In the second NY2LA AAU tournament of the year held at various sites around the Milwaukee area, there were some top teams missing from the last time I attended. The competition consisted of mostly teams from the midwest.
There's a reason why Bronson Koenig is one of the most sought-after players in the state. The LaCrosse Aquinas point guard is a great passer and knows how to set his teammates up for baskets, which means his assist ratio goes up. And when he has to, he will score inside or outside. He will fit well into Wisconsin's system under Bo Ryan.
That was my first time seeing Koenig play, although I heard a lot about him. He made the Wisconsin Swing AAU team look pretty good against one of the two D-Rose AAU teams. Actually, the Swing played the undersized and quicker U17 D-Rose team instead of the bigger and stronger one. It was a mistake by one of their coaches. Oops!
Luke Fischer didn't do too much in that game last Friday, but he had several members of his fan club in attendance, which included the Showalters. His high school coach, Germantown's Steve Showalter, Zak and Jake were there to watch.
Brothers Brett and Alex Prahl, both 6-foot-9 juniors from East Troy H.S., will be a nightmare for teams next season, especially if they're in the game at the same time as twin towers. Add teammate and fellow junior Nate Dodge to the mix and they have the recipe for running the tables and making it to state in 2013.
Deonte Burton was a beast for his TP-Elite team. He has a nose for the ball and is always in the vicinity of where the ball is at on the court. Committed to play for Marquette, Buzz Williams will be getting a guy with heart. He reminds me of hard-nosed players like Jimmy Butler, Lazar Hayward and Jae Crowder. You see where Butler and Hayward went and where Crowder is going: To the NBA. Don't forget to mention that Burton is left-handed.
D'Andre Downey at 6-7 will need to put on some weight if he's going to battle in the post. If 6-8 Ravonn Posey plays somewhere in college, he will need to lose a significant amount of weight. Both play for the DTA Spartans and Milwaukee Riverside.
Matt Jones (Bay View) and Kevin Durham (Custer) refereed some of the AAU games Sunday at Milwaukee Lutheran. New Milwaukee Vincent coach Marquis Hines told me that he will focus on improving the academic performance of the returning players for the upcoming season. He told me that some of the boys varsity basketball team report cards were horrendous.
How many high school basketball coaches in the City Conference care enough to stress academics in their basketball programs? I don't know, but all of them should make it a priority. That's not a problem for Steve Showalter. He told me that he's blessed to have a team full of players that do well in the classroom with no academic problems to speak of.
