3 For 3: Week 6 Preview

The high school boys’ basketball season is underway and even though we could face some challenges throughout the year, 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 [player_tooltip player_id="769678" first="Charlie" last="Williams"] – 6’8 2022 PF – Carmel: Williams is a long, tall forward who is very versatile in the paint. Currently one of the main reasons that his team, Carmel, is one the best teams in the 4A right now. He is one of my players to watch this week because I feel like the causal high school basketball fan does not know how good this power forward is. Runs the floor so well and is the type of big that scores at all three levels. Just one of those players that can impact any game he is in. He and Carmel will take on Anderson (12/30) and Fishers (1/2) this week. [player_tooltip player_id="529568" first="Luke" last="Goode"] – 6’6 2021 SF – Homestead: Goode is a tough wing with a lot of skill and shooting ability. This Illinois commit has Homestead competing at a high level and is currently undefeated having won 9 straight. Goode is such a smooth player and has one of the highest basketball IQs in his class. He is a do-it-all type player that is so tough to stop once he gets in the flow of the game. He and the Spartans have a couple of somewhat challenging games with traveling to Marion on Tuesday and hosting North Central (Indianapolis) on Saturday. Expect Goode and Homestead to continue their hot streak this week. [player_tooltip player_id="963906" first="Lane" last="Lauderbaugh"] – 6’5 2021 SF – South Decatur: Lauderbaugh is coming off a historic accomplishment having became the all-time leading scorer for South Decatur in his last game against South Ripley. He is quietly having an awesome season with averaging a double-double currently. Lauderbaugh is a tall small forward with a lot of skill and can just score at a high level. He plays around the wing a ton but can mix it up in the paint a good amount. South Decatur is currently 2-3 on the season but have a big chance to snag a few big wins when they compete in the Edinburgh Tournament starting Monday. Expect Lauderbaugh to continue his amazing senior season and start to get South Decatur in the winning column a bit more. 3 Teams Fishers (4A): The Tigers have had an up and down season so far. Currently 2-2 this season but have lost the last two games against two really good teams (Hamilton Southeastern and Lawrence North). They are one of my teams to watch this week just because of the amount of games they have. They are competing in the Huntington North Tournament, which is loaded with good teams, and then host Carmel on Saturday. Teams are bypassing them right now in the ranking so if they can rack up some big wins this week they will be right in the mix of things. [player_tooltip player_id="769666" first="Jeffrey" last="Simmons"] and Fishers are in for a huge week to prove some doubters wrong. Hammond (3A): The Wildcats are one of the top 2 teams in 3A right now. Led by senior PF [player_tooltip player_id="963120" first="Darrell" last="Reed"] (Alabama State Commit), Hammond is currently 3-1 on this season and are in the conversation for 3A State Champs at the moment. On Tuesday, they will compete in the North Central (Indianapolis) Classic taking on both Avon and North Central (Indianapolis), which they should win both. Then if that is not enough, they will travel to Bowman Academy to take on 4A Merrillville. I expect Hammond to go 3-0 this week and prove why they are in the mix with teams like Silver Creek and Heritage Hills. South Spencer (2A): The Rebels are one the best teams in all of 2A right now. Undefeated and have pretty much dominated every team they have played this season. When you have players on your team such as [player_tooltip player_id="874144" first="Jace" last="Kelly"], [player_tooltip player_id="818681" first="Chase" last="Garrett"], [player_tooltip player_id="874200" first="Kobe" last="Bartlett"], [player_tooltip player_id="1077041" first="Michael" last="Donoho"], and [player_tooltip player_id="1063966" first="Holton" last="Compton"], it should be no surprise that they are having a season like this. On Monday they will compete in the Perry-Spencer Tournament and honestly should be the favorite to win the whole thing. Keep an eye, not only this week, but for the rest of the season on this awesome South Spencer squad. 3 Matchups Gary West (4A) at Lawrence North (4A) – Dec. 30th, 6:00 pm: This is probably the best 4A matchup this week. Both teams are at the top of 4A teams this season and have absolutely been on a roll all year thus far. Tons of big time players and prospects in this one with studs like [player_tooltip player_id="783152" first="Quimari" last="Peterson"], [player_tooltip player_id="963905" first="Mason" last="Nicholson"], [player_tooltip player_id="769653" first="Jalen" last="Washington"], [player_tooltip player_id="830575" first="DJ" last="Hughes"], [player_tooltip player_id="783180" first="Shamar" last="Avance"], [player_tooltip player_id="870213" first="Chris" last="Gunn"], all playing. I think this game really comes down to who wants its more because the talent on both teams is not an issue. Real tough one to pick but until proven otherwise, Lawrence North is the best team in 4A right now. Expect this one to deliver on excitement. Hall of Fame Tournament – Dec. 30th, 11:00 am: Kind of cheating here but this tournament is too big to only feature one game. In the first game you have a clash of 2 of the top 5 teams in 2A with [player_tooltip player_id="647199" first="Luke" last="Brown"] and Blackford taking on [player_tooltip player_id="783204" first="Andrew" last="Bennett"] and Shenandoah. Not only are those two of the top guards in the state featured in this game but other top prospects like [player_tooltip player_id="874171" first="Kaden" last="McCollough"], [player_tooltip player_id="1049191" first="Dayton" last="Hoover"] and so many others are competing in this one. In the second game you have the best team in 1A, Barr-Reeve, taking on the best team in 2A, Fort Wayne Blackhawk. This game is probably the best game on paper this week just because of the matchups like the power forward collision between [player_tooltip player_id="783158" first="Curt" last="Hopf"] and [player_tooltip player_id="529561" first="Caleb" last="Furst"]. Literally any team has a chance to win this one, but when the dust settles I think Blackhawk comes out the ultimate winner here. Bloomington South (4A) at Eastern Greene (2A) – Jan. 2nd, 7:30 pm: I think it is safe to say that Bloomington South is not the team they were last year. They are not a bad team by any means but they just do not have the talent they had last season. Recently got bounced out the top 18 in 4A and their schedule is not exactly easy especially with a underrated Eastern Greene team hosting them on Saturday. Eastern Greene has had a sneaky good year this season and are being led by two of the top scorers in the state with [player_tooltip player_id="874204" first="Sam" last="Rees"] and [player_tooltip player_id="870314" first="Bryan" last="Rippy"]. If South is going to win this one, senior stud [player_tooltip player_id="783201" first="Joseph" last="Bomba"] will need to go off here like he has done all season. Call me crazy but, I think Eastern Greene upsets South here.