DRAFT RESULTS: Naz Mitrou-Long leads the YCCL favorites

There wasn’t any doubt that Naz Mitrou-Long wanted to be on the floor during the YMCA Capital City League last summer. He didn’t miss many nights of competition out at Valley Southwoods.

The nights he did miss, he was sending me direct messages on Twitter to ask for score updates. This season he will get his chance to return to the summer league court and will do it with what I see as the best roster in the league.

It isn’t tough to see Phoenix Renewable Resources head coach Tony Colosimo’s strategy after selecting Mitrou-Long with his first pick in Sunday night’s YCCL draft. He surrounded him with size.

It started with 6-foot-7-inch, 220-pound graduate transfer Darrell Bowie for the second Iowa State pick. He added two of the biggest guys in the league with his Drake picks, 6-foot-10-inch Casey Schlatter and 6-foot-11-inch Kory Kuenstling.

Six-foot-7-inch Michael Geistler averaged 11.4 points at Norwalk High School last season. Austin Glawe is a 6-foot-5-inch guard that averaged a double-double during his prep years at Sioux Central.

Throw in SWCC guards T.J. Bower, Khalid Edwards and Malachi Canada and you have the potential for a very solid summer league roster.

Sure, Deonte Burton and Hannah Homes (shoutout to head coach Paul Pederson) are the defending champions looking to repeat. ADIO Chiropractic will have a solid core with Nick Babb, Solomon Young and Drake’s Reed Timmer.

Any team with Monte Morris is likely to be successful, but how often will he be able to play with the potential for invites to national camps?

I’m calling Naz Mitrou-Long and Phoenix Renewable Resources the favorites to win this year’s YMCA Capital City League.

I doubt he’ll be DM’ing me for updates.

Jared Stansbury

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Jared a native of Clarinda, Iowa, started as the Cyclone Fanatic intern in August 2013, primarily working as a videographer until starting on the women’s basketball beat prior to the 2014-15 season. Upon earning his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State in May 2016, Jared was hired as the site’s full-time staff writer, taking over as the primary day-to-day reporter on football and men’s basketball. He was elevated to the position of managing editor in January 2020. He is a regular contributor on 1460 KXNO in Des Moines and makes regular guest appearances on radio stations across the Midwest. Jared resides in Ankeny with his four-year-old puggle, Lolo.

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