The REPORTER
Three Hamilton County boys are among the 13 players that have been selected for the 2024 IndyStar Indiana Boys’ All-Stars, All-Stars game director Mike Broughton announced Thursday.
Those chosen to the team will play three games in June — one exhibition game against the Indiana Junior All-Stars as well as home-and-home contests against the Kentucky All-Stars.
Trey Buchanan of Westfield, Aaron Fine of Noblesville and Keenan Garner of Fishers were all selected to the team. Isaac Andrews of Wapahani, Jack Benter of Brownstown Central, Flory Bidunga of Kokomo, Micah Davis of Franklin Community, Evan Haywood of Brebeuf Jesuit, Jack Miller of Scottsburg, Tyler Parrish of Chesterton, Karson Rogers of Kokomo, Tucker Tornatta of Evansville Memorial and K.J. Windham of Ben Davis.
The 2024 IndyStar Indiana Mr. Basketball will come from among the above players and be announced later.
The ’24 boys’ All-Stars have four players who have been a part of state championship teams (Benter, 2024 2A; Garner, 2024 4A; Miller, 2024 3A; and Windham, 2023 4A) as well as five players who have been a part of state runner-up squads (Andrews, 2024 2A; Bidunga, 2023 4A; Parrish, 2022 4A; Rogers, 2023 4A; and Windham, 2024 4A). The squad also features two players who were named IBCA first-team Academic All-State (Andrews and Miller) and one player who was selected IBCA honorable mention Academic All-State (Buchanan). In addition, Andrews was honored as the 2024 IHSAA Trester Award winner for Class 2A.
John Peckinpaugh of Kokomo has been named head coach of the 2024 boys’ All-Stars. He will be assisted by Brandon Hoffman of Silver Creek and Josh Thompson of Barr-Reeve.
Peckinpaugh is 69-17 in three seasons at Kokomo and 91-41 in five seasons as a high school head coach, including two seasons at Noblesville. He also had a 63-61 mark in four seasons as a college head coach at Indiana Tech and Wheeling Jesuit in West Virginia. Hoffman is 239-108 in 14 seasons at Silver Creek, including Class 3A state titles in 2019 and 2021. Thompson is 134-29 in six seasons at Barr-Reeve, including the 2021 Class A state crown. He is 244-185 in 17 seasons overall with previous stops at Springs Valley, Wood Memorial and Vincennes Lincoln.
The Junior-Senior exhibition game is set for June 5 at Kokomo. The first game against Kentucky will be June 7 at Lexington Catholic High School. The final game against Kentucky will be June 8 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
All three dates will be doubleheaders with the IndyStar Indiana girls’ All-Stars, whose roster was announced March 11. The roster for the Indiana girls’ Junior All-Stars was announced March 4. The roster for the Indiana boys’ Junior All-Stars was announced March 25.
The Indiana Junior All-Stars will play two girl-boy doubleheaders this year — June 2 against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars at Scottsburg and June 7 against the Indiana seniors at Kokomo.
The second IndyStar Indiana All-Star “Futures Games” doubleheader will be June 3 at Hamilton Southeastern. The Futures Games will be a girls-boys doubleheader with Indiana-only squads of sophomores and freshmen in a North vs. South format. The girls’ Futures Games rosters were announced March 29. The boys’ Futures Games rosters will be announced later.
The Indiana All-Stars program was founded in 1939 when the Indiana Boys All-Stars played the state champion Frankfort Hot Dogs. The series with Kentucky began in 1940, and the girls’ portion of the All-Stars was added in 1976. The Junior All-Stars, boys and girls, were added in 1996. The All-Star senior girls have played Kentucky every year since 1976, except 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The All-Star senior boys have played Kentucky in all but three years since 1940 — 1943 (World War II), 1944 (World War II) and 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic). The Futures Games doubleheader was added in 2023.
The Indiana Senior boys lead 104-45 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 41-11 in games against the Indiana Junior boys. The Indiana Junior boys lead 7-5 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior girls lead 53-41 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior girls lead 41-11 in games against the Indiana Junior girls. The Indiana Junior girls lead 11-1 in their series with Kentucky. In the inaugural Futures Games, the South boys prevailed 100-96 and the North girls won 73-63.
The Indiana portion of the All-Star Games is organized and produced by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. The Indianapolis Star, with its IndyStar brand, is a title sponsor. Hoosier Shooting Academy is a presenting partner of All-Star Week, and Energy Systems Group is a presented partner of the June 8 All-Star doubleheader at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The IndyStar Indiana All-Star Team is selected through a balloting process of coaches and media overseen by game organizers from the IBCA. The top vote getter will be named Mr. Basketball, and the remainder of the team is finalized by Broughton after observing numerous games and events throughout the season, conferring with coaches, school officials and media across the state. Broughton also reviews votes submitted by coaches and media who each could recommend up to 10 players.