CARMEL – Cooper Zachary played like a high-major guard through the weekend at the Charlie Hughes Showcase, helping Fishers finish with a 4-0 record on Saturday with wins over Crown Point (83-52) and in overtime over Homestead (69-66).
Is he a high-major guard? Time will tell. But the 5-foot-10 Zachary is perfectly fine proving himself like he has his whole life.
“Obviously the high-major is flashy and stuff like that,” he said. “But for my path and my development, I think going the mid-major route is the path for me just because a lot of guys are going to go there and try to ball out, but if they don’t get what they really want they are going to transfer down. I want to be the other way. I want to do really well my freshman and sophomore year and (have the chance to) transfer up. I’ve already kind of set my mind on that.”
Zachary certainly helped his chances to solidify a spot on someone’s roster with his performance on Friday and Saturday. After going for 32 points and 27 points with a combined 16 3-pointers on Friday in blowout wins over Penn and Silver Creek, Zachary had 26 points in the win over Crown Point and 18 against Homestead on Saturday.
“It’s my last Charlie Hughes and last go-round for Fishers June basketball,” he said. “I wanted to come out here and do as good as I can. Ultimately, I don’t really care about scoring. I just wanted to go 4-0.”
Zachary said he is hearing from Ball State, Evansville, Florida Gulf Coast, Holy Cross, Penn, Purdue Fort Wayne, Kent State, Toledo and Cal Baptist the most among the schools that have offered. Evansville offered on Friday.
“The (transfer) portal and then the five-year rule kind of hurts us 2027s,” Zachary said, referring to the 5-in-5 eligibility rule passed by the NCAA. “But you have to adapt. It’s college basketball and it’s not going to change. I’m trying to figure out a spot where I’m going to play early, have a good role and a coach that is going to be on me but also love me at the end of the day. I’m trying to figure all that out because you can’t really go off the roster, they have now because it may be a whole new team.”
Zachary is visiting Kent State on Monday for an unofficial and has upcoming plans to visit Penn, Cal Baptist, Holy Cross, Florida Gulf Coast and Ball State.
The weekend 4-0 performance against top competition was impressive for Fishers, which had to dig out of a double-digit hole to force Homestead into overtime, then win it on a 3-pointer from Levi Walker.
“Homestead could be a semistate matchup,” Zachary said. “It’s a great test to see how we can play. We’re playing defense and we’re hitting shots. If we keep doing that, we should be really good this year.”
Zachary’s dad, Danny Zachary, was an Indiana All-Star at Anderson Highland in 1982. His uncle, Randy Zachary, was an Indiana All-Star in 1993, before going on to a four-year career at Ball State. Cooper said he is “locked in” to goals of being and Indiana All-Star and hopefully leading his team to a state championship, which he helped the Tigers accomplish as a freshman. Miles Wayer, the new coach at Fishers, was an assistant for Garrett Winegar on that staff.
“Coach Wayer is my boy,” Zachary said. “I’ve known him forever. And these are my guys. These are the guys I’m going to invite to my wedding one day. I love these dudes. They are like my brothers. We have unfinished business from my sophomore year. I hate that we lost by one point to Jeffersonville in overtime and the loss last year to Carmel in the sectional still hurts. But I think we have the right pieces around us and right support system to really get it done this year.”
Read more: Standouts from Day 1 of the Charlie Hughes Showcase
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Cooper Zachary one of stars of Charlie Hughes Showcase. Where will Fishers’ guard land?
Reporting by Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
