3 For 3: Week 2 Preview

The high school boys’ basketball season is officially 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 [player_tooltip player_id="870234" first="Joe" last="Reidy"] – 6’7 2022 SF – Woodlan: Reidy is an ultra-athletic wing that had one of the best opening weeks out of any prospect in the state with his 37 point, 17 rebound double-double against New Haven this past Wednesday. It should be no surprise that Reidy is putting up these kinds of numbers as he is coming off an impressive summer that raised his stock, which is why he was on our preseason 3A All-State 2nd Team right before the high school season took off. The versatile forward has a great amount of offers from the D2/NAIA level at the moment and if he keeps putting up numbers like this, he should bring a few more in. Reidy and Woodlan will look to continue to roll this week as they host Garrett on 11/30 and travel to Jay County on 12/3. [player_tooltip player_id="935747" first="Caleb" last="Dewey"] – 6’3 2023 SF – Edinburgh: Speaking of players that had an outstanding week 1, Dewey had somewhat of a breakout game against Southwestern (Shelbyville) last Wednesday as he put up 27 points which saw 19 of those coming in the 2H. After this game, his recruitment hit a big boom as he has received his first two offers to play at the next level coming from Mesabi Range and University of Fort Lauderdale. Dewey is a 6’3 forward that is a little overlooked at times but is such a force inside and out on the offensive end. He and the Lancers will look to advance to 4-0 this weekend as they host Oldenburg Academy (12/3) and travel to Waldron (12/4). [player_tooltip player_id="1158204" first="K.J." last="Windham"] – 6’1 2024 PG – Ben Davis: Windham is a 6’1 lefty, lead guard and is our first 2024 to be spotlighted in this season long series. He came into this year as the main ball handler for the Giants and just recently came off an impressive game in a loss vs Zionsville where he dropped 13 points. As a prospect, he is one of the more skilled, talented, and playmaking guards that we have in the entire 2024 class. So much potential in him and he has not even scratched the surface yet of what he is capable of. Windham and Ben Davis will look to have a bounce back week 2 as they travel to Pike (12/3) and host Southport (12/4) this weekend. 3 Teams Zionsville (4A): The Eagles arguably had the best week 1 out of any 4A team in the state. It started off with a slight upset in the traditional first game against Carmel 45-42, which saw huge games from their leading pieces in [player_tooltip player_id="868255" first="Logan" last="Imes"], [player_tooltip player_id="774740" first="Isaiah" last="Davis"] and [player_tooltip player_id="868244" first="Nick" last="Richart"], and then followed up with a very close road win against Ben Davis 50-49. I have been high on this year’s Zionsville squad as kind of my underrated team that could do some damage all year long. Not only do they have a high major prospect in Imes and possibly the best frontcourt duo in Davis and Richart, but they have outstanding complementary guys like [player_tooltip player_id="1140525" first="Edward" last="Thomas"] and [player_tooltip player_id="870271" first="Brendan" last="Wood"] providing strong minuets. If they have another strong week (at Westfield 12/3 and at New Albany 12/4) like they did last week, it might be time to start talking about Zionsville being State Championship contenders in Class 4A. Blackhawk Christian (2A): Even though they look a lot different this year, the reigning Class 2A Champion will play their first slate of games this season. Last year’s squad graduated a great group of seniors, most notably the current Mr. Basketball Caleb Furst. This season, it will be up to a couple of 2023s to carry the load for them with SF [player_tooltip player_id="1042496" first="Gage" last="Sefton"] and C [player_tooltip player_id="1042499" first="Josh" last="Furst"] providing that 1-2 punch. Besides those two, look for 2024 SG [player_tooltip player_id="1276604" first="Eli" last="LaGrange"] to step-up and have a breakout season as well. Don’t know if we can call them state tittle contenders as of yet, but the Braves still have solid core to make a run with. They start the season off with 2 road games vs Fort Wayne North (11/30) and New Haven (12/4). North Daviess (1A): With starting the season 3-0 beating a tough Loogootee team and winning the Loogootee-North Daviess Classic beating Evansville Day and North Posey in the process, it might be time to go ahead and say that the Cougars are the favorite as of now to win it all in Class 1A. It starts with one man and that man is our #61 ranked prospect in the 2023 class and a part of our Preseason 1A All-State First Team, PG [player_tooltip player_id="935727" first="Jaylen" last="Mullen"]. Mullen, who is averaging around 17 ppg already, has played like he is on a mission and has carried a ton of weight for North Daviess so far. Watch out for Mullen and this North Daviess team this week as they look to advance to 4-0 when they travel to 3A Washington this Saturday 12/4. 3 Matchups Linton-Stockton (2A) vs Crispus Attucks (4A) – Dec. 4th, 3:00 pm: This game is one of the 7 games that will be featured at the Sneakers for Santa event in Brownsburg this Saturday. This one stood out to me the most because this is an interesting matchup with a 2A team that has the talent to keep up with one of the better 4A teams we have in the state. On the Linton side of the ball, the Miners will be led by one of the top 2023s in the state [player_tooltip player_id="868240" first="Joey" last="Hart"], who has led them to back to back double-digit victories so far this year. On the Attucks side, you have a mature group that is led by a stud SF in [player_tooltip player_id="870284" first="Christian" last="Nunn"]. Other key players to watch for in this one is [player_tooltip player_id="870264" first="James" last="Smith"] (CA), [player_tooltip player_id="870285" first="Willie" last="Mays"] (CA), [player_tooltip player_id="1275771" first="Ron" last="Rutland III"] (CA), [player_tooltip player_id="935736" first="Logan" last="Webb"] (LS), and [player_tooltip player_id="1158180" first="Braden" last="Walters"] (LS). This should be a high scoring affair and I actually like Linton to walk away with sort of the upset here as a monster game from Hart should be expected. Brebeuf Jesuit (3A) at Cathedral (4A) – Dec. 3rd, 7:30 pm: If you want to talk about a game that is just overloaded with talent, look no further than this one that is taking place on Friday. Just the list of talent on paper should sell this game alone with guys like [player_tooltip player_id="870212" first="Tayshawn" last="Comer"], [player_tooltip player_id="1063971" first="Jaxon" last="Edwards"], [player_tooltip player_id="868219" first="Xavier" last="Booker"], [player_tooltip player_id="868251" first="Jake" last="Davis"], [player_tooltip player_id="868252" first="Jaron" last="Tibbs"], [player_tooltip player_id="868260" first="Sincere" last="Germany"], [player_tooltip player_id="870225" first="Billy" last="Smith"], [player_tooltip player_id="1210385" first="Marial" last="Puou"], [player_tooltip player_id="870254" first="Dirin" last="Birhiray"], [player_tooltip player_id="870236" first="Paul" last="Stubblefield"], and so much more. Both of these teams have been heavily talked about as being some of the favorites to win their respective State Championships. Although Brebeuf Jesuit comes into this game with 7 seniors ready to make a statement, I am going with Cathedral here take care of their home turf. This should be a classic of a game. Penn (4A) at Crown Point (4A) – Dec. 4th, 7:30 pm: This might be one of the more overlooked games that we have this week as [player_tooltip player_id="1049169" first="Markus" last="Burton"] and the Kingsmen travel to Crown Point to take on A.J Lux and the Bulldogs. Both teams in this one come in with a mature squad filled with lots of upperclassman talent like [player_tooltip player_id="870282" first="Jonah" last="Pennington"] (Penn), [player_tooltip player_id="870293" first="Drew" last="Adzia"] (CP), [player_tooltip player_id="868253" first="Keaton" last="Buuck"] (CP), [player_tooltip player_id="1272962" first="Julius" last="Smith"] (Penn), and others. This will be the first time we see Crown Point this season with Penn already having 1 one on their record with a big win over Carroll (Fort Wayne) this past weekend. I have been pretty high on this Crown Point team all offseason and with the trio of Lux, Adzia, and Buuck, I just think that might be too much for Penn to overcome. I like the Bulldogs in a close one.