High School Spotlight: Merrillville Pirates

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The High School Spotlight Series is back and we are excited to feature multiple teams throughout the state once again! The season is still a few months away, but it is never too early to look ahead at the high school season. We will be taking a look at some quick hitters, the top player(s), a potential breakout player, other roster members, and more for the upcoming season. For today's spotlight, we take a look at the Merrillville Pirates. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Quick Hitters</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Went 6-17 last season.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Lost to Chesterton in Sectionals. </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Head Coach Bo Patten starts his 8th year as head coach. He is 68-97 as a head coach.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Very talented team that is going to be really good in the long run. </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Top Player: [player_tooltip player_id='2565742' first='Charles' last='Hardiman'] <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/levi-lindeman/"></a></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A team that should be much better than it was last year is the Merrillville Pirates, and a big reason for that is the return of junior wing [player_tooltip player_id='2565742' first='Charles' last='Hardiman']. There should be no question that everything Merrillville does is going to start with Hardiman, who brings back 19.5 points per game from last season. Hardiman is an excellent pure scorer who simply always finds ways to put the ball in the basket. He is a very aggressive driver with long arms and a shifty handle that he uses to get to the rim.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Potential Breakout Player: [player_tooltip player_id='3040529' first='Idris' last='Norey']<a href="https://prephoops.com/player/royce-bridgewaters/"></a></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A lot of the talk for Merrillville has been about the incoming freshmen and, of course, [player_tooltip player_id='2565742' first='Charles' last='Hardiman']. However, a guy in the frontcourt that I am excited to see more of in a larger role is power forward [player_tooltip player_id='3040529' first='Idris' last='Norey']. Norey got some valuable varsity action last season, but this year, he is the guy in the frontcourt. A 6'6" power forward who runs the floor well and is an elite post defender.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other Key Roster Members</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2560346' first='Cameron' last='Jones'] </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kylen Retic </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3685870' first='Nasir' last='Faniel'] </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2886627' first='Peyton' last='Thomas'] </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sylvester Patterson </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Quentin Thomas </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Keon Owens </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2630169' first='Justin' last='Turner'] </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3694136' first='Juston' last='Walton'] </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>James Walton </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->