Menu
Neese has fun on cold night
Jr. All-Stars have tough time against seniors
BLOOMINGTON -- Cooper Neese has played in a lot of basketball games in his life, but probably not many in which his team was dominated as badly as it was on Tuesday.
Neese was a member of the Indiana Junior All-Stars, a hand-picked team designed to play two exhibition contests against the Indiana All-Stars as preparation for this weekend's two-game series against Kentucky.
Six players are considered the "core" group of the bunch and play in each of the two exhibitions. Neese was one of six players from the South selected to play in the first exhibition on Tuesday; six other northern Indiana players combined with the "core" group and played on Thursday night against the All-Stars at Lebanon.
The All-Stars got out to a 32-8 lead, and led by as many as 33 points in the first half, on their way to a 118-96 romp. The All-Stars led 69-42 at the half.
"We knew we could have beaten them," Neese said afterward. "We had a rough start, and that kind of killed our momentum.
"We didn't play any defense, and that killed us," he added. "We beat them in the second half [56-55]."
Neese did not shine statistically, missing all six of his field goal attempts (four from 3-point range) and collecting one rebound, one assist and two steals in 12 minutes of action.
"I didn't play too well and I didn't shoot too well," the Butler recruit said. "I just tried to get up and down the court and get some shots up, and take what the defense was giving us. It was fun."
This year's junior class is considered one of the best in recent memory, as the lineup was loaded with four stars all ranked in the top 42 players in the nation by ESPN:
* Kris Wilkes, a 6-7 small forward from Indianapolis North Central (No. 11);
* Jaren Jackson, a 6-10 center from Park Tudor (No. 25);
* Paul Scruggs, a 6-3 wing player from Southport (No. 33); and
* Malik Williams, a 6-11 frontcourter from Fort Wayne Snider (No. 42).
Yet, as talented as the junior squad is, it was no match for the senior All-Star team.
"If you look at them, physique-wise, every one of them was bigger than us physically," Neese said. "They've all had another year to play, and they're just so quick too.
"We look forward to doing to the Junior All-Stars next year what they did to us."
Neese was surprised by the quality of play in the game, which produced a total of 214 points.
"I thought what this was going to be was the best of the best playing one-on-one against each other," Neese said. "But there was a lot more teamwork than most people would think.
"They scored about 120 points, but didn't have any one player with 20," Neese added. "They are very balanced and they are a very good team."
Wilkes had 19 points to lead the Junior All-Stars, while Scruggs and Sasha Stefanovic of Crown Point added 15 each.
The senior All-Stars were led by Eugene German of Gary 21st Century (Northern Illinois) with 19, the best among six players in double figures. C.J. Walker of Indianapolis Tech (Florida State) added 17, while Mr. Basketball Kyle Guy of Lawrence Central (Virginia) and Joey Brunk of Southport (Butler) each had 16, Kyle Mallers of Carroll (Ball State) added 13 and Tremell Murphy of Griffith (Florida SouthWestern) added 10.
Neese was glad to be able to play against the 6-11 Brunk, but will like him better in two years when they are teammates with the Bulldogs.
"He's gonna be crazy at Butler," Neese said of the versatile Brunk, who possesses unstoppable post moves and can also consistently hit 3-pointers. "He's going to be real good, and he's going to be so helpful [to my game].
"Normally at open gyms [at Butler] I play against him, but it's going to be great to get to play with him."
Since the completion of the Cloverdale school season, in which the Clovers won a sectional championship before being eliminated in the regional by Northeastern, Neese has been playing with Wilkes and Scruggs on one of the state's top traveling teams -- the UA Indy Hoosiers.
Neese notes that the team got off to a slow start, but a recent trip to Los Angeles showed much improvement.
"We haven't been playing too bad," he said. "We just got back from LA and went 4-0. We hadn't been playing too well before that (.500 record), and we're not used to that. It was good to have a great weekend there."
Neese had to miss one weekend of action with the Indy Hoosiers due to tendinitis flaring up in his knee, but after a short rest he's good to go again.
"The constant motion and jumping up and down so much gets to you a little bit," he said. "I'm perfectly healthy now."
Neese admits that in previous spring and summer seasons, whether on a travel team or a school team, there was pressure to perform well enough to attract the attention of college recruiters.
Now that he is committed to Butler, he plays more freely with much less pressure.
"It's been a lot easier," he said. "I still go out to show what I can do, but I already have a place to go and it's nice to have that."
Neese currently stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 185 pounds. His muscle definition is formidable against people his own age, but games like Tuesday's have shown him there is more work to be done.
Coach Patrick Rady has also made improvements to the team's schedule, adding games against big-time opponents in "shootout" competitions at Washington, Ill., Southport and New Castle.
"I love it," Neese said. "We'll be playing against some bigger competition, and seeing how we match up with them. It will be really interesting. It will be really good for us, and we will be a different team than we've had the last 20-25 years."
Neese would like to add 10 more pounds to his frame and work on his general physical skills.
"I still want to be more athletic," he said. "I want to get my body right and my mind right.
"My goal is to put on more weight, and work about getting up to the rim more often," Neese added. "We definitely want to win a state championship."