WCPA beat Terror Prep 85-64 on Friday at the Western Canada Prep Showcase at the Edmonton Sports Centre. The first half gave no hint of a blowout. The teams traded baskets through the opening five minutes, WCPA took the first two quarters 22-20 and 24-21, and it led just 46-41 at the break. The third quarter decided it. WCPA won it 19-6 and closed it with a three to go up 65-47, an 18-point cushion. The fourth finished 20-17. Zayne Hinkson (WCPA) set the tone. He hit at least three step-back threes in the 1st half, two of them deep makes, and he played with real confidence. He was fluid pulling up in the mid-range and glided with the ball on a string. His feel for the game stood out tremendously. Daniel Banjoko (WCPA), who's from the UK, brings incredible length and looked like an elite defender, possibly the best on in the gym. He sees the floor, made an extra pass in the paint, and has a quick twitch. At the 2:50 mark, his block led to a dunk. Miles Herbert then came up with a steal for another dunk, and a timeout followed changing the tone of the entire game. Oscar Rouillard (WCPA) showed high IQ and communication. His control was incredible, especially on the jab drive in the 2nd half that had my jaw on the floor. Braxton Brook (WCPA) was the glue, taking ownership vocally. He did it fresh off a broken hand, and a Division I assistant coach from Idaho was in the gym to see him. Terror Prep had its own bright spots. Eldar Salac anchors the paint, finished a beautiful spin move, and wouldn't quit on the glass. His left hand didn't show up in this one, and that's the next thing to watch. Luke Putrum-Stephens plays above the rim. Elijah Edwards found Ryan Villeneuve in the corner for a three, then scored in traffic himself. Valentin Tartas hit two tough threes, one of them contested, and answered the previous sequence with a shot of his own. He's the follow-up from this game. Fuel your game with BioSteel. Use code THEMAPLEMINUTE when you shop BioSteel and support independent Canadian basketball coverage at the same time. http://biosteel.ca/themapleminute The Maple Minute may earn a commission on purchases made through our BioSteel affiliate link.

There are certain players you remember watching before everyone knew their name, and Deng Ngor is one of those players for me. I first saw Deng at the Good Hoops Summer Slam in Edmonton when he was playing 15U with Genesis. What made that weekend even more interesting was that Genesis wasn’t playing against other 15U teams. They were playing up in the 18U division against older, bigger and much more physical players. Deng wasn’t the star of that team. He was probably the third option, and when I wrote my prospect watch coming out of the tournament, it was his teammate Kade McGeachy who I featured. I didn’t feature Deng, but I remembered him. He was long, incredibly athletic and seemed capable of doing a little bit of everything. He could defend, rebound, run the floor and affect the game without needing plays called for him. Against players two and three years older, he wasn’t physically dominating anyone, but he also never looked out of place. At that age there was still a lot that needed to develop. The handle wasn’t what it is now, the offensive confidence wasn’t there yet and he wasn’t somebody taking over possessions late in games. Still, the tools were obvious, and I remember thinking he had a chance to become special if he was willing to put the work in. A little more than two years later, Deng Ngor is committed to Ohio State. That is a pretty remarkable sentence when I think back to that weekend in Edmonton, but his rise didn’t suddenly begin when the high-major offers arrived or when he eventually moved to Fort Erie International Academy. It started much earlier. Deng is from Grande Prairie, Alberta, before basketball eventually took him south to Edge School and Genesis. That part of the story matters because Edge and Genesis were where a lot of the development started happening long before much of the recruiting world knew his name. The foundation of the player Ohio State is getting was already being built in Alberta. When I first watched him with Genesis, the athleticism and length jumped out, and over time the rest of the game started catching up. The handle improved considerably. He became much more comfortable attacking off the bounce and operating on the perimeter. His confidence grew with it, and so did his willingness to impose himself on a game. But the biggest thing is that Deng never moved away from what made him interesting in the first place. Everything still starts with defence, and the bigger the game gets, the more he seems to rely on it. His length and motor are, in my opinion, as good as anyone in the country. Deng covers an incredible amount of ground defensively, gets into passing lanes, can switch across different types of players and creates possessions simply through activity. That was there when he was 15. What’s different now is what happens after the defensive play. He’s more comfortable putting the ball on the floor, stronger going downhill and capable of turning a steal or rebound into offence himself. The confidence to make a big shot has started catching up to everything else, which is why I don’t really look at Deng today and see a completely different player. I see a much more complete version of the same one. That progression became impossible to ignore at the 2025 Canada Summer Games. By then, Deng wasn’t a third option anymore. Alberta had plenty of talent, but as the tournament went along it became obvious that whenever the game reached an important moment, Deng seemed to find his way into it. That was why we named him our Maple Minute MVP. It wasn’t simply because he led Alberta in scoring and rebounding. It was because every time Alberta needed something, Deng found a way to provide it. Sometimes it was scoring. Sometimes it was a defensive stop, a rebound, a deflection or a play in transition. He had reached the point where he could impact so many different areas that even when one part of his game wasn’t working, he could still change the game somewhere else. He lived up to the hype and delivered in every big moment. Against Ontario in pool play, Deng finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Then, in the championship game, Alberta defeated Ontario 72-69 to capture the first men’s basketball gold medal in the province’s Canada Games history, with Deng leading everyone with 22 points. That tournament was probably the moment when the potential I had seen a couple years earlier became something much more real. Then this summer, he did it again, only this time the stage was even bigger. Canada reached the U18 AmeriCup championship game against the United States. The Americans had dominated the event historically and Canada had never won