The time between the end of your senior year of high school basketball and the sendoff to college can be a weird transition period.
There are no more AAU games. No more spring workouts to prepare for the following season. No more after school conditioning.
“I had a little stretch there,” Plainfield senior Noah Smith said, “where I took a little break after the season.”
Soon enough – in a little more than a month – the 6-8 Smith will be off to DePaul to play for coach Chris Holtmann and the Blue Demons. But there are a few opportunities for get back to playing basketball, including at the Prep Ball Stars Midwest Challenge on Saturday at Pike High School.
Smith will play with Team Indiana in the five-game event, which is in its eighth year. There are four boys’ games, starting with Team Michigan vs. Team Wisconsin at 11:30 a.m., followed by Team Indiana vs. Team Illinois at 1 p.m. The girls’ game between Indiana and Illinois will be at 2:30 p.m., followed by the boys’ consolation game at 4 p.m. and the championship at 5:30 p.m.
General admission tickets are $15 for the entire day. There is also a VIP reserved option for $50 with a $7 concession voucher included.
“We want the community to come out,” said event founder and organizer Anthony Leach. “We want eyeballs on the event because it’s a good event. I know it’s my event, but it’s really the community’s event.”
Several Indiana All-Stars are part of the Team Indiana roster, including Smith, along with players like Cathedral’s Keaton Aldridge Jr., Crispus Attucks’ DeZhon Hall, Westfield’s Drew Haffner and Crown Point’s Mason Darrell.
“The thing about this year is that there were probably 15 to 18 players I thought could have made it,” Leach said of the All-Star team. “DeZhon Hall with a 27-point average and his efficiency is going to make it most years. Same with Keaton Aldridge, Drew Haffner and Mason Darrell. They are every bit as good as the kids chosen … it’s just hard to pick 12.”
In the time since ending his high school basketball career at Cathedral with a Class 3A state championship, Aldridge said he has been able to reflect on his experience before leaving for Detroit Mercy in a few weeks.
“Basketball has been my everything since I was 3 years old,” he said. “I wouldn’t know what to do without basketball. When I’m bored, I watch it. I play it. It’s been my world. I’m blessed by God to have the gift to be able to play basketball.”
He will get a couple more games on Saturday before getting started on his college career. As part of the weekend, Leach said the players from all of the teams will be attending a panel discussion on Friday night at Pike where topics will be managing name, image and likeness at the college level, financial management and transfer portal strategy.
“We are living in a time where we are giving 18, 19 and 20 year old kids a million dollars,” Leach said. “What are they going to do with it? They need to know now more than ever how to manage their money and understand the opportunities that are ahead of them. Go somewhere where your game is going to talk. That’s the strategy now. There are different ways to do it.”
Shawn Teague, a longtime coach and behind-the-scenes mentor, will be honored at the event with a “Difference Makers” award.
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: Five-game Prep Ball Stars Midwest Challenge set for Saturday at Pike
Reporting by Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
