Gary West (16-3) at Andrean (11-5)
The cool thing about the Region is all the top teams play each other. Longing for the classic Andrean vs. Gary Roosevelt games which used to open the school season, we practically end the season with this. Both teams very much in contention for a state title.
In what has been a series of big weeks for Notre Dame recruit, Blake Wesley, this past week he put up a career total. He finished the weekend off with a 28 point, 8 rebound performance over Mishawaka. That coming off his season low of 16 points and 4 rebounds vs. city rival South Bend Adams. It was Tuesday's win over Michigan City, where the South Bend Riley senior guard exploded for a career high 46 points, adding 9 rebounds and 4 steals. In his effort, Wesley was 13-15 inside the arc, including 3-8 beyond it. He was flawless from the FT line, 11-11. All of that earning Blake Wesley Courtside Indiana Player of the Week for the week of February 15-February.
POTW is presented by the Metro Indy Basketball Fall League
Others Considered
Gus Etchison is finishing the season strong. In a big win over county rival Noblesville, the 6'0" senior guard poured in 38 points (13-15 FT) with 3 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. The Western Michigan recruit added 28 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists in Hamilton Heights' win over West Lafayette.
New Albany has had a weird season, at least from afar checking out their game results. The important part is they're winning and have put together a good string of wins heading into the final week. Kaden Stanton has been a big part of that, and vs. Bloomfield, the 6'1" junior guard finished with 32 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, 4 assists, going 12-19 from the floor, including 3-7 from 3PT and 5-5 FT.
Cambridge City has a nice group of underclassmen. Alex Bertsch is among those. The 6'0" junior guard scored 37 points in a win over Seton Catholic, going 7-12 3PT, adding 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
Shamar Avance has been regarded as the heart and soul of Lawrence North this season. The uncommitted 6'2" senior point guard continued his strong play this past week. In their win over Pike, Avance came up 2 rebounds shy of a triple double, finishing with 17 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. In their win over Floyd Central on Saturday, Avance finished with 11 points and 7 assists, putting over the 1,000 point mark for his LN career.
Heritage has one of the more productive sophomores in the state, Luke Saylor, among the state leaders for sophomores in scoring, rebounding and assists. This past weekend the 6'2" guard scored 24 points with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in a loss to New Haven. In their win over Canterbury, he added 29 points with 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.
Others Nominated
Sophomores and Freshmen Nominated
Eric Gardner from Prep Hoops Indiana and Joey Bennett from the Brazil Times join in with Zak Tyler and Jim Reamer to discuss hot off press 2021 state tournament draw.
They talk about some of more intriguing sectional draws and how those draws might impact who wins. We liked it so much, we're doing a sectional pick'em draw next Sunday.
What started out as one podcast, turned into two. See episode 54 for our Sectional Draw discussion, joined by Eric Gardner of Prep Hoops Indiana and Joey Bennett from the Brazil Times.
Zak Tyler updates us on recruiting news, and Zak and Jim Reamer talk a little about Southern Indiana's newest commits
Weekly Features: Best Games, Teams and Players Upcoming games
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Finishing up the players who have D1 offers but are still uncommitted, followed up by the top two bigs available. All three of the guys with D1 offers are post-grade candidates.
Chrishawn Christmas, 6'5" senior small forward; Gary West Side
Owen Dease, 6'7" senior small forward; Evansville Reitz
Kyle Ross, 6'7" senior power forward; Lake Central
Noah Gordon, 6'6" senior power forward; Mount Vernon
Mason Nicholson, 6'9" senior center; Gary West Side
Andrew Bennett, 6'1" senior point guard; Shenandoah
Trent Johnson, 6'3" senior shooting guard; Mishawaka
Jakob Kinsey, 6'0" senior point guard; Shenandoah
Kaden McCollough, 6'1" senior shooting guard; Shenandoah
Terrence Ringo, 6'6" senior power forward; Evansville Harrison
Truly was surprised to learned among all the high scoring teams that Lafayette Jeff produced, especially in the 70's-90's, that Lafayette Jeff's all time scoring leader had fewer than 2,000 points. To surpass that surprise is that a player who just played three years of varsity could own the record. Yet here we are.
Brooks Barnhizer posted back to back 30 point efforts this past week, 32 points vs. Tech and 31 vs. West Lafayette. The 6'6" senior guard, committed to Northwestern, added 15 rebounds and 14 rebounds in those games as well. However, amid the impressive he surpassed Lafayette Jeff's scoring record. The combination earned Brooks Barnhizer the Courtside Indiana Player of the Week for the week of February 8-February 13.
Courtside Indiana POTW is sponsored by the Metro Indy Basketball Fall League
Langdon Hatton is making a big claim on being part of what is a crowded field for the Indiana All-star team. The 6'10" senior center put up 35 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in North Harrison's win over Charlestown, and in their win over Crawford County, the William and Mary recruit put up 26 points with 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Heritage Hills senior leader, Blake Sisley has been a bigger presence on the glass lately, which has been some of their bigger games. This past the 6'9" forward put up 32 points and 8 rebounds vs. Forest Park, and vs. South Spencer, the Evansville commit produced 25 points and 12 rebounds.
Not be outdone, Forest Park's Drew Howard had an answer vs. Heritage Hills. The 6'0" junior guard scored 26 points with 4 steals and 2 assists in their win over one of the top 3A teams in the state. Howard, who is nearing 1,000 career points, added 21 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in their win over Springs Valley. For the 2020-21 season: 20.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 2.7 APG, 2.2 SPG. Drew has committed to play baseball at the University of Evansville.
Looks like Andrean matched up with Fishers on the NBA schedule life, playing four games in a week, and Nick Flesher had a great week for the 59ers as Andrean went 4-0. The 6'0" senior guard, put 14 points vs. Lowell, 23 points vs. Highland, 14 points vs. Hobart and 33 points vs. Bishop Noll. He surpassed 1,000 points during the week as well.
Zak Tyler updates recruiting news, and Jim Reamer and he talk more about CJ Gunn's commitment to Indiana.
Zak saw Elevation Prep over the weekend, and he discusses their personnel and game vs. FW Blackhawk.
Carroll (FW) AD didn't just turn down media requests from basketball websites, he emailed a lecture. Jim offers a rebuttal. Given that every other AD has been cooperative, even welcoming.
Weekly Features: Best Games, Best Team Performance, Best Player Performance Upcoming games we're looking forward to HOT TAKES!!
In a game that had potential NIC implications in it, as well as a potential Sectional 19 match-up, topped by having it's own game title "The Holy War", this game lived up to the hype. Great atmosphere with students allowed in, and a great crowd, this game was tight the entire night. Just when it seemed one team, usually Marian, would start to pull away, the other team made a run of their own. St. Joe senior JR Konieczny flat out balled in this one scoring 40 of the teams 60, which is nothing out of the ordinary for the Notre Dame commit. On the other side it was sophomore Deaglan Sullivan and juniors Richard Brooks and Kaleo Kakalia who were the difference in this one for the Knights.