it, but once again Deng found himself in the middle of the biggest moments. Canada trailed 65-62 with less than two minutes remaining when Deng stepped into a corner three and tied the game. Canada forced a turnover on the next defensive possession, Deng sprinted the floor and finished with a huge dunk to put Canada ahead 67-65. Those ended up being Canada’s final five points of the game. A three to tie it and a dunk to take the lead, both in the closing minutes against the United States with a gold medal on the line. For me, that sequence was almost a perfect snapshot of how Deng has developed. The bigger the game gets, the more he trusts his defence and his motor. He doesn’t suddenly try to become a different player because the moment is bigger. He competes, gets stops, runs the floor and finds ways to affect possessions. What has changed is that he now has enough confidence offensively to take the three when his team needs it. Deng finished that championship game with 15 points and three steals on 5-of-8 shooting, helping Canada capture its first U18 AmeriCup title. The stat line was good, but the moment was better. There are a lot of talented prospects who look great when everything is going their way. Deng has increasingly shown an ability to matter when the game becomes uncomfortable, and that is what keeps standing out to me. It was there at the Canada Games, and we saw it again against the United States. The stage keeps getting bigger and he keeps finding another way to impact the game. There is another part of Deng’s story that doesn’t show up in a box score, and that is how people around him talk about him. Former teammates rave about him. Parents who have had Deng come through their basketball ecosystem still want to support him and help him. People who knew him before the rankings changed and before the major college offers arrived continue to speak highly of him. That matters because Western Canadian basketball can become a pretty small community. Players move between programs, families spend weekends together in gyms and coaches remember the kids who come through their programs. Deng has left a lot of people in his corner. He’s well spoken and down to earth, and from everything I have seen and heard, that hasn’t changed as his profile has exploded. The basketball world around him certainly has. The offers got bigger, the national attention grew and eventually programs like Duke, Florida, Washington and Ohio State were involved. But it is important not to rewrite the story and make it seem like Deng suddenly became a prospect after leaving Alberta. He didn’t. Grande Prairie is where the story started. Edge and Genesis were where I first watched the pieces begin coming together, and by the time Deng moved to Fort Erie, he had already established himself as one of the top young players coming out of Alberta. Fort Erie gave him another stage, but it didn’t create the player. Now Ohio State gets the next version of him. There are still areas that have to develop. The jumper needs to continue becoming more consistent, and while his handle has improved dramatically from the player I watched at 15U, there is another level required to create consistently against Big Ten athletes. He’ll also need to keep getting stronger without losing the mobility and motor that have always made him different. But when I look at Deng, those aren’t the things that interest me most. It’s the direction he keeps moving. I first watched him as a 15U third option playing against 18-year-olds and thought he had a chance. Then I watched him become the player who seemed to make every important play for Alberta at the Canada Games. This summer, I watched him step into a huge three and follow it with a go-ahead dunk against the United States in the closing minutes of a gold-medal game. Now he’s headed to Ohio State. The athleticism, length and motor that caught my attention in Edmonton are still the foundation of his game. What’s changed is how much skill, confidence and responsibility he has added around them. Deng believes he can impact the game now, and more importantly, when the game gets big, he has started proving that belief is justified. That’s why Ohio State doesn’t feel like the end of this rise. It feels like the next test. I watched Deng Ngor as a 15U third option playing up against 18-year-olds in an Edmonton gym. Today, he’s an Ohio State commit, a Canada Games champion, a U18 AmeriCup champion and one of the most intriguing prospects in Canadian basketball.

Athlete Institute — Tri-City National vs. AUS Elite Jackson Hood — AUS Elite For three quarters, this one refused to separate. Neither side let the margin stretch past six or eight points, and Tri-City National kept finding ways back into it — a few stretches where they'd pulled AUS Elite within four. Then, with about five minutes left in the fourth, AUS Elite found another gear Tri-City didn't have an answer for, and a tight game turned into a comfortable one in a hurry. Tri-City's Stefan Ilic, a 6'10 forward, was the standout for the home side — court vision that advanced isn't something you expect to see from a player his size, and that's exactly the tell scouts flag. Most 6'10 forwards see the game two feet in front of them; Ilic was seeing it a possession ahead. 6’4 David Kouadio handled partial backcourt duties separately — advancing the ball, finding the right read, the kind of IQ that shows up more in the assist column than the highlight reel. Showed his range in the second half as well. Tri-City's offense ran through his decision-making as much as any single scorer's in the 2nd half. But the story of the night belonged to AUS Elite's Australian contingent, and it started with Jackson Hood. Still just 15, already 6'8"–6'9", Hood played like a kid who doesn't know his own timeline yet — the frame and the feel are both ahead of the birth year, and that gap is exactly what makes a stock riser. Point guard Sonny Maxwell ran the show with real skill, the connective piece that let the scorers around him work. And then there was Lucas Byrne — shaggy half-mullet and all — unstoppable in the second half, the player Tri-City simply had no counter for once the game tipped in AUS Elite's favor. He was the one every scout in the gym was still talking about on the way out. The fourth quarter was the whole game in miniature: AUS Elite's push around the five-minute mark turned a six-to-eight-point contest into a 20-point cushion, and unlike some leads that get run down late, this one held — AUS Elite closed it out by roughly 25. Fuel your game with BioSteel. Use code THEMAPLEMINUTE when you shop BioSteel and support independent Canadian basketball coverage at the same time. http://biosteel.ca/themapleminute The Maple Minute may earn a commission on purchases made through our BioSteel affiliate link.

