Rocky Mountain Mayhem: 17U First Team All-Tourney

Colorado was amazing and it wasn’t just the weather and the mountains. The level of talent on display was some of the best I’ve seen so far during my travels across the Dynasty Region and I should go ahead and warn the whole region, look out for these teams from Colorado! They are outstanding and most of them are also very young. I also got to see several seniors who are not only still looking for a college to call home but most definitely deserve a college to call home. Some of the 2022s I saw in Colorado were the best in the building and you coaches need to get ahold of these kids before someone else does! In alphabetical order, here are the first team performers from last weekend in Denver! <strong>Madison Gage | 5-10 G/F | BC Denver / Legacy | 2023 | @MadisonHGage</strong> Madison makes a lot of plays and one of my biggest notes about her was that she was sneaky athletic. I mean, she is definitely a long, tall player who stands out immediately, but the way she just explodes to the rim sometimes can catch you off guard. It catches the other team off guard, too. Her consistent scoring had her in the teens every game and she did it in a plethora of ways. She can hit from long-range with a nice high release. She also -- as mentioned before -- is explosive in getting to the rim and she does a great job of finishing strong inside. Most of all, Gage is having fun out there. Four games in two days can be a grind and Madison never stopped smiling. Always with a kind word for her team and the other, she seems to be enjoying herself and that can go a long way in this world of year-round basketball. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="216688" first="Caitlin" last="Kramer"] | 6-1 F | Colorado Basketball Club 2023 UAA / Air Academy | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/CaitlinKramer23">@CaitlinKramer23</a></strong> Not only is Caitlin 6’1" with very long arms, but she is also extremely bouncy. Combine those factors with her willingness to search out a body prior to the rebound coming off the rim and she went in my notebook as one of the best rebounders in Denver this past weekend. She moves very well for a "big" or for any player really. She gets up and down the floor and has a very high motor. Her ability to stretch the floor was something all college coaches love as she showed the skill necessary to step out and hit from behind the arc with a nice, quick release. Down low, she swatted shot after shot and was simply dominant in the paint. Defensively, Kramer may have been the best player I saw all weekend while she also averaged 15.8 points including one 34-point outburst. <strong>Ella Lavigne | 5-9 F | State 38 Basketball 2023 / Fossil Ridge | 2024 | <a href="https://x.com/EllaLavigne10">@EllaLavigne10</a></strong> Another "stretch 4," who was "in her bag" all weekend long, Ella was on my list of first-team performers pretty much from the first game that I saw her play. She was a standout then and never relented all weekend long. She is the best rebounder on her team. With her fluid handles, she doesn’t have to rebound it and look for a guard to kick it to. She can do the work of bringing the ball up the court herself, should she so choose. At 5’9", I saw her work inside against some of the best "bigs" that Denver had to offer and she still came away with a ton of points in the paint. She just knows how to score down low. Her 74 points total for the weekend was one of the highest that I saw. A great scorer from all levels, Ella is still young and going to make some college coach very happy in the next few years with her commitment. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="117725" first="Seneya" last="Martinez"] | 5-8 PG | Lady Roughriders 2023 / Northridge | 2022 | <a href="https://x.com/martinezseneya1">@martinezseneya1</a></strong> Speaking of college coaches, I have already had a few reach out about the tremendous senior point guard that I saw this weekend. Well, here she is. Not only was her all-around performance worthy of being first-team all-tourney, but she also put up some huge point totals, averaging almost 18 per game with one 32-point game. But, trust me, Seneya is not a shoot-first point guard. She has all of the skills you are looking for at the "one." She is confident in running the offense and confident in her ball-handling. She has good size for a guard and will not be pushed around. She defends on and off the ball extremely well and will not be outworked. I was astounded to learn that she was a 2022 and uncommitted. I saw the same thing last circuit season with a very similar guard who ended up committing to a D-II school afterward and leading them in assists and being third in points. Martinez will do that, you just need to sign her. <strong>Kennedy Spellman | 5-7 CG | Wreaking Havoc Hoops 2023 / Timberview MS | 2026 </strong> One of the youngest players in the entire 17U division was perhaps its best scorer. KK put up a TON of points over the weekend averaging over 20 a game and doing it in a variety of ways. She is an eighth-grader who is 5’7" with very long arms and an absolutely lightning-fast first step. Her sense of timing and pacing is beyond her years as she already knows how to use her change of speed to get separation to hit threes or drive to the rim to finish. She showed the ability to score consistently from every level and I have no doubt she is going to be an absolute superstar from the start of next year as a freshman in high school. Spellman also showed a commitment to defense -- as did her whole team -- and a willingness to do all of the little things. As she continues to learn and mature, I have no doubt that KK will become a Division-I prospect and a very, very good one at that.