Mr. Basketball Candidate: Armaan Franklin
With he start of the high school season, it is a good time to being to think about one of the most prestigious awards there is in the state of Indiana for any sport, Mr. Basketball. The annual award is one that will resonate nationally as Indiana has always produced the type of talent to play at the highest levels. Today, we begin our look with Cathedral’s Armaan Franklin.
Junior Season Stats: 23.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.4 spg
Senior Season Stats: 29 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals against Ind. Howe
Overview: Much like Brandon Newman, the last year for Cathedral guard Armaan Franklin has been a transformation. Coming from a lightly scoring guard with a growing frame and some athleticism to the dominant prospect he is now has put him at the top of the list for Mr. Basketball. The 6’5 off-guard has turned into a very athletic, scoring prospect that uses his handles on the wing to create. Not quite good enough to play on the ball all the time but enough so that he creates mismatches on the perimeter that get him more opportunities. His commitment to Indiana will give him some clout in the state and has more opportunities than the other two top contenders to be seen by voters.
Why He Could Win: A few reasons here are similar to Jackson-Davis in that he plays in the Indianapolis area, has a top-end schedule that will get him seen by pretty much everyone and should put up the necessary stat lines to draw in the eyes of the voters. He’s already committed to Indiana and that obviously helps as well. Could see him being right there with Jackson-Davis early on and being more of a guard, he has the ability to put up bigger stat lines.
Why He Might Not: For all the reasons that he and Jackson-Davis have that are the same, that could also play against one another. Similar to MVP voting in baseball when you have two guys on the same team drawing votes away from each other. The problem for Franklin right now is that it has Jackson-Davis to compete with and he is no slouch. He also likely won’t put up the best numbers as that likely falls to Brandon Newman, albeit against lesser overall competition. He’s kind of right in between Neman and Jackson-Davis in terms of what advantages each of them have and that might end up being the problem unless Cathedral makes that state title run. I think they have a better shot than Center Grove as it stands today but their Sectional is the toughest in the state and they might get bounced early.
Early Season Thoughts: Right now, his first game of the season was a good one. He gets to go head-to-head against Center Grove and Trayce Jackson-Davis on Friday night and that could be a good barometer for how things could go. I think that is a great opportunity for Franklin to try and outplay Jackson-Davis to make up some ground early on in the season and then hopefully, he can be consistent and sit on that performance for when it becomes time to vote.