Preseason Workout Report: South Bend St. Joseph and Penn

Brandon Ramsey September 28, 2026 @ 09:00 PM

<p><span style="font-size: 16px;white-space: normal">Covering Indiana High School Basketball has become a nearly 365 day a year job. The season obviously starts up around Thanksgiving and runs until the beginning of spring. Then, the grassroots schedule picks up almost immediately and runs through the end of July. August is a bit of a quieter month, but once school gets back in session there will be fall leagues and preseason workouts all across the state. Getting out and spending time with our state's great coaching staffs and getting a more intimate, behind-the-scenes look at specific programs is one of our favorite parts of the coverage calendar. Our travels across the state started as the calendar turned to September. Here are some notes on a few schools we hit to begin this week.</span></p>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">South Bend St. Joseph Huskies</h2>   <p>The Huskies are entering the second year of their two-year success factor cycle at the Class 4A level after winning the Class 3A State Championship in 2024. They won a Class 4A Sectional last season and will be very competitive in Sectional 3 once again this year. There is a good deal of production to replace, but the pieces are in places for South Bend St. Joseph to be a borderline Top 10 team in Class 4A once again.</p>   <p>Eastern Michigan commit [player_tooltip player_id='2140359' first='Elijah' last='King'] is the top returner having led the Huskies in scoring last season putting up 19.1 points per game. The Indiana All-Star candidate will team up with South Bend Adams transfer [player_tooltip player_id='2129321' first='Drew' last='Dixon'] who recently committed to Saint Francis. Those two will make up one of the most dynamic backcourts in the state of Indiana. Additionally, freshman guard [player_tooltip player_id='3686537' first='Markiss' last='Northern'] will add another explosive piece to the backcourt. He will be one of the top Class of 2030 prospects in the state.</p>   <p>Aside from the talented backcourt pieces, South Bend St. Joseph will rely heavily on 6'4" senior wing/forward [player_tooltip player_id='2991460' first='Peyton' last='Miamba']. He averaged 13.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last season for the Huskies and received college interest across all levels. Miamba will be a very important piece once again as he will help provide an interior threat next to the Huskies guard play.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Penn Kingsmen</h2>   <p>Sectional 3 is going to be a gauntlet once again. Penn will be among the favorites as Coach Barak Coolman, who won three Sectional titles at both Fort Wayne Northrop and Valparaiso, looks to cut down the nets for the first time since taking over at Penn in 2023-2024.</p>   <p>Leading the way for the Kingsmen will be junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='2457404' first='Caleb' last='Coolman']. The 6'4" guard is one of the top prospects in the state of Indiana holding just shy of 10 scholarship offers along with a good deal of high-major interest. He stuffed the stat sheet last season averaging 21.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game. Coolman will flirt with a triple-double every time out this year and will be one of the state's best three-point shooters. 6'7" senior center [player_tooltip player_id='2140417' first='Makale' last='Price'] is highly sought after by Crossroads League programs coming off of a great summer. He averaged 8.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. The other primary returner is sophomore guard Mi'Kell Burton who averaged 5.5 points 2.6 assists per game as a freshman.</p>   <p>Finding consistent contributors aside from those three returns will ultimately define the ceiling of this Penn team. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='3605266' first='Josh' last='Sanderson'] will likely be the next most reliable piece. The 6'1" guard is a great shooter and is wise beyond his years on the floor. Look for sophomore forward [player_tooltip player_id='3657654' first='Landon' last='Ingram'], 6'0" junior Pay Patten, and sophomore guard Jack Smith to factor into the rotation as well among some other potential names.</p>

Covering Indiana High School Basketball has become a nearly 365 day a year job. The season obviously starts up around Thanksgiving and runs until the beginning of spring. Then, the grassroots schedule picks up almost immediately and runs through the end of July. August is a bit of a quieter month, but once school gets back in session there will be fall leagues and preseason workouts all across the state. Getting out and spending time with our state's great coaching staffs and getting a more intimate, behind-the-scenes look at specific programs is one of our favorite parts of the coverage calendar. Our travels across the state started as the calendar turned to September. Here are some notes on a few schools we hit to begin this week.