martin Brothers
The Lady Martin Brothers have a wealth of talent within their program and had good years for each team. The 2020 group is gone but filling their void is the 2021 squad led by Audrey Koch, Anaya Barney, and Abbie Draper. Alicia Garcia will be a welcome addition back next season after dealing with an injury this year. The 2022 group has a ton of talent from Taylor Veach, Allie Meadows, Riley Moreland, Kamryn Grissel, and more. This is a group that DI coaches will be flocking to see next season.
Maya McDermott
Maya McDermott might be one of the most enjoyable players to watch in the state of Iowa. She’s a ball of energy and at 5’5 she is dominant on both sides of the ball. McDermott is so quick with the ball that she can either drive by you to the basket or can get her defender off balance and hit a jumper in their face. She’s such an overlooked defender but has a great nose for the ball gaining steal after steal.
Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa has been recruiting the state very well this year. In the future, the starting lineup might comprise of players from the 2020 class in Iowa. They have the following commitments in Iowa for the next two classes: Emerson Green (#5 2020), Kayba Laube (#6 2020), Maya McDermott (#7 2020), Maya Gyamfi (#13 2020), Grace Boffeli (#14 2020), Taryn Scheurmann (#23 2020), Riley Wright (#4 2021), Anaya Barney (#5 2021), and Alicia Garcia (#8 2021). That is a wealth of talent coming in over the next few years.
Offense
There was so much offense this summer it was uncanny. From Caitlin Clark step backs to Ashley Iiams shooting it so well that you just knew it would drop. I don’t think Hannah Stuelke ever missed a layup and of course Emerson Green creating space for herself to shoot. Chloe Frank’s shot always felt like it was going to go in as did Aubrey Joens’. There is certainly no shortage of offense to the Iowa AAU teams.
Prewitt
As in Moriah Prewitt who has exploded onto the scene this summer. Running with Kingdom Hoops has given her the exposure needed to elevate her game to the next level and she has improved her game in nearly every facet. Prewitt now holds two DI offers and more will be on the way as she keeps her play up. Her junior season at Des Moines Christian should be a big one.
Quickness
Every single game I watched this summer it seemed as if there was a ton of quickness on the floor. From Zoey Buchan to Amaya Davison to Emma Ingersoll-Weng and countless others there always seemed to be a guard with a ton of quickness on the floor. The speed of the AAU season certainly makes it fun to watch and that’s even without mentioning players like Maya McDermott, Caroline Waite, Caitlynn Daniels, etc.
Rankings
Rankings were overhauled this month and the response we received was great. We broke down each class by position and released them class by class. We now have 150 players ranked in 2020, 125 players ranked in 2021, 100 players ranked in 2022, and an alphabetical watchlist of 70 2023’s which will turn into a top-50 in December.
Shateah and Sharon
Shateah Wetering and Sharon Goodman are our third and fourth ranked players in the 2020 class and their differences are plentiful. Wetering attends Montezuma High School and Goodman attends Crestwood High School. Wetering is a 6′ wing while Goodman is a 6’3 back-to-the-basket center. Another difference is that Wetering plays for All Iowa Attack while Goodman ran with the Lady Martin Brothers. The similarity between the two? They are both headed to be an Iowa Hawkeye after their high school season commences.
Team Iowa
Team Iowa is a program based on the east side of the state and have many of the top players in their area playing for them. Their top team was loaded with players such as Caitlynn Daniels (UAB), Adrianna Katcher (Southern Illinois), Mallory McDermott (Western Illinois), Sidney McCrea, Cassidy Pagel, Libby Arnold, among others. Their younger teams are also going to be groups to watch in the next few years and Team Iowa is setting the mark for girls in their program.
USA Basketball
As mentioned above, Caitlin Clark made the USA team, but did you know that Taylor Veach and JeMae Nichols also had a tryout for the U16 team? Nichols made the first cut in Colorado while Veach did not but both went home with big takeaways and an experience for a lifetime.
Vision
Vision on the floor is always a plus, and there are quite a few players who have tremendous vision as seen this summer. Rose Nkumu and Ellie Rengstorf were on another level in the top group but so were Allie Meadows, Rachel Leerar, and Sasha Koenig. So many guards with a great feel for the game we can’t mention them all.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo is now the goal for many players around the state. AAU is over and there are no more summer circuit championships to win. The next stop for a championship is Wells Fargo in March. We will see you there!
Xavier
Xavier has a host of talented players playing on the summer circuit and their three top returning scorers all had a summer to remember. Caitlynn Daniels, an Alabama-Birmingham commit, ran with Team Iowa this season and made some marked improvements to her already stellar game. Libby Arnold was also a member of Team Iowa and got quicker and stronger this year allowing her to do much more within her game. Aree Beckmann was with Lady Martin Brothers and showed improved confidence and scoring. These three players are going to be key in getting back to the Well.
Youth
Youth is running rampant in Iowa. The 2022 class is very good as everyone knows, but the 2023 class? You’ll soon see. Audi Crooks, Molly Joyce, Jenna Hopp, Molly Noelck, Kelsey Joens, Arianna Jackson, Carlee Rochford, Emma Hampton, Jenna Pitz…the list keeps going. Think there is a lot of talent in the state right now, just wait until the freshmen make their introductions. They will be impactful and impressive quickly.
Zigzag
“Zigzag” – This is what I did all summer long trying to track down Iowa teams to provide coverage from All Iowa Attack to Elite to Iowa BlueStar to North Iowa Fire among countless others. This summer I was physically in the gym for 738 hours (30.75 days) from April 6th to July 26th. I drove 6,931 miles to cover events in a progression of Indianapolis to Omaha to Ames to Minneapolis to Ames to Omaha to Minneapolis to Ames to Ames to Indianapolis to Minneapolis to Indianapolis to Louisville to Indianapolis to Waverly to Carroll to Minneapolis to Ames…that’s about how long my summer felt, but I wouldn’t want it any other way because I love what I do and the opportunities I am able to provide. Thank you for making this summer memorable and we’ll see you soon!