There are plenty of guards who can play fast. What stood out about Domenic Lloehle at the U17 National Championship was his ability to play fast without ever looking rushed. The 6-foot Class of 2028 point guard from Loyola High School in California consistently handled pressure, got Team BC organized and understood when to attack and when to settle his team down. He also showed an ability to score within that role, averaging 16 points, 4.2 assists and 3 steals per game while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 40 percent from three over five games. One of the more impressive parts of Lloehle's offence was how he kept defenders off balance in transition. He could push the ball and threaten to get downhill, but he was equally comfortable stopping into the pull-up jumper when defenders retreated. It gave him another answer without requiring him to play at one speed. “I describe my game as fast-paced but also controlled — control the tempo of the game, as any good point guard should,” Lloehle told The Maple Minute. That's exactly what showed up at Nationals. Lloehle consistently beat pressure with his handle and didn't allow defenders to dictate how quickly he needed to operate. On a BC roster with size and scoring around him, he didn't need to dominate the basketball to make his presence felt. He could initiate the offence, find teammates and recognize when the opportunity was there to become a scorer himself. “I like to pass, get shots for my teammates, but can also score,” he said. “Scrappy defender, you know, do whatever it takes to win.” His shooting at Nationals was particularly encouraging. Lloehle connected on 40 percent of his three-point attempts while shooting better than 53 percent overall. Five games is too small a sample to draw a definitive conclusion about his shooting, but it showed another part of his game that could become increasingly important. At 6-foot, defenders at higher levels will have more size and length. If Lloehle can consistently punish defenders for going underneath screens or backing away to contain his penetration, it creates more room for the part of his game that already stands out — his ability to change pace, get into the defence and create for others. There is room for growth as a playmaker as well. Lloehle averaged 4.2 assists against 2.6 turnovers at Nationals. The assist production was strong, and he generally looked comfortable against pressure, but continuing to improve that ratio will be important as defensive windows become smaller and opposing guards become longer and more athletic. What I liked was that mistakes or pressure rarely seemed to change the way he wanted to play. Lloehle remained willing to attack and continued trying to put his teammates in the right positions. That ability to stay composed is important for a player who projects as a true point guard rather than simply a smaller scoring guard. The same competitiveness showed defensively. Lloehle averaged three steals per game, consistently finding ways to impact possessions without the basketball. He describes himself as a scrappy defender, and that's a fair description. He competes, stays involved and understands that his contribution doesn't have to begin when the ball is in his hands. “What separates me is my tenacity to win at any cost,” Lloehle said. “Whether that's passing the ball to a shooter with a hot hand, getting a bucket, getting stops on defense, rebounds — anything the coach needs, the team needs.” That mentality has developed through a basketball path that required Lloehle to leave home at a young age. He points to the end of Grade 7, when he moved from Canada to California, as the moment basketball became something he wanted to seriously pursue. “That was the big turning point for it to become a more serious thing in my life,” he said. The move also meant being away from family, something Lloehle identifies as the biggest obstacle he's faced. He credits his mom, dad and younger brother with providing the support system that helped him adjust. Since then, his experiences at Loyola High School, with West Coast Basketball on the AAU circuit and with Team BC have exposed him to different coaches, teammates and styles of play. “Each stop shaped me as a player with the different people I'm around, the coaches, the players, to push me to be a better player in different areas that I need to improve on,” Lloehle said. Those different environments have helped shape a fairly clear identity. Lloehle isn't a point guard because he's the smallest player on the floor or simply because he's the one bringing the ball up. He wants the responsibility that comes with the position. That's also why his answer about what he wants to improve next stood out. He didn't immediately mention his jumper, handle or finishing. He talked about leadership. “Just being able to lead my team and lead them by example on defense and offense as well.” For a point guard, that's an important next step. Physically, Lloehle will have questions to answer as he moves up levels. At 6-foot, he'll increasingly face guards with more size and length, and he'll need to show that he can continue creating and finishing when those physical advantages aren't in his favour. But he already has tools that help compensate. He changes speeds. He handles pressure. He competes defensively. He showed the ability to make shots at Nationals, and he understands that running a team is about more than accumulating points and assists. The next stage of his development will be about sharpening those advantages — becoming more efficient with his possessions, proving the jumper over a larger sample and continuing to find ways to create against length. His advice to younger players provides a good indication of the mentality he'll bring to that process. “Every game is an opportunity to showcase who you are on the court,” Lloehle said. “Every time you step on that court, you want to have the mentality that you're going to win everything.” Lloehle's value isn't simply that he can play fast. It's that he can play fast while remaining under control — and as his skill set continues to develop, that's what makes Domenic Lloehle a point guard worth following.

There is a version of this story that plays out slow: a 6'9 forward grinds his way through the Ontario club circuit, picks up buzz a school at a time, and needs three cycles before anyone outside the province notices. Jakson Hawke skipped that version. The Simcoe United product is already suiting up at Utah Prep, one of the handful of programs that can put a Canadian kid in front of high-major eyes every single night, and the belief is showing up in the box: UCF & NC State offers and a five-leaf grade for a Class of 2028 prospect who is still years from his final form. Small World Theory is the frame worth starting with. There are only so many 6'9 forwards walking around who are still growing into their frame, and every year that number gets scarcer at the top of the class. Programs know this, which is why a jump to a Utah Prep roster gets treated as a signal rather than a vanity move — staffs there don't hand out real run to size that can't hold up in practice. Hawke earning minutes in that environment already says something a stat line from an Ontario high school schedule couldn't. The size itself puts him in Modern 4s territory, the archetype that has quietly become the release valve for every roster construction problem a program has. Need a forward who can guard up when a smaller four gets hunted in a switch? Need someone who can still face up and put it on the deck when the offense stalls? The value of a Modern 4 is that the answer to both questions can be yes without the position ever changing on paper. That flexibility is exactly why a still-developing prospect like Hawke can carry a five-leaf grade on trajectory alone — the archetype has more margin for error than a specialist ever will. None of that erases the obvious caveat: this is a Development Curve story before it is a finished-product story. A 2028 forward who just left Simcoe United for a national program is, by definition, further from his ceiling than his floor. What matters is that the early data points — the level of program willing to play him, the high-major offer already on the board — are the right data points to be seeing this early. Utah Prep is not a place that plays projects out of charity, and schools like UCF & NC State are not extending offers to size that doesn't move. The Canadian pipeline into American prep basketball has produced enough hits by now that a move like this barely raises an eyebrow outside the family and the club program that developed him. But it is still worth saying plainly: a Canadian 2028 forward getting real run in Utah and drawing high-major interest before his sophomore prep season is exactly the kind of name TMM's scout network exists to catch early. Keep an eye on how the box score fills in as the season goes — the shape of a five-leaf grade at this stage is a bet on what comes next, not a receipt for what already happened.

