Lack of high major D1 talent in DM

**Incyte** · 03-04-2008, 09:29 AM

Des Moines has a fairly large metro area, around 500k or so. Why is that the area produces VERY little D1 high major talent? It's seems all talent comes from small town Iowa or out east. The only D1 high major kids I can even remember all played at Iowa:

Sean Soudelighter (DM Christian)
Chris Street (Indianola?)
Bobby Hansen (Dowling?)

It would be nice if the area produced a high major D1 kid every other year or so. Maybe I'm off base.

**ISUonthemove** · 03-04-2008, 09:32 AM

I would have been a high DI prospect if coach would have just put me in. Heck, we would have won state. If I could just go back in time.

But yeah, you're right. Other than us four, there really hasn't been a lot of talent in the metro. Why don't the rest of you guys pick up the slack?

**Wesley** · 03-04-2008, 09:33 AM

Coaches? Competition? Shoes? Scheduling? Refs? Too many video game machines? AAU team quality? Gymnasiums adequacy?

I think the DM teams should emulate the Omaha area where they play tougher competition wheneever possible and travel out of state at times.

**Oldgeezer** · 03-04-2008, 09:39 AM

One other thing, there is a lack of High Major D1 talent in Des Moines this week, and the state tournement is in town. How many High major scolarships represented? Gibbs, Gonzaga, Gatens, Iowa, Pomlee ???-- anybody else?

**cybsball20** · 03-04-2008, 09:39 AM

I think alot of it comes down to middle school basketball. It's a joke, you have a 7th grade A, B, C, D team and they each play what, a half? WIth 20 kids on each team, each getting 'fair time'? I played in competitive leagues since I was 9. The 6-7-8 were purely recreational. Things even got better when Lon Kruger moved to town and revamped the City Rec Programs. Reebok sponsored the entire league, they moved the 9-10 and 11-12 league from 8.5 ft rims to 10 ft rims and had funding for the underprivlidged kids.

**The_Architect** · 03-04-2008, 09:43 AM

I agree. It's hard to believe that there arent really any prospects that come out of North/Roosevelt/East more often.

**isuno1fan** · 03-04-2008, 09:43 AM

White men can't jump...

<kidding>!

**SeattleClone** · 03-04-2008, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by ISUonthemove

I would have been a high DI prospect if coach would have just put me in. Heck, we would have won state. If I could just go back in time.

Easy. I've already looked into it for myself...

**The_Architect** · 03-04-2008, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by SeattleClone

Easy. I've already looked into it for myself...

**Incyte** · 03-04-2008, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by Oldgeezer

One other thing, there is a lack of High Major D1 talent in Des Moines this week, and the state tournement is in town. How many High major scolarships represented? Gibbs, Gonzaga, Gatens, Iowa, Pomlee ???-- anybody else?

I think those are the only 3.

I don't know if there will be ANY top 150 kids in 2009. I guess it's early . . . maybe someone will explode this summer like Gibbs did.

**psycln11** · 03-04-2008, 09:54 AM

I believe the Register only focussed on kids at the Des Moines Public Schools. However, If you're talking about kids from the entire Metro, burbs included???

Then add:
Mike Born (WDM Valley) - ISU
Morgan Wheat (WDM Valley) - Vandy/ISU
Hurl Beechum (DSM North) - Iowa State
Ryan Sears (Ankeny) - Creighton
Tyler McKinney (Urbandale) - Creighton
Jimmy Binnie (Johnston) - Dayton
Brian Lillis (WDM Dowling) - Albany
Kerwin Dunham (Bondurant) - UNI
Brent Barz (Johnston) - UNI

**cloneu** · 03-04-2008, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by psycln11

I believe the Register only focussed on kids at the Des Moines Public Schools. However, If you're talking about kids from the entire Metro, burbs included???

Then add:
Mike Born (WDM Valley) - ISU
Morgan Wheat (WDM Valley) - Vandy/ISU
Hurl Beechum (DSM North) - Iowa State
Ryan Sears (Ankeny) - Creighton
Tyler McKinney (Urbandale) - Creighton
Jimmy Binnie (Johnston) - Dayton
Brian Lillis (WDM Dowling) - Albany
Kerwin Dunham (Bondurant) - UNI
Brent Barz (Johnston) - UNI

Maybe I don't pay enough attention to basketball, but I have only heard of 2/3 of these guys. How old are the players on this list?

**Incyte** · 03-04-2008, 10:14 AM

That gives us 6 in the last 20 years? Heck Ames itself has had three in that time period.

Sean Soudelighter (DM Christian)
Chris Street (Indianola?)
Bobby Hansen (Dowling?)
Mike Born (WDM Valley) - ISU
Morgan Wheat (WDM Valley) - Vandy/ISU
Hurl Beechum (DSM North) - Iowa State

**frontrangeclone** · 03-04-2008, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by Wesley

Coaches? Competition? Shoes? Scheduling? Refs? Too many video game machines? AAU team quality? Gymnasiums adequacy?

I think the DM teams should emulate the Omaha area where they play tougher competition wheneever possible and travel out of state at times.

Linn-Mar went over to Omaha to play Central a few weeks ago and lost by a point... not to say LM would have won but they had a game go OT the night before and had a 5 hr bus ride to Bugaha, and they didn't have Gibbs... I do think some Sioux City teams play Omaha metro teams as well.

I am befuddled by the lack of talent out of DSM as well. Maybe the kids are distracted by all the "big city" things one can do in DSM, whereas in the smalltowns, kids just play hoops or wrassle from the moment they can walk?? One would think the largest metro area in a given state would have the most talented teams in all sports, but I guess not. Growing up in eastern Iowa, I watched the Mississippi valley conference have a lot of good athletes go through in football, hoops, and womens basketball as well.

**The_Architect** · 03-04-2008, 10:25 AM

Most of the decent D1 players come from the Suburbs. FWIW, the local AAU type programs are filled with the Ankenys, Ames, U-Dale and WDM teams and rarely include teams from the true DM metro schools. It seems to me like the kids with the higher "potential celing" (ie. inner city kids) are missing out on the good club/AAU programs.