Grassroots Sizzle missing some big names, but still attracting top talent

Phones and cameras quickly pointed toward Court 2 at Bloomington Jefferson on Sunday when Demarion Watson-Saulsberry raced under a deflected pass high into the air like a 6-8 wide receiver. He took one dribble before flushing the ball through the rim.

From that spectacular dunk to Braeden Carrington calmly sinking a pair of second-half three-pointers to take the lead, fans watching Grassroots Sizzle saw the AAU program that produced Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren go from being on the ropes to erasing a 16-point deficit for the win, improving to 14-1 this spring.

Two local standouts the Gophers are recruiting the hardest with new coach Ben Johnson — Watson-Saulsberry and Carrington — are leading a group trying to keep Sizzle on top without Suggs and Holmgren this year.

"When you go out there, you've got a name because of Chet and Jalen," said Carrington, a Park Center junior guard. "You always have to go out and give 100 percent because everybody is coming for you trying to take down the Sizzle name."

Despite no more five-star talents on the roster, there's a reason Sizzle is still one of the nation's top summer clubs. All 10 players on its top 17U team have Division I scholarship offers, including Gopher-offered Carrington and Watson-Saulsberry, a fast-rising Totino-Grace junior forward.

"He's really coming at me hard," Carrington said about Johnson. "He's really been trying to get to know me and my mom. He calls me and texts me at least four times a week. He's really engaged. It's nice because it's the hometown. It's nice to know they really want me."

Watson-Saulsberry wowed onlookers with his soaring dunks this weekend, but he proved just as formidable shooting and protecting the rim. The prospect many recruiting analysts say has the most potential in the state's 2022 class nailed five threes in a game Saturday and blocked five shots in another game Sunday.

Watson-Saulsberry is starting to realize how good he can be, after coming off the bench at Minnehaha Academy his sophomore year before transferring.

"A year ago, I was not very confident in myself," he said. "I wasn't really as strong. Last year, I was 175, but now I'm almost 200 pounds. I've been working with my trainer for a year now. Focusing on getting stronger and eating better. I grew about an inch and a half."

Johnson appears to have a good relationship with Team Sizzle after prioritizing two of its best players this spring. Watson-Saulsberry likes the Gophers, because "they have new coaches who already believe in me."

"They were telling me they really like my game," he said. "They think it fits the style of play at Minnesota and the culture they're building there. They said my freshman year I could be a really big part of that."

The NCAA is allowing official visits again starting with the end of the dead period on June 1. Carrington and Watson-Saulsberry could be the first in-state targets to make trips to Minnesota's campus next month.

"Minnesota will probably be my first, but it will be an unofficial visit," Carrington said. "It's definitely a big point with all the coaches I talked to there, telling me as an incoming freshman I would most likely play."

Besides Watson-Saulsberry and Carrington, Minnehaha Academy forwards Prince Aligbe and Chase Carter — two more Sizzle standouts — have college-ready frames and have high-major program offers.

Holmgren made Sizzle a contender in the Under Armour circuit and a name every blue-blood coach knew in college hoops because he was the nation's No. 1 senior. He signed with NCAA runner-up Gonzaga this spring, but before joining the Zags this summer he's been stopping by to support his old AAU buddies in practice and games.

Sizzle's best 17U squad is coached by ex-Gopher Randy Carter, who was an assistant coach for Minnehaha Academy's state title team with Holmgren and current Sizzle Aligbe, his son, Chase, and Donovan Smith. South St. Paul's Alonzo Dodd, Minneapolis North's Willie Wilson and Prior Lake's Malcolm Jones have also been key contributors to Sizzle's success.

After Suggs left to become a freshman star at Gonzaga last season, Holmgren didn't play AAU basketball last summer due to concerns during the pandemic. Sizzle continued on without them, though. And every time out is still a battle to live up to a program that Suggs and Holmgren built to national prominence.

"This will be our third season with the same core group of guys," said Chase Carter, a junior forward. "We've been underdogs in terms of not a lot of those guys were highly ranked at a young age. … We'll always have Jalen and Chet supporting us, but as long as we're a family and play together now we'll be fine."