I have a file on Rav Randhawa that goes back further than almost any prospect on The Maple Minute's board. January 2023. He was a 6'3 combo guard out of J. Addison, buried in a spreadsheet of a hundred names I was still learning how to rank. Two months later I wrote four sentences on him after an Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association Final 8 weekend that I still stand behind word for word: one of the top shooters in the country, quick and consistent release, footwork and body control that let him get his shot off even when he was covered up. That was March 2023. I've been on this kid for almost 5 years now, and I've never once had to talk myself into the shot. That's the thing I keep coming back to. Scouts talk themselves into players all the time — you watch enough tape, you want to see the thing you already decided was there. I never had to do that with Randhawa. The release is just different. Quick, high, repeatable from a dozen different footwork patterns, the kind of shooting bed where the ball comes off clean no matter how much traffic is closing in on him. I've watched a lot of releases with my own two eyes over the years, amateur and pro. His is top five. Not top five "for a Canadian kid." Top five, period. But the road here wasn't a straight line, and that's exactly why this commitment means something. From J. Addison, Randhawa moved out to Great Futures Prep for the 2024 National Prep School Invitational cycle, still holding down the point guard spot on a loaded roster of Canadian names. From there it was Ellsworth Community College — the junior college grind, the kind of stop that either sharpens a player's edge or quietly ends a career nobody was watching closely enough to save. Randhawa sharpened. Somewhere in there he briefly committed to Ontario Tech, a U SPORTS program, which for a lot of shooters with his résumé would have been the final answer. It wasn't. Hampton called at the eleventh hour, and a kid who spent parts of four years bouncing between three countries' worth of gyms finally has his Division I home. I asked him three questions. Here's what he had to say. What does committing to Hampton mean to you? "Committing to Hampton to me is something I am forever going to be grateful for. I want to thank Coach Thomas and the rest of the coaches at Hampton for believing in me to come in and help impact winning. Forever grateful for this opportunity, but now it's time to get to work!" What can the Pirates fan base expect from you next season? "The Pirates fan base can expect someone who is going to do whatever it takes to win. Winning is above all else, and that is what my goal will be. To do whatever it takes to win, whether that's knocking down shots, getting others involved, leading or anything else. Expect a fun and winning season!" Let's be honest, you don't meet the typical DI stereotype — what kind of advice would you want to give to a kid in a similar situation to you trying to follow in your footsteps? "I think the biggest thing I could say is never stop believing in yourself. There will be highs and there will be lows, but the work won't be put in the shade. Keep storing actions so that one day when it is your turn, you're ready for the opportunity that you have been working for all your life. Ignore the outside noise and control what you can, which is showing up and working! Lastly have fun while doing it, this sport is a privilege for us to play in and take part of, never take it for granted because one day the ball will stop bouncing and you don't want any regrets when that time comes. Enjoy basketball and work relentlessly towards your goals and watch them come to light." That last answer is the one that sticks with me. Randhawa isn't walking into Hampton as a five-star, isn't walking in with a shoe deal or a highlight reel with nine figures of views. He's walking in as a shooter who never stopped believing the gravity he creates off the catch and off the bounce was worth building a career around — and he was right. There aren't many guards walking around with a release this pure, this repeatable under duress. That's a small-world skill, and it just found a Division I home. Almost 5 years of coverage, three schools, one junior college detour, and one almost-commitment later, this is the one that sticks. Welcome to Hampton, Rav. — Josh Millican, The Maple Minute

Alexander Birsan’s recruitment exploded over the summer, but the 6-foot-8 Vancouver product had already spent years building toward this point. The offers may have come quickly, but the résumé behind them did not. After a strong high school career, success with Team BC and another productive summer with Drive Basketball, Birsan has committed to San José State. His recruitment went from relatively quiet to crowded in a short period of time. Northern Arizona became his first Division I offer before San José State, San Francisco and South Dakota followed. Birsan is now spending his post-grad season with Royal Crown and is listed in the Class of 2027, giving him another year to prepare for the NCAA level. The progression has been easy to track. Birsan represented Team BC at the 2023 U15 National Championships, helping the province win bronze while earning second-team tournament all-star honours. That gave him an early opportunity to compete against many of the better players in his age group across the country. His game continued to grow at Centennial, where Birsan became one of the more productive players in British Columbia high school basketball. He earned second-team 4A provincial all-star honours in 2025 before moving onto the first team as a senior in 2026. During that final season, Birsan was averaging more than 35 points and 14 rebounds per game at one point. The next test was whether that production would translate when the competition changed, and his summer with Drive Basketball helped answer it. Birsan averaged 21.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals over 14 games on the adidas circuit while making nearly two three-pointers per game. He averaged 22.8 points and eight rebounds at the first Gold West Regional and followed that with 24.3 points and 9.3 rebounds at the second. Those numbers mattered because they showed Birsan was not simply dominating high school matchups with his size. At 6-foot-8, he is comfortable away from the basket and has enough perimeter skill to create problems in different ways. He can space the floor, attack hard closeouts and put the ball down well enough to get downhill against bigger defenders. Against smaller players, his size gives him another advantage. That versatility is the most interesting part of his projection. Birsan has enough skill to play on the wing, but the biggest long-term question is whether he can defend enough perimeter players at the Division I level to remain a true big wing rather than being pushed into a more traditional forward role. If he can stay with smaller players while continuing to add strength, San José State will have considerably more options in how it uses him. His rebounding also deserves attention. Birsan has consistently produced on the glass despite spending significant stretches away from the basket offensively. That activity, combined with his length, gives him another way to impact games when the scoring is not there. Birsan’s national profile continued to grow when he was invited to Canada Basketball’s U18 national team selection camp. That added another layer to a résumé that already included success with Team BC, Centennial and Drive Basketball. From a Maple Minute evaluation standpoint, Birsan’s physical profile and skill level remain the strongest parts of the projection. There are plenty of bigger forwards and plenty of skilled perimeter players, but finding someone with legitimate size who is also comfortable making a shot and attacking off the bounce is much more difficult. There is still development ahead. Birsan will need to continue getting stronger, particularly when finishing through college-level contact and defending more physical forwards. His decision-making will also be tested as defenders close space quicker and take away his first option. The defensive side may ultimately determine his ceiling. If Birsan can consistently defend smaller wings while also holding his own against bigger forwards, he gives San José State a player who can potentially fill several different roles. If that part of his game continues to develop, the offensive versatility becomes even more valuable. San José State is not getting a player whose recruitment was built on one good summer. There is a Team BC résumé behind it, back-to-back provincial all-star selections at Centennial and strong club production against higher-level competition. The offers came quickly because college programs eventually caught up to the résumé. Now Birsan has another year to keep building on it before arriving at San José State, with the next stage of his development determining what kind of player he can become when he gets there.

