The first week of June ball has come and gone and it was good to get out and see some high school team games. Of course it’s basically just the 1st preview of the upcoming season so take it for what it’s worth. I got out to Hanover College on Friday to check out their event where there were some good southern Indiana teams but obviously a few that were missing players due to other sports. On Saturday I headed to Bloomington for the IU team camp where most anyone who was anybody in the Indiana basketball scene was at. Some of the top teams and talent in the state (and some from outside of Indiana) were @ Assembly Hall and Bloomington North H.S. It was a full 2 days of basketball so let’s look at what stood out. No paid subscription needed here and just as much ball. Here’s what caught my eye during Week 1 of June ball.
- Incoming freshman Colt Robbins for BNL is going to be a big time player for the Stars who are now playing in 3A. He looks to be around 6’4- 6’5 and plays AAU for Indiana Elite Jr. 3SSB. Colt played with alot of confidence while handling the ball, scoring, and playing a big role in what BNL was doing. Robbins has the potential to become Bedford’s first Indiana All Star since Cole Sinclair in 2001.
- Scottsburg’s Jr. Caiden Boswell is a good breakout player candidate for the Warriors. He’s a long 6’5 with potential to grow even more. Boswell can shoot from the outside and finishes well at the basket. The Warriors went 2-1 @ Hanover on Friday while missing two of their returning starters. The ’29 duo of Jaxon Owens and Caleb Salas are two of the better sophomores in the southern Indiana area.
- Speaking of ’29 players, the Rebels @ Southwestern (Hanover) return Quinton Lewis, who by the end of the season led them in scoring most games. He’s a big time 3 pt. shooter but showed he could score it from anywhere on Friday. Lewis is one of the more of the underrated players in southern Indiana.
- Also for the Rebels, Lewis is going to get alot of help offensively from incoming freshman Collin Flint. The 6’4 Flint is a knockdown shooter from the outside. He’s got great touch for a kid his age and size and will be a Day 1 starter for a Southwestern team that lost 4 seniors. Flint routinely scored 25-30 pts last year in 8th grade ball and has been doing the same for Indiana Elite-Southeast in AAU.
- Trinity Lutheran looks to be a sure bet for preseason Top 10 team in 1A, if not Top 5. I’m not sure the Cougars lost anyone from last year’s 14-11 team. Hudson Lang and Reed Mellencamp have been varsity players since their freshman year’s and this is the year TL has been building towards. The whole team played and shot the ball well on Thursday during the 2 games I saw them.
- ’28 Evan Renn for Silver Creek is another breakout player this upcoming season. At 6’6 Renn was really shooting it well from 3 on Saturday @ IU. The Dragons will need shooting after losing Daeger and Sprigler and it looks like Renn will be allowed to fill that role.
- I hate to bring bad news to anyone outside of Sellersburg, but the Dragons aren’t falling off much if at all from last year. Losing Indiana All Star Dane Caldwell who put up 30+ in the semi state final hurts but there’s even more height off the bench than last year that’s ready to step into roles this season. I mentioned Renn but Lucas Linderman is 6’8, Brody McLaughlin is 6’5, Donavon Whitehead is 6’6, Aiden Makun is 6’7, and their Jr. All star point guard, Brandon Hunter @ 6’4. The Dragons beat a good Chesterton team by 15 and went 3-0 @ IU.
- It may be time to say there’s a Big 5 in that class of 2028. Chesterton’s Brad Basila is climbing up the charts and the potential is even higher. He’s already a D1 athlete and he’s just now starting to figure out the game of basketball. His shot has improved and that could mean the Trojans are the class of The Region this season. Basila was also named Underclassman All Star game MVP last week.
- I got to check out the Culver Academy v. Gary West game @ IU on Saturday. With one of the top ’29s out (Prentiss Gates) it was a good chance to see how classmate Deshawn Clay would handle himself. Clay answered that by scoring the first 14 pts. of the game for Westside. Deshawn shot the 3 ball better than I’ve seen him previously for Meanstreets and looked more than comfortable in a leading role. Defensively he’s always going to go all out and he’s long enough to make others uncomfortable. There’s some really good class of ’29 duos in the state but Gates and Clay may be at the top of the list.
- Speaking of duos the most impressive single game performance of the day was @ Bloomington North H.S. watching Austin against Southmont. Madison-transfer Braysen Russell looked like he had no problem fitting in with his new team. The 6’1 guard put on a shooting clinic in front of IU coach Darian Devries scoring 48 pts. while making twelve 3’s. Russell is such a good shooter it was actually surprising when he missed a shot. The Eagles went 3-0 on the day.
- The other half of that duo for Austin is 6’5 Micah Mohler who not only had 20 earlier in the day v. Bloomfield, but had 25 in this game v. Southmont. He’s got the ability to score from anywhere on the floor and there’s not much you can do to stop him getting to his spots. I didn’t keep track but it’s also hard to tell how many rebounds Mohler pulled down this game. IU seems to be very interested in Mohler and is just beginning the process of recruiting the sophomore- to be.
- Another ’29 kid who wants to make his claim as the best player in a loaded class is New Albany’s Karson Stoudemire. With Jr. Noah Washington out on Saturday, Stoudemire was the Dogs go-to player when they needed a bucket. New Albany will be one of the state’s top teams this year and beat a really good Penn team in OT in the game I watched with Karson scoring the winning basket. Driving downhill and using his strength is Stoudemire’s strength right now but he showed his shot making in this game.
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