Freshman Max Kurkowski has attracted attention from Indiana, Butler, New Mexico and Xavier. He will visit Indiana Wednesday when they take on Nebraska. Here is an early look at Kurkowski’s game.

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Max Kurkowski is currently leading Plainfield in scoring with 9 points per game. He’s shooting 45% from beyond the arc.  His shooting ability is his greatest strength. He is primarily a spot-up “catch and shoot” type of player. It is not a classic shooting motion, but his release is very consistent. Kurkowski’s overall shot consistency is high level. It is rare for a high school player to be so consistent with his mechanics let alone a high school freshman.

Kurkowski is not close to being physically mature yet. He is 6-4 and the doctors project him to be in the 6-7 range. He is very thin right now. Kurkowski’s body type is similar to Everett and Stanley Duncan of Evansville Harrison. Kurkowski is expected to grow more than the Duncan, but just in body type right now, they are similar. His lanky frame causes some problems against stronger opponents right now.  Improved strength would definitely help him on the defensive end and while handling the ball.

Assuming he gets to 6-6+ as it seems he will, athleticism will likely determine what level Max Kurkowski plays in college. He will likely be a small forward. Defending on the perimeter at the D1 level is no easy task. Kurkowski’s biggest weakness at the moment is lateral quickness. Some of that is that he lacks muscle to be extremely explosive. That will improve a little bit when he adds strength over the next few years. Quickness is one of the most difficult things in basketball to develop. Despite not having exceptional quickness Kurkowski is an above average leaper for how thin he is. Weight training should make him into a very good leaper down the road.

Kurkowski is a decent ball-handler, but he has room to improve. At this point he doesn’t have any dribble moves to break down the defense. When he is going to the basket it will be a straight-line drive. He does have a solid floater in his repertoire to finish drives.

It is early to be projecting high school freshmen for the college level since their high school career just started. Projecting Kurkowski for college is made even more difficult because he is not physically mature yet like an Eron Gordon or Jalen Coleman last year. Barring any major setbacks it looks like Max Kurkowski should end up as a solid D1 prospect with a ceiling closer to mid-major than high-major.

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