(2021) G Luke Brown to Ball State

[muttcs66 57]

I might try to go to that one. Have friends that go to Northwestern so they should be down.

I will be at Tuesdays game since my daughter cheers for Northwestern.

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[LockdownD 2,221]

4 hours ago, muttcs66 said:

I will be at Tuesdays game since my daughter cheers for Northwestern.

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Please share your observations with us. 

[Rico 2,978]

On 2/4/2019 at 8:40 AM, ray said:

I wrote the athletics director to try purchasing a couple tickets for the Blackford versus Muncie Burris basketball game on February 21.  It's a tiny gymnasium, so I wanted to try getting tickets prior to the game.  If I can't make it to this one, with it being about 100 paces from my workplace, then I'm apparently not going to make it to any.  Fingers crossed they sell me tickets...I worded it to the Burris director that I was only interested in that one game, but I'm sure home teams are used to this by now.

Good luck with the tickets.  I had to look up to see how big Burris' gym was.......1,500.  Wow.

[ray 1,560]

2 hours ago, Rico said:

Good luck with the tickets.  I had to look up to see how big Burris' gym was.......1,500.  Wow.

Thanks, Rico.  I grabbed two from the Athletics Director today.  The Burris AD said Blackford has averaged well over 2,000 fans to away games.  With it being senior night for Burris, parents are concerned they won't be able to purchase tickets.  With the pep band, cheerleading squads, and season ticket holders there are only 1,000 tickets for this game.  My brother and I now have two of them.  

Burris Laboratory School is affiliated with Ball State, so their basketball and volleyball teams play in Ball Gymnasium, which is the original gym of Ball State.  I run in the track there, so I know how tiny it is.  On a positive note, there's really no chance of getting a bad seat.

 

A side note:  Since the girls volleyball team was established at Muncie Burris in 1982, the Ball Gymnasium has hosted 13 Burris volleyball teams with undefeated seasons (they play 40 or more games a season, so that in itself is quite an accomplishment) and a handful of single loss seasons.   Perhaps even more impressive, the school owns 22 state championships (1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, and every single year from 1997 to 2010).  Needless to say, boys basketball hasn't been the school's primary focus.

[Rico 2,978]

19 minutes ago, ray said:

Thanks, Rico.  I grabbed two from the Athletics Director today.  The Burris AD said Blackford has averaged well over 2,000 fans to away games.  With it being senior night for Burris, parents are concerned they won't be able to purchase tickets.  With the pep band, cheerleading squads, and season ticket holders there are only 1,000 tickets for this game.  My brother and I now have two of them.  

Burris Laboratory School is affiliated with Ball State, so their basketball and volleyball teams play in Ball Gymnasium, which is the original gym of Ball State.  I run in the track there, so I know how tiny it is.  On a positive note, there's really no chance of getting a bad seat.

 

A side note:  Since the girls volleyball team was established at Muncie Burris in 1982, the Ball Gymnasium has hosted 13 Burris volleyball teams with undefeated seasons (they play 40 or more games a season, so that in itself is quite an accomplishment) and a handful of single loss seasons.   Perhaps even more impressive, the school owns 22 state championships (1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, and every single year from 1997 to 2010).  Needless to say, boys basketball hasn't been the school's primary focus.

Thanks for the info ray.  Glad you got your tickets.  Enjoy yourself and I want a very detailed report of what you see!  LOL

[muttcs66 57]

Northwestern leads 50-35 at half. I believe I have Parker for NW with about 25 and Brown with 10. Northwestern double teaming Brown as soon as he touches the ball and being physical. Good court vision and great passer. Has stayed in front of Parker on defense better than I expected.

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[Class of '66 Old Fart 83,509]

Northwestern beats Blackford 90 - 79.  Brown wth 39 pts. and 9 assists and was shut out in the 1st Q per Trevor Andershock.  Blackford Athletics only credited him with 34 pts.  Looking forward to a scouting report from Ray our btb man in the stands.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 83,509]

Feel good story from Doyel on Luke Brown

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2019/02/06/blackford-phenom-luke-brown-leads-state-scoring-lifts-community-gregg-doyel-indiana-basketball/2779212002/

[Baltimore Hoosier 986]

Man.. The more I read, the more I feel like Leal and Brown are 'must get's' for this program. Winning attitudes, blue collar mentality, and legit shooting. YES PLEASE.

[TheWatShot 13,588]

Brown is going to get his 1,000th point at home against Oak Hill this Friday night. I think he's 11 points away.

[Rico 2,978]

22 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

Brown is going to get his 1,000th point at home against Oak Hill this Friday night. I think he's 11 points away.

Quite an accomplishment for a sophomore...no matter what high school you play at.

[muttcs66 57]

Sorry for being a little late for the second half. Brown defended Parker all second half and did force a couple turnovers against him. He had decent lateral quickness and was able to stay in front of Parker, but did get beat to the basket a few times. Northwestern did less double teaming in the 3rd period and Brown started nailing his 3's at least one from NBA range. NW then tried trapping him in the corners at half court but his passing was spot on. The last half of the 4th period NW put Parker on him and Brown was able to drive a couple times to the basket but mainly set some screens at the top and drill the three when they would go under the screen. Blackford got it within 6 with about a 1:30 left then started fouling and NW hit their free throws. Couldn't really tell on his height as I was sitting all the way at the top, but looked about the right with Parker which I know he's a legit 6'1. Definitely needs to put on some muscle, but he's a sophomore and has some time. Northwestern just has a deep team this year that gets physical on defense and has three other players that can hit the three and opens up the floor.

