AAU Bloomington Shootout: Best of the 2024s

The first Minnesota-based AAU tournament of 2020 is officially in the books. One of our primary goals heading into the Bloomington Shootout this past weekend was to get a better handle on the class of 2024 and see if we could find some promising prospects. The good news is, we could and we did. Nate Wahl wrote about a few of them in his recap of Saturday’s action, including three Crossfire South 2024 Corley standouts – <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="188137" first="Kyrah" last="Clark"]</strong> of Shakopee, <strong>Kailey Tomzak</strong> of Lakeville North and <strong>Charlotte Henry</strong> of Prior Lake,  who are pictured above with their AAU teammates. Now I can offer you five more talented kids who impressed me on Saturday and Sunday at Kennedy High School. <strong>Lauren Machacek – Stars 2024 Gardner (Eastview)</strong> Eastview girls basketball has a track record that speaks for itself. Although the Lightning struggled this winter through a rebuilding season they did so with a flock of really young players, some of whom took their lumps on varsity, others who toiled on the JV. One of those JV kids was <strong>Lauren Machacek</strong> of Minnesota Stars Gardner. Based on our limited sample size this weekend we’d guestimate that Machacek has a very, very bright future on varsity. She’s about 5’10 with length, and apparently there’s plenty of height in her family. Lauren is a workhorse who plays hard, rebounds with passion, attacks the basket and isn’t afraid of contact or to get down on the floor to engage in a little loose-ball warfare. She is also an excellent track athlete so you know she’s athletic, and word on the street is her Eurostep is a thing of beauty. Lauren is pretty thin right now and needs to get a lot stronger. Her shooting and ball-handling is improving. She is an excellent defender, has nice leadership qualities and a pretty high ceiling. Incidentally, two of Lauren’s Eastview teammates are also on Stars Gardner and you’ll be hearing plenty about <strong>Vanessa Wright</strong> and <strong>Savanah Gardner</strong> going forward. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="178262" first="Emma" last="Frost"] – Crossfire 2024 Robertson (Andover)</strong> There has been plenty of chit chat filtering out of Andover for some time now about incoming freshman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="178262" first="Emma" last="Frost"]</strong>.  We had watched her in practice and scrimmages a couple of weeks ago but this weekend was the first time we’ve witnessed Frost up close and personal in a game situation. Let’s just say that similar to what we have heard about Crossfire 2024 forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="178273" first="Taylor" last="Tool"]</strong>, the hype about Frost is well-placed. The thing is, Frost is not flashy, but she is just so darn solid all the way around. In that way she reminds me some of 2021 #7 [player_tooltip player_id="57077" first="Kaylee" last="Van Eps"] of Chaska, who has committed to Lehigh. Frost is crafty, athletic and very intelligent. You get the sense that she’ll score when she needs to (Emma had 19 Sunday vs Stars Amundson) but that her priorities are elsewhere. At 5’10 or so, with a solid frame, Frost is a workhorse who can play multiple positions and be relied upon to deliver on a regular basis. She led the Robertson squad last summer in scoring and rebounding, is a strong mid-range shooter and can post-up very effectively. She is bound to be an elite prospect in the 2024 class. <strong>Taylor Klement – Southern Minnesota Fury 2024 (Stewartville)</strong> The flow of talent coming out of Stewartville appears to be endless. Now, on the heels of promising 2023s Haley Strum and Keely Steele comes talented guard <strong>Taylor Klement</strong>. She’s not quite as polished as the other two, but she has a little more length and size and some bonafide athletic credentials. Taylor is a four-sport participant – track, volleyball, softball and basketball – and her natural abilities in the athleticism department are immediately obvious upon viewing. She can run, elevate and finish with ease. The 5’7 guard is a versatile scorer who can knock it down from the outside or take it to the basket with power. She appears to handle ball pressure well and plays the game under control. Her toughness defensively is also impressive and she plays with an air of assertiveness. If she continues to improve, Klement has the potential to be one of the better 2024s in Southeastern Minnesota. <strong>Daviney Dreckman – MN Rise 2023 Busse (New Ulm)</strong> Most observers find it hard to believe that <strong>Daviney Dreckman</strong> is a legitimate member of the class of 2024. That’s understandable given her advanced physical development, well-honed skillset and established role as a varsity mainstay at New Ulm. She also plays a year up on the Minnesota Rise’s 2023 squad which doesn’t do anything to alleviate the confusion. Dreckman was dominant in a pair of games on Saturday at the Shootout, scoring 22 and seemingly being everywhere at once in a game against Minnesota Stars Gardner and adding 12 more in a win over Crossfire Vaughn. In high school this season, the physical 5’8  guard averaged nearly 20 minutes per game while recording over 7 points and 3 rebounds and shooting nearly 50%. She plays with poise and maturity, makes sound decisions and generally finishes when she has the opportunity. <strong>Kamryn King – Stars 2024 Amundson (Jordan)</strong> <strong>Kamryn King</strong> is what we like to call a work in progress. We mean no disrespect in using that description. It just indicates that there is promise of great things to come. In other words, Kam is a multi-sport athlete with a lot of basketball potential that might not be obvious to casual observers. Although she is listed at 5’9, King looks bigger and plays bigger. She has large frame, is quite aggressive and goes hard. Really hard. All the time. King is actually on the comeback trail right now having missed several months with knee issues. You sure wouldn’t have known it when we watched. Her defense is improving, as is her mid-range jumper. She is a terrific rebounder and a great competitor. Although she isn’t likely to be a big scorer, King did have 11 on Sunday in a win over Crossfire Pearson. In many ways she is similar to her Jordan teammate [player_tooltip player_id="186134" first="Jenna" last="Kluxdal"], a big 2023 prospect from North Tartan 2023 Elite, who just earned her way into the rankings at #90. <strong>A bonus from beyond</strong> Although we debated about going to Des Moines this weekend for the Nike Tournament of Champions we chose home cooking instead. But there was plenty of buzz filtering north from Iowa, most of it involving the superior performance of Minnesota Fury 2024 UAA star [player_tooltip player_id="177728" first="Olivia" last="Olson"] of Benilde-St. Margaret’s, who is emerging as a major-league prospect. There was also some significant hum about 2024 guard <strong>Somah Kamara</strong> of Robbinsdale Cooper and FBC North 2023. Widely considered a top 20 prospect among Minnesota’s incoming freshmen, Kamara is a pure athlete who is reminding folks a lot of 2021 #1 [player_tooltip player_id="6389" first="Adalia" last="McKenzie"] long before she became a polished gem. Somah may be raw but she has excellent instincts, nice length, tremendous foot speed and a second gear that few can match. Let’s just say she’s pretty good in transition. Kamara was Cooper’s third-leading scorer this winter as an 8th grader and averaged 2.9 steals per game. We’ll have more on Kamara going forward but we couldn’t wait to name drop this future star now even if we didn’t see her in person. <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Top photo: Crossfire South 2024 Corley were among the most impressive of the incoming freshmen in Bloomington. (Photo courtesy of Dan Corley)</em></span>