Saskatchewan women's basketball continues to grow, and another one of the province's top young prospects is taking the next step in her basketball journey. Saskatoon's Syage Roberts, a 5-foot-6 guard in the 2029 class, has committed to SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio. Roberts will make the move south after establishing herself as one of Saskatchewan's top young guards and showing this summer that her game can translate against some of the best older players in Canada. For Roberts, the move isn't the beginning of her development. It is the next step in a basketball journey built in Saskatchewan. She has played club basketball with the Junior Huskies and Supernovas, competed at Walter Murray and represented Saskatchewan nationally. Along the way, Roberts has consistently challenged herself against older competition. This summer provided the strongest evidence yet of where her game is headed. Playing Up and Standing Out Roberts played up with Saskatchewan at the 2026 U17 Women's National Championships, starting all six games and averaging 28.1 minutes. She didn't simply hold her own against older players. Roberts earned First-Team All-Star honours, establishing herself as one of the tournament's top guards. Her efficiency was equally impressive. Roberts shot 50.6 percent from the field, 39.4 percent from three and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line. One of her biggest performances came on the national stage when she scored 25 points and added four steals while shooting 81.8 percent from the field. Her high-school season provided more evidence. Roberts helped Walter Murray reach the 2026 Saskatchewan 5A provincial championship game, scoring 27 points in the quarterfinal and 29 in the semifinal against Miller. Those performances matter when evaluating a young prospect. There are plenty of players who dominate their own age group. Roberts has repeatedly shown an ability to produce when the competition gets older and the games become more important. Maple Minute Evaluation At 5-foot-6, Roberts isn't going to overwhelm opponents with size. Her advantage comes from her quickness, balance, handle and, perhaps most importantly, her ability to change pace. She doesn't attack every possession at one speed. Roberts can get a defender moving, slow them down and then accelerate through an opening. Her ability to dictate pace is one of the more advanced parts of her game. Her handle allows her to consistently get into the paint, where she has shown a willingness to finish through contact despite giving up size. Roberts is shifty enough to create angles rather than simply trying to beat defenders in a straight line, and she competes on the glass against bigger players. What makes Roberts particularly intriguing, however, is that she isn't simply attacking to score. She can force help with penetration and find teammates through tight passing windows. Her vision and willingness to distribute give her potential as a lead guard, while her ability to change speeds allows her to manipulate the defence rather than simply react to it. Her Nationals performance also showed that defenders can't simply back off and take away penetration. Shooting 39.4 percent from three and 83.3 percent at the line against U17 competition is encouraging. The next challenge will be maintaining that shooting as the length, athleticism and defensive pressure around her increase. Roberts' basketball IQ is advanced for her age. Playing up has forced her to solve problems against longer defenders and more experienced players. She already understands that getting downhill isn't always about being the fastest player on the floor. Changing speeds, creating angles and knowing when to attack are all important parts of what makes her effective. There is still plenty to develop. How Roberts handles increased ball pressure, how she defends bigger guards and how she continues to develop as a primary creator will all be worth watching. At this age, there is no reason to rush to put a college level or ceiling on her. What makes Roberts intriguing isn't what someone thinks she might become three years from now. It's what she has already shown against older competition. Why SPIRE? The move to SPIRE Academy represents a significant change in Roberts' everyday environment. Located in Geneva, Ohio, SPIRE is an international boarding and day school designed around high-performance student-athletes. Its women's basketball program combines academics with individual basketball development, team practices, video work, strength and performance training and college preparation. For Roberts, the biggest difference will be having that high-performance environment become part of her daily routine. National tournaments and showcase events have given her opportunities to periodically test herself against elite competition. At SPIRE, that challenge can become much more consistent. That's an important distinction. Saskatchewan has already helped develop Roberts into a national-level prospect through the Junior Huskies, Supernovas, Walter Murray and the provincial-team program. She isn't heading to SPIRE to suddenly become a prospect. She is heading there because she already is one. Now we get to see how much further her game can develop when the competition around her becomes more demanding every day. A Saskatchewan Pathway That Keeps Growing Roberts' opportunity also comes during a strong period for women's basketball in Saskatchewan. Maple Minute research has identified at least 11 Saskatchewan high-school products who have gone on to play NCAA Division I basketball. Carolyn Ganes went from Aden Bowman to Oregon, Krista Phillips from Aden Bowman to Michigan, Taryn Wicijowski from LeBoldus to Utah, Quinn Dornstauder from LeBoldus to Arizona State and Paige Crozon from Humboldt Collegiate to Utah, with several more Saskatchewan players following their own routes to Division I. But NCAA basketball tells only part of the story. Saskatchewan has also developed two nationally significant U SPORTS programs. Regina captured the 2001 CIAU national championship, while the Saskatchewan Huskies have won national championships in 2016, 2020, 2025 and 2026. Those programs have allowed generations of Saskatchewan girls to see elite women's basketball in their own province. More importantly, Saskatchewan-developed players have been significant contributors to that success, including on the Huskies' recent back-to-back national championship teams. Crozon provides another example of where the Saskatchewan pathway can lead. After Humboldt Collegiate and Utah, she became one of the leaders of Canada's women's 3x3 program, helping Canada win international titles before representing the country at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Canada finished fourth. From NCAA Division I players to U SPORTS national champions and Olympians, young Saskatchewan players now have plenty of examples showing what is possible. Roberts is becoming part of that next generation. The Next Saskatchewan Path Roberts isn't Crozon, Phillips, Wicijowski or anyone else who came before her. Her path is going to be her own. What is different today is how many paths Saskatchewan girls can see. They can stay home and compete for U SPORTS national championships, pursue Canadian or American prep opportunities, or follow Saskatchewan players who have reached NCAA Division I, professional basketball and the international stage. Roberts is choosing one of those paths early. The 2029 guard will leave Walter Murray for SPIRE Academy after already proving herself in Saskatchewan high-school basketball and against national competition. She arrives with an advanced ability to control pace, create off the dribble and make plays for others, while her performance at U17 Nationals showed she can shoot the basketball efficiently against older competition. The next few years will tell us much more. Can she continue creating advantages against longer and more athletic defenders? Can she handle increasingly aggressive ball pressure? Can she become a high-level defender at the point of attack? And can the shooting efficiency she showed at Nationals become a consistent part of her game? Those questions don't need answers today. Saskatchewan has already helped develop another young guard capable of making an impact on the national stage. Roberts has proven she can play up, produced when the games have mattered and earned recognition against some of Canada's best older players. Now she gets a different challenge. Saskatoon to SPIRE is the next step. Where it eventually leads is what makes Syage Roberts one of Saskatchewan basketball's most intriguing prospects to follow.

Paul Osaruyi doesn't play like a kid who just found out he's good. The 2027 power forward out of Canada carries himself like he's been the best player on the floor since before anyone was counting stars — and lately, everyone's counting. Five-star grades, a No. 1-ranked-center buzz attached to his name, and a recruiting trail that reads like a murderer's row of blue bloods: this is what it looks like when a prospect's tools stop being a projection and start being a problem for opposing coordinators. The measurements do a lot of the talking. Osaruyi came in at 6'9" in shoes, 219 pounds, with a 7'2" wingspan at the Basketball Without Borders All-Star Camp — numbers that explain why programs like Syracuse, North Carolina, West Virginia, Arkansas, Indiana, and Utah have all found their way into the mix. A selection to the World Select Men's roster for the 2026 Nike Hoop Summit only adds to the case. That invite doesn't go to projects. It goes to prospects who are already holding their own against the level they're about to face on the biggest global stage available to a high schooler. What separates Osaruyi from the standard big-man recruiting arc is the range of programs chasing him. Blue bloods, high-major mid-tier, and everything between — that's not a recruitment funneling toward one obvious lane, that's a staff-by-staff bidding war for a frame that can guard multiple positions and still get consulted for size against high-major front lines. A UNC visit in the works, an Arkansas visit on the books, a West Virginia flirtation that's made local beat writers nervous more than once — the kid's calendar this cycle reads like a scouting department's fever dream. He remains uncommitted as of this writing, and that's arguably the most interesting part of the story. A 2027 prospect drawing this kind of blue-blood attention this early usually has a lean, a program he's quietly favoring while the rest of the visits play out as due diligence. Osaruyi's recruitment has stayed genuinely open instead, which means the next few months of visits, offers, and in-season buzz will actually mean something — not theater around a decision that's already been made behind closed doors. TMM's scouting network will keep tracking Osaruyi through the letter-writing season. A Canadian prospect pulling blue-blood attention at this volume, this early, is exactly the kind of storyline the coast-to-coast network exists to follow — and exactly the kind of name that ends up validating why a national scouting operation matters more than a single-region one. High-major buzz makes sense here on the tools alone. The only question left is which jersey he's wearing when the dust finally settles.

