Bloomington Shootout recap: Best of the 2022s & 2021s

By the time most elite players are about to enter their junior or senior years their status as college prospects has been well-established. At that point we’re looking for confirmation and improvement. By that I mean we want confirmation that a player’s potential is as high as we think it is and we’re looking to see who is continuing to get better. We saw some of both last weekend at the Bloomington Shootout, the first AAU tournament of the season in Minnesota. Here’s a brief look at players in each category who stood out among the eight 2022 and 2021 teams we watched in depth. <strong>TOP PROSPECTS</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="57907" first="Desiree" last="Ware"] – Minnesota Stars 2022 Fleming (Minnetonka)</strong> Ware’s status is well-established. She has been a top-10 prospect in the 2022 class since the first time this class was ranked nearly two years ago. At perhaps 5’6, Desiree isn’t huge but she more than makes up for her lack of size with top-drawer quickness and track star speed. Try as they might, defenders struggle to stop Ware when she is attacking the basket. She can score in multiple ways and has proved over the years that she can do that against the best players in the state. Ware was a fill-in this weekend for Stars 2022 Fleming, a late addition from the Stars’ top 2022 Nilsen squad who gave the Fleming team just enough players – six – to compete. Led by Ware, the first-year unit won all four games over the weekend and she had games of 17, 16, 11 and 18 points. Desiree is ranked #10 in the 2022 class and holds a wide array of Division 1 offers. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="109131" first="Madison" last="Mathiowetz"] – Minnesota Rise Wolfe 2021 (Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s)</strong> Maddie is a player on the rise (pardon the pun!). At 5’9, with a muscular frame, Mathiowetz just looks like an athlete. She plays up a year for Dan Wolfe’s Minnesota Rise 2021. In truth Maddie is capable of being a regular on any team of any age in Minnesota. So why is Mathiowetz ranked at #25 in the class and not higher? Because she hasn’t had the opportunity to back up my assertion on a bigger stage. Playing small-school ball she is a force – Maddie had 50 points the first time I saw her in Sleepy Eye – and she was no less impressive in two games on Sunday. Mathiowetz scored 18 points in a win over Heat Vang and 15 more as the Rise topped Stars Zabel. One-on-one Maddie is deadly. She’s smart, fast, strong and skilled, and despite a lack of visibility to date there are a number of highly-regarded D1 programs in pursuit. This fall Mathiowetz plans to attend whatever showcase events are available to prove she can compete and beat the best. <strong>STOCK RAISERS</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="147454" first="Abbie" last="Riederer"] – Stars 2022 Fleming (Minnesota Valley Lutheran)</strong> We told you a few days ago about the performance of two newcomers to AAU from Stars 2022 Fleming whose stock is on the rise – [player_tooltip player_id="109169" first="Sophie" last="Stork"] of NRHEG and [player_tooltip player_id="147445" first="Rose" last="Wille"] of Farmington. Both had terrific weekends but it was their teammate [player_tooltip player_id="147454" first="Abbie" last="Riederer"] who probably raised her stock the most in Bloomington. Abbie was impressive throughout, but in Sunday’s win over Stars 2021 Zabel she was dominant, scoring 18 points in the first half and 24 overall. Abbie used her speed and athleticism to force turnovers and score in transition possession after possession while defending with passion and playing at maximum intensity. Watching her up close on multiple occasions now it’s clear we have underestimated Abbie’s abilities to date. The 5’8 guard from tiny Minnesota Valley Lutheran in New Ulm is currently ranked #123 in the class. That is too low and is a perfect example of why AAU matters so much as Abbie is proving that she can compete at a higher level. