Several Area Hoopsters On Showcase List
The 11th annual IBCA/IHSAA Top 100 Showcase events have been set for July 18 and July 23 at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.
Staged by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association with support from the Indiana High School Athletic Association, the Top 100 Showcase events are designed to give exposure to top basketball prospects from across the state to colleges across the state and nation.
The 2013 Boys’ Showcase will be on Thursday, July 18. The 2013 Girls’ Showcase will be on Tuesday, July 23. Both events are NCAA certified. Both events begin at 2 p.m. and last until about 8 p.m.
Former Purdue player Brian Cardinal is scheduled to be the guest speaker for the Boys’ Showcase. He was a four-year standout for the Boilermakers, graduating in 2000, and followed with a 12-year career in the NBA. He played professionally with Detroit, Washington, Golden State, Memphis, Minnesota and Dallas.
Purdue women’s basketball assistant coach Christy Smith will be the guest speaker for the Girls’ Showcase. Smith is a former Indiana All-Star from Benton Central who starred at the University of Arkansas and led the Razorbacks to the 1998 Women’s Final Four. She was drafted in 1998 by the Charlotte Sting and played two seasons in the WNBA.
In 2012, coaches from 64 colleges attended the Showcase events. Among them were coaches from NCAA Division I programs such as Ball State, Butler, Chicago State, Detroit Mercy, Evansville, Illinois-Chicago, Indiana, Indiana State, IPFW, IUPUI, Lamar, Loyola (Ill.), Morehead State (Ky.), Northern Illinois, Northern Kentucky, Saint Louis, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Valparaiso, Western Illinois and Wright State.
Pete Smith, coach at Guerin Catholic, is the director of the Boys’ Showcase. Kathie Layden, coach at Northwestern, is director of the Girls’ Showcase. Numerous other IBCA-member coaches will assist the directors in running various stations and coaching the teams for each day.
Among the 200 total players listed that have verbally committed to participate are class of 2014 players Nikki Grose of Warsaw and Taylor Hatfield of Triton. Locally, a host of local players are also slated to be involved, including Brady Bechtel of Goshen, Michael Bush of South Bend Adams, Victoria Christlieb of Culver Academy, Mason Coverstone of Columbia City, Terry Davis, Jr. of South Bend Adams, Jordan Frantz of NorthWood, Jordan Geist of Penn, Mack Mercer of Plymouth, Morgan Olson of NorthWood, Taylor Parmley of Mishawaka, Kelsie Peterson of West Noble, Nate Ritchie of Northridge, Drew Schermerhorn of West Noble, Filip Serwatka of Concord, Kayla Shaffer of Culver Community, Hunter Stevens of Plymouth, Loren Vukovitz of John Glenn, Jonathan Wilkinson of NorthWood and Zach Zurcher of NorthWood. Coaches Al Rhodes of Penn and Gary Christlieb of Culver Academy will serve on the coaching staff.