April Showers – Part Two
The featured image is courtesy of musingsite.wordpress.com. They say that April showers bring May flowers, but considering the “storm” 2020 has rained down upon us, it could take a bit longer than May to see budding prospects throughout Indiana. With…
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Continue ReadingThe featured image is courtesy of musingsite.wordpress.com.
They say that April showers bring May flowers, but considering the “storm” 2020 has rained down upon us, it could take a bit longer than May to see budding prospects throughout Indiana. With that in mind, I wanted to follow up my article on perimeter players and highlight a handful of frontline players from the Class of 2021 who I also thought were primed to have a breakout Spring in terms of their recruiting and grassroots play, but who unfortunately missed out on those same opportunities because of this pandemic. There are many more prospects to choose from, but I limited this article to these seven, because for one reason or another they stood out to me.
Gigi Eldredge
Gigi
Eldredge
6'0" | C
Westfield | 2021
State
IN
, 2021, 6-0 PF, Westfield H.S.
When I saw Gigi between her 8th Grade and Freshman year, it was easy to see her potential to become one of the better frontline prospects in this 2021 class. She has good size and strength, a nice athletic frame with some length, and she is a solid North/South athlete who plays with a motor. She played in a reserve role as a Freshman, but she was starting to come into her own last season as a Sophomore. However, her progress was derailed during the Summer of 2019 due to an ACL injury, and she was forced to miss the 2019-2020 season. This grassroots season was going to be important for her to show her health, to show how she has grown skillfully, and to prove that she’s not just an interior scorer/defender, but she can also play in the mid-post and even around the perimeter.
Rebekah Gordon
Rebekah
Gordon
6'1" | PF
Heritage Hills | 2021
State
IN
, 2021, 6-0 PF, Heritage Hills H.S.
Being from Southern Indiana is not easy on prospects, because if they want to play at the next level, they have to commit to the process, do more than others to get their names out there, and travel farther and more often to give themselves as much of an opportunity as possible to be seen by college coaches. Rebekah is just such a prospect, and in my opinion, I think she has Division-I upside. This happened after I prepped this article, but Rebekah earned a scholarship offer from Division-I San Jose State University over the weekend. She is long, deceptively bouncy, and she runs the floor well. She has really good skill in the mid-post and can hit a number of off-balance shots inside of 15-feet. This season, she started to stretch her game to the perimeter more consistently, and I think that will improve even more in the next year. She scored in single-digits just twice in 2019-2020, and she went for 20 or more points on nine occasions.
Madison Gray
Madison
Gray
5'10" | PF
Union County | 2021
State
IN
, 2021, 5-10 PF, Union County H.S.
Based on recent history, Madison is one of those “tweener” type of forwards who small college coaches usually fall in love with throughout the Spring tournaments of their Junior year. She is a quietly tough-nosed kid with a great motor, she has a wiry strong frame, she’s a solid athlete in all directions, and she has a versatile skillset. For her career, she has already eclipsed the 1000-point mark (currently at 1146 points), and she’s approaching the 500-rebound plateau (currently at 447 rebounds). She even knocked down 30 3-pointers this season and is a career 71% free throw shooter. There isn’t much to dislike about Madison’s game, especially her versatility. After scoring 20 or more points 15 times this year, with a season low of ten, I felt like she was ready to have a big spring and draw a lot of small college attention.
Courtney Lee
Courtney
Lee
6'0" | PF
Heritage Christian | 2021
State
IN
, 2021, 6-0 PF, Heritage Christian School
Last April at a tournament in Fort Wayne, Courtney stood out to me with her hustle and “team” attitude. She seemed like the perfect role player as a post, and she got a lot of “scraps” baskets due to her effort. However, after seeing her play a couple of times in the 2019-2020 Indianapolis City Tournament, she showed a whole different side to her game. She was taking and making mid-range jumpers consistently, finishing around the basket at odd angles, and looked more like a mid-post “4” than a true post. And I think she might be capable of more. She has played alongside such dynamic guards, that she has learned how to play off of them, but I think she’s capable of being a double-double kid down the road. Just her effort alone should draw college attention, but she also possesses some skill and versatility.
Jade Nutley
Jade
Nutley
6'0" | PF
Madison Consolidated | 2021
State
IN
, 2021, 6-0 PF, Madison Consolidated H.S.
Jade is one of the most deceiving players in the state, and someone I think has a nice future ahead of her if she gets the right college coaches to see her. That’s why I think this Spring was big for her, as it is for all prospects, but especially for kids who fit a certain system or type of coach. She is built like a traditional post, has good hands and feet, plus she is powerful. But the best part of her game is when she’s facing the basket, knocking down mid-range jumpers, and finding teammates off the bounce with her great vision. She’s almost looks like a post with a point guard mindset at times. In the Spring of 2019, Jade was putting together a nice opening tournament at the Shamrock Classic. But late in that event, she suffered an injury and missed the rest of the Spring. She played in July and was solid, but throughout the 2019-2020 season she was outstanding for Madison, averaging 14.9 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.
Haley Rose
Haley
Rose
6'0" | PF
Linton-Stockton | 2021
State
IN
, 2021, 6-0 PF, Linton-Stockton H.S.
I was able to talk about Haley quite a bit throughout the state tournament, as Linton made it to the Class 2A State Championship Game and won. Haley has come such a long way since I first saw her between her 8th Grade and Freshman year. Back then, she was a little awkward, somewhat weak, and my first impression was that she was an instinctual kid, but she needed to finish growing and getting stronger, and she needed time to develop her skillset. Now, I think she could be a high-level small college recruit and also draw some Division-I interest. She is extremely long, stronger than she looks, and she moves effortlessly around the floor with good bounce to her game. She is handling the ball and changing directions against pressure, and she’s starting to shoot the 3-pointer at over a 33% rate, plus she’s a 79% free throw shooter…great for a front-liner.
Jasmine Walker
Jasmine
Walker
6'0" | C
Clarksville | 2021
State
IN
, 2021, 5-11 PF, Clarksville H.S.
The first time I saw Jasmine play was also the last time I saw her play. I attended the Battle of the Bridges all-star games in early August of 2017, and she was an athletic, wiry strong, and physically talented prospect who put together a really nice game scoring it inside and rebounding seemingly everything. She followed that up by averaging 13.1 points and 10.6 rebounds as a Freshman, but then missed her entire Sophomore season due to an injury. I haven’t seen her in grassroots basketball since…at least not on any Indiana team’s roster. This season, she returned for Clarksville and put together a stretch of really nice games, often scoring at or over 20 points and grabbing rebound after rebound again. This Spring would have been a great opportunity for her to showcase her talent that few people have had the chance to see.