Four Hamilton County basketball players are among the 15 seniors and 15 underclass boys players that have earned IBCA/Franciscan Health “Supreme 15” All-State honors for 2021-22, it was announced Thursday.
The IBCA also named Large School All-State teams (15 seniors, 15 underclass) and Small