Minnesota Top 250: This is the 2023 All-Expo Team
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More than 75 members of the Class of 2023 showed up on Sunday at Bloomington Kennedy High School ready to get down to business at the Prep Girls Hoops Top 250 Expo, and that is exactly what they did. It…
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Continue ReadingMore than 75 members of the Class of 2023 showed up on Sunday at Bloomington Kennedy High School ready to get down to business at the Prep Girls Hoops Top 250 Expo, and that is exactly what they did. It was an impressive group, and more than half of them are already ranked, but there were also a whole lot of players we weren’t all that familiar with. By the end of the day we knew a lot more about the newcomers, and we saw a lot more from the veterans who we have been tracking for a long time now. One of those newcomers made such an impression that she is among those profiled here – the best of the best who made the 2023 All-Expo Team.
FIRST TEAM
Maren Westin Maren Westin 5'8" | CG Becker | 2023 State MN – 5’8 guard, Becker (UW-Green Bay)
Maren was made for the playground, and we don’t mean the teeter totters or swing sets scattered about the parks in Becker. Perhaps the blacktop courts with the chain link baskets in New York or Chicago would be more Maren’s speed, because she has definitely got next. Westin (pronounced Wes-teen) is so quick, so athletic, so creative, so utterly lacking in fear, and the result is non-stop entertainment. Maren going one-on-one is a thing of beauty, but it’s not as if she hogs the ball. On the contrary, Westin did it all on Sunday including making everyone around her look just a little bit better.
Taryn Hamling Taryn Hamling 5'9" | PG Grand Rapids | 2023 State MN – 5’9 guard, Grand Rapids (North Dakota State)
Taryn used to be up and down like a rollercoaster, and back in the day you were never quite sure what you were going to get from the Thunderhawks guard. Not anymore. Hamling has aged like fine wine and she almost always delivers as required. Sunday was no exception. Taryn has a well-developed box of tools and is an exceptional shooter of the basketball. She sees the floor, understands the game, moves the ball very well and produces the results one would expect from that combination of skills.
Kennedy Klick Kennedy Klick 6'0" | CG Maple Grove | 2023 State MN – 6’0 wing, Maple Grove
Smmmmoooooooooooth. That’s Miss Klick. I never, ever get tired of watching Kennedy do good work. She’s long and athletic. She handles the ball at an elite level. She can shoot it, both from the mid-range and long distance. And she runs the floor as well as anyone we’ve seen. Kennedy played on Sunday with 2026 phenom Lanelle Wright of Minnetonka and 2023 forward Shannon Fornshell Shannon Fornshell 6'1" | SF Wayzata | 2023 State MN of Wayzata, and it was fun to watch. All three of them will make fine Division 1 basketball players at some point but nobody will have more fun doing it than Klick.
Ava Privet Ava Privet 5'10" | CG Caledonia | 2023 State MN – 5’10 guard, Caledonia
As Top 30 prospects go, Privet remains relatively low profile. Caledonia may be an outstanding basketball town, having spawned a generation of excellent players and drawing more than its share of accolades, particularly on the boys side. But it’s still a little off the beaten path. It shouldn’t be long, though, before college coaches will have the route to the Wild Turkey Capital of Minnesota memorized. At least they should because Ava is definitely worth the effort. Light feet. Soft hands. Big motor. Bright future.
Shannon Fornshell Shannon Fornshell 6'1" | SF Wayzata | 2023 State MN – 6’1 forward, Wayzata
Shannon’s game has expanded so much and all of it was on display at the Top 250. In an unstructured showcase environment, the chains are off and players can do whatever they want without the constraints of a system or the coach’s wrath. It allows prospects to play more freely and with less concern about making mistakes. In Shannon’s case the results were exquisite. She handled the ball more, ran the floor at a high rate of speed, pulled off a sweet 360-degree spin move in the paint, and more.
