By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – As Noblesville gears up to welcome an NBA G League team, the city got a sneak preview of who could be on the Mad Ants team last Saturday.
The Mad Ants hosted its annual free agent tryout that day at the Noblesville Boys and Girls Club. A total of 108 prospective basketball players participated in the tryout, with those players vying for a spot on the Mad Ants, who will play at the New Noblesville Events Center beginning with the 2025-26 season.
Hankins
The players were divided up among 12 teams, which played two games during the afternoon. Each game consisted of two 20-minute halves using mostly running clocks. Players came from all across the country, including local athletes from Butler University and IUPUI, as well as nearby high schools like Ben Davis, Lawrence Central and Covenant Christian.
“Indiana’s a basketball state,” said Mad Ants head coach Tom Hankins. “If you tell people you’re going to open the doors and give them a chance to try out to make some money playing basketball, a lot of people show up. The G League’s popularity has grown so much in the last few years, there’s a lot of people that want to be a part of it.”
In addition to the local players, other G League hopefuls came from across the country, ranging from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) to Pittsburgh State and North Carolina A&T.
“There’s guys from all over the country,” said Hankins. “I just watched a really good player from Louisiana.”
Hankins was speaking while games were going on across three courts. He said that “size and athleticism” were the number one priorities and noted that “the better ones will rise up” during the course of the afternoon.
An official announcement on those recommendations will not be made for another week or two. Mad Ants general manager Chris Taylor told the Reporter on Wednesday that’s because the talent level of those who tried out was very high.
Eslamirad
“A lot of notes and discussions on high-level talent is taking place,” said Taylor.
“We have coaches that we trust coaching every team,” said Hankins. “We’ll get a lot of input from 15 different people here that know what we’re looking for.”
The tryout was also a good opportunity for basketball fans, especially young ones, to check out the speed and intensity of G League basketball. There was no charge for spectators.
“It’s really exciting for the Boys & Girls Club to have the Mad Ants out here,” said Tony Eslamirad, the Club’s Community Center Director. “It’s really cool for the community. I think a lot of the kids here are excited that the Mad Ants are moving here and having some of these players trying out and potentially making the team.”
“Noblesville obviously loves their basketball,” said Hankins.
Players took part in brief practices before the games and also participated in shooting drills, another metric that allowed coaches to evaluate potential Mad Ants.
“The warm-up stuff, the practices that they had for a few minutes before they started playing games gives you a good feel on what their strengths are a little bit, especially their ability to shoot the ball,” said Hankins.