Uri’s Holiday Rankings: Best Scorers, Pt. 2
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Welcome back to the rankings, a couple of reminders: 1. This list is my list and my list only, not that of PGH Wisconsin or my fellow scouts 2. Raw stats played a very small role in my evaluation, however,…
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Continue ReadingWelcome back to the rankings, a couple of reminders:
1. This list is my list and my list only, not that of PGH Wisconsin or my fellow scouts
2. Raw stats played a very small role in my evaluation, however, as is the case with measuring scoring, there is inevitably going to be a correlation between scoring capability and raw output
3. This list is exclusively a product of the 2021-2022 high school season, AAU and previous seasons were not considered
4. Things I value as an evaluator: aggressiveness, handle, isolation scoring, perimeter scoring, scoring without dominating the ball, shooting ability, ability to score in the paint, mid-range, and beyond the arc, creativity, and transition scoring
Without further ado, let’s get back to the rankings!
5. Ellie Magestro-Kennedy Ellie Magestro-Kennedy 5'9" | PG Janesville Craig | 2023 State WI | Janesville-Craig | Class of 2023 | Guard | #11 Overall Prospect | Committed: IUPUI
EMK’s motor is at 100% the second warmups start. She’s the summer camp counselor blocking seven-year-olds on the lowered rims. She goes hard 100% of the time. She’s got every dribble move in the book up her sleeve, the explosiveness to get to the rim whenever she wants, the confidence to make every open shot, and gives max effort.
Magestro-Kennedy has a penchant for turning intense ball pressure into attacking lanes using her rather complex dribble package. Yes, she’s shown the ability to score off of catch-and-shoot looks and cuts, but the base of what makes her such a deadly scorer is her ability to break a defense down off the dribble. This skill is complimented by her footwork, allowing her to expand her shot profile from dribble-drives to stepback threes. Her speed and toughness let her bulldoze to the rim, and the constant threat of the drive forces a defender to panic if she’s gotten a half-step on them, multiplying the effect that a step-back has on creating space.
Every Janesville-Craig possession is a little bit more exciting when EMK is on the court. There’s a certain tension when she’s on the offensive end in not knowing what she’s going to do with the ball in her hands. Twist my arm, I guess I just have to watch one of the best scorers in the state game after game to find out.
4. Emily La Chapell Emily La Chapell 5'11" | CG Appleton East | 2022 State #57 Nation WI | Appleton East | Class of 2022 | Wing | #1 Overall Prospect | Committed: Marquette
There are times watching Appleton East where I’ll catch myself thinking, “Is ELC bored?” Not bored of basketball, but bored of the fact that her opposition isn’t challenging her enough to bring the best out of her. She’s too damn good. That she doesn’t need to be at 100% to obliterate her defender. She’s agile, smooth, and so clearly unbothered by what 99% of defenders do try and stop her. It doesn’t hurt that she’s flanked by two of the most lethal shooters in the state.
At the core of her scoring is her ability to see attacking lanes before the defense even opens them up. She has an i9 processor in her basketball brain and attacks a moment of defensive chaos with swift, decisive motions. Her explosion and touch leave defenders in the dust and enable her to build enough momentum to dominate physically as well. It also means that stopping her from getting to the rim is a five-player effort. You can construct an entire game plan around stopping ELC from getting to the rim and all she would do is euro-step her way to the cup and make you look silly.
None of this is meant to minimize her jumper, which is as deadly as it is fluid. She stays low at all times, ready to stop on a dime and pull-up for a midrange bunny or capitalize on catch-and-shoot opportunities. She’s a threat from everywhere on the court and is a consummate leader by example. Marquette got a good one.
3. Teagan Mallegni Teagan Mallegni 6'1" | SF McFarland | 2024 State WI | McFarland | Class of 2024 | Guard/Wing | #2 Overall Prospect | Uncommitted
Mallegni is the Ivan Drago of Wisconsin girls prep hoops. She hoops like she was built in a lab by the nation’s top scientists who coded her to get buckets. Her assaults on the basket are calculated and quick, and her range extends 25 feet out. She can score in isolation, as a spacer, off of pin-downs, in transition; if the defense tries to shut one aspect of her game down it amplifies another.
