Right Now, I Think "North Central" Indiana Has The Most HS Basketball Talent Outside Of Indy and Fort Wayne

[Jayhoosier83]

Just going by how teams from the area (Kokomo, Tipton, Carroll (Flora), Peru) made it to Regionals and there could have been teams from this part of the state in 3 of the 4 state championship games last year (Had Carroll (Flora) beat Central Noble and Kokomo beaten Chesterton in the Semi State Championship games, in addition to Lafayette Central Catholic). Carroll and Kokomo have the best chances of repeating their success from last year. Tipton has the best backcourt in the area (maybe even northern Indiana) with Nolan Swan and Grady Carpenter back from a team that barely lost to an undefeated at the time and #1 in 2A team Monroe Central in Regionals and could go far in this year's tournament. Peru has has their main players back (from a team that was 1 of only 2) that held held Flory Bidunga to single digits in points AND rebounds in a game last season and lost to Culver Academies in Regionals. Throw in Oak Hill having Landon Biegel (averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds so far this year) and everyone else back from last year's 18-6 team, a Clinton Prairie team that finished 20-5 and was in the 2A Top 10 most of last season (and has a Peckinpaugh as head coach, probably related to Kokomo's HC), and now Taylor apparently has a rising star Freshman guard named Baris Moore (averaging 18 points and 2 steals per game) that will be worth watching going forward. I would say this is the most talent this part of the state has had in it at the same time since when I played in high school (1998-02) when there were multiple D-1 athletes there. At that time there was:
-Austin Parkinson (Purdue PG) at Northwestern (my school)
-Brandon Jones (Purdue RB) at Peru HS
-Mike Otto (Purdue and Tennessee Titans OL) at Maconaquah
-Josh Grant (Winthrop F) at Taylor
-Drew Connor (IUPUI G) at Taylor

 

[IUNorth]

Just going by how teams from the area (Kokomo, Tipton, Carroll (Flora), Peru) made it to Regionals and there could have been teams from this part of the state in 3 of the 4 state championship games last year (Had Carroll (Flora) beat Central Noble and Kokomo beaten Chesterton in the Semi State Championship games, in addition to Lafayette Central Catholic). Carroll and Kokomo have the best chances of repeating their success from last year. Tipton has the best backcourt in the area (maybe even northern Indiana) with Nolan Swan and Grady Carpenter back from a team that barely lost to an undefeated at the time and #1 in 2A team Monroe Central in Regionals and could go far in this year's tournament. Peru has has their main players back (from a team that was 1 of only 2) that held held Flory Bidunga to single digits in points AND rebounds in a game last season and lost to Culver Academies in Regionals. Throw in Oak Hill having Landon Biegel (averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds so far this year) and everyone else back from last year's 18-6 team, a Clinton Prairie team that finished 20-5 and was in the 2A Top 10 most of last season (and has a Peckinpaugh as head coach, probably related to Kokomo's HC), and now Taylor apparently has a rising star Freshman guard named Baris Moore (averaging 18 points and 2 steals per game) that will be worth watching going forward. I would say this is the most talent this part of the state has had in it at the same time since when I played in high school (1998-02) when there were multiple D-1 athletes there. At that time there was:
-Austin Parkinson (Purdue PG) at Northwestern (my school)
-Brandon Jones (Purdue RB) at Peru HS
-Mike Otto (Purdue and Tennessee Titans OL) at Maconaquah
-Josh Grant (Winthrop F) at Taylor
-Drew Connor (IUPUI G) at Taylor

There are really good teams across the state. Indy dominates, obviously. But the area you mention has some really good teams. "The Region" always has talent and good teams. Fort Wayne has quite a lot of talent. I'm not as familiar with Southern Indiana, but Evansville always has talent.

My area is directly north of where you're talking about. Penn is likely better than any team you mentioned. I think they're probably the 3rd best team in the whole state behind Cathedral and Ben Davis. Northwood is currently ranked number 1 in 3A...I wouldn't be surprised, at all, if they win a State title. Also wouldn't be surprised if last year's 3A runner up Mishawaka Marian, wins a state title, as they return a lot of their team. South Bend has a couple really good teams in Washington and Riley. If we get to claim teams a little bit south of us, Warsaw is really good. And Culver Academies beat LaLu's Blue team last night, which is still a very high level team. The smaller schools in our area seem to be down a little bit, not many contending 1A or 2A schools up in the far North.

 

[Jayhoosier83]

There are really good teams across the state. Indy dominates, obviously. But the area you mention has some really good teams. "The Region" always has talent and good teams. Fort Wayne has quite a lot of talent. I'm not as familiar with Southern Indiana, but Evansville always has talent.

My area is directly north of where you're talking about. Penn is likely better than any team you mentioned. I think they're probably the 3rd best team in the whole state behind Cathedral and Ben Davis. Northwood is currently ranked number 1 in 3A...I wouldn't be surprised, at all, if they win a State title. Also wouldn't be surprised if last year's 3A runner up Mishawaka Marian, wins a state title, as they return a lot of their team. South Bend has a couple really good teams in Washington and Riley. If we get to claim teams a little bit south of us, Warsaw is really good. And Culver Academies beat LaLu's Blue team last night, which is still a very high level team. The smaller schools in our area seem to be down a little bit, not many contending 1A or 2A schools up in the far North.

Yeah, overall I think Northern Indiana has more talent spread out over it than the Southern half of the state. It seems there's a lot more Freshman that see significant playing time at the Varsity level every year up here than down there (I lived in Columbus, IN until recently moving back north). I had seen that Warsaw has a player named Luke Yeagley (huge for only being a Sophomore last year (6'8" 240) that seems to be a big IU fan (not sure what kind of player he is) that just by his size alone got my attention. I thought Zion Rhoades from Mishawaka Marian looked like someone who has potential last year. And Manchester has a Sophomore named Gavin Betten that looks like a pretty good player, too.

 

[IUNorth]

Yeah, overall I think Northern Indiana has more talent spread out over it than the Southern half of the state. It seems there's a lot more Freshman that see significant playing time at the Varsity level every year up here than down there (I lived in Columbus, IN until recently moving back north). I had seen that Warsaw has a player named Luke Yeagley (huge for only being a Sophomore last year (6'8" 240) that seems to be a big IU fan (not sure what kind of player he is) that just by his size alone got my attention. I thought Zion Rhoades from Mishawaka Marian looked like someone who has potential last year. And Manchester has a Sophomore named Gavin Betten that looks like a pretty good player, too.

Stephen Reynolds at South Bend Washington is a freshman to keep an eye on. His dad is the coach of the girls team, his sisters are high major players.

Warsaw's sophomore (2025) class is really strong. They're going to be really good for a few years. Not sure about the kid you mention. They do have a really good big bodied, athletic, big. Might be him.

Penn's sophomore class is also loaded. They're upperclassman heavy this year, with one of the better teams in the state, but they won't fall off a ton when those guys graduate this year and next.

Northwood has a high level sophomore. But their man 2 guys are seniors this year. They have an elite football prospect that decided not to play basketball this year, or they'd be even better than they already are.

South Bend Riley has some really good young talent on their team.

 

[Victorbmyboy]

I’m going to the Castle vs. Bloomington North game on Saturday. I’ll report back. I’m friends with a bunch of kids parents on both sides.