Landon’s Week 9 Player Evaluations: Guards

Landon Bundy

January 25, 2021 @ 08:29 PM

This week was full of great games that had lots of great players in them. I saw some exciting prospects and look forward to giving you my evaluations each and every Sunday throughout the season. It is time to recap this week and look at what our exciting prospects did.   Southwestern (Hanover) @ Madison - 1/22/2021 [player_tooltip player_id="868258" first="Kaden" last="Oliver"] (Madison) (2023) - 6’1" PG: Oliver is a very young point guard with tons of potential. He is quick with the ball and has some nice moves and body control around the rim. He has good vision with the ball, and he makes some solid passes to his open teammates. He is also very aggressive on the glass. Oliver finished with 7 points, 6 boards, and 3 assists in this one. He still has a lot of room to grow, and with the dominant senior class at Madison, he will have a true test next season as one of the top scorers on the team. He’s no doubt a must-watch player in the future. [player_tooltip player_id="1077026" first="Nick" last="Center"] (Madison) (2021) - 6’2" PG: Center struggled mightily scoring the basketball, but the senior guard made up for it by making a major impact in other phases of the game. He is a solid guard with great ball-handling ability, and he always seems to know where the open man is on the court. He was the main facilitator of the offense, and he consistently got the ball where it needed to go. Despite not scoring, the senior tallied 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks and made an impact on the game. Center already received an offer from Lake Michigan College, and he should be receiving more attention in his senior year. Austin Kramer (Southwestern-Hanover) (2021) - 6’0" PG: Kramer is a tough, physical point guard who can make plays on both ends of the floor. He has good hands and plays physical man D which allowed him to come up with 2 steals. On the offensive end, he was a little careless with the ball and seemed to be out of control at times, but when he was under control, he made plays. He is aggressive on the glass and loves to push the ball up the floor. He can also finish through contact at the rim. However, he is going to need to take care of the ball much more if Madison wants to make a run this year. [player_tooltip player_id="874163" first="Foster" last="Mefford"] (Southwestern-Hanover) (2021) - 6’1" SG: Mefford is a very unselfish player who looks to get everyone else involved before he becomes involved. He is a natural scorer, but he struggled to get the ball in the hoop in this one. He was just 3-11 from the floor, but as any good scorer should do when the shots aren’t falling, he got to the rim quite a few times. He still tallied 15 points and kept the Rebels somewhat in the game with 8 free throws. Mefford also showed tons of heart as he showed absolutely no quit despite the large deficit late in the game. He was looking to help his team any way that he can, and he should make a major impact at Bethel in the next four seasons. He is the type of player that every coach loves to coach.   Columbus North @ Perry Meridian - 1/23/2021 [player_tooltip player_id="783160" first="Blake" last="Barker"] (Columbus North) (2021) - 6’2" SG: Barker is a very good player, and his career at Army next season will be destined for success. He never hesitates to shoot the ball, and despite his struggles in this one, he has been over 40% from three on the season. He is a smaller guard, but he is very physical and strong on the glass. His defense may just be the best part of his game. Sectional 14 is very wide open with Bloomington North, Bloomington South, and Columbus North all able to win it. If Barker can play well, Columbus North may be able to win their first Sectional title since the 2012-2013 season. [player_tooltip player_id="935735" first="Cooper" last="Horn"] (Columbus North) (2023) - 6’1" SG: Horn is a young player a very good shooting stroke. Although his shots weren’t falling in this one, he has a good shooting stroke. He is both aggressive and confident with the ball, and he should grow into his shooting skills. With Barker gone next season, he will have a much bigger role in the years to come, and I expect big things out of him in the future. He is a must-watch player for the future. [player_tooltip player_id="874174" first="Reggie" last="McDonald"] (Perry Meridian) (2021) - 5’9" PG: McDonald is a very quick guard with the ball, and he is able to make plays on both ends because of it. He sees the court pretty well, and he moves his feet and makes plays with his hands to come up with 2 steals in this game. McDonald can also knock down the three ball with consistency as he was 2-2 in this one. McDonald is an outstanding athlete, and it shows as he currently holds offers to play football at 13 schools as a wide receiver, and he holds offers to play basketball at Hanover, Franklin, and Anderson as well.