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="182116" first="Coco" last="Duininck"] – Minnesota Rise Wright 2022 (Central Minnesota Christian)</strong> Warning: Our assessment of the play of [player_tooltip player_id="182116" first="Coco" last="Duininck"] in Bloomington is going to read like a cut-and-paste job of the Riederer review. The similarities are striking between the Stars’ Riederer and the Minnesota Rise 2022 Wright guard Duininck. Coco plays at any even lower-profile high school program than Abbie – Central Minnesota Christian in Prinsburg – where she has built a reputation among small-school observers as a talented guard who can score. The 5’7 Duininck showed us on Sunday that the next-level skill set is there. She has an excellent all-around game, can bury long-bombs and mid-range jump shots, and she can get to the rim. Duininck scored 24 points against Crossfire 2022 South DeWitt and demonstrated her ability to defend with intelligence and poise. Coco averaged just under 20 points, 5 steals and 4 assists in high school this year and was co-MVP of the Camden Conference. It’s not hard to see why. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="109788" first="Haley" last="Garman"] – Minnesota Rise 2021 Wolfe (Redwood Valley)</strong> At 6 feet tall with an enormous frame [player_tooltip player_id="109788" first="Haley" last="Garman"] is impossible to miss. The good news is she knows how to use her size to shrug off defenders and finish at the rim with excellent touch. Most players of Garman’s size struggle with mobility and quickness, but Haley is not most players. When we first saw her play two years ago at the Big South Showcase in Worthington, we were most impressed. Having scored 39 points in a game not long before that we knew Haley could parlay her size and agility into production. Later that season we watched her turn in a dominant performance at the state tournament as Redwood Valley knocked off a heavily-favored Roseau team. It was impressive by any measure. On Sunday in Bloomington, Garman played with energy and enthusiasm while scoring 13 points in a win over Stars Zabel. She is currently ranked #111 among Minnesota’s incoming seniors. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="57136" first="Audrey" last="Ensminger"] – Minnesota Heat Vang 2021 (Hopkins)</strong> There are very few programs in the state where a player can spend most of their high school career playing on the junior varsity team and still make it to college basketball. Hopkins is one of those teams. OK, Hopkins is probably the only one. We have seen it happen before and we’re likely to see it happen again in the case of [player_tooltip player_id="57136" first="Audrey" last="Ensminger"]. In a high school program that is loaded with elite-level prospects heading for high-major and mid-major college programs, a talented player like Audrey can still get lost. If you’ve watched her over the years with the Minnesota Heat, however, you know that she is an outstanding athlete with great handles and advanced skills. Her decision making has improved dramatically over the past few seasons and she plays the game with passion at both ends of the floor. That’s what we saw this weekend. Make no mistake, the 5’7 combo guard will be a college basketball player and a good one at that. <strong>Maleah Scott – Minnesota Stars 2021 Zabel (Farmington)</strong> Like Hopkins, Farmington is loaded. Anyone who watched the top-notch 4A squad perform throughout the high school season knows that, but they many not know <strong>Maleah Scott</strong>. Like Ensminger, Scott is a low-profile player in a high-profile program. Her 2020 teammate [player_tooltip player_id="13357" first="Molly" last="Mogensen"] is headed for mid-major Creighton University. Her 2021 teammate [player_tooltip player_id="13045" first="Sophie" last="Hart"] announced her commitment on Wednesday to high major North Carolina State. 2021 guard [player_tooltip player_id="109756" first="Peyton" last="Blandin"] recently committed to D2 Southwest Minnesota State. Meanwhile Scott spent most of the season as the 7th player in the Tigers’ rotation, a kid who could come off the bench and play with energy and passion just long enough to give the star performers a breather. That is about to change. With the graduation of Mogensen, [player_tooltip player_id="110892" first="Katelyn" last="Mohr"] and [player_tooltip player_id="110903" first="Morgan" last="Ebel"], the 5’6 guard is poised to step into the starting lineup and Farmington coach Liz Carpentier is excited about what Scott brings to the table. Maleah showed us over the weekend that she is ready. Scott is an excellent athlete with quick feet, quick hands and a solid overall skill set. She isn’t likely to light up the scoreboard but Scott is likely to play a key role in a lot of victories. <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Top photo: Two players from Minnesota Rise 2021 were among our standouts on the weekend: #40 [player_tooltip player_id="109788" first="Haley" last="Garman"] of Redwood Valley (back row) and #3 [player_tooltip player_id="109131" first="Madison" last="Mathiowetz"]  of Sleep Eye (front row).</em></span>