Five Takeaways: Carmel vs. Cathedral
Cathedral has been one of the best teams in the state and on Wednesday night they showed that they can control their destiny a bit with their length and scoring ability. Against Carmel, they got out to an early run. But Carmel bounced back and took the lead heading into halftime. Then, it was all Cathedral as they took control with Armaan Franklin and Jarron Coleman and their 21 points each.
Carmel Will Need More Post Help
One of the biggest takeaways from the game is that beyond John-Michael Mulloy, Carmel doesn’t really have anyone else, at least didn’t use anyone else. Mulloy struggled a bit with his finishing ability and free throw shooting. He had a few plays where he was great and Cathedral didn’t have a matchup, as do most teams Carmel will face. This has to be a point of emphasis and efficiency for them because their lack of wings won’t give them any advantages. At some point, they will have to be better.
Cathedral Has More Offense Than We Thought
One of the biggest developments we saw this winter was the loss of Hunter Jackson before the season started. Jackson isn’t a big offensive weapon but his passing and ball handling could relieve a lot of pressure to let the bigger scorers take control. Against this Carmel team, Cathedral showed they have more offense than we though. Armaan Franklin’s development looks awesome and he’s more offensively skilled even from the summer. Jarron Coleman looks more reeled in and capable of being a very efficient player. Justin Hensley provided some shooting ability and even with Ross Welch, Cathedral brought in Haven Montefalco who had a couple field goals. Their depth at every spot other than point guard is still pretty good diverse. They made some threes but they were really aggressive going at the rim too.
Carmel Is Too Dependent On Perimeter Jumpers
Last night was a lot of what we thought could be Carmel’s issue this season, they are too dependent on threes. They only have one wing player in Andrew Owens and he struggled against Cathedral’s length, as did John-Michael Mulloy. Which meant, you saw Carmel shoot a ton of threes in the second quarter and knock down a bunch of them. They had 5 triples at the half and took a slight lead. But then they came out and only hit one more the rest of the game and they struggled to keep up. Only a few late steal and breakaways along with free throws kept the score even close. When they are on and can get clean looks, they will be able to beat teams but this was a bad matchup for them and they took that part away. Like we talked about earlier, if JMM can be good in the post, that gives them a different option but they need more creation ability than they showed last night.
Cathedral Still Has Ability To Win State
Having seen all of the main contenders for the 4A State Championship, Cathedral has a good case to be a frontrunner still even after the departure of Hunter Jackson. Grant Taueg provided some on-ball minutes last night and they have seen Armaan Franklin be a much bigger force. If they get Ross Welch and Justin Hensley going, they then have to pieces that will serve as a solid post player and a great catch-and-shoot guard, respectively. Jacob Ball has stepped up and provided good bench minutes as well. Jayden Edwards was really good early on last night using his length. That might be Cathedral’s biggest asset other than their scoring, their length is really good. Armaan, Taueg, Edwards, and Coleman all have tons of it and it caused a lot of problems for Carmel. They, like every other team, needs everything to come together but with no clear frontrunner they still have a great chance.
Addition Of Karsten Windlan Gives Carmel Toughness
As if Carmel wasn’t tough, you saw almost a new level of toughness last night when junior Karsten Windlan was on the court. He’s ultra aggressive and really skilled. He hit a couple threes early on and then went full-on attack the rim mode. He’s going to have to pick his spots but when Carmel was kind of on edge from getting blow out, he was a good leader with his style of play. If he can pick those spots much better, he’s going to be a big impact late in the year.