2027 Player Rankings Update: Natural Ability Shining Through

The Class of 2027 is filled with players whose natural feel, instincts, and effortless ability separates them compared to most. Here are five prime examples of hoopers that have their natural ability shining through at a high rate right now.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    The Cook family knows how to shoot. There is not a doubt about that to anyone that has seen them compete for Montezuma over the past couple of years. They let it fly and ask questions later and those shots like to go in the hoop a majority of the time so there isn't much to say about it other than that it's impressive. Vivian has also proven over the past few seasons that she can handle the ball under pressure, making plays for those around her off of her creation at the PG position if need be. You have to love the versatility here. She can move around the outside at a steady rate, making plays on basically every possession if she is determined. I'm not sure if she is playing AAU this Spring but if she is, I'd be excited to see her compete within that type of environment. I have a feeling she would thrive with the more chaos around her but we will just have to wait and see!     We saw [player_tooltip player_id='686901' first='Tessa' last='Jones'] natural ability up close this season as a main contributor within her DCG Mustangs program. Each night Jones came into ball-games playing her part. She never veered from the team's objective while competing and she was very efficient as a player in general from all levels on both offense and defense. There weren't many times that she made ill advised mistakes with the rock in her possession and that stood out to evaluators. It's somewhat ironic because Jones just committed last night to compete on the Softball pitch for her collegiate future but I'm sure that she is still going to be a main part of her program's team moving into the Winter of 2026 for her Senior season.     It's to no one's surprise that [player_tooltip player_id='865264' first='Nataliya' last='Linder'] of North Mahaska High School is already committed to compete on the D1 Volleyball floor in the future following her high school days. If you don't know, Linder is 6'2 and athletic as can be. She moves extremely well with her size down the floor and she is coordinated enough to be able to handle the ball as a guard in certain situations. As you could imagine, this is a mismatch nightmare for most. Her natural size alone is usually too much for others to handle and that's not even mentioning the skill side of things that she pairs along with that. North Mahaska has one more Winter with Linder around and they are looking to make the most of it. As long as everyone plays their part, they should put together a season to remember in certain aspects.     We are going to be able to see [player_tooltip player_id='993993' first='Anna' last='Latham'] in a different light over the next few months on the road with her new AAU team in Air Minnesota. Latham has natural touch and feel for the game. She is more situationally aware than most and that plays to her advantage in a big way. When high school prospects can put their opponents in compromising situations, they stand out as being someone who might be able to do some things at a high rate at the next level. We see that ability out of Latham. She uses angles once she gets down hill really well and she knows how to use her body in the lane to create contact, leading to free throw attempts a majority of the time. With the free flow system that Air Minnesota plays with on offense guards like Latham tend to thrive so I'm sure that is going to be the case once again over the next couple of months.     The mixture of size and ability that [player_tooltip player_id='1219672' first='Brady' last='Youngren'] competes with is intriguing. Youngren comes in at around 5'9/5'10 and she primarily competes as a Forward but she can also step to the outside to play the PG/CG spot, depending on the roster placed around her. This versatility is what really stands out at this moment in time. Anyone that plays the 1-4 position for their team, obviously has some natural ability to their overall game. It's just putting them in the correct places to be successful. I'm hoping we can see more out of Youngren over the next few months. She has shown a lot of promise and I'm curious to see how she builds on that natural ability of her's.

The Class of 2027 is filled with players whose natural feel, instincts, and effortless ability separates them compared to most. Here are five prime examples of hoopers that have their natural ability shining through at a high rate right now.