• There were two areas of concern for Carmel (really for any team playing Ben Davis), which are obvious in all games, but this is how Ben Davis really separates itself most games.  Live ball turnovers, including blocked shots, that lead to transition baskets, and offensive rebounds -- easy baskets and extra possessions.
  • Carmel, to my recollection only had two or three live ball turnovers, one of which was gathered 83' away from Ben Davis' basket, and there wasn't any conversion after Doughty's blocks.  Ben Davis was able to convert a miss at the rim by Sam Orme into an easy basket on the other end -- a huge four point swing -- but Ben Davis didn't get much in transition.
  • Keeping Doughty off the glass, despite how much they made him work, wasn't happening.  Doughty has an endless motor, and it was physical underneath.  Jared Bonds did his best to never let Doughty go unchecked, and Orme and Spender White both rebound their positions well.  Doughty turned great Carmel stops into second chances.
• Doughty struggled with his back to the basket, and it's never been his strong suit.  He has gotten better, however, at facing and scoring, including a nice double move to score.  How much of that translates into the Missouri Valley vs. bigger defenders is a question, but that's part of the development most players go through moving up the ladder.
  • Keep in mind, the other aspects of his game translate very well -- defense, motor, rebounding
• Carmel's defense took away almost all of Ben Davis' primary actions.  Many of which involve ball screens.  Ben Davis could rely on their half court motion (Flow) to work Carmel's defense and work for good shots. 
  • One of the underrated things about Ben Davis.  They can possess the ball while still looking to score.  They aren't a team that over dribbles or has to hold it to run clock.
  • Early in the game, Mark Zachery found shots on the back side, and as did Clay Butler.  Butler closed the game out, hitting 5-6 FT.
• Ben Davis did disrupt Carmel's offense, but without forcing live ball turnovers, Carmel was still able to get into their entries into Motion.  
• Orme scored 15 of his 23 in the second half, and he was the 8-0 run when Carmel was down by six.  
• All in all Carmel exploited the times Ben Davis would gamble a bit in passing gaps.  Alex Couto, especially, hit a couple of mid-range jumpers.  They didn't get as much out of their Motion, but they quickly move into secondary set calls as well as any team in the state.  (There are couple of things they do that also turn into a continuities with a lot backside opportunities.)
  • Could always use more curl cuts.   

Inexplicably, Ben Davis broke a five game Carmel winning streak in this series, which by my count is part of a run in which Carmel had won 18 of the last 20.  Ben Davis remains undefeated with regular season games left.  Carmel is getting healthy, with only one of their instate losses bigger than one possession, a game which was two possessions until the final 90 seconds or so.

However, we can see both of those traits in real time.  (It helps being there to watch it.)  Here is the week Doughty had:

• • vs Beech Grove 11 points 15 rebounds 3 blocks
  • vs Warren central 10 points 8 rebounds 3 blocks
  • vs Southport 22 points 16 rebounds 3 blocks 
  • vs Lawrence North - 17 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks

On top of that, Doughty broke Ben Davis' all-time rebounding record.  All of that makes Zane Doughty Courtside Indiana's Player of the Week for the week of January 9-14.

Others Considered

• Mikial Miller, 5'10" senior guard; Cardinal Ritter
  • vs Providence Cristo Rey - 14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists
  • vs University - 19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists
• Trent Sisley, 6'8" sophomore forward; Heritage Hills
  • vs Pike Central - 34 points, 12 rebounds, 7 blocks, 5 assists
  • vs Tecumseh - 38 points (13-16 FG, 3-3 3PT), 7 rebounds, 6 deflections
• Devon Woods, 6'0" senior point guard; Pike
  • vs Speedway - 23 points, 9 assists, 1 rebounds
  • vs Roncalli - 21 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds
  • vs Lawrence North - 20 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds

Others Nominated

• • Isaac Andrews, 6'2" junior guard; Wapahani
    • vs Yorktown - 22 points (12-13 FT), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
    • vs Delta - 18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
  • Joe Annan, 6'6" senior forward; Pike
    • vs Speedway - 14 points, 2 rebounds
    • vs Roncalli - 14 points, 8 rebounds
    • vs Lawrence North - 15 points, 19 rebounds
  • Austin Cripe, 6'3" senior guard; West Noble
    • vs Westview - 23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
    • vs Prairie Heights - 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists
    • vs Central Noble - 33 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
  • Landon Hale, 6'5" junior forward; Hebron
    • vs Westville - 25 points, 12 rebounds
    • vs Lake Station Edison - 21 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks
  • Malik Hasani, 6'1" senior guard; Arsenal Tech
    • vs Marion - 24 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
    • vs Fort Wayne Wayne - 20 points, 8 assists, 4 steals
  • Willie Miller, 6'4" senior guard; Lake Station Edison
    • vs Calumet - 21 points, 5 blocks, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist
    • vs Hebron - 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks
  • Quade Morton, 5'11" junior point guard; Pike Central
    • vs Heritage Hills - 31 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
    • vs Wood Memorial - 29 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steal 

Sophomores and Freshmen Nominated

• Elexander Harris, freshman point guard; Arsenal Tech
  • vs Marion - 16 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds
• Josh Renfro, 6'1" sophomore guard; Christian Academy
  • vs Silver Creek and Janesville - averaged 29 points, 5 rebounds, 1.5 assists
• Ethan Roseman, 6'0" freshman guard; Bishop Chatard
  • vs Providence Cristo Rey - 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists
• Mark Zachery, 6'0" sophomore guard; Ben Davis
  • vs Lawrence North - 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists

