PGH Freshman Showcase: The best of Team 1

More than 100 prospects put their skills on display Sunday at the third annual Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota Freshman Showcase. The talented field at Hopkins High School was divided into 12 teams chosen at random by the super-secret (but less than perfect) PGH algorithm. The squads weren't exactly even, but our focus was on the individual performances rather than game outcomes or team play. We're analyzing players on a team-by-team basis. Here are the top performers from Team 1.    Chloe has only been a high school student for a week and already we're running out of superlatives to describe her game. Let's make this simple: She's the best. The best passer. The best shooter. The smartest point guard. She has the best court vision. The best sense of timing. The best feel for the game of any player we've covered since Paige Bueckers. And nobody works harder. Watching Chloe on Sunday – really watching her at any time – was bliss. What's truly fun, though, is it's never about her. I'm guessing her mates on a stacked Team 1 enjoyed it as much as we did.     Johnson is a tough act to follow, and it's easy to get overshadowed when you're sharing the court with one of the best prospects in America. But Ashna is so skilled, so intelligent and so full of endless energy that she grabbed her share of the spotlight on Sunday, as well. Ramlall is a top-shelf prospect in her own right, a best-10 candidate in Minnesota's Class of 2028 who can handle it at extremely high level, can shoot it with the best of them, and can deliver just what a coach needs just when they need it. She also happens to be one of the nicest people I know.     When you play with superior point guards like [player_tooltip player_id='433933' first='Chloe' last='Johnson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='716527' first='Ashna' last='Ramlall'], there are plenty of opportunities to be had. But you need to be ready, you need to be paying attention, you need to get yourself in the right positions at the right time. Do that and great things are bound to happen. That was Caelyn on Sunday. In Team 1's second game, Johnson found Foster on the fly three possessions in a row and the big guard/small forward made no mistake finishing. We've been impressed by Caelyn's potential for the better part of a year now, but she dialed it up a notch or two at the Showcase and demonstrated just how much upside she has.     Mallory is one of the most unassuming standout prospects in the state. Is there anything this big guard from Wayzata doesn't do well? She's just solid, going about her business in business-like fashion, excelling on both sides of the ball. On offense, her stellar shooting motion produces makes with high frequency, and she has the ball handling skills and athleticism to take defenders on one-on-one. Defensively, Mallory's length and intensity makes it difficult for opponents to hang onto the ball. Simply put, McBeth is a serious scholarship-level prospect who is going to win you a lot of basketball games.     On a star-studded squad like Team 1, Shaffa more than held her own on Sunday. She's not afraid to take a few risks with the basketball, attacking through traffic and finding the seams. More often than not, those calculated gambles seem to work out. That's because Shaffa handles the ball very well and with confidence, maintaining control even while playing at a high tempo. Anaya can get out and gallop or she can run plays from the point. She's clever with an innate sense of when to go fast and when to slow down, when to attack and when to dish. Shaffa had a solid summer on a very good Stars OU squad, consistently putting up points and setting the table for others to do the same.     The growth in Parker's game over the past few months is palpable. She just looks like a basketball player and she is quickly figuring out how to turn first impressions into lasting impact. She's long and lean and super fast. With light feet, superior athletic ability, and good quickness, Vossen gets from here to there in a flash and seems to be everywhere all at once. Vossen can attack off the dribble and has the elevation and stride to get up and over most defenders. Add all of that to the kind of hunger and intensity all great prospects have and you've got a talented player on the rise.     Ava has improved substantially over the past year or so and that really showed at the Freshman Showcase. She is a tremendous natural athlete with the kind of length and quickness that can be really impactful at both ends of the floor. Her understanding and execution of defensive concepts has grown a lot. Offensively, Ava has a sweet shooting motion and can bury threes at a high rate and we'd love to see her take more shots. As her confidence has grown, Swanson has become more assertive at attacking the basket. This is an athlete with plenty of potential who is just getting started.

More than 100 prospects put their skills on display Sunday at the third annual Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota Freshman Showcase. The talented field at Hopkins High School was divided into 12 teams chosen at random by the super-secret (but less than perfect) PGH algorithm. The squads weren't exactly even, but our focus was on the individual performances rather than game outcomes or team play. We're analyzing players on a team-by-team basis. Here are the top performers from Team 1.