Zionsville High School junior Logan Imes committed to Penn State today. He joins his Indiana Elite teammate Braeden Shrewsberry in the Nittany Lion 2023 recruiting class.
Penn State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and Butler were mainstays in Imes' recruitment. All four schools started pushing hard for Imes last spring, but Penn State was always at the front of the pack with his connection to Micah Shrewsberry through Braeden. Likewise, Indiana and Purdue took looks but never jumped into his recruitment with both feet.
"I'm close with that staff," Imes said of Penn State in December. "I've known Coach Shrewsberry. I mean, me and Braeden are good friends after playing AAU together the last two, three years."
Mich Shrewsberry coached at Purdue and Butler, along with his time as an assistant coach for Brad Stevens and Boston Celtics. Plus, he played high school basketball at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis then Hanover College. Braeden played two seasons at West Lafayette High School when Micah was an assistant for Purdue. Now, Braeden attends State College Area High School.
Imes is a tall point guard at 6'3"/6'4", but he still gets into the paint easily. His slashing and passing are two of his strengths. For Zionsville, Imes is a scorer - 17.8 points per game for a team that scored 53.5. With Indiana Elite, he is more of a playmaker that finds his buckets here and there. Imes will defend multiple positions at the Big Ten level thanks to his size, athleticism, and wiry strength.
Outside shooting is the area that needs to improve the most. Imes started hot from three-point range this high school season but shot 32 percent on 75 three-point attempts. It makes him a threat at the high school level, but the increased three-point distance and speed of the game will make that difficult to replicate early in his college career unless he improves. That improvement is likely as his mechanics look solid, and Imes shot 75 percent from the foul line this high school season. He should make significant steps in this area as his career develops.
Imes talked about increased confidence earlier in the season, leading to better results in his all-around game.
"I'm just being more confident in myself on the offensive end," Imes said of the difference between his sophomore and junior years. "I'm taking shots I know I can make, and I'm not taking a shot that I don't have trust in. I'm still the same player that will attack and find guys to make plays happen, but I'm just playing more confident within myself."
With Imes and Shrewsberry on board, Penn State has a solid foundation in the 2023 class. Both players have size, can make plays, and hit shots. That will allow Penn State to fill in players around those two without worrying about the backcourt.
Imes will play with Indiana Elite 2023 once again this spring and summer.