3 For 3: Week 2 Preview

The high school boys’ basketball season is underway and we at PrepHoops Indiana want to give you the absolute best coverage in the whole state. Indiana is full of great teams and talented players thus giving the fans incredible matchups every week. Join me, Kyler Staley, every Monday during the season as I preview the 3 Players, 3 Teams, and 3 Matchups to watch for that coming week. Are you ready? Let’s get started! 3 Players Jeremiah Blair – 2020 PF – Bloomington North: Blair was the most impressive prospect that I saw last week. He dropped 16 points in week 1 against the Bedford North Lawrence Stars and was his team's leading scorer. He is one of those rare big men that can not only take care of the post but can shoot it from deep. What I really like about his game is that he plays with such patience as he knows when to make his move. He and the Cougars go on the road to take on Center Grove on Saturday, which should be a good matchup. Matthew Williams – 2021 F/C – Southwestern-Hanover: Williams is a really fun player to watch. He is a true stretch big that does most of his damage from his smooth jumper. Last Saturday against Rock Creek Academy, he dropped 25 points and most of them came from behind the arc. He may not be the strongest big man in 2A but he makes it hard for opposing bigs to score with his length that he has. He leads the Rebels against Shawe Memorial on Friday and Columbus East on Saturday and I expect him to have huge games against both. Silas Bauer – 2021 PF – Loogootee: What a monster week 1 Bauer had! Had a double-double on Tuesday, was just two rebounds away from a second one, and led Loogootee to victory in the Loogootee Tip-Off Classic. Bauer is making a huge case for being the top PF in 1A already this season. He and Lions have another winnable matchup against Wood Memorial on Friday and thus should give Bauer another chance to go off again. Look for Bauer to continue his dominance in week 2 of the high school season. 3 Teams Princeton (3A): Princeton is off to a hot start having beat Wood Memorial and Evansville North, both who are tough teams in their own right, this past week. The player that stands out for the Tigers is 2021 wing Rhett Thompson, who had two double-doubles last week. This week they have an easier home game against Pike Central. I like to think that this team is one of the more underrated teams in the state as they were rarely ranked in any preseason polls heading into this season. Look out for this team to rack up another win and for Thompson to have another monster game. South Bend Washington (3A): This squad had one of the most shocking losses in week 1 having lost to Lake Central at home 58-56. The Panthers were one of the more highly ranked teams heading into this year and nobody expected to see them lose this quickly into the season. They have a chance to erase that bad loss by securing a win against a LaPorte team that does not have the same talent level as they have. I expect prospects DeMarcus Vaughn, Jylen Petty, and Jayne Griffin all to show on Friday why this South Bend Washington is one of the more physical teams in all of 3A. Zionsville (4A): Zionsville had arguably the best victory last week having beat the reigning 4A State Champs, Carmel, in overtime last Tuesday. Though Carmel is almost a completely new team, the victory for Zionsville proved that they might already be ahead of what was supposed to be a "rebuild season." We will get a really good idea of how good this Zionsville team is when they go on the road to take on a really good Westfield team. Can Ben Weidner continue his excellent play and keep building off his miracle 3 from last week? We shall find out on Friday. 3 Matchups Andrean (2A) at Hammond Morton (4A) – Dec. 3, 7 pm: Andrean was one of my teams to watch last week and they were surprisingly upset by Lake Central and Chesterton. If you followed our "Preseason Team Rankings" you would have noticed that Andrean was one of our favorites to win the 2A State Championship. Last week, they did not look like State Championship contenders. The reason this game is one of my matchups to watch is because I am curious to see if Andrean is going to bounce back from an 0-2 start against a Hammond Morton team that should not match up to them. This could potentially be an already "must win" for the Fighting 59ers. Heritage Hills (3A) at Evansville Central (4A) – Dec. 7, 7 pm: Heritage Hills was supposed to have played last week but that was not the case. Week 2 will be the first time we see this highly talented team as they go on the road to face an Evansville Central team that just lost a close one against Gibson Southern. This game will have two 2021 prospects putting PF Blake Sisley against SG Cameron Banks. Expect this game to be a high scoring, competitive contest and for Evansville Central to look to shock PrepHoop's 2nd ranked preseason 3A team. Lanesville (1A) at Paoli (2A) – Dec. 7, 7:30 pm: This is the matchup that I am most excited to see this week. The reason being is because Lanesville is full of talent with fantastic duo Conor Nolot and Tripp Dillon going up against a Paoil squad that is led by tough-minded 2021 prospect Brett Bosley. Lanesville has started off this season 1-1 while Paoli has started 0-1 losing to a great Linton team. I expect this game to be very physical and fun to watch. I am looking forward to going and seeing this live and seeing all the intriguing prospects in this 1A/2A clash.