Minnesota Top 250: This is the 2023 All-Expo Team

More than 75 members of the Class of 2023 showed up on Sunday at Bloomington Kennedy High School ready to get down to business at the Prep Girls Hoops Top 250 Expo, and that is exactly what they did. It was an impressive group, and more than half of them are already ranked, but there were also a whole lot of players we weren’t all that familiar with. By the end of the day we knew a lot more about the newcomers, and we saw a lot more from the veterans who we have been tracking for a long time now. One of those newcomers made such an impression that she is among those profiled here – the best of the best who made the 2023 All-Expo Team. FIRST TEAM <img class="wp-image-338453 size-thumbnail alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/54-Maren-Westin-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="108304" first="Maren" last="Westin"] – 5’8 guard, Becker (UW-Green Bay) Maren was made for the playground, and we don’t mean the teeter totters or swing sets scattered about the parks in Becker. Perhaps the blacktop courts with the chain link baskets in New York or Chicago would be more Maren’s speed, because she has definitely got next. Westin (pronounced Wes-teen) is so quick, so athletic, so creative, so utterly lacking in fear, and the result is non-stop entertainment. Maren going one-on-one is a thing of beauty, but it’s not as if she hogs the ball. On the contrary, Westin did it all on Sunday including making everyone around her look just a little bit better. <img class="wp-image-338534 size-thumbnail alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/142-Taryn-Hamling-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="108316" first="Taryn" last="Hamling"] – 5’9 guard, Grand Rapids (North Dakota State) Taryn used to be up and down like a rollercoaster, and back in the day you were never quite sure what you were going to get from the Thunderhawks guard. Not anymore. Hamling has aged like fine wine and she almost always delivers as required. Sunday was no exception. Taryn has a well-developed box of tools and is an exceptional shooter of the basketball. She sees the floor, understands the game, moves the ball very well and produces the results one would expect from that combination of skills. <img class="wp-image-208556 size-thumbnail alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/10/142_Kennedy-Klick_1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="108306" first="Kennedy" last="Klick"] – 6’0 wing, Maple Grove Smmmmoooooooooooth. That’s Miss Klick. I never, ever get tired of watching Kennedy do good work. She’s long and athletic. She handles the ball at an elite level. She can shoot it, both from the mid-range and long distance. And she runs the floor as well as anyone we’ve seen. Kennedy played on Sunday with 2026 phenom [player_tooltip player_id="339185" first="Lanelle" last="Wright"] of Minnetonka and 2023 forward [player_tooltip player_id="148340" first="Shannon" last="Fornshell"] of Wayzata, and it was fun to watch. All three of them will make fine Division 1 basketball players at some point but nobody will have more fun doing it than Klick. <img class="wp-image-209016 size-thumbnail alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/10/166_Ava-Privet_1-scaled-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="186117" first="Ava" last="Privet"] – 5’10 guard, Caledonia As Top 30 prospects go, Privet remains relatively low profile. Caledonia may be an outstanding basketball town, having spawned a generation of excellent players and drawing more than its share of accolades, particularly on the boys side. But it’s still a little off the beaten path. It shouldn’t be long, though, before college coaches will have the route to the Wild Turkey Capital of Minnesota memorized. At least they should because Ava is definitely worth the effort. Light feet. Soft hands. Big motor. Bright future. <img class="wp-image-338629 size-thumbnail alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/256-Shannon-Fornshell-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="148340" first="Shannon" last="Fornshell"] – 6’1 forward, Wayzata Shannon’s game has expanded so much and all of it was on display at the Top 250. In an unstructured showcase environment, the chains are off and players can do whatever they want without the constraints of a system or the coach’s wrath. It allows prospects to play more freely and with less concern about making mistakes. In Shannon’s case the results were exquisite. She handled the ball more, ran the floor at a high rate of speed, pulled off a sweet 360-degree spin move in the paint, and more. SECOND TEAM <img class="wp-image-338563 size-thumbnail alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/176-Ashley-Fritz-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="108323" first="Ashley" last="Fritz"] – 5’10 guard, Eden Prairie Last week we previewed the Top 250 Expo with a look at some under-appreciated juniors for coaches to dig a little deeper on. It’s gratifying to sit here a few days later and see how many of those 10 kids made the All-Expo team. Case in point: Miss Fritz. On Sunday at Bloomington Kennedy, Ashley did what Ashley does. She saw the floor, moved the ball, made solid decisions and demonstrated her versatility all over the court. Ashley is an excellent prospect for a scholarship-level opportunity and throughout the day she showed us why. <img class="wp-image-338523 size-thumbnail alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/132-Olivia-Harazin-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="148319" first="Olivia" last="Harazin"] – 5’8 guard, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial There were a lot of dynamic athletes on Team 4 at the Expo, from long and lanky freshman [player_tooltip player_id="296513" first="Bree" last="Bowman"] to uber-athletic [player_tooltip player_id="296516" first="Regan" last="Juenemann"] and skillful combo guards like [player_tooltip player_id="148325" first="Emily" last="Bowron"] and [player_tooltip player_id="337631" first="Lexi" last="Rose"]. And then there was Olivia, who fit right in with that rather gifted group. Like Klick, Harazin simply loves basketball. You can see it in the way she carries herself on the court, in how hard she plays, in how she interacts with teammates and in the results. Which, by the way, were really good. <img class="wp-image-338510 size-thumbnail alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/116-Brianna-Simpson-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="302259" first="Brianna" last="Simpson"] – 5’8 guard, Marshall The athletic guard burst into our consciousness last winter with the Marshall Tigers. On a team known for its hard-nosed physical style of play, an approach where finesse is an afterthought and defense rules the roost, Simpson was a blinding flash of offensive light. She’s quick and athletic and feisty, and her attributes made a big difference for the state 3A finalists. On Sunday in Bloomington, we saw her up close and personal and she packed a powerful punch all day long, getting to the hoop at will and knocking down threes . She’s still a little raw but Simpson’s upside is rising quickly. <img class="wp-image-338636 size-thumbnail alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/264-Katelyn-Maciej-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="108314" first="Katelyn" last="Maciej"] – 6’2 forward, Rogers We told you all about the evolution of Katelyn in our Top 250 previews, about her growth in confidence, her ever-improving set of skills, her added physicality and her ability to stretch the floor. Let’s just say she did not disappoint at the event itself. Early in the day we saw Katelyn go head to head with another big forward whose star is on the rise – [player_tooltip player_id="302257" first="Taylor" last="Johnson"] of Cannon Falls – and neither one was willing to give an inch. They also had a few smiles and laughs along the way, which is exactly how it should be at an event like this. <img class="wp-image-338633 size-thumbnail alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/261-Brylie-Schultz-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> [player_tooltip player_id="339102" first="Brylie" last="Schultz"] – 6’1 forward, Wheaton-Herman-Norcross For the third year in a row, at least one player showed up at the Top 250 Expo as a virtual unknown and departed leaving us all wondering the same thing: How did we not know about her before now? This year that was Brylie, a sizeable post player who can stretch the floor, handle the ball in transition, make smart decisions and quality passes, and bury three-point shots with precision. And on the same day she was impressing us Brylie was also tweeting a nice D2 college offer, and it wasn't her first! HONORABLE MENTION <ul> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="108335" first="Vivica" last="Bretton"] – 5’9 guard, Rochester Lourdes</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="108345" first="Brynn" last="Senden"] – 5’6 guard, Wayzata</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="302255" first="Maci" last="Farmer"] – 5’7 guard, Jackson County Central</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="148315" first="Emily" last="Christenson"] – 5’11 guard, East Ridge</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="148338" first="Grace" last="Counts"] – 6’0 forward, Providence Academy</li> </ul>