When WCPA head coach Sunny Sooch told The Maple Minute directly that Daniel Banjoko is the best prospect he's had at the program since Hudson Ward — who went on to Penn State from WCPA — it wasn't a throwaway line. It was a statement about where he believes this 6'7" wing out of London, England is headed. Banjoko's résumé already backs it up. Over the last 18 months he's averaged 16.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.0 steals a game at City of London Academy, won Defensive Player of the Year, taken home National League Finals MVP after a 20-point, 6-rebound, 6-steal outburst in the final, captained Great Britain's U16 national team, and competed in the adidas NextGen EuroLeague Tournament with London Lions Youth — Europe's highest level of U18 club basketball. But numbers only tell part of the story. The Maple Minute caught up with Banjoko to hear the rest of it, in his own words — why WCPA, what it's like leaving London behind, and what's actually driving him. Why WCPA What made WCPA stand out over every other program recruiting you, and what did that conversation with Coach Sooch feel like? "The thing that made WCPA stand out the most was definitely their heavy emphasis on actual developing players skill wise and the amount of resources accessible to me 24/7 allowing me to work on myself everyday in order to improve. This was the selling point as coming from the UK where there's limited access to courts, this really got me excited about starting my journey here at WCPA. The conversation with Coach Sunny felt great as he was very keen on getting me over which made me feel wanted, and everything he said was everything he did which allowed me to build trust within him." For a prospect coming out of a UK system where court access is often the biggest bottleneck to development, WCPA's round-the-clock resources weren't just a nice-to-have — they were the deciding factor. Leaving London Behind You're going from London to Edmonton — different continent, different weather, different pace of life entirely. What part of that transition are you most confident about, and what part genuinely worries you? "I'm pretty confident in how adaptable I am to the Canadian lifestyle and the style of basketball played here too. It helps that I already know a few people here personally, so I'm not starting from zero. The bit that worries me the most in my opinion is the cold and the snow. London winters are nothing like what Edmonton gets, so that's going to be a real adjustment for me. I'll also miss the pace and energy of London, the culture and just how busy everything feels. However, I'm looking forward to the next step in my Education and Basketball, and I'm excited to see what this new season has in store for me." It's a candid answer — the basketball adjustment doesn't scare him nearly as much as an Edmonton winter does, and that kind of honesty says a lot about a 17-year-old walking into this with his eyes open. Translating the Game You've dominated at the youth level in the UK and on the EuroLeague NextGen stage — 16.3 PPG, 6.8 boards, 5 steals a night. What part of your game do you think translates immediately to North American basketball, and what part do you expect to get exposed or challenged the most? "My athleticism and my length on defence can all directly translate over to the North American basketball system, those are the things that let me disrupt, get steals and rebound at a high level. I feel confident those tools will still work over here as they are something I've worked on countless times. The part I expect to get challenged most is the offensive side, especially becoming a more consistent shooter and creator against stronger and more physical players. In the UK I could score in volume, but this is a different level so I'll need to keep working on my skills." That's a mature evaluation for a prospect this young — he's not selling himself as a finished product, he's identifying exactly where the jump in competition is going to test him most. The Why You could point to the stats, the awards, the National League Final MVP — but what's actually driving you? What are you trying to prove, and to who? "What's really driving me is my family and friends back home, especially wanting to show my parents that all their hard work to let me play the sport I love didn't go to waste. I also want to prove to the people who never believed in me that I'm more than just an average player and that I can compete with the best. That's what keeps me going every day." The Vision Fast forward five years — what does success look like for you? Not just basketball-wise, but as a person who left home at 17 to chase this. What do you want people to be able to say about Daniel Banjoko by then? "Five years from now, I hope I've had a successful four year NCAA journey and put myself in a position to reach the NBA. But success to me is more than basketball. I want to be financially stable enough to support my family and look after the people I love without thinking twice about it. Leaving home at 17 has taught me a lot about being independent and how tough life can get especially when you're away from your family and physically not under the care of your parents. However, in 5 years time I just want people to know me as someone who stayed humble, worked hard, was resilient, and never gave up on the process." Between the production, the pedigree and the perspective he showed in this conversation, it's easy to see why Sooch is willing to put Banjoko in the same breath as a Division I alum before he's even played a game for WCPA. The talent got him in the door. The mindset is what makes the comparison to Hudson Ward feel earned.

