AAU Weekly Recap #4: Best of the Saturday Shootout

We go into every AAU weekend with one goal: Find a talented fresh face with plenty of potential and a better-than-average set of skills. Last week we hit a home run with Taylor Clarey, the 2024 guard from Give ‘n Go and Rochester Century. This weekend we hit the jackpot again with two exciting young discoveries in Minnesota Nice guard [player_tooltip player_id="280354" first="Tucker" last="Downs"] of Mankato and Minnesota Heat wing Kayla Diedrich of Rush City. Here’s our AAU Weekly Recap #4: the Best of the Saturday Shootout in Bloomington. PLAYER OF THE WEEK [player_tooltip player_id="280354" first="Tucker" last="Downs"] – guard, Minnesota Nice 2025 & 2023 With limited roster information available at most AAU events, we always assume at the outset that a kid playing on a 2025 team is, in fact, a 2025 prospect, and a kid playing on a 2023 team is, in fact, a 2023. Sometimes we get fooled, however, and stumble upon a player whose skills and abilities enable her to play up a year or two or even three and fit right in. Such would be the case on Saturday with [player_tooltip player_id="280354" first="Tucker" last="Downs"], who is a member of the class of 2026. Yes, she looks like a 7th grader, but that’s never a reliable indicator. But she doesn’t play like a 7th grader, which was what really grabbed our attention. Downs is a highly-athletic point guard from Mankato who competed Saturday for Pierre Ellis’ 8th and 10th grade Nice teams. She has a thin frame but good strength for her age. More importantly, Tucker can handle the basketball, has excellent shooting mechanics and very, very light feet. Combined with long, smooth strides, that is a healthy set of building blocks from which to construct a basketball player. Tucker was everywhere when we watched, constantly demanding the ball and making great plays when she had it. Defensively, Downs showed she could use her long arms and quick feet to tie the opposing ball-handler into knots without fouling, which is always impressive. The other thing Tucker did that we really liked was be very vocal and encouraging when it was her turn to sit on the bench, which was not very often. Downs is a high-quality candidate who will make plenty of noise in the years to come. We should also mention two of Downs’ teammates who caught our eye: Sizeable 2026 Romo Smith of Mankato and 2025 Cadence Okerman of Sleepy Eye. We’ll circle back to cover these two in more detail when the opportunity presents itself. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-280372" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/05/Kayla-Diedrich-scaled-crop-2220x1458-1620000136-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> FRESH FACE OF THE WEEK Kayla Diedrich – wing, Minnesota Heat 2024 Diedrich is long, long, long. That’s always a positive attribute in a basketball prospect. The question is, does the player we are looking at know what to do with that particular physical tool with which she has been gifted? In Kayla’s case, the answer is ‘yes,’ but Diedrich is barely scratching the surface of what she will be able to do going forward. Kayla (pictured above) is 5’10 but it’s not difficult to imagine her surpassing the magical 6-foot mark in the not-too-distant future. She has already cracked the varsity lineup at Rush City as a freshman. Her handles are advanced enough that she was the primary player bringing the ball up the floor for the Heat. Long-term, however, she is more likely to play out on the wing once her shooting develops a little better and she is able to score off the bounce more consistently. We loved Kayla’s seemingly natural ability to get a hand in the passing lanes on a consistent basis, creating tips and turnovers. Diedrich’s defensive instincts were also impressive inside as she was able to break up numerous plays around the basket. We also liked her calm, composed demeanor on the court. We spoke with Kayla after the game, and she was very, very quiet. Her performance on the floor, however, spoke loudly and clearly, and we liked what it had to say. OTHERS WHO IMPRESSED IN WEEK #4 Jada Bierschbach – 2023 guard, Central Minnesota Swish The 2023 guard from Rocori is a 5’4 firecracker who’s got swagger written all over her. You can’t watch a game in which Jada is a participant without noticing her on the court. It’s simply not possible. She is constantly attacking the rim, making things happen, and forcing opponents into actions that are neither comfortable nor effective. We first saw Bierschbach a couple of years ago at a high school tournament up in St. Cloud and her fast feet and feisty demeanor immediately grabbled our attention. Last summer we watched her with the Swish, too, and she had improved. This weekend she showed more maturity in her decision making and pace of play. What hasn’t changed is the fire, an asset that will no doubt carry her to the next level. Chloe Turner – 2023 guard, Central Minnesota Swish We loved what we saw from Chloe last summer in a couple of viewings with the Swish down in Shakopee. At this point we expected that she would have made a bigger splash on varsity at Sartell than she has. I won’t second-guess a situation I am not familiar with but I will say this: Turner would be a huge piece of whatever puzzle I was trying to build at the high school level. She is just so explosive. We watched her blow by one defender after another on Saturday. She runs like a greyhound and has no trouble flying past opponents to get to the rim through whatever contact they’d care to offer up. Chloe is relatively small and thin, but that doesn’t seem to impede her effectiveness. As a silky-smooth shooter, who can create her own shot both inside and out, Turner offers multiple threats all at once. Bottom line: Chloe is a talented prospect and a difference-maker every time she’s on the floor. Mya Green – 2024 guard, Metro Stars 2024 Mya is deceptive. She doesn’t have speed that will blow your socks off. She doesn’t over-handle the ball to make someone’s highlight reel. She just executes intelligent basketball plays that make a difference in the outcome of the game. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about? Still early in the AAU season, Mya’s quality of play has enabled Metro Stars coach Lawrence Barnes to juggle his lineup a little, making the overall offense that much more effective. Green is now the primary point guard, which has freed up [player_tooltip player_id="215983" first="Drew" last="Buslee"] of Eagan, a top-50 prospect in the class and starting PG at the varsity level, to play off the ball a little more. It’s a new look that’s working well. Green, who plays at Bloomington Kennedy, is about 5’8 with a solid build. She has nice defensive instincts, and got a hand on the ball to force a turnover on a couple of occasions when we watched on Saturday. She’s calm, sets the pace and tempo well, and never seems to be in a hurry. The lefty is crafty and clever and intelligent and that bodes well for her future. [player_tooltip player_id="148336" first="Kylie" last="Smith"] – 2023 guard, Minnesota Impact 2023 For the past couple of seasons Eastview High School coach Molly Kasper has been quietly nurturing an impressive young crop of talent that is about to carry the Lightning back into the upper echelons of girls basketball. A number of the players who are at the core of that building project are playing AAU ball again this summer for the Minnesota Impact, including 5’11 forward [player_tooltip player_id="148336" first="Kylie" last="Smith"]. Kylie is deceptive in so many ways – deceptively quick, deceptively skilled, deceptively strong. She is also darned effective. On Saturday she showed us more of the take-no-prisoners approach she generally employs to impact the game on multiple fronts. Long-term she is a player who is going to make substantial noise we suspect, and Kylie has already earned a spot in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2023 Top 100. The Impact lineup also includes Eastview prospects such as sophomores Madi Wodele, Caitlyn Han and Claire Pepin, along with freshman point guard [player_tooltip player_id="209061" first="Vanessa" last="Wright"]. This is a team to watch at the AAU State Prelims this coming weekend. Top photo: 2026 guard [player_tooltip player_id="280354" first="Tucker" last="Downs"] of Mankato and the Minnesota Nice.