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[Crimson and Cream 5,765]

Great game to be at, very nice atmosphere and they packed the place as I told my buddy beforehand it likely would be. Northwestern only has one loss on the season and you could see why. Taysom Parker is quite the show himself. Absolutely dominated the first quarter. For whatever reason Blackford came out playing some kind of oddball zone where the 3 point line isn't guarded and Parker and the rest of the Tigers torched them to jump out to a huge lead. Took Blackford way too long to adjust.

Northwestern was also doubling and trapping Luke Brown a lot in the first quarter, and while he didn't score he had great ball control and made some really nice finds. For a sophomore the kid handles pressure extremely well and his vision is way ahead of his age. You could tell in the 2nd half he was told to score the ball, and boy did he ever. Offensively he's a ton of fun to watch. Beautiful stroke, good handles. And defensively in the 2nd half Blackford switched to a man-to-man and Brown did a very nice job on Parker which was a lot of the reason they made it a game near the end. Very impressed with both star players and would love to see them playing with and against better competition but the head to head matchup was a real treat to watch. 

Hard to beat Indiana HS basketball folks.

[Rico 2,978]

Alright, I had to go look at Northwestern's schedule......they got beat by Southwood.  That has to be a typo?

[ViaSwiss 264]

Brown has stated that IU is his dream school. Wonder if he would accept a walk-on. 

[TheWatShot 13,588]

20 minutes ago, Rico said:

Alright, I had to go look at Northwestern's schedule......they got beat by Southwood.  That has to be a typo?

Nope. Northwestern has played a pretty weak schedule. They're a 3A school that doesn't play a single 4A school. You don't see that too often. The AP had them #1 in 3A at the time, but Sagarin had them #16.

 

Thinking more about Brown...my thoughts originally were that he would struggle to shoot/defend at a Big Ten level. But then I thought of Jordan Hulls, who was listed at 6-0 and looked like he'd never been in a weightroom before when he first arrived at IU. If Hulls could succeed here, why not Brown? (yes, I know their competition levels were much different)

[MoyeNeeded 3,073]

1 hour ago, ViaSwiss said:

Brown has stated that IU is his dream school. Wonder if he would accept a walk-on. 

Lol! Why a walk-on? By the time '21 is here, he will be one of the studs of the class. Besides, if he can maintain his scoring and passing, who is looking at his defensive stats? This kid WILL be the talk of the state, and there will be many of state folk that will expect to see an IU offer. I will expect one. Don't think we can sleep any longer on this one. Doesn't have to be an offer, just open the lines of dialogue between the Browns and the staff.

[Alford Bailey 12,338]

Dont want to see Painter get him.

[Bigred3588 1,535]

5 hours ago, TheWatShot said:

Nope. Northwestern has played a pretty weak schedule. They're a 3A school that doesn't play a single 4A school. You don't see that too often. The AP had them #1 in 3A at the time, but Sagarin had them #16.

 

Thinking more about Brown...my thoughts originally were that he would struggle to shoot/defend at a Big Ten level. But then I thought of Jordan Hulls, who was listed at 6-0 and looked like he'd never been in a weightroom before when he first arrived at IU. If Hulls could succeed here, why not Brown? (yes, I know their competition levels were much different)

I was at IU for Hulls' last couple years in HS and his first 3 years in college; so I was able to see him live quite a bit at both levels. Outside of the shooting, I don't see much comparison between the two. Brown's passing game is already on a different level, and he'll only get better because a lot of it is still just natural ability. Imagine what he'll do when he's surrounded by talent and knows where they'll be before they get there.

As far as the shooting, Hulls was probably more efficient when I saw him as an upperclassman at South but Brown is definitely the better scorer. To be fair, Hulls was arguably the second best 3 point shooter on that team and also had a lot of talent around him. I believe the one kid (Dee Davis?) went to Xavier and one went to Butler. The other kid that was a hell of a shooter went to a small D1 or D2 school. However, I still don't think Hulls had the ability to put up the kind of numbers that Brown manages.

Their defensive abilities aren't even close, IMO. Brown isn't an elite athlete but his lateral quickness is good enough to stay in front of most guards. He definitely needs to put on some muscle but he'll be a capable defender. Hulls simply wasn't. I'll put it this way: I played PG but was basically a SG stuck in a PG's body. If you asked me whether I'd prefer to go up against an 18 year old hulls or a 16 year old Brown, it would've been Hulls 10 times out of 10. 

[Alford Bailey 12,338]

40 minutes ago, Bigred3588 said:

I was at IU for Hulls' last couple years in HS and his first 3 years in college; so I was able to see him live quite a bit at both levels. Outside of the shooting, I don't see much comparison between the two. Brown's passing game is already on a different level, and he'll only get better because a lot of it is still just natural ability. Imagine what he'll do when he's surrounded by talent and knows where they'll be before they get there.

As far as the shooting, Hulls was probably more efficient when I saw him as an upperclassman at South but Brown is definitely the better scorer. To be fair, Hulls was arguably the second best 3 point shooter on that team and also had a lot of talent around him. I believe the one kid (Dee Davis?) went to Xavier and one went to Butler. The other kid that was a hell of a shooter went to a small D1 or D2 school. However, I still don't think Hulls had the ability to put up the kind of numbers that Brown manages.

Their defensive abilities aren't even close, IMO. Brown isn't an elite athlete but his lateral quickness is good enough to stay in front of most guards. He definitely needs to put on some muscle but he'll be a capable defender. Hulls simply wasn't. I'll put it this way: I played PG but was basically a SG stuck in a PG's body. If you asked me whether I'd prefer to go up against an 18 year old hulls or a 16 year old Brown, it would've been Hulls 10 times out of 10. 

If this is the case the D1 offers will start rolling in.