• BD played without KJ Windham, who is dealing with an ankle/Achilles injury.  The game got out of hand in the 3rd quarter when Clay Butler hit a couple of early 3PTers, one in transition, pushing what was an 8-12 point game to 20.
• Doughty had defenders in his thighs the whole game, but he figured out midway through the first it made Brownsburg vulnerable off misses.  
  • Brownsburg was in scramble mode much of the game, as they effectively doubled Doughty the entire time he was out there.  
  • Doughty should get an award for an amazing flop...  LOL. Two possessions after being the victim of a flop, Doughty positioned himself for a charge.  The Brownsburg guard stop a good foot away.  There was a pause, then Doughty dropped himself to the ground.  Valiant effort, clearly frustrated from the recent.  In a 20 point game, it was a moment of levity.
• Kanon Catchings isn't an iso player.  He's not that guy.  He's awesome moving without the ball, hit a nice catch/shoot 3PTer.  Anything off the catch needed to be a quick rip and drive or a probe to make the next pass.  
  • He made a couple of athletic plays that makes it easy to see his potential.  There is just a lot of quickness and bodies for BD who aren't easy to beat off the dribble.
• Brownsburg couldn't get downhill at all, or enough.  BD extended their pressure, pushing Brownsburg's offense to well beyond the volleyball lines.  Brownsburg did score off a few well timed back cuts, but there just wasn't enough to cause BD to change up. 
• Sheridan Sharp was excellent at creating shots.  He was BD's leading scorer at the end of the third quarter (which is when I left), and he was finding people in transition and in the half court.  He's a great pair with Doughty.

• Logan Imes, 6'3" junior point guard, was sped up in the third quarter, and it bothered him at times.  He was turned over three trips in a short span.  BD's Ghakel Weathers, 6'0" senior guard, was physical with him.  No question Imes and the Zionsville bench felt he was fouled on a couple of them.
  • How did Imes respond?  Extremely well.  He came out in the fourth quarter, changed speeds more, used quarter pivots to protect the ball and was proactively physical himself on penetration.
  • The other way Imes responded?  He hit what amounted to being the game winner, rejecting a ball screen and hitting a floater off the glass.  
• Zionsville got mixed production from its bigs.  Isaiah Davis, 6'8" senior forward, is certainly showing his stretchability, and he hit a couple of deep 3pters.  He has to be accounted for, providing a great deal of space for Imes and Nick Richart.
  • Richart, 6'9" junior center, found low post scoring opportunities tough to finish.  Now, granted, BD has a great deal of size, especially in starting center, Zane Doughty, 6'8" junior center, and when Doughty is off the floor, they don't get much smaller.
• Zionsville needs to get more production on the glass from their bigs. 
• BD put a ton of pressure on Zionsville attacking the paint.  Sheridan Sharpe, Clay Butler and KJ Windham can all put up points.  Sharpe and Butler are juniors.   Windham, sophomore guard, being the best shooter of the three.  
  • They were excellent getting movement off the ball, and Windham was excellent in coming off pin screens and getting his feet set on the catch.
• Doughty is a good rim defender and good rim runner.  He brings a lot length and athleticism to the table.  Getting the ball from catch to shot still needs to improve.  He can seal to catch, but if he doesn't have an angle he has struggled to finish.  
  • However, his motor, he will battle on all misses, and he steals some points on second chance baskets.
• Shaun Arnold, 6'4" junior forward, and Jesse Faries, 6'7" junior forward, each bring good range to the power forward spot.  It's a nice three man rotation for BD up front.

The second half, BD’s defensive pressure didn’t relent, and BG scrambled to find shots on the perimeter.  They were getting good (though contested) shots at the rim throughout but were very rushed.  As BD got the game to one possession, it them awhile to get over the hump.  There are likely a few shots they’d like back.

BD turned defense into offense, and BG had little answer for BD in transition.  Still, with the ball under :30, BG got to the rim in transition, only to see the ball bounce out.  BD secured the rebound and iced it at the line.  BG had one final possession, but a deflected pass to Jadyn Curry threw off their possession.  They never got a shot off.

• Neither team was efficient, but BD is really young, which meant up front, while BD had length advantages, they didn’t have strength advantages.  
  • Both teams start multiple sophomores, and BD also played two freshmen.
• The first half was Jadyn Curry and Cameron Brown for Beech Grove.  The second half was Sheridan Sharpe and Clay Butler for Ben Davis.
  • Curry never really got going from outside, but he was able to penetrate and find people.  Brown hit 3 3pters in the first half, and Curry found Edward Taylor and Gavin Mitchell around paint.
  • Sharpe and Butler exchanged deflections in the second half, it seemed.  Either one was involved in the front end or finishing in the back end.  
• Zane Doughty was a big presence around the basket on both ends.  He still makes mistakes as he stretches farther out, but his motor was going last night.  
• Ben Davis didn’t get much scoring on the perimeter last night.  Sharpe hit a couple of 3s, and they were looking to get Butler involved more vs. BG’s zone.  There were a couple of others settling for or rushing shots, as BD was making their run.  Once that was curbed, BD was able to get over the hump.  
  • They let their defense do the work.