SECOND TEAM
Ashley Fritz Ashley Fritz 5'10" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN – 5’10 guard, Eden Prairie
Last week we previewed the Top 250 Expo with a look at some under-appreciated juniors for coaches to dig a little deeper on. It’s gratifying to sit here a few days later and see how many of those 10 kids made the All-Expo team. Case in point: Miss Fritz. On Sunday at Bloomington Kennedy, Ashley did what Ashley does. She saw the floor, moved the ball, made solid decisions and demonstrated her versatility all over the court. Ashley is an excellent prospect for a scholarship-level opportunity and throughout the day she showed us why.
Olivia Harazin Olivia Harazin 5'8" | PG LCWM | 2023 State MN – 5’8 guard, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial
There were a lot of dynamic athletes on Team 4 at the Expo, from long and lanky freshman Bree Bowman Bree Bowman 6'2" | SF Prior Lake | 2025 State MN to uber-athletic Regan Juenemann Regan Juenemann 5'9" | CG Duluth Marshall | 2025 State MN and skillful combo guards like Emily Bowron Emily Bowron 5'7" | SG Rochester Lourdes | 2023 State MN and Lexi Rose. And then there was Olivia, who fit right in with that rather gifted group. Like Klick, Harazin simply loves basketball. You can see it in the way she carries herself on the court, in how hard she plays, in how she interacts with teammates and in the results. Which, by the way, were really good.
Brianna Simpson Brianna Simpson 5'8" | SG Marshall | 2023 State MN – 5’8 guard, Marshall
The athletic guard burst into our consciousness last winter with the Marshall Tigers. On a team known for its hard-nosed physical style of play, an approach where finesse is an afterthought and defense rules the roost, Simpson was a blinding flash of offensive light. She’s quick and athletic and feisty, and her attributes made a big difference for the state 3A finalists. On Sunday in Bloomington, we saw her up close and personal and she packed a powerful punch all day long, getting to the hoop at will and knocking down threes . She’s still a little raw but Simpson’s upside is rising quickly.
Katelyn Maciej Katelyn Maciej 6'2" | PF Rogers | 2023 State MN – 6’2 forward, Rogers
We told you all about the evolution of Katelyn in our Top 250 previews, about her growth in confidence, her ever-improving set of skills, her added physicality and her ability to stretch the floor. Let’s just say she did not disappoint at the event itself. Early in the day we saw Katelyn go head to head with another big forward whose star is on the rise – Taylor Johnson Taylor Johnson 6'3" | PF Cannon Falls | 2023 State MN of Cannon Falls – and neither one was willing to give an inch. They also had a few smiles and laughs along the way, which is exactly how it should be at an event like this.
Brylie Schultz Brylie Schultz 6'2" | PF Wheaton Area | 2023 State MN – 6’1 forward, Wheaton-Herman-Norcross
For the third year in a row, at least one player showed up at the Top 250 Expo as a virtual unknown and departed leaving us all wondering the same thing: How did we not know about her before now? This year that was Brylie, a sizeable post player who can stretch the floor, handle the ball in transition, make smart decisions and quality passes, and bury three-point shots with precision. And on the same day she was impressing us Brylie was also tweeting a nice D2 college offer, and it wasn’t her first!
HONORABLE MENTION
- Vivica Bretton Vivica Bretton 5'9" | SF Rochester Lourdes | 2023 State MN – 5’9 guard, Rochester Lourdes
- Brynn Senden Brynn Senden 5'6" | PG Wayzata | 2023 State MN – 5’6 guard, Wayzata
- Maci Farmer Maci Farmer 5'7" | CG Jackson County Central | 2023 State MN – 5’7 guard, Jackson County Central
- Emily Christenson Emily Christenson 5'11" | SF East Ridge | 2023 State MN – 5’11 guard, East Ridge
- Grace Counts Grace Counts 6'1" | PF Providence | 2023 State MN – 6’0 forward, Providence Academy