The second of a few special 5 on 5's. The first one focused on Indianapolis area point guards who were uncommitted. This one is featuring those with D1 offers who are uncommitted. There will be another D1 round next Friday as well.
Jayden Brewer, 6'5" senior shooting guard; Ben Davis
Quimari Peterson, 6'1" senior point guard; Gary West
Naylon Thompson, 6'4" senior shooting guard; Fort Wayne Bishop Luers
Brian Waddell, 6'7" senior small forward; Carmel
Harold Woods, 6'4" senior small forward; Hammond
Joey Bomba, 6'5" senior wing; Bloomington South
Tyrae Lackey, 6'4" senior forward; Brownsburg
Brayden Saxton, 6'4" senior forward; South Bend Adams
Ian Scott, 6'7" senior center; Plainfield
Carter Stoltzfus, 6'0" senior guard; Northridge
While they aren't the juggernaut they seemed to be last year, South Decatur is rounding into form. They have upped their schedule a bit for this season, taking some lumps along the way, but this all prepares them for March and sectional title defense and a likely rematch with South Ripley along the way.
Leading the way for them? It's still Lane Lauderbaugh. The 6'6" senior forward put up monster numbers as a junior, and he has kept up that pace this season. In a loss to Columbus North, Lauderbaugh put up 23 points with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. His week was just getting going. In wins over county rival North Decatur and 4A opponent Columbus East, Lauderbaugh torched them with 40 points and 49 points respectively. He also 22 total rebounds over the weekend.
Not a bad week. His effort makes Lane Lauderbaugh the Courtside Indiana Player of the Week for the Week of February 1-February 6.
The Courtside Indiana POTW is sponsored by Metro Indy Basketball Fall League
Top Considerations
Lowell's Chris Mantis is often in this section of the POTW, winning it a couple of times over the last two seasons. 27 points vs. Munster is a heck of a game, but what this also did was push the 6'7" senior guard into the Lowell record books. Mantis became Lowell's all-time leading scorer, eclipsing a 32 year old record of 1,716 points. Mantis is at 1,728 and still counting.
Leyton McGovern was impressive over the weekend in McCutcheon's two big wins. The better numbers were in the win over Richmond, 32 points and 19 rebounds. The 24 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists in the win over Lafayette Jeff were all the more impressive, as the Mavericks knocked off their uptown rival.
Scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds and 3 assists, Brady Hunt led Delta to a narrow win over Greenfield Central. What the 6'6" senior forward did vs. Mississinewa was darn near literally, competitively speaking of course, put his team on his back. Down 12 at half, Hunt scored 24 consecutive points for Delta. That's 24 points in a row. He finished with 29 points (11-16 FG, 6-6 FT) with 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Hunt is 4th on Delta's all-time scoring list.
Despite the loss to Kokomo on Saturday, Tipton's Mylan Swan came through with a career effort, finishing with 39 points on the evening. The 6'0" senior guard also added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Others Nominated
Sophomores and Freshmen Nominated
Blessed with incredible length, Will Lovings-Watts looks the part of a natural finisher, and he backs it up with his progressing shot making and athleticism. WLW glides when he's attacking off the dribble. Early returns on his game were based on around length and size, mostly successful around the paint, his game was going to have develop further out.
His shot has been a work in progress the last couple of years, and as of late last summer he had become a consistent threat beyond the 3PT line. That only enhances his ability to score off the dribble.
WLW has a variety of finishing moves around the basket, and he can change directions in tight spaces. Extending to score allowing him to slice through traffic, he also has a soft touch with his floater. The ability to change in tight spaces, also shows up in a strong pull jumper. Just his ability to make stop-start moves has been part of his development.
Defensively, he needs to improve just in the things he can directly control. Most of that is off ball stuff, like ball-man awareness and getting through screens. He doesn't work through screens, and even though there are times he can erase his mistakes with his length, it only works when he's the better athlete of that matchup. He is a capable defender, however, who can easily be a plus-defender at the D1 level.
He can be stationary on offense off the ball, and in fairness to a lot of players, the teams that utilize a dribble-drive centric offense don't get as much off ball movement as teams that set more screens away from the ball. The ball can also stick with him at times, bailing out the defense as they load up to stop his penetration. When he gets downhill off a catch, however, he's at his best.
Next thing to add to his game? Off ball defensive awareness. He can make plays defensively -- steals, blocks, deflections. Adding more discipline on the defensive end won't keep him from making those plays.
Recorded at 3pm on Sunday, before CJ Gunn committed to Indiana
Zak Tyler gets us updated on an otherwise light week of recruiting. Zak and Jim Reamer discuss the courts securing Jayden Brewer's eligibility, then talk of the thin and poorly vetted allegations thrown at Greenwood Christian Academy.
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Will Avance, 6'1" point guard; Lawrence North
Sean Black, 5'10" point guard; Warren Central
Vinny Buccilla, 6'2" point guard; Hamilton Southeastern
Ronald Johnson, 6'1" point guard; Park Tudor
Malik Stanley, 6'0" point guard; Warren Central
Carmel inched ahead early and slowly pulled away in the second quarter. They opened the third with a 11-3 run, and while there were some dicey possessions vs. LN's press, Carmel never really looked back.
Brycen Graber, 6'3" senior point guard; Barr-Reeve
Greg Jenkins, 6’2” senior shooting guard; Lawrence Central
Lynn King, 6'4" senior guard; South Bend Adams
Lynn has really developed into a nice player over his four year career at Adams. His outside shot has come along and he's made himself a threat.
Malachi Pearson, 6'5" senior forward; Logansport
Isaiah Swope, 6'0" senior point guard; Castle
Double double are still pretty special at the high school level. Extremely rare is the 20-20 club, 20 points and 20 rebounds. One step further is the 30-20 game. Langdon Hatton is now a member of that club. In a win over Madison, the 6'10" senior center, who is headed to William & Mary, dominated, with 33 points and 22 rebounds. The production makes Langdon Hatton the Courtside Indiana Player of the Week for the week of January 25-January 30.
Others Considered
A child shall lead them...in this case, literally. The son of David Benter, Jack Benter, is having quite the freshman season, and he added to this past week. Starting the week with a 14 point game in a win over Austin. The 6'2" guard added 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks. Then he exploded in a win over Corydon, 40 points, including 10-17 3PT.
Blake Sisley showed his full range of abilities this past weekend. In Heritage Hills' win over Evansville Mater Dei, the 6'9" senior forward totaled 26 points and 14 rebounds, including 2-5 from 3PT. He added 17 points and 9 rebounds in their win over Princeton.
Vincent Brady is having a great senior year for Cathedral. The 6'4" senior guard, who is committed to Air Force, pulled his best game of the season in the Indianapolis City Tournament championship game vs. Crispus Attucks, totaling a well rounded 27 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. He was extremely effective in transition.
Evansville Bosse's Matt Wagner was excellent last week. The 6'2" junior guard produced vs. Evansville Memorial 27 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Vs. Owensboro (KY), Wagner had 21 points, 9 assists, 5 steals, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, and he closed out the week vs. Terre Haute South with 15 points, 6 assists, 6 steals and 5 rebounds.
Other Nominations
Sophomore and Freshman Nominations
Zak Tyler and Jim Reamer discuss what appears to be the final decision on Jayden Brewer's eligibility. CJ Gunn is set to decide Friday. Brian Waddell injured during the Ben Davis game.
Weekly Features:
Recruiting updates Best Games, Teams, Players Upcoming games Hot Takes!!