Ramsey’s Saturday Notebook: EYBL Session III + Grassroots Invite

<h2>Indy Heat 17u Dominates Strive For Greatness</h2> <p>The bleachers on the featured court at the Kentucky Expo Center initially filled up to watch [player_tooltip player_id="992475" first="Bronny" last="James"] and his Strive For Greatness teammates at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. However, many quickly moved on as Indy Heat 17u jumped out to a 27-10 first quarter lead and never looked back.</p> <p>Wire-to-wire this one was never very close. Strive For Greatness struggled to get good shots against the quickness and athleticism of the Indy Heat defense. Offensively, the backcourt dominated and used a balanced scoring effort to cruise to an 89-53 victory.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="932767" first="Jacob" last="Meyer"], a Western Kentucky commit, led with 16 points while Louisville commit [player_tooltip player_id="932764" first="Kaleb" last="Glenn"] added 15 points. Future Purdue Boilermaker Drayvn Gibbs-Lawhorn set the tone early all 12 of his points in the first half. Another guard, Michigan State bound [player_tooltip player_id="939058" first="Jeremy" last="Fears"] flirted with a triple-double finishing with 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists. Rounding out those in double figures was [player_tooltip player_id="868228" first="Jermaine" last="Coleman"] with 11 points.</p> <h2>Indy Heat 16u Loses a Close One</h2> <p>The 16u Indy Heat group could just never quite get over the hump against Livon-Fleur De Lis. After trailing by three points at half time they went on to lose 65-60 on Saturday afternoon.</p> <p>One bright spot was the strong play of 6’5” wing [player_tooltip player_id="1275779" first="Kanon" last="Catchings"]. The high-upside prospect just continues to improve with seemingly each time out on the court. He has physically grown, still has a soft shooting touch, but also has added to his game off of the dribble. He had a couple of really impressive baseline drives in this one that were clear signs of improvement in that area. It makes sense why programs in the Big 10 are starting to pay more and more attention to Catchings’ development.</p> <p>Catchings led Indy Heat 16u with 18 points in the loss while [player_tooltip player_id="1297052" first="Jalen" last="Haralson"] added 12 points.</p> <h2>Indy Heat 17u Rolls Once Again</h2> <p>After a blowout victory in the morning, Indy Heat 17u was back in action at 5:00 Saturday evening and took down Team Thad 80-65 to move to 2-0 on the weekend. They were once again led by future Western Kentucky Hilltopper [player_tooltip player_id="932767" first="Jacob" last="Meyer"] who poured in 24 points on efficient 8-10 shooting from the field. He is an elite scorer and it is becoming more and more clear that the ’Toppers got a steal.</p> <p>Also scoring for Indy Heat 17u were Louisville commit [player_tooltip player_id="932764" first="Kaleb" last="Glenn"] with 14 points &amp; 6 rebounds, Purdue pledge Drayvn Gibbs-Lawhorn with 13 points and 8 assists, and another stat sheet stuffer from Michigan State commit [player_tooltip player_id="939058" first="Jeremy" last="Fears"] who put up 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.</p> <h2>Other Notes From the Day</h2> <ul> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="953944" first="Milan" last="Momcilovic"] will be one of the biggest risers in the new recruiting rankings. A super-skilled 6’8” forward for Team Herro handles the ball and moves like a guard. He was coming off of ballscreens on Saturday afternoon making the right play and creating offense in a variety of ways.</li> <li>Indiana High School products that play their summer ball out of state can sometimes slip through the cracks of the statewide conscious. That should not be the case for [player_tooltip player_id="1295357" first="KJ" last="Windham"]. The Class of 2024 prospect at Ben Davis plays for an extremely talented Meanstreets 16u team and looked the part of a top five player in his class for Indiana on Saturday. Windham is a strong left-handed guard that plays through contact, doesn’t get sped up, and explode to the basket off of the bounce. Knocked in a couple of perimeter jump shots too.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="854888" first="Robert" last="Dillingham"] is without a doubt one of the best playmakers in the Class of 2023. He poured it in on Saturday afternoon for Team CP3 scoring in a variety of ways from all three levels. He is excellent at creating separation, plays with good pace, and is explosive enough to get up and finish despite his small size.</li> <li>George Hill All Indy 15u features some of the most impressive Class of 2025 prospects in Indiana with [player_tooltip player_id="1297057" first="Jaymen" last="Townsend"] (Marion H.S. 2025) and [player_tooltip player_id="1297010" first="Damien" last="King"] (Anderson H.S. 2025). Both are extremely physical, athletic, and finish well around the basket. They dominated the game I watched early Saturday evening. One new name to keep an eye on is 6’2" wing Chris Arvanitis (Plainfield H.S. 2025). He scored it through contact all game long. </li> </ul>