Indiana All-Stars: Assessing juniors' effort, Luke Ertel shines again, 6 more who impressed

Indianapolis Star

a day ago

Thoughts, observations and analysis of Indiana All-Stars week as the attention turns to the rivalry games vs. the Kentucky All-Stars on Friday and Saturday. By the way, I'm still calling this 'Fourth and Long' even if all the topics this week are basketball:
There are corners of the high school basketball Internet where the modus operandi seems to be complaining about how things used to be better than they are now … all the time.
Nostalgia is a tricky thing. We tend to romanticize the past and forget the bad stuff. I do it. We all do.
One thing I hear often in relation to the Indiana All-Stars is that 'people don't care anymore.' Or 'players don't care like they used to.' And I'm not here to tell you fans are going to pack Gainbridge Fieldhouse to the rafters for the Indiana All-Stars vs. Kentucky like they use to fill Market Square Arena or Freedom Hall like the good ol' days. We are not living in that world anymore.
Indiana All-Stars boys history: Which schools have most? Players list by school
But anyone who walked away after watching Wednesday night's Indiana All-Stars vs. the Juniors game would be lying if they said it looked like the result did not matter to the players. Sure, maybe some more than others. But the best players, and you can certainly put Junior All-Stars Luke Ertel (Mt. Vernon) and Dikembe Shaw (Crown Point) in that group, were battling to the finish in the Juniors' 117-114 victory.
There were 40 fouls called. One technical. Basically, the opposite of the NBA All-Star game.
'That was a competitive, physical game,' said All-Stars coach Marc Urban (Chesterton). 'The juniors and the seniors, I felt like both teams really competed. The juniors gave us as good of a look as they possibly could. It will give us something to watch and hopefully we'll play a little bit harder and have a little bit more fight and find a way to get a win down there at Kentucky.'
What else can you say about Luke Ertel? The Mt. Vernon guard scored 35 points (I received a message Thursday that the box score from last night, which had him with 36, was incorrect). But the Purdue recruit still broke the record for a Junior All-Star in the game vs. the seniors, which was previous held by Greg Oden and Eric Gordon. Pretty good company, huh?
Ertel went for 35 points on just 13 field-goal attempts. He was 5-for-7 from the 3-point line and connected on all 14 of his free-throw attempts. Ertel also had nine rebounds, four assists and two steals and had just three of the team's 19 turnovers despite handling the ball the bulk of the game. This was after his 36-point, 13-assist, nine-rebound game in the Junior All-Stars win over the Kentucky Juniors on Sunday at Charlestown.
I got a chuckle out of Crown Point's Shaw, who plays with Ertel with Indiana Elite, talking about how the point guard would go all-out even if he was 'going against first graders.' That pretty much sums it up. I don't think the effort is so much who he is playing against or bragging rights, necessarily. Ertel just loves to play. He is competitive and wants to win, regardless of the opponent.
I know a lot of people want to compare him to Braden Smith, which I completely understand with both being Purdue point guards from local high schools. Smith, the 2022 Mr. Basketball out of Westfield, was an incredible passer even early in high school and obviously could shoot the lights out. He was maybe a little more bouncy than the lefty Ertel, who is great using angles and seeing plays develop before the rest of us.
The common trait: They are both killer competitors. I'm not sure anyone can top Smith's ability to find every shred of motivation possible to get himself going. But Ertel is at least on the same branch of the family tree in that regard. I would guard against putting too much pressure on Ertel to be 'the next Smith.' Keep in mind Braden Smith is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, after all. But Purdue fans should be excited.
This is the non-Luke Ertel category, FYI.
∎ Dikembe Shaw, Crown Point: The 6-7 Shaw was outstanding in the Juniors' victory over the Indiana All-Stars, going for 24 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line. He took just nine shots. Shaw fouled out with about seven minutes left in the game and the Juniors down by seven. His recruitment will be interesting. He has offers from Indiana State, IU Indy, Miami (Ohio) and Toledo, but there are high-major programs like DePaul, Indiana, Northwestern and Purdue interested.
∎ Kai McGrew, Fishers: The 6-9 McGrew, who transferred from Lawrence North to Fishers for his senior year, is always making plays around the basket — on offense and defense. He had a big blocked shot of Tre Singleton in the final seconds on what could have been the go-ahead basket. He also scored the go-ahead basket on the previous possession on an alley-oop from Terrence Hayes Jr. of Gary 21st Century with an athletic play that he made look easier than it was. McGrew is more than a post player. He can step out and shoot (1-for-2 from 3) and makes free throws. McGrew finished with 11 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
∎ Brennan Miller, Lawrence North: The 6-9 Miller did most of his damage in the second half, finishing with 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting with seven rebounds and three assists. Miller was on the court during the finishing flurry, making a basket to bring the Junior All-Stars within one point in the final minute and making two clutch free throws to put his team up three.
∎ Justin Curry, Noblesville: The 6-3 Curry made a pair of 3s early in the game and finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two assists. He was 3-for-5 from the 3-point line for the night.
∎ Noah Smith, Plainfield: I thought the 6-8 Smith played really well and was a little surprised he was not out there a little more, though in these all-star games it can be tough to manage all the minutes. Smith finished 4-for-5 from the field, missing his only 3-point attempt, to put up eight points and three rebounds.
∎ Terrence Hayes Jr., Gary 21st Century: The 6-1 Hayes did not have numbers that blow you away (five points, four rebounds, three assists), but he was on the court down the stretch and making plays His alley-oop lob to McGrew for go-ahead bucket was a little risky, but it was on the mark and worked. Hayes makes things happen.
Fort Wayne native and former Purdue guard Rapheal Davis posted a line on social media Tuesday that seemed to pick up a bit of traction and made its way to my texts.
Davis wrote this on Twitter: 'Indiana High School Basketball has taken a step back.'
Davis, who works as an analyst for the Big Ten Network, played at Fort Wayne South Side and La Lumiere before going to Purdue out of the 2012 graduating class. I'm old enough to have watched him play in high school and, of course, at Purdue, where he was a team leader and outstanding defense player.
So, Davis has played at a high level and is certainly entitled to his opinion. That nine-word tweet is vague, though I take it to mean the talent level has fallen off. If that is his opinion, that is his opinion.
But I will say this: I don't think we can judge a class on the front end anymore. The scholarship offers from college programs for the 2012 class is an altogether different world from the 2025 class. The transfer portal has changed things dramatically. I look at a player like Junior All-Star Dikembe Shaw of Crown Point (6-7, can shoot from the perimeter) and wonder how many offers he would have if this was 6, 7, 10 years ago.
There is no way to know, of course, but my guess is he would have more than Indiana State, IU Indy, Miami (Ohio) and Toledo. I think Jeffersonville's Michael Cooper, a Wright State commit, is a high-major guard. These are anecdotal opinions but a better assessment of the 2025 class as a whole will come in four or five years, when we see how these players progress in college and, potentially, use the transfer portal to work their way up.
Saying 'the 2012 class had X number of high-major recruits compared to the 2025 class' is apples and oranges coming out of high school now. Check back in four or five years.