IBCA Announces Indiana Junior All-Stars, Discussion
Eric Gardner
<div align="left">The Indy Star and the IBCA announced on Wednesday, the 20 players that were selected to the Junior All-Star team. These players were selected by the coaches from around the state with three groups, the core, the red, and the blue. Core is the main group with red being more northern selections and blue being more southern selections. Here are the 20 players that made this year’s team.</div>
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<div align="left"><strong>CORE GROUP</strong></div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="783143" first="Brooks" last="Barnhizer"], 6-6, G, 20.7, Lafayette Jeff, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="529561" first="Caleb" last="Furst"], 6-10, F, 21.7, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian, Purdue</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="529572" first="Trey" last="Kaufman"], 6-9, F, 25.8, Silver Creek, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> J.R. Konieczny, 6-7, G, 23.5, South Bend St. Joseph, Notre Dame</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="529565" first="Khristian" last="Lander"], 6-3, G, 21.0, Evansville Reitz, Indiana</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="783153" first="Keon" last="Thompson"], 6-3, G, 28.1, Merrillville, undecided</div>
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<div align="left"><strong>RED GROUP</strong></div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="874110" first="Jalen" last="Blackmon"], 6-2, G, 29.8, Marion, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="647199" first="Luke" last="Brown"], 6-2, G, 32.3, Blackford, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="874111" first="Michael" last="Eley"], 6-4, G, 21.2, Fort Wayne Snider, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="529568" first="Luke" last="Goode"], 6-6, F, 17.6, Homestead, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> Christopher Mantis, 6-6, G, 24.8, Lowell, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="874117" first="Malik" last="Stanley"], 5-11, G, 21.0, Warren Central, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="569313" first="Blake" last="Wesley"], 6-4, G, 26.0, South Bend Riley, undecided</div>
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<div align="left"><strong>BLUE GROUP</strong></div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="783180" first="Shamar" last="Avance"], 6-0, G, 14.4, Lawrence North, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="783147" first="Lincoln" last="Hale"], 6-4, G, 23.4, Linton-Stockton, Indiana State</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="569350" first="Jake" last="Heidbreder"], 6-4, G, 20.0, Floyd Central, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="647209" first="Connor" last="Hickman"], 6-2, G, 14.5, Bloomington South, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="569321" first="Kooper" last="Jacobi"], 6-6, F, 17.3, Silver Creek, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="874112" first="Blake" last="Sisley"], 6-9, F, 19.4, Heritage Hills, undecided</div>
<div align="left"> [player_tooltip player_id="874109" first="Pierce" last="Thomas"], 6-5, G, 13.6, Brownsburg, Butler</div>
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<div align="left"><strong>Discussion</strong>:</div>
<div align="left">Now, with the selections come scrutiny as always. There are a number of players who missed out in a very, very talented class of 2021. We highlights 10 players below that we thought could have made the list.</div>
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<div align="left">1. D.J. Hughes Jr. - 6’7 PF 2021 - Lawrence North (IN)</div>
<div align="left">2. [player_tooltip player_id="783145" first="Gus" last="Etchison"] - 6’0 PG 2021 - Hamilton Heights (IN)</div>
<div align="left">3. [player_tooltip player_id="783160" first="Blake" last="Barker"] - 6’2 PG 2021 - Columbus North (IN)</div>
<div align="left">4. [player_tooltip player_id="529593" first="Jayden" last="Brewer"] - 6’5 SF 2021 - Avon (IN)</div>
<div align="left">5. [player_tooltip player_id="569304" first="Jayden" last="Taylor"] 6’4 SG 2021 - Perry Meridian (IN)</div>
<div align="left">6. [player_tooltip player_id="783142" first="Colson" last="Montgomery"] - 6’5 SF 2021 - Southridge (IN)</div>
<div align="left">7. [player_tooltip player_id="783155" first="Owen" last="Dease"] - 6’6 SF 2021 - Evansville Reitz (IN)</div>
<div align="left">8. [player_tooltip player_id="647205" first="Naylon" last="Thompson"] - 6’5 PG 2021 - Bishop Luers (IN)</div>
<div align="left">9. [player_tooltip player_id="874113" first="Lane" last="Sparks"] - 6’2 PG 2021 - Greensburg (IN)</div>
<div align="left">10. [player_tooltip player_id="647220" first="Brady" last="Hunt"] - 6’5 PF 2021 - Delta (IN)</div>
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<div align="left">Of the players on my list of who just missed, I would have given a spot to my Top 4 guys. Hughes played really well on the best team in the state. Etchison put up massive numbers and Hamilton Heights was playing well down the stretch. [player_tooltip player_id="783160" first="Blake" last="Barker"] might be too under-the-radar which is crazy, and [player_tooltip player_id="529593" first="Jayden" last="Brewer"] was right there in terms of how he impacted the game. Won’t go far to suggest who I didn’t have on the team but I had those four in my Top 20.</div>
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<div align="left">Also, looking at the core group is quite interesting. If this is about the top performers, hard to not put [player_tooltip player_id="647199" first="Luke" last="Brown"] in that group as well as even [player_tooltip player_id="874109" first="Pierce" last="Thomas"] with his improvement with Brownsburg this year. Either way, they made the team which is good. This is better than most years and those players that made it were at least in the conversation on my end but just would have went another way.</div>
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