2027 Baboucarr Ann Interview + Scouting Deepdive
Draftstack met up with 6’5” 2027 Guard Baboucarr Ann, ranked No.2 in Minnesota, in his hometown of Maple Grove this past weekend to get to know the proven, still ascending, and NBA-driven prospect.
Baboucarr Ann
6’5” | 2027 | Guard | Maple Grove High School (MN) | D1 Minnesota 2026 3SSB
Maple Grove High School (2024-2025) (23-9) 3rd place State AAAA tournament - Section 5AAAA Champions
Head Coach - Nick Schroeder
Baboucarr Ann has the goal set in his mind to become an NBA player. And he is putting forth the daily work to realize that goal. I’ll go into detail on how he performs on the court, but Baboucarr the person and teammate is a significant aspect of his profile. Humble, respectful, Elite teammate, etc. Baboucarr brings a positive energy and good vibe to almost every scenario. Baboucarr checks all the boxes off the court and with his personality traits.
He doesn’t sink the boat, he sets the sails.
I first saw Baboucarr a few years back when he was playing 14U ball for PJ Hoops. He had promising length but a raw game. The defensive upside was established, though. You could see a lot of potential in his lengthy frame and his movement and athletic pop.
Although opportunities for improvement are still there, the upside was realized and came to fruition at perfect timing. He’s getting serious high-major D1 interest and has secured a few offers from the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, and Arizona State University. He goes through his recruiting rundown in the interview I recently had with him.
Ann had a promising Sophomore season for Maple Grove that put D1’s on high alert. His 41.7% 3-point percentage had to carry a lot of weight in him garnering high-level interest. His above-the-rim ability with a 3-point percentage above 40% has turned things up a notch for his recruitment.
Sophomore Season Stats (per Baboucarr’s X account)
Per game averages of 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
Shooting: FG-51.7% (3FG-41.7%)
Interview:
Scouting:
Offense
Off-the-drive threat
Finishes with his length advantage
Patient, doesn’t force bad action just to try to score.
Product of being a wing, but goes stretches offensively of simply just spacing the offense and not being a consistent offensive factor.
Can handle the ball well enough to get to scoring areas, but his scoring assertiveness could drift slightly to the more selfish side. He gets to the middle, but can stall when he gets there because he looks for others.
He can handle the ball in the open court just fine, but when a defender starts to play up on him and challenge him, he retreats and doesn’t try to counter the aggression.
Defense
Great overall defender
Elite defensive IQ
Plays tight coverage when necessary
Moves through and avoids getting screened hard
Great lateral movement with quick, explosive bursts
Great help defender, almost to a fault - comes off his matchup too far
Rim-resister and will challenge opponents at the rim
This offseason Baboucarr has been playing up an age group on Minnesota’s top 17U AAU team, D1 Minnesota 3SSB. The team has been getting some national recognition and is full of high-major D1 commits and prospects that play well together. They recently had their top few 2026 prospects commit to division 1 programs. Baboucarr came off the bench with a squad of D1 17U prospects.
C3 Skills workout
I traveled to Maple Grove, Minnesota this past weekend to meetup with Baboucarr to do a workout with him with my new skills training, skills coaching, and player development business, C3 Skills.
I caught onto the fact that he can take direction and has a high basketball IQ compared to others I’ve recently worked with. He easily understood what I was asking and performed it correctly sooner rather than later.
His 3-point development was quite noticeable. He showed consistency from three and was able to go on streaks of making 4-5 in a row.
I challenged his ability to sustain his handle for an extended period of time and get into a pull-up three cleanly. He was better from three range than getting into an off-balance two-ball on the move.
For the “finisher” of the workout, I challenged his stamina, conditioning, and muscular endurance after we performed an adequate amount of shooting reps. It was a full-court test to see how well he could shoot when the legs are heavy and if he could sustain his vertical with some dunks at the end of a workout.
The workout consisted of starting with a pull-up three, rebound it, pull-up midrange on the other end, then rebound the midranger, hustle with the ball to the other end, then a dunk for the last and third rep. This three-rep series is performed continuously until about 90% failure. My clue to the 90% failure was when he was starting to have trouble getting up cleanly to dunk the ball.
If there was one weakness to his workout and what he showed, it would be that he could be in a more conditioned state. An elite condition does so much for a player. It’s an extra edge that allows a guard to play fast, longer. That extra step you can gain over a tired opponent is a difference-maker.
NBA Prediction
I believe this season (2025-2026) is one of the most important seasons for Baboucarr developing into a future NBA player. How he responds and develops with more of a ball-handling role is paramount. It may take four games for him to get comfortable with it.
Overall, Ann has an attractive overall profile that will gain attention of NBA scouts and General Managers in the near future. It’s clear that he will continue to work, as he has set the NBA dream as a main focus in his life. An important factor in projecting him is that I believe he will continually provide progress and has upside going forward because there are a few skills untapped yet. His ball-handling against pressure, game conditioning, NBA-3 range, and some minor tweaks to his approach offensively make for areas that he can further develop consistently for the next five years of his career.
I don’t envision him becoming an NBA superstar worthy of max contract status, but I think he can be a serviceable 2-guard with a rotational role or a starting role in an opportune situation. He should benefit with his defensive ability. A meaningful role may not open up instantly, but I think an organization and coaching staff will be all-in on giving him a chance on an opportunity.
Baboucarr’s Breakthrough
Ann was recently slated as the #55 ranked 2027 in the nation by Rivals. This should give him confidence going into the season to make that minor tweak to his game day personality and on-court inner-thinking.
I think this is the year for Baboucarr to make another leap and the most crucial leap. He still needs to stay steady and perform consistent work, but he’s set for a game-changing year. This year he takes on more of a go-to role, amplified offensive energy, and uses that with his improving ball skills to make for a great alignment of riches. He has the D1 offers, but he’s not to the BIG LEAGUES yet.
Baboucarr is one I will be following rather closely and plan to make a trip or two to Maple Grove for the upcoming season for a couple highly anticipated home matchups.