Tonka Fall League Notes

The Minnetonka Fall League was short on some of the bigger names yesterday but it was actually more entertaining as the games were excellent and some new players stepped forward as players the state should get to know. One of those players is six foot senior guard Jaylin Dubose who yesterday looked like the second coming of Jordan Jackson.

Dubose only played in the second part of North's season last year but he did average 8.6 points per game once he was on the court. Yesterday Jaylin put on a display in a loss to Minnetonka that shows he could be one of the biggest surprises of the 2011-12 season.

Simply put Jaylin was incredible scoring 35 points and doing just about everything that would make a college scout drool. Let's run through what he did (and there were several witnesses to the following): Hit three-pointers? Check. Break opponents down off the bounce and pull-up to hit from 18? Check. Attack the bucket off the bounce and finish well above the rim with multiple dunks? Check. Block shots a foot above the rim? Check. Show the creative ball handling skill of versatile guard? Check. Beat opponents back on defense and score in transition as a regular one man fast break? Check.

Could this one game have shown a false representation of consistency in the areas of his game? Maybe. Let's be honest, this is fall league and the Minnetonka defense has a long ways to go. But what was seen yesterday from Dubose is a player that college coaches need to get a look at because if they liked Jordan Jackson (which several at the D1 and D2 level did) then schools will definitely like Dubose.

North is going to be a class A state contender with Dubose playing this way and Coach Brett McNeal back at the controls. In addition to Dubose the Polars have a pair of long armed and athletic frontcourt talents in junior Lee Gaines and long armed senior Cory Jones. This team will be a tough beat in Class A.

Another player who had fans asking "who is that" was Blaine wing Alex Cappard. The 6-foot-2 wing first opened eyes when he attacked an opening in the Cretin-Derham Hall defense, took two dribbles forward, and one hand slammed while several Raider help defenders took cover. Cappard did it again later in the game only this time the dunk was over defenders and it was performed much more viciously.

Cappard helped lead his team to a win hitting a handful of pull-up jumpers late complete with a dribble drive move to create separation and then a high rising attempt. Cappard has the type of athletic ability that compliments Duke Anywanu and Tanner Shumacher very well.

Quick Notes

• Bridge Tusler continues to impress. There is just a lot to like about a guard who is college running back strong with great quickness, toughness, and the willingness to defend at a high level.

• Wofford commit C.J. Neumann continues to knock down perimeter jumpshots at a high rate. The Raiders are really going to need a lot out of him early in the year with both Cortez Tillman and Taylor Montero out with injury but he should be up for the task.

• Bloomington Kennedy big man Jacob Kohner has been overlooked by all of the talk about the Eagle guards as well as Cullen Russo (who is now in Iowa at prep school). Kohner has looked like a force to be reckoned with at the Tonka fall league scoring on the block and catching and hitting from mid-range.

• Wayzata is good once again. In the backcourt it's going to be Collin Nugent's time as he's a lanky 6-foot-2 guard with some skill. He'll have a lot of size to work with as Nick Eid is a 6-foot-7 junior getting better on the block every day, Chad Pottas isn't nicknamed "The Ultimate Warrior" for nothing, and Ben Joppa continues to show he'll make contributions as a senior.

• St. Louis Park's D.J. Pollard will have a huge junior year, you can see that every time he takes the court this fall.

• Minnetonka frontcourt beast Latrell Love has so many low post tricks in his bag. All the 50s and 60s big men out there would love to buy a ticket and watch this guy because he is so crafty with his pivot plus his long arms can snake out a low post attempt from just about any angle.

• Love the work that Andrew Turnblad put in yesterday finishing at the cup, rebounding, and stepping in as a help defender versus Minneapolis North.

• With 15 seconds to go Orono had the ball looking to beat Lakeville North. They were down a point and things looked bleak but Brady Wohler found his way to the ball on the wing with eight ticks remaining. At that point Brady put the ball on the deck and started weaving. When the buzzer went off it looked as if Brady had dribbled around every Panther at least twice and then found his way close enough to the rim to sneak in a lay-in to win the game.

• South Dakota commit Tyler Flack was being doubled on the low block yesterday with two Orono players sandwiching him with forearms and hips. It wasn't that big of a deal to Flack whose teammate still sent an alley-oop his way and from under the hoop Tyler jumped straight in the air (no steps into his jump), caught the ball well above the rim, and attempted a ridiculous dunk. The angle resulted in a miss but this was an attempt that about 0.001 percent of athletes can even make.

• Brett Rasmussen is relentless with his offensive attack. Every part of his game looks better and don't be surprised if his scoring average is one of the more surprising in the metro area.

• Jeff Probert is definitely improved. At 6-foot-10 his low post game is going to bring him more college looks next summer than locals believe.