Open Gym Report: Northeastern High School

<p>While the preseason is in full swing after several weeks of workouts at places like Fishers, Cathedral, Crispus Attucks, and Brebeuf Jesuit (the schools I had previously visited), things look a little different at some of the small schools. Northeastern still is missing half of their expected varsity rotation due to players being in other sports and just completed their first full basketball workout as a team on Tuesday night. I was there to see how the east central Indiana Class 2A power looked as they began their preseason preparations.</p> <p>Head Coach Brent Ross enters his 13th year as the boss at Northeastern with an overall record of 202-94. The Knights have five sectional championships and have reached the regional final three times under Coach Ross. This season they will be looking to replace well over half of their scoring output from a team that went 19-5 before losing to Shenandoah in the sectional. Kolden Vanlandingham (22.8 ppg) and [player_tooltip player_id="874165" first="Carter" last="Lumpkin"] (12.3 ppg) were both career 1000 point scorers who will not be easily replaced. However, Coach Ross believes that this group has a chance to be the best defensive team that he has coached.</p> <p>Leading the way for Northeastern will be 6'8" senior forward [player_tooltip player_id="1063964" first="Raedhyn" last="Foust"]. A very skilled stretch-4 man that is ranked #66 in the Class of 2022 by Prep Hoops Indiana, Foust averaged 12.7 points and 4.9 rebounds last season for the Knights. He had a very strong month of July that brought in a scholarship offer from IU-East as well as opportunities at places like Wittenberg, Wabash, Franklin, Earlham, and more. His continued development will be crucial to replacing some of the lost offensive firepower that Northeastern has traditionally had.</p> <p>Beyond Foust, the Knights will be relying on several players to step into larger roles this season. Luckily, many of them have valuable varsity experience playing within a winning program. The second leading returning scorer will be 6'3" senior forward Payton Lumpkin. A hard-nosed, physical interior presence, Lumpkin was the leading rebounder on last season's team at 6.8 per game and chipped in 7.8 points per contest. He gives the Knights a really good presence around the basket alongside the 6'8" Foust.</p> <p>In the backcourt, Northeastern returns 6'0" senior guard Ben Deitsch and 5'8" junior guard [player_tooltip player_id="1293345" first="Keaton" last="Mikesell"] who each played in all 24 games a season ago. Both guards are expected to start for the Knights.</p> <p>As for the fifth starting spot, that one is very much up for grabs at this point. A couple of the leading candidates are sophomore guard [player_tooltip player_id="1275900" first="Wes" last="Hunt"] who averaged 2.5 points per game as a freshman in 22 games, and junior wing [player_tooltip player_id="1293341" first="Grant" last="Luebbe"]. Luebbe is a good athlete at 6'2"-6'3" who can add some additional size and length out on the perimeter. The quarterback for the football team, junior Carson Terrell, and junior sharp-shooter Karsen Scarrette will add additional depth for the Knights as well.</p> <p><strong>Final Thought: </strong>Northeastern has been a consistent Top 10 team in Class 2A for the better part of a decade now. This season they've traded their traditionally explosive guard play for size around the basket. There is plenty of depth with this group, but replacing some of last season's scoring is still a question. Regardless, the Knights will be one of the best teams in east central Indiana once again.</p>