Class of 2027: Top Ten
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It’s rankings season. Obviously, every ranking is subjective, and I’ve been proven right and wrong about kids in the past, which happens. However, I do my best to see everyone and make as informed decisions on this as possible. Without…
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Continue ReadingIt’s rankings season. Obviously, every ranking is subjective, and I’ve been proven right and wrong about kids in the past, which happens. However, I do my best to see everyone and make as informed decisions on this as possible. Without further ado, let’s talk about the top ten in the 2027 class.
Ava Van Vonderen
Ava
Van Vonderen
6'0" | SG
Kimberly | 2027
State
WI
In my eyes, there isn’t a more complete player in the 2027 class. Van Vonderen is a 6-0 wing that can do everything. She was among the top kids in her AAU team who, by circumstances out of their control, found themselves playing up in the EYBL, and thrived. Van Vonderen was asked by her coaches to play more in the paint last summer, and she did that well. In high school at Kimberly, she’s on one of the deepest rosters in the state, so she doesn’t have to be the focal point, and she still earned enough trust from her coaches on the defensive end to guard some of the top talent in the FVA late in games. She’s athletic, quick, knocks down shots, and has all the potential to become among the best in the FVA over the next three-plus seasons.
Haylie Dulas
Haylie
Dulas
5'11" | SF
Kimberly | 2027
State
WI
It seems that wherever Dulas or Van Vonderen are, the other isn’t that far away. The Papermakers have produced some of the top talent in the 2027 class, and from the way their youth program has performed, there’s more to come. However, Dulas is another wing who has shown the ability to do a little of everything. Her game transitioned well to the high school level at Kimberly, where she hit the ground running. She’s used to doing some of the underappreciated aspects of the game like boxing out, filling gaps, using her length to contest shots without fouling, moving her feet on the defensive end, and understanding spacing, which is crucial to what the Papermakers do offensively. She may never be a kid who jumps off the page statistically with the talent the Papermakers have, but as her game matures, she’ll be a kid who’ll be hard to keep off the floor for extended stretches. She makes plays on both ends of the floor.
Avalyn Albrecht
Avalyn
Albrecht
6'1" | PF
Poynette | 2027
State
WI
The Poynette native popped up on my radar last summer, and she made a name for herself quickly at the high school level this season for the Pumas. As a 6-1 wing with plenty of length, she’s been an issue for other Capitol Conference teams to keep out of the lane, but she’s not a traditional post. In Albrecht, you get a kid who may be the Pumas best ball handler, shooter, rebounder, and finisher around the rim. You can put her in any role on the offensive end, and she’ll find success. Kids like her are coaches’ dreams because you don’t have to shoehorn her into a specific role to be effective. That doesn’t even take into account the extra-effort plays she makes on a consistent basis. Albrecht runs the floor at an elite level, she can play passing lanes, and she can cover block to block quickly because of how laterally quick she is. She could be the best prospect the Capitol Conference has seen in some time.
Taressa Hennes
Taressa
Hennes
6'0" | SF
Hartford Union | 2027
State
WI
Some people will ask why schools recruit these elite athletes instead of leaning toward kids with less athleticism and more skill. I believe Hennes is a good player to direct them to. The Hartford wing has plenty of skill development to undergo before she reaches her full potential, but there are maybe two or three kids in the state who are as athletic as Hennes, and you can see the skill slowly catching up to how good of an athlete she is. She hasn’t played basketball long, but her talent is undeniable. Her ability to have a radius to make plays on the defensive end is as large as anyone’s in the state. If you try to do anything on the half of the floor Hennes is defending, there’s a chance that she makes a play on the ball at any moment, which is unreal to watch in person. Even from when I first saw her at a Playground Elite practice, you could see the raw talent, and each time I’ve seen her since, she’s looked better. She may be relatively unknown in a statewide sense, but I expect that to change over the next few years.
Awut Alic
Awut
Alic
5'10" | SF
Oshkosh North | 2027
State
WI
The things that Alic is able to do at 5-10 make no sense. She jumps off the page athletically from her peers, and she looks like she plays at 6-2 or 6-3 because of her length and ability to get off the floor. At the PGH Freshman showcase, Alic seemed to block every shot taken on the half of the court she was on, and that’s barely hyperbole. She could block shots closing out corner three-point shooters from the paint, and there were talented players in Appleton that morning, and they couldn’t adjust to how athletic she was, which says a lot about how much she impacts the game. She’s looked solid with Oshkosh North thus far, with some inconsistencies that are to be expected as a newcomer in the FVA, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Alic, and a few others, alter the outlook from the outside about the Spartan program, she’s that talented.
