Wayzata basketball senior Nolen Anderson talks Gophers offer, playing for AAU national title

Nolen Anderson looked like a Big Ten-level talent while leading Wayzata to its third Class 4A state championship in five years at Williams Arena in March.

The crafty and highly-skilled 6-7 senior carried that momentum from the high school season into AAU to become one of the state’s breakout players of the summer.

After leading D1 Minnesota 17U to the Adidas 3SSB championship game Sunday in South Carolina, Anderson picked up an offer from the Gophers and new coach Niko Medved.

“I’m extremely excited about it,” Anderson said. “I think it would be a good fit for me. It’s a place I could see myself going.”

Anderson’s D-I offers entering the July recruiting period includes more than a half dozen at the mid-major level, including Drake, Illinois-Chicago, Montana, Northern Iowa, Ohio and Toledo. He was receiving interest from the Gophers and Iowa.

Known for his three-point shooting, Anderson first appeared on the Gophers’ radar in the spring. Medved and his coaches invited him on an unofficial visit.

“After the [spring] live period, I ended up going over to watch them,” Anderson said about the Gophers. “That’s when it started to pick up from there even more.”

Medved, who replaced Ben Johnson as Gophers coach in late March, landed East Ridge’s Cedric Tomes in May as his first in-state high school commitment. Anderson can’t wait to see what’s next in his recruitment, which likely includes an official visit with the U this fall.

“I love building a relationship with them and getting to know them all better,” Anderson said. “I still have to schedule [the official visit], but it’s going to happen I’m pretty sure.”

Anderson’s not just a shooter. His sneaky athleticism and the ability to finish above the rim off alley-oop passes and in transition caught more than a few defenders off guard this spring and summer.

“My body and athleticism are probably the biggest things I improved on,” Anderson said. “I’ve always shot it pretty well. Wanted to keep getting better with that. And just tried to get more efficient with shot selection.”

Anderson, who transferred from Eden Prairie to Wayzata last year, ranked second on the team in scoring this past season behind fellow senior Christian Wiggins (19 points per game) with 17.5 points per game.

The Wayzata tandem dominated the Class 4A title game against Cretin-Derham Hall in March with a combined 45 points, including Anderson’s team-high 24 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. They’ll likely be the state’s No. 1 team entering next season, too.

“Christian is one of my best friends and I’ve loved playing with him since we were kids,” Anderson said. “It’s been great and I’m looking forward to running it back again next year.”

In a preview of the upcoming Minnesota high school season, Wiggins and Anderson combined for 51 points and nine three-pointers in the Adidas 3SSB tournament last week in a overtime win against BABC to advance to the semifinals. D1 Minnesota eventually lost to Game Elite from Georgia, 62-61 in the final.

“Wish we had that last game, but I can’t complain about our journey,” Anderson said. “We fought and we got better. We proved that Minnesota’s a basketball state. We proved we could play against the powerhouses.”

Anderson will finish out his AAU career with D1 Minnesota Thursday through Sunday in the Adidas Earn Your Stripes event in Southern California.

In addition to Wiggins (Iowa State) and Tomes, D1 Minnesota has two other players committed to play for D-I programs in the Class of 2026 with Iowa native Jaidyn Coon (Creighton) and Maple Grove’s Max Iversen (North Dakota State).

Anderson has been playing AAU ball with Tomes and Wiggins since the eighth grade at Team Tyus.

“We’ve got great camaraderie and great chemistry together,” Wiggins said. “We were just building on that even more to try and win.”