Way Too Early Class 3A Rankings

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The month of June is all about getting back to Indiana High School Basketball. After two months on various grassroots circuits, players return to their high school teams for workouts, summer leagues, and various shootouts. This is always a good opportunity to get an early look at which groups are ahead of the pack going into next season. Also, you will begin to see where transfers have landed and who are some up-and-coming prospects ready to breakout as they get a year older. Now that we have a couple of weeks under our belts like take a way too early look at the five best teams in the state at the Class 3A level.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#1 Scottsburg Warriors</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Scottsburg went 22-6 last season and came up just one game short of the state finals. The Warriors will return their three leading scorers who were all selected to the IBCA Top 100 Workout. [player_tooltip player_id='1401893' first='Kody' last='Clancy'] is the top returner as he averaged 16.8 points and 4.3 assists per game as a junior. Meanwhile, 6'5" wing [player_tooltip player_id='1276470' first='Jack' last='Miller'] added 15.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game on impressive 56.5%/46.6%/84.1% shooting splits. Finally, 6'8" forward [player_tooltip player_id='1578484' first='Wyatt' last='Zellers'] averaged 12.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game. That trio of rising seniors should help Scottsburg remain at or near the top of Class 3A.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#2 Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fresh off of a trip to Gainbridge Fieldhouse were they ended as state runner-up, the Golden Eagles will be back for more in 2023-2024. Leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id='1275817' first='Robert' last='Sorensen'] is back after averaging 14.4 points per game and will once again have his eyes set on playing for a state championship. Aside from the 5'11" rising senior guard, 6'7" [player_tooltip player_id='1547883' first='Dylan' last='Murans'] averaging 8.0 points per game a year ago and will be poised for a breakout season. The athletic, versatile 6'7" forward is a really intriguing prospect in the rising senior class. Rising junior forward [player_tooltip player_id='2053658' first='Bryson' last='Cardinal'] is coming off of a great spring and should see an expanded role inside and rising senior point guard [player_tooltip player_id='1386181' first='Jack' last='Cherry'] is back to run the show once again.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#3 Delta Eagles</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sticking with the theme of teams who made deep tournament runs but return a majority of their talent, the Delta Eagles come in at #3 with a fair argument to be higher. They went 19-10 last season and advanced all the way to the Semi-State championship before falling to eventual state champion NorthWood. The Eagles bring back their top four scorers and six of their eight primary rotation pieces. Rising senior forward [player_tooltip player_id='1295334' first='Jackson' last='Wors'] and rising senior wing [player_tooltip player_id='1295310' first='D'Amare' last='Hood'] are the leaders bringing back 14.0 and 13.2 points per game respectively. [player_tooltip player_id='1275827' first='Jayden' last='Furney'], another rising senior, was also in double-figures at 10.3 points per game. This is a well balanced group with a lot of scoring coming back.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#4 Evansville Memorial Tigers</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first team on this list that did not advance to the Class 3A Final Four, Evansville Memorial actually didn't even win a Sectional game last season. However, they went 14-9 and bring their most talented guys back from a year ago. [player_tooltip player_id='1539999' first='Luke' last='Ellspermann'], a rising junior guard, is a very talented scorer that averaged 16.7 points to go along with 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game last season. On the interior, 6'6" rising senior forward [player_tooltip player_id='1578479' first='Tucker' last='Tornatta'] contributed a double-double of 12.9 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. Rising junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='1159224' first='Luke' last='Lawrence'] adds some shooting ability on the perimeter as well with 9.4 points per game. The Tigers have very talented rising sophomore and junior classes that will look to fill in the gaps to their rotation. Don't sleep on this group.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#5 Danville Warriors</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Danville went 18-8 last season, won Sectional 25, and return their entire roster. That is a pretty good starting point for putting together one of the better teams in the state. 6'6" big man [player_tooltip player_id='1578391' first='Evan' last='Lawrence'], who recently committed to play football at Indiana, is the top returning scorer and rebounder after putting up 13.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game as a junior. Classmate [player_tooltip player_id='1578355' first='Caden' last='Collins'] is the man for the Warriors out on the perimeter as he averaged 12.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. Two guys to keep an eye on for breakout seasons will be rising junior wing [player_tooltip player_id='2053657' first='Jace' last='Scrafton'] and rising sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1560958' first='Elijah' last='Tricker']. Those two scored 9.6 and 8.5 points per game respectively last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->