Mr. Basketball Candidate: C.J. Gunn

<p>In 49 states it is just basketball, but this is Indiana. There is no better time of year than high school basketball season in the Hoosier state. Here at Prep Hoops Indiana, our staff will set out to bring the very best coverage from throughout the state. Evansville, Gary, South Bend, Terre Haute, we will leave no corner of Indiana unturned.</p> <p>Now that official practices are quickly approaching and we are just weeks away from tipping off the first game, it is time to dive head first into previewing the upcoming season. Over the coming weeks you can expect breakdowns of each class along with teams and players to watch, a look at the top Mr. Basketball and Indiana All-Star candidates, preseason team rankings, and much, much more. For even more coverage, make sure to follow our staff on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/BRamseyKSR">@BRamseyKSR</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/kylerstaley">@kylerstaley</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/HSIndianaBball">@HSIndianaBball</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/KrisMills37">@KrisMills37.</a></p> <p>Today, we roll on with introducing the top Mr. Basketball candidates in the Class of 2022. In total, we will outline who we believe to be the five primary candidates to win the coveted award. There is no rhyme or reason to the order in which the candidates are released, so don’t read too much into that. Over the last couple of weeks we began this series by looking at Mr. Basketball candidate [player_tooltip player_id="870222" first="Braden" last="Smith"] from Westfield High School and then announced [player_tooltip player_id="870212" first="Tayshawn" last="Comer"] of Cathedral High School as our second candidate. The third candidate in our ongoing series was Wisconsin commit [player_tooltip player_id="769682" first="Connor" last="Essegian"] of Central Noble High School. Now, we introduce [player_tooltip player_id="870213" first="Chris" last="Gunn"] of Lawrence North High School.</p> <p>Gunn, an Indiana University signee, helped lead Lawrence North to the Class 4A state finals as a junior. Now, he will be called upon to be "the guy" as a senior. The 6’5" shooting guard averaged 13.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while being named to the Junior All-Star team. Gunn is one of the best two-way prospects in the state as well with excellent defensive upside. If the Wildcats have any hope of repeating in the vaunted Sectional 10 it will be because Gunn takes over as the best player in the state this season.</p> <p>Lawrence North lost some important pieces to graduation that will be tough to replace. Shamarr Avance, an Indiana All-Star and Mr. Basketball finalist, is now at Miami (OH). His classmate D.J. Hughes took is 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game down the road to Butler. Donovan McCulley, now playing quarterback at IU, was an important starter for the Wildcats as well. Simply put, Gunn is going to have to really carry the load for coach Jack Keefer. However, being asked to put up big numbers could also improve his Mr. Basketball candidacy.</p> <p>You know it is a competitive year for Mr. Basketball when an Indianapolis prospect from a prominent high school that is already signed with the Hoosiers isn’t considered a shoe-in to win the award. Gunn is definitely a serious candidate and will likely be a finalist when all is said and done, but a credit goes out to the other potential nominees for making this a potentially down to the wire race. His elite athleticism and shooting ability certainly give him a chance to grow into a 20+ points per game roll this season. This will be a fun Mr. Basketball race to watch and we still have one more candidate to announce this week!</p>