Senior Stock Raisers

Several Minnesota kids have represented themselves and their state quite well this July. Seniors are on the road looking to impress college recruiters in hopes of scholarship dreams. The fallout of scholarship offers, visits, and such will continue into September but already several from the Land of 10,000 Lakes have impressed enough to earn tenders. Today Minnesota Preps looks at ten of the seniors who improved their stock.

Lucas Brown - Brown added to his offer list yesterday when Florida Gulf Coast extended giving Brown them along with South Dakota and South Dakota State, some D2 schools, and there is a ton of extra interest. Everybody has known Brown can score because at 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, he's an athletic big body. But this off-season when he picked up the intensity on defense and on the glass Brown put himself in a whole new class of recruits.

Joe Coleman - Joe's July calendar had a big red circle around the Peach Jam event. It was there that many coaches from around the nation were going to take a strong look at what he could do and Joe didn't disappoint. Scoring at 18 points per game plus ranking 8th best at the event, Joe picked up offers from Creighton, Seton Hall, Iowa State, and Siena thus far and more could be on the horizon.

Marquel Curtis - Every college coach I talk to who has seen 43 Hoops play always raves about the motor and scoring ability of Curtis. Marquel recently added the Hartford offer joining St. Cloud State and South Dakota plus he's increased his interest load. His shining moment may have been against the Minnesota Pump N Run in June because Curtis simply played like a man that day.

Michael Emge - Coming into AAU play most people knew Emge was a talented kid. He led the Big Nine in scoring and at 6-foot-4 he's one of these kids who just has a knack for putting the ball through the rim. Then came the scholarship offers from Sioux Falls and Minnesota State-Mankato plus interest from dozens of schools and Enge vaulted himself into a whole new level of recruitment.

Seth Hinrichs - At 6-foot-6 and shooting a high percentage from behind the arc, it should come at no surprise that Lafayette offered Seth a scholarship. They are not likely to be the only D1 school to do so because Idaho, Boise State, NJIT, North Dakota, Lehigh, and others have been making regular calls. This week Hinrichs stepped on the floor in the Desert Duel event and sunk five triples in front of numerous coaches.

Bretson McNeal - McNeal's incredible shooting/scoring performance at this year's Minnesota state AAU tournament opened everybody's eyes and that tends to happen when you hit eight threes in one game, six treys in another, and then nine in yet another. McNeal was quickly moved from the Pulley White team to the Blue team where he's impressed. Idaho is the first D1 school to offer.

T.J. Okafor - Many can't believe what T.J. is doing. The word has always been that when T.J. puts his mind to it few can stop him. Well, T.J. is definitely putting his mind to it because offers have come, interest is also on the way including Iowa State inviting him to campus, and Okafor continues to explosively make plays at the rim on both ends, defend like a deflecting animal, and show improved skill.

Jonah Travis - The Minnesota Pump N Run fought their way through a Super Pool in the Adidas Super 64 with a 3-0 record and proceeded into the Sweet 16. A big reason continues to be Travis who has become the definition of "a gamer". He's earned offers from Northeastern, Miami of Ohio, Loyola of Chicago, and Tulane recently and more can be expected. Plus Northwestern, Washington State, and Boise State are taking strong looks. Travis is a 6-foot-6 combo forward who has battled his way into the next level of recruitment.

Ross Travis - "Athletic with big potential" described Ross coming into July but he's taken his game to a new level. A higher level of consistency, a much improved floor game, and explosive jam after explosive jam is what schools have seen. Iowa liked it enough to offer Ross a scholarship, Iowa State's new staff decided that the offer from the previous staff will stand, and numerous high majors are making calls to Ross.

Mike Yahnke - Yahnke has always been known as a very strong D2 prospect but this July the Delano big man re-focused his attack. With each and every game Yahnke has battled harder and harder around the basket banging with the best of them and producing results. Texas-Pan American is the first division one school to offer, a handful of Ivy League schools have shown interest, and division twos are hoping he wants to stay local.

Others

There are many other seniors who should also be included in this list that may not have been covered (like Derek Steve, Jayme Moten, Lamonte Hall, Alex Richter, Kyle Noreen, Marcus Alipate, C.J. Smith, Travis Rollo, James Fort, Raijon Kelly, Levi Abercrombie, etc) because many others are also playing well and improving their stock in the eyes of college coaches. If some names were missed feel free to post them in the Premium basketball board because if Minnesota Preps went on listing past ten this story would take an hour to read.