Now to the nitty-gritty of it all: Mallegni is incredibly efficient in terms of the number of movements she needs to get off her shots. Her height and length at 5’11″ means she doesn’t need a lot of space to get clean looks. Creating a foot more than she had when she first touched the ball is enough. Her dribble package and shot profile are based on this efficiency. Her bag primarily consists of power dribbles in the post against smaller guards, in-n-out crossovers, and elevating for a jumper more quickly than the defense anticipates. And when off-ball, she goes from 0 to 100 mph in the blink of an eye coming off pin-downs and cross-screens. Every one of her movements has a purpose.
She doesn’t need fancy tricks. She reminds me of a striker in soccer who’s “obsessed” with goals. She cares more about getting to her spots and scoring than she does about going viral by wastefully dominating the ball. Mallegni is Division 2’s best player and she’s just getting started.
2. KK Arnold KK Arnold 5'10" | PG Germantown | 2023 State #8 Nation WI | Germantown | Class of 2023 | Guard | #1 Overall Prospect | Committed: Connecticut
What’s more to be said about KK? She has the best handles in the state, one of the highest basketball IQs, and is the best finisher at the rim this side of Lake Michigan. There are moments where she appears to be playing an entirely different game than her competition. She’s a Ferrari with supercomputer operating software.
Built on the backbone of her lightning first-step and killer right-to-left crossover, Arnold processes defensive coverages extremely quickly and reacts accordingly. Her body control and ability to adjust mid-flight opens up finishing angles that high school defenses can’t close. And she dominates even further in the post, where her decision-making and ability to punish smaller guards come to light.
What’s been even more impressive about Arnold this season is her shooting touch. She’s become a much more fluid catch-and-shoot threat and her midrange game looks more polished than even just a season ago. In tandem with her best-in-class handles, this has opened up even more scoring/playmaking opportunities for the future UConn guard.
The only reason that Arnold isn’t the #1 is her natural point guard instincts. If Arnold sees two bodies when she attacks the lane, she immediately looks to find the open shooter. She can’t help but make spectacular passes and elevate the play of those around her. But it’s her passing in unison with the scoring ability that makes her the generational talent that she is.
1. Allie Ziebell Allie Ziebell 5'11" | SG Neenah | 2024 State WI | Neenah | Class of 2024 | Guard/Wing | #1 Overall Prospect | Uncommitted
Ziebell is a scoring savant. As my fellow scout Brady Peterson put it, “Allie is almost hilariously good at scoring.” He’s right. It’s absolutely asinine how good Ziebell is at putting the orange ball through the orange rim. Dropping 30 looks effortless for her. She floats around the perimeter with the ball in her hand, and between the time she decided she’s going to attack and the time you hear the net flick, defenders don’t know what happened.
There are so many small things she does to capitalize on her abnormally complete skillset. At 6’0″, her ability to handle the rock, get to the basket, and shoot efficiently from all three levels would have been enough to land her as a top 10 scorer in the state. But the nuance and killer mentality she brings to the offensive end set her apart entirely.
She’s an adept high-screen navigator whose ability to change pace bamboozles entire defenses. She always swaying when she handles the rock. This little gimmick adds more indecision to the defense with how they should guard her. It also allows her to attack either side of her defender and multiplies the effect of her dribble moves, especially her hesitation dribble. Let alone the fact that her shotmaking ability–meaning her ability to make every shot in the halfcourt–is in a class of its own. And her ambidexterity makes it that much tougher to try and contain her.
But what I think tells the entire story of the respect she’s earned as a basketball player is this clip right here:
https://youtu.be/ao8kKmSt-F0
Triple teamed. By #1 Hortonville. Who elected that they would rather zone off the rest of the halfcourt with just two players than let Ziebell kill them. This play ended in free throws for Amaya Jones after Ziebell quickly passed the ball. Ziebell, after being full-court pressed and double/triple-teamed all game long finished with 41. The class of 2024 wing is averaging 26 on the season and is ranked #13 nationally per ESPN. And the best is yet to come.