Kardyn Peppler
Kardyn
Peppler
5'7" | PG
Hortonville | 2027
State
WI
If you can believe it, there’s another Peppler that’s good at basketball. Kardyn has been someone that non-seniors at Hortonville last season told me they were excited to play with, and after seeing her with
Wisconsin Flight Elite
, and Hortonville, it’s easy to see why. I don’t think I’ve seen a guard as unflappable as
Kardyn Peppler
Kardyn
Peppler
5'7" | PG
Hortonville | 2027
State
WI
. No matter what happens, she has the same look on her face, plays within herself, and makes plays for others on her team. Everyone seems to have all the trust in the world in her to make things happen with the ball in her hands, and as a newcomer on a team who made the state tournament last season, that is impressive. I’m also astounded at how well she attacks the basket with her off-hand. Peppler almost looks more comfortable attacking the basket with her left so she can utilize a change of direction to get back to her right hand at the basket, and even defenses who pick up on that seem to struggle slowing her down. She may be my favorite 2027 to watch because of how well she handles what people on the outside would consider pressure.
Mariah Sexton
Mariah
Sexton
6'3" | PF
STMA | 2027
State
MN
Sexton is the most talented traditional post player in the class, and I don’t think there’s much of a debate about that. She’s got the size at 6-3, and she’s athletic for a back-to-the-basket post. I’ve learned to be more patient with post-players than I would with other kids because of the physical maturing they’re undergoing, and Sexton still has some of that to work on. However, what makes me excited about her is how willing she is to be physical around the basket. No matter if she trips over her own feet, dribbles the ball off her foot, called for a charge, or a push trying to rebound, the effort is there. As far as I’m concerned, as long as she has the physicality, you can work on the rest. I love that she has some moves she can go to in the block that she’s comfortable with at this point, but as she gets to the physicality at the varsity level, we’ll see her improve as she gains more experience. If she figures everything out, there isn’t a kid in the Big Eight who can keep her from doing anything she wants.
Olivia LaBlanc
Olivia
LaBlanc
5'11" | PF
Hudson | 2027
State
WI
After making a name for herself in a massive way at the Kettle Moraine Thanksgiving Classic, LaBlanc suffered a severe knee injury that will keep her sidelined for an extended period. However, the Hudson native proved more than I could’ve expected in less than a month of varsity playing time. The Raider showed no fear against a kid who’ll play Power Five basketball in a few years and attacked her off the dribble over and over. As a kid playing in her, maybe, third varsity game, LaBlanc looked like the most influential kid on the floor with six other scholarship-level players. She’s a 5-11 physical wing that can get downhill, pull up from the perimeter, finish over length around the basket, and find her spots where she’s comfortable. People may not have known the reputation she built for herself in the Minnesota AAU scene with Minnesota Fury, and although it was brief, she put our state on notice.
Anna Miller
Anna
Miller
5'8" | PG
Edgewood | 2027
State
WI
I told Miller’s future AAU coach in Waunakee last summer, that 95% of teams in the state would rather have Miller as their lead guard than whoever they already have, and I feel like I was too conservative with that number. In her one of her first games, against a team that went to state in D2, in McFarland, Miller nearly dragged her Edgewood team to a win with her playmaking, scoring, and ability to find weak spots in the defenses without turning the ball over. I fully believe that Miller’s ability to take care of the ball under pressure may be the best in the state, and that may have been the case for a while, even before she got into high school. The way she limits mistakes with the ball in her hands while maximizing her team’s offense is one of the most impressive things, I’ve seen covering this state. Miller may not be the most physically imposing or fastest, but she may be one of the most effective guards in the state.
Tessa Bryan
Tessa
Bryan
5'8" | PG
Waunakee | 2027
State
WI
Forget about the class of 2027, Bryan is one of the most electric guards in the state in any class. The first time I saw Bryan with
Wisconsin Lakers
, she’d sprint at the defender who was picking her up at the free-throw line until she reacted. That didn’t only happen in transition, she’d do that against set defenses, and it was funny because it was clear that everyone at her age level was uncomfortable with that, and she used that discomfort to get to the rim to score or kick out to her shooters. I believe she already broke Waunakee’s single-game three-pointers made the record because of course she did. However, Bryan has an unquantifiable to create magic with the ball in her hands that I can’t say about many other kids. She’s the most athletic guard in this class and her ability to change directions going full speed is unbelievable. She’s a player who’s prone to making mistakes at times. However, because of the magic that she makes with the ball in her hands, her coaches allow her the leeway to make those mistakes. If they didn’t, I don’t think you’d get the best out of her.