2025 Watchlist Debut: Guards Breakdown

With the 2025 watchlist now out, we are diving straight into breaking down each positional group. Generally we would take it position by position but I decided to group the positions together because it is almost impossible to determine a player's true position right now. First, I will be looking at the 28 guards on the 2025 watchlist. There are very likely some players in the wings category that could evolve their game to become a point guard or shooting guard but generally the wings are the players who are best as slashers or with development could slide to a guard spot or a forward spot. <hr /> There are 17 point guards currently in our watchlist. For me, the biggest standout thus far has been the 5'9 [player_tooltip player_id="311396" first="Ava" last="Zediker"]. She's a wiry-thin guard who can penetrate off the bounce or shoot it from beyond the arc. I really like her decision making with the ball in her hands too. I think she can develop into someone who can play on the ball but I also wouldn't be surprised to take more of an off-ball role as she is so good off-the-catch and slashing to the rim. Zediker is one of three players in the 2025 class to have been publicly offered as she has received an offer from Drake. Also catching my attention has been 5'7 [player_tooltip player_id="311394" first="Alyssa" last="Bartlett"] and 5'4 [player_tooltip player_id="311395" first="Zoe" last="Hinze"] of Kingdom Hoops. Both will be attending Southeast Polk and joining an already loaded roster of players. I like Bartlett's versatility and her ability to get to the rim. Defensively, she is stout as she plays hard nosed defense. Hinze is a smaller point guard but has a high motor and a ton of speed. She is going to be a defensive menace as she develops. I think both of these players can contribute at a high level to Southeast Polk in the future, although with what Southeast Polk returns they may have trouble finding the varsity floor this year. [player_tooltip player_id="311398" first="Caleiyah" last="Wilder"] is another small guard who likely will see some varsity time this year. The 5'4 point guard played her summer basketball with Beyond Ball and enters into a certain State Title contender with her high school team, Waterloo West. Wilder is a smart player with the ball and has the ability to get it up and down the floor quickly. She can score the ball as well, as evidenced by her performances this summer. I am really intrigued to see how she fits in and performs for a loaded Waterloo West team this season. <hr /> There are 11 shooting guards in our watchlist and I think nearly all of them have the ability to play three spots on the floor. The headliner of this group is 5'10 [player_tooltip player_id="311381" first="Divine" last="Bourrage"] and she has already picked up an offer from Iowa State. She is supremely versatile with the ball in her hands and is a swiss army knife almost in how many different things she can do really well on the floor. I can see her molding herself into a point guard, staying as an off-ball guard, or getting bigger and stronger and being a very good wing for any program in the country. She heads into Davenport Central next year and will almost certainly see a lot of floor time. [player_tooltip player_id="311377" first="Mya" last="Crawford"] was a player that really stood out for me this summer. The 5'7 shooting guard comes from a basketball family and with graduations from Cedar Falls, I would not be shocked to see her earn some playing time. I have her as an off-ball guard right now but she certainly is one of those players who are in the mix to move up to being classified as a point guard. I think her ability to run off screens and catch-and-shoot is just too valuable right now. She can handle the ball really well though, as she played the combo guard role at times for her All Iowa Attack team this summer. Another few players who I am really intrigued to see this year in the high school setting are 5'11 [player_tooltip player_id="311380" first="Sydney" last="Huber"] of Cedar Rapids Xavier and the 5'8 duo of [player_tooltip player_id="311384" first="Jada" last="Podey"] and [player_tooltip player_id="311383" first="Abby" last="Tuttle"] that will be heading to play for North Polk. Huber is a really nice shooter for a good [program_tooltip program_id='715980' first='Team' last='Iowa'] freshman group and I am really interested to see how she fits in with her high school team. She already is an elite shooter and you can never have too many of those. For North Polk, I thought that Tuttle was really impressive this summer as she played multiple spot on the floor. She's a really nice guard but has a big enough frame that she can slide to the wing if needed. Podey was absent for the summer and spent the summer rehabbing. I saw her last summer as an eighth grader to-be and was really impressed with her potential. I think that Podey has the ability to help North Polk sooner than later. Both of these guards are a part of a very good North Polk freshman group.