In the pipeline: Top junior varsity talent, part 3

There are a ton of great college basketball prospects currently playing at the junior varsity level in Minnesota. If you read parts 1 and 2 of this miniseries on what’s in the pipeline, you already know that Prior Lake and Hopkins are loaded with young talent working their way into the limelight. Now we offer you part 3, featuring other strong JV prospects we’ve seen this season. Three of them are from a very deep Maple Grove program, two more come from Minnetonka where the cupboard is also far from bare, and the sixth player in this set of evaluations hails from Eastview which also has several exciting young players. Of course, this is by no means a comprehensive list, and there are many more prospects playing junior varsity right now. These are the ones we’ve seen in person over the past few weeks who left a positive impression. Ava Cossette Ava Cossette 5'10" | CG Maple Grove | 2024 State MN – 2024 guard, Maple Grove Ava is the #8-rated prospect in the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2024. That says a lot right there, doesn’t it? The expectations are high for the 5’10 guard. She has really light feet, moves up and down the floor with a sort of natural ease, and has very long strides. Cossette is also highly skilled, with terrific handles, great court vision, and elite shooting ability. In most programs Cossette would be a rotation regular at this point. In all but the best of the best she would be the starting point guard. But the roster is deep in Maple Grove and Ava is continuing to develop out of the limelight. That will give her body time to fill out and get stronger, and help her develop as a steady floor leader. Down the road we are confident that the results will have been well worth the wait. Sidney Reed Sidney Reed 6'2" | SF Minnetonka | 2024 State MN – 2024 forward, Minnetonka Not everybody sees it yet, and college coaches really haven’t had the opportunity to fully evaluate Reed’s potential because they haven’t been allowed to watch live basketball in a gym for more than a year now. We watched Sidney last summer – a lot – and came away excited about where the 6’2 forward from North Tartan is headed. That’s how she earned the #15 ranking in the 2024 class. By no means is she currently the 15th-best performer among Minnesota’s freshmen but, as we constantly remind our readers, the prospect rankings are about the player’s potential for success in college basketball, not what they are doing in high school. What Reed is doing is consistently improving, learning how to best take advantage of her exceptional length, growing her self-confidence and gradually realizing that she is going to go places in the game of basketball. Just remember where you heard it first. Lauren Machacek Lauren Machacek 5'10" | SF Eastview | 2024 State MN – 2024 forward, Eastview In rereading what I just wrote about Reed, it occurs to me that we could say pretty much the same thing about Machacek. Well except for the confidence part, because Lauren has no shortage of self-belief, no shortage of leadership skills, no shortage of enthusiasm and energy nor willingness to put in the work it takes to get to the promised land. The 5’10 forward is just young and thin and not particularly dominant against bigger, older, stronger players because of it. But she will be. We had heard great things coming out of Eastview last year about Lauren’s potential, and we loved her from the first moment we watched last summer with the Minnesota Stars. She’s just got that ‘it factor,’ that certain something you can’t quite put your finger on that sets her apart from the crowd. That’s why Lauren is rated #16 in the class and is gradually earning more and more impact minutes in the Lightning’s varsity lineup. Claire Stern Claire Stern 6'0" | SF Maple Grove | 2024 State MN – 2024 forward, Maple Grove The 6’0 forward has the makings of a premier player in the class of 2024. She is currently ranked #18 among the freshmen prospects, a status she earned last summer with the Minnesota Fury by proving that she could excel against the very best players in her age group. Claire can score, she can rebound, and she can fill up multiple categories on the score sheet. Stern has a big frame and no shortage of length. She’s smooth and mobile, can beat you one-on-one and score off the bounce, and she has the size and strength to be a force inside. When Claire is dialed in and running on all cylinders she is a force. Stern moves to Minnesota Suns Blue Star this summer where she will team up with top-drawer prospects like Tori Oehrlein Tori Oehrlein 5'8" | CG Crosby-Ironton | 2026 MN , Amy Thompson Amy Thompson 5'9" | SG Stillwater | 2024 State MN , Nicole Maenke Nicole Maenke 5'9" | CG Shakopee | 2024 State MN and more. Audrey Kormann Audrey Kormann 6'2" | PF Maple Grove | 2023 State MN – 2023 forward, Maple Grove Like Cossette and Stern, Kormann is patiently waiting her turn at Maple Grove. The 6’2 forward, ranked #49 in the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2023, has come a long way over the past couple of years. She has gotten smoother, grown her skill set substantially, filled out some, and become more poised with the basketball. She has always been able to put the ball into the hole. Last summer with the Metro Stars, Kormann proved she was capable of dominating a basketball game at times as she parlayed her length advantage into a productive season. While her sister, senior forward Sophia Kormann, is a mainstay for the Crimson, Audrey is still waiting patiently in the wings. We remain bullish on Audrey’s future. Grace Hamdorf – 2024 guard, Minnetonka We watched Grace last summer with North Tartan as part of our due diligence on the class of 2024. She was good, and we liked what we saw. We saw her again on Jan. 14, opening night of the 2020 Minnesota high school season, and were honestly quite taken aback by just how well she played. The Skippers’ JV squad looked very good that night, largely because Hamdorf was here, there, and everywhere. I loved her energy and aggressiveness. Grace has a bigger body, and she’s strong for her age. She plays that game with gusto, is plenty physical, and has the kind of take-charge attitude we love in a young prospect. That performance in January opened our eyes about what is possible long-term for Hamdorf.   We’ll be watching again in the spring when she suits up in the red and white of Crossfire. Top photo: Ava Cossette Ava Cossette 5'10" | CG Maple Grove | 2024 State MN of Maple Grove, shown here at the Prep Girls Hoops Top 250 Expo,  is a top-10 prospect in the class of 2024.