Tamin Lipsey, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound point guard from Ames (IA) High, is one of the top playmakers in the Class of 2022.
Lipsey is playing for D1 Minnesota 17-and-under team this summer.
Lipsey helped lead his USA Basketball team to the 2019 FIBA Americas Under 16 Championship. They finished 6-0, winning the gold medal in Belém, Brazil as he averaged 6.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
Lipsey comes from an athletic family. His father, Robert, played football at Southwest Minnesota State and mother Holly, played volleyball there.
Lipsey has three sisters, Amara, Teagan, and Phaedra. Amara started at point guard as a freshman at Kirkwood Community College this past season. Teagan was a standout track and field and basketball standout this year as a senior at Ames.
Gopher Hole recently caught up with Lipsey to learn the latest on his recruitment and recovery from a torn ACL.
Gopher Hole: You played for USA Basketball. What was that experience like?
Tamin Lipsey: That experience was like a “once in a lifetime” thing. Not many kids in the country gets to participate in that or say that they were a part of USA Basketball and just the competition and the stuff that you learn at those camps, is just unreal. It is like they are preparing you for the next level. The competition is like the best in the country. All the best players are there, so it is just really a cool atmosphere to be in.
Gopher Hole: Are you planning on doing anything any future activities with them. I know that it hard with what is going on with the world with COVID-19, but have you talked to people about doing something in the next couple of years?
Tamin Lipsey: Obviously, no one knows about when the next one will be, but normally they have an October mini-camp, but we don’t know if that is going to be a thing this year or not, but hopefully, it is, so we can get down there and train.
Gopher Hole: How are you doing health-wise? I know that you had the injury, but how are you doing now?
Tamin Lipsey: I feel that I am 100% now. I feel really good. I still have a brace on for about two more weeks and then I am done with that. Aches and pains every once in awhile, but that is just going to come with it, but for the most part, my body feels really good.
Gopher Hole: What happened with the injury again?
Tamin Lipsey: I had an ACL in my left knee. It happened in a summer league game with my high school team. I went up for a rebound and just came down. No contact. Just tweaked it.
Gopher Hole: How about your recruitment? You are not getting to play in a lot of the events that you were hoping to, but you are obviously hearing from a lot of schools. How many offers are you up to right now?
Tamin Lipsey: I have three. Iowa State, Nebraska and my most recent one was Minnesota. I’ll talk to a lot of new schools. A lot of new interest. Just building relationships. Trying to get to know them. Probably take visits whenever we can. Definitely building relationships with my offers. They like to talk to me almost every day, which is nice.
Gopher Hole: Do you like the recruiting process? Can you see how it could get old after awhile?
Tamin Lipsey: Yes. It makes you feel good about yourself when you have a lot of coaches and schools interested in you, but somedays, it can be a lot, especially that first day when they can contact us June 15th. I probably had over 10, 15 calls that day. I’m not used to that, so it was a lot, but you are going to look back on that and like the experiences that you had.
Gopher Hole: What is it going to mean to have the opportunity to play Division I basketball?
Tamin Lipsey: I have always wanted to do that since I was a little kid. I grew up watching college basketball. Once I get to that college level, I want to be able to train to make it to the next level, the NBA. Playing in college, I know the fans at almost every college, come to every game. They cheer loud and there are a lot of different things about college that you like.
Gopher Hole: You mentioned Minnesota as your most recent offer. What are you hearing from the Gophers?
Tamin Lipsey: I have talked to a few of the coaches. Almost all of the coaches, actually. I talked to Pitino a couple of times. He is a really cool dude. We are building a relationship slowly. I think the offer was maybe a week ago, so I have talked to them a couple of times since then. I love all the coaches there and we have a lot of things to talk about.
Gopher Hole: For people who haven’t seen you play, how would you describe yourself as a player?
Tamin Lipsey: I would describe myself as a controlling point guard. Whatever team I’m on, I like to be able to control the team, sort of be a floor general. I would probably say that I am a pass first, but I can score when I need to. I like to get my teammates open shots and I’m definitely a two-way point guard. I like to play defense.
Gopher Hole: How about this AAU team? You look like you have a lot of talent. You have a couple of guys who are hurt, unfortunately, but I would think that you would be one of the better teams in the Midwest, if not the country. What do you like about this squad?
Tamin Lipsey: Definitely. We have a lot of variety in our players. We have a lot of guys who have got a lot of height. They are bulky. We have four guards, I guess, so I am pretty sure that I am the main point guard on the team. Obviously, I am the shortest. I have to be able to do my part with the team. We have got great shooters, great big men. I think that we have everything.
Gopher Hole: What about your high school team? What are the expectations for you guys this upcoming season?
Tamin Lipsey: We are hoping to start practicing July 1st. We’ll be able to get into our gym at our high school, so that will be good. We should be a really good team. I think that we should be top five, for sure, in Iowa. I am pretty sure that our last regular season game is against Minnehaha from Minnesota. I know that they are a great team. They have got Chet (Holmgren). They have got a lot of Division I players on their team, but we should definitely have a shot at the Iowa State championship.
Gopher Hole: How far did you guys make it last year?
Tamin Lipsey: Last year, we made it to the round of 16. We didn’t make it to the state tournament. Last year was sort of a rebuilding stage. We had a few kids hurt, me and another of our guards were out, but I think that we have some new kids coming in that should be a big part of our team.