Terry Ogbeide | 6'5 Guard | Team Manitoba | Victory Rock Academy 2026 Nationals: 14.2 PPG | 5.2 RPG | 3.2 APG | 1.8 SPG | 60.8 FG% | 41.2 3PT% | Second Team All-Canadian Terry Ogbeide was one of Manitoba's most consistent performers at Nationals, but the numbers only tell part of what makes the 6-foot-5 guard an intriguing prospect. Ogbeide is extremely physical getting downhill. He can get to the rim against almost anyone, uses his strength against smaller guards and has the quickness to attack bigger defenders. More importantly, he doesn't shy away from contact once he gets there. He looks for it. "I would say my advantage is probably my size and my speed," Ogbeide told The Maple Minute. "If guards are guarding me, they're usually shorter or smaller, and then if bigs are guarding me, I'm good with my feet." That size-speed combination has always been part of Ogbeide's game. What has become more interesting over the past year is everything developing around it. Before Nationals, Manitoba used Ogbeide at point guard during a pre-Nationals tournament, and he looked comfortable with the responsibility. His handle is good for his size and continues to improve, but it was his ability to initiate offence and make decisions that stood out. He didn't look like a wing simply bringing the ball up the floor. He looked comfortable running the team. We saw more evidence of that development at Nationals, where Ogbeide averaged 3.2 assists per game while remaining one of Manitoba's primary scoring threats. His greatest offensive strength still comes when he's able to attack. Ogbeide is particularly comfortable working from triple threat, using his jab series to move defenders before attacking the rim or getting into a jumper. "I really like my triple threat because I'm good at my jabs, getting to the rim, or just jabbing and pulling up for three, or just one-dribble pull-ups," he said. His perimeter shooting was another encouraging part of his Nationals performance. Ogbeide shot 41.2 percent from three, but the context matters. His perimeter success came as a catch-and-shoot threat rather than creating threes off the bounce. The catch-and-shoot jumper is becoming a legitimate part of his game today. The pull-up three remains part of the projection. Ogbeide knows it too. "Off-the-dribble threes," he said when asked which skill could change his game most over the next year. "That's really big for me, and that can expand my game so much." If that shot develops, defending him becomes considerably more difficult. Right now, defenders already have to account for a physical 6-foot-5 guard who can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim through contact. Becoming a consistent pull-up threat would make it much harder for defenders to sit on his drive. There are encouraging signs defensively as well. Ogbeide moves his feet well and can stay with guards on the perimeter. Combined with his size and strength, that gives him the tools to potentially defend multiple positions. His 1.8 steals per game at Nationals added some production to that defensive profile, but his ability to move laterally at his size is more interesting than the steal total itself. He also understands that his impact can't depend entirely on scoring. "Honestly, rebounding and just being competitive and talking," Ogbeide said. "I've always seen myself as a leader. Just being a leader, talking, and playing defence." A lot of Ogbeide's development over the past year has come from being challenged. Moving from Manitoba to Florida introduced him to greater size, speed and a game where decisions had to happen faster. He admits that before making the move, there were times when his success had given him a "big head." Playing at a higher level quickly changed that. "The little things separate," Ogbeide said. "Getting teammates involved, that really helps. I feel like it's just the little things, honestly, and they're really big on those in the U.S." The biggest test came during the Florida state tournament. Ogbeide described it as the toughest basketball environment he has experienced. The defence, coaching and overall level challenged him in ways he hadn't experienced before. "It just kind of brought me down," Ogbeide said. "But as I got to learn about it, I was like, okay, now I know where I need to improve. Now I know what I need to do." His response to that experience is an important part of his progression. Rather than coming away believing he couldn't compete at that level, Ogbeide came away with a clearer understanding of what needed to improve. By the time he returned to Manitoba this summer, some of that growth was already showing. Nationals provided another measuring stick. Ogbeide started all five games and averaged 14.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals, while shooting 60.8 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from three. His performance earned him Second Team All-Canadian honours as Manitoba finished sixth nationally. He also showed what his physical style can look like when everything comes together, including a 23-point, seven-rebound performance during the tournament. There is still development ahead. The off-the-dribble three isn't consistent yet, his handle can continue getting tighter, and his reads will be tested as he takes on more responsibility with the basketball. But there is plenty to build around. Ogbeide already brings size, speed and legitimate physicality. His catch-and-shoot game is developing, he moves his feet well enough to stay with guards defensively, and we've now seen him look comfortable when Manitoba puts the ball in his hands. Florida has taught him how much the little things matter. If those details continue catching up with the physical tools, Terry Ogbeide is becoming a very interesting big-guard prospect to follow.

