Notebook: Charlie Hughes Large School Pt. 3
This past weekend was the Charlie Hughes Shootout, one of the best June events all month. It was packed with 50 of the top Varsity teams from around the state of Indiana. Today, we are looking at some of the top teams from the Large School Division.
New Albany – This New Albany team has been one of the more followed teams the last few years as they won the state title two season ago but fell in Regionals last year. This season, you still have Romeo Langford coming back and that will be enough to keep them in the conversation for one of the best teams in the state. He wasn’t there this weekend so we were able to see the rest of the pieces. They have talent in Sean East, Kameron Guess, Savion Southers, and Julien Hunter. They lost a little size and shooting with their outgoing seniors and that seems like the big thing. Hunter is an undersized forward playing out of position and outside of Sean East who is a little inconsistent, they don’t have another knock down shooter. Talented they are but will need to maybe change it up from last year’s strategy to go far this season.
Pendleton Heights – This Pendleton Heights team should be very good this season. They have a ton of pieces with good depth and are helped by a down Indianapolis area at the 4A level. They really only lost Mark Albers from last years group and retain a good chunk of scoring including Trent Miller, Justin Shupe, Karsten Windlan, Damieon Warrum, Eli Pancol, and Triston Ross. Like every Pendleton team before them, they can shoot the ball but more so this season, they look like they are going to drive the ball a ton. Pancol isn’t really a shooter but a fantastic athlete that can get to the rim. Karsten loves to drive and so does Shupe. They should be pretty balanced and really they could be a team that has a different leading scorer every night with how the roster is laid out.
Indianapolis Roncalli -Three key pieces are gone from last season, most notably is Christian Stewart. However, much like Pendleton, this team could have a different leading scorer every night based on the balance and talent level of their players. Bryson Meek, Joe Kirkhoff, Kellen Schreiber, Jack Hegwood, Reese McGinsie, and Kegan Owen all have scoring ability and among those guys, there is some size. They have quite a few 6’4+ guys and while they aren’t overly tall, that isn’t the makeup of the senior class of the state. Wings rule the 2018 class and they shouldn’t run into as many mismatches as they would have faced last year. Now, they likely aren’t going to be able to make it out of the Sectional as Ben Davis and Indianapolis Pike look great this year, however, they have enough talent to make it a fight and be a pretty competitive group in the area.
Silver Creek – Last season, Silver Creek was really competitive winning 15 games. However, they lost one of their top scorers due to graduation and now they will be searching for a replacement. The problem is, this team is pretty young and they will be hoping this large incoming junior class can make strides. Zane Gross returns as the only double-figure scorer and it showed as they struggled at times to score the ball. They do have some size, not a ton, but that Sectional is really competitive and we should find out early if this team can find those missing pieces or not.
Warren Central – Last season, Warren Central was the surprise of the state. They were one of the best teams nearly all year. However, this years group is so much different. They lost Paul Minor, Allante Harper, Ki-ng Tyler, Trequan Spivey, and Mack Smith. Now, they will build a group around Jay Hines and Dean Tate. Jesse Bingham and Jakobie Robinson looked pretty solid this weekend and will provide some size on the wing. They should get David Bell back as well who is a great all-around player. Not nearly as deep as last year and the scoring is going to have to be something of a concern as the best returning scorer is Dean Tate at 9.3 ppg.