Indiana Elite-Team Indiana defeated the Eric Gordon Central Stars for the gold championship at the IndyBall.com tournament over the weekend. Here are news, notes, and evaluations on 17 players from the 2015 class and 1 from the 2016 class named Eron Gordon.

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Hyron Edwards 5’11” PG East Chicago Central- Edwards had a really nice tournament for Indiana Elite on their way to the title. He is a quick guard who finishes well around the rim. He has definitely grown since I saw him in late December. Edwards also knocked down a couple of outside shots in the title game which is usually his biggest weakness. His form is looking better, but still needs to improve before he will be a consistent outside shooter. Hyron listed early interest from Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Xavier, and Northwestern.

Brandon Hardesty 6’5” F Franklin- Hardesty had a sub-par weekend. He struggled mightily against pressure in the Spiece Indy Heat game. He was having a tough time even passing against Indy Heat and didn’t do much offensively the whole game. He showed a bit of a poor attitude while getting taken out of games as well. He’s not a great athlete, but he has a nice skill set for his age.

Michael Benkert 6’4” SF Center Grove- Benkert dominated for most of the weekend, but his shot was off during the championship game. He is really well built for a current freshman and is a good athlete to go with his strength. His shooting mechanics are a little weird, but if he can shoot consistently well from the outside, he will be a great prospect.

Ryan Welage 6’7” C Greensburg- Welage looked really good against the size of Spiece Indy Heat. He has a nice touch around the basket and has a couple of post moves as well. Welage also put the ball on the floor a little bit and handled it well. Strength is an issue as he is extremely thin right now and it looks like he might get another couple of inches. So, it might be awhile before he is able to put on muscle.

Trevor Waite 6’2” SF Tri-West- I hear that Waite had 25 points in Indiana Elite-Diesel’s lose to Indiana Elite-Blaze. Waite is a really good shooter at this point, but expect him to grow a lot more. His brother is Tyler is 6-7 and plays at Maryville plus his father is in the 6-7 range as well.

Brennan Gillis 6’6” PF Ben Davis- Gillis is extremely tough when he is playing hard, but at times he will go into cruise control. When he gets after it, he looks like a man among boys on the court. His jump shot has improved astronomically since this time last year. I don’t have much doubt that if he keeps his head on straight that he will end up a mid-major plus type of prospect at the small forward position.

Eron Gordon 6’2” SG North Central (2016)- The flat out most dominant player in the tournament was 8^th grader Eron Gordon. I don’t want to start hyping the youngest Gordon but his play deserves praise. His combination of explosiveness, strength, and aggression made him unstoppable in every single game. He was consistently great going to the basket and finishing each game. His jump shot is more of a set-shot right now, but his father says that it is on the same progression that Eric’s was at this age. Eron is certainly a special talent, but to say he is going to be better than Eric is a bit premature. As I was typing this, Indiana offered Eron so the hype will explode from here.

Gary Bonds 6’7” PF Scecina- Bonds played extremely well against EG2015. His length and athleticism is what catches people’s attention, but he also has a really nice touch around the basket. Bonds is extremely thin right now and gets pushed away from the basket pretty easily. He has high-major potential with all the tools that he possesses.

K.J. Walton 6’2” SG Brownsburg- Walton struggled in Spiece Indy Heat’s loss to Eric Gordon Central Stars. In order to be a high-major prospect, he is going to need to be a point guard because he is likely done growing at 6-1 or possibly 6-2. He has a quick first step and some explosiveness to his game, but he isn’t a guy that is finishing above the rim. My biggest concern is his attitude. He has been a great player through the middle school ranks and I think it has affected his work ethic and attitude to the point that it has hurt his improvement.

Grant Weatherford 6’0” PG Hamilton Heights- The thing that stands out about Weatherford is his toughness and his athleticism. He handles the ball well and is smart with it plus he is a decent shooter as well. Definitely one to keep an eye on for down the road.

Aaron Banks 6’4” SF North Central- Banks passes the eye test at 6-3 or 6-4 and well built especially for a freshman. I haven’t seen him play much, but his shooting mechanics definitely need to be worked with and improved.

Chris Nunn 5’10” PG Liberty Christian- Nunn had a pretty good weekend from what I saw. He is a steady, efficient point guard. He has a nice looking outside shot and is pretty quick off the dribble as well. His passing game could improve especially to the post, but that is true with any player.

Aaron Thomas 6’6” PF Avon- Thomas is very similar to Gary Bonds, but doesn’t have the touch that Bonds does. Thomas still is good around the basket so he isn’t completely raw, but his skill set is very limited at this point. Thomas has great length just like Bonds. D1’s need to track his progress.

Darrian Ringo 5’10” PG Brownsburg- Ringo is extremely quick and causes havoc on the defensive end. His offensive game needs a lot of work though. He has a set-set from the outside that takes a long time to get off.

Sean McGee 5’11” PG Fort Wayne North- I didn’t see a lot of Indiana Elite-Team Indiana, but it seemed like McGee had a tough time finding his niche with the group. They have a bunch of point guards on the team like Hyron Edwards, Malik Bennett, Grant Weatherford so it is tough for any of them to get a bunch of playing time.

Liam Duncan 6’8” C Carmel- Duncan was on the junior varsity for the 4A state champions plus a few minutes of varsity time this season. He moves pretty well for a player his size and at his age. He’s not bad laterally and he runs the floor well. He’s also not afraid to use his body and to be physical which is rare for a young big. He has a chance to be pretty good.

Harris Brown 5’10” PG Northwest- Brown is a quick, strong guard. He played well in the 15U quarterfinals against Indiana Elite-Diesel with a couple big plays down the stretch. The combination of his quickness and shooting ability makes him a tough defend. He needs to take care of the ball a little bit better though.

Ryan Cline 6’1” CG Carmel- Cline is a really nice player, who can stretch defenses with his shooting ability. He should grow a couple more inches and that would help his college potential because he likely will never be quick enough to defend point guards in college. He has a chance to be really good though. He can handle the ball, ok quickness, but smart and crafty with the ball. His father, Mike Cline, played at Ohio State. {/iACL}

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