Jayson Ikani dunked everything. That was probably the first thing you noticed watching the 6-foot-7 Team BC forward at Nationals. He ran the floor, attacked the rim and finished above it with the type of explosiveness that could change the energy in the gym in a hurry. By the end of the week, though, it was everything around the athleticism that made Ikani one of the biggest surprises of the tournament. The UPLAY product averaged 14.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, including 4.8 offensive rebounds and 1.4 blocks, earning a spot on The Maple Minute's First Team. For a Class of 2028 prospect, the production was impressive, but there were legitimate basketball skills and an understanding of the game behind those numbers. “I think what separates me is my versatility, whether that's scoring on three levels or being able to guard all positions.” The shooting is already a real part of that versatility. Ikani showed great balance getting into his shot and proved to be a capable long-range shooter who wasn't afraid of the moment. He made big shots for BC throughout the week while also understanding that he didn't need to hunt them. “I think my biggest strengths are spot-up shooting and being able to finish the basketball.” The finishing certainly showed at Nationals, but his ability to contribute without having the ball may have been just as important. Ikani's 4.8 offensive rebounds per game weren't simply the product of being bigger or more athletic. He had a good feel for when to attack the glass and where to attack from, staying active after the initial action and putting himself in position to create extra possessions. That same understanding showed elsewhere offensively. Playing alongside strong guard play with Team BC, Ikani didn't need the ball in his hands to affect possessions. He created space with his movement, cut into openings and seemed comfortable allowing the game to come to him rather than forcing himself into the action. Defensively, Ikani made good decisions and generally understood where he needed to be. He used his length and athleticism without constantly chasing plays, while his mobility at 6-foot-7 allowed him to handle different matchups. That combination gives him plenty of versatility on that end as his game continues to develop. One of the more interesting areas to follow will be what Ikani becomes with the ball in his hands. Team BC didn't need him to be a primary creator with the guard play around him, and Ikani seemed to understand his role. Rather than chasing touches, he found other ways to impact the game. That will be an important part of his development as he moves to Bella Vista. “I'm hoping to improve on my handles and being able to score more off the dribble.” Bella Vista should give Ikani more opportunities to expand that part of his game. Adding consistent off-the-dribble creation to his shooting and finishing would give him another way to attack defenders and make an already intriguing offensive profile even more complete. Playing against better competition has already changed how Ikani approaches the game. Instead of believing he needs to do more as the level rises, he's beginning to understand the value of making things simpler. “It's definitely made me adjust my play style and make it more simple, but also helped me advance in how I score.” That answer matched what we saw at Nationals. Ikani didn't need to dominate touches to make an impact. He spaced the floor, stayed active, attacked the glass and made good decisions defensively. For a young player with obvious physical advantages, knowing how to contribute without forcing the game is an important part of his development. We also got to see how he responded when things weren't going well. In the bronze-medal game, Ikani finished with six points on 3-for-14 shooting, but he still grabbed eight rebounds and remained involved. A difficult shooting night doesn't define a tournament, but his willingness to keep competing and find other ways to contribute stood out. When games get tight, Ikani's motivation goes beyond what is happening on the floor. “I think about all the people who believe in me and all the work I've put in before that.” Ikani was already on the national radar before this tournament, earning an invitation to Canada Basketball's U17 men's selection camp. Nationals gave us another opportunity to see how his game translated against some of the better players in the country, and the athleticism was only part of what stood out. The shooting, rebounding, off-ball activity and ability to impact possessions without demanding the basketball all carried over. His trajectory brings to mind where Nathan Yambayamba was coming out of Nationals a year ago. This isn't about their games being identical. It's the stage of development that feels familiar — a young prospect with obvious physical tools beginning to show the production and skill behind them. Yambayamba's rise showed how quickly the conversation around a young player can change once those pieces begin coming together. Ikani may be approaching a similar point, which makes his next year at Bella Vista particularly interesting. That's also why Division I coaches should be watching. Ikani is 6-foot-7, can make shots from distance, finishes explosively, rebounds at a high level and understands how to help a talented team without needing the basketball. Most importantly, those things translated against national competition. There is still plenty of development ahead for a Class of 2028 prospect, and that's part of what makes Ikani intriguing. If the on-ball creation begins expanding alongside everything he's already showing, the conversation around his recruitment could look considerably different a year from now. After what we saw at Nationals, The Maple Minute won't be surprised if it does.