Southwest Ohio Mr. Basketball Candidates

<p>Mr. Basketball is an award coveted by many prospects. Names including Luke Kennard, Jared Sullinger, O.J. Mayo, Jon Diebler, and LeBron James have all recieved this prestigous award during their high school careers. While we have already crowned our king for 2020, it is worth noting several guys from Southwest Ohio are deserving to be recognized as they could have made a case to be Mr. Basketball in Ohio. Today I start off the Candidate series by looking at 5 prospects from the Dayton/Cincinnati area that had serious cases to be Mr. Basketball in Ohio.</p> <p><strong>Paul McMillan</strong> (2022) Woodward- 31 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds per game</p> <p>One of the youngest player you will find on our Mr. Basketball lists, McMillan is arguably the best scorer on this list of Southwest Ohio prospects. His ability to score in so many different ways and almost at will is what stood out especially to me. He put up double digits scoring in every single game he appeared in, including 30 points against Taft, 29 against Walnut Ridge, and 20 &amp; 31 against Hughes. With his age, McMillan is probably going to be back on this list again in the coming years, but could make a legitimate argument to be a finalist in 2020.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="800842" first="Carl" last="Blanton"]</strong> (2020) Trotwood-Madison- 26 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals</p> <p>It should come as no surprise that Blanton is on this list. When you can score from virtually anywhere on the court and can defend multiple positions, it’s difficult to pass up on an opportunity to be a Mr. Basketball Finalist. Blanton went off for a season high 47 points against Dunbar and showed us why he is such a weapon on both ends of the floor with his athleticism and bounce. What is surprising about Blanton is his lack of basketball offers. His talent should attract attention to D2s for sure, but has the athleticism that I could see him at a low major D1 if the right opportunity presented itself.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="805140" first="Isaiah" last="Walker"]</strong> (2021) Wyoming-  26 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists</p> <p>Walker had to step up quickly and become one of the new leaders for this Wyoming team that lost Joey Edmonds to graduation. Alongside <strong>Evan Prater</strong> (2020), Walker emerged as an explosive scoring threat able to score above the rim as well as use his length to be a disruptive defender. He put up a season high 40 points against Finneytown and double-doubles against Deer Park and Aiken during the season. Walker picked up several low major D1 offers including Wright State, Youngstown State, and Western Carolina.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="805146" first="Brayden" last="Sipple"]</strong> (2021) Blanchester-  33 points, 10 rebounds,  3 steals</p> <p>Statistically the top performer of the group here, Sipple exploded from an early part of the season and never looked back. Very few people in the SBAAC had the talent to defend him as he scored 40+ 5 times and shot 57% from the floor. While the competition was definitely lower level in conference play, SIpple showed he could play well against bigger schools including a 28 points performance against Fenwick. Already owning an offer from Detroit, Sipple has interest from other D1’s: including Miami (OH) and Northern Kentucky, as well as higher levels like Kentucky.</p> <p><strong>Cam McKenzie</strong> (2021) Hughes-  24 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist</p> <p>Hughes had a much more successful season than originally anticipated with much of their success coming from McKenzie and his improved play. Vastly improving from his sophomore campaign, McKenzie stepped into a larger role with the Big Red and scored double digits in every game this season. Some of his top performances included a 22 outing performance against Thurgood Marshall, 23 points against Moeller, and a season high 35 points against Taft. Cam’s performance in 2020 is enough to see his college recruitment increase as he is one of the better slashing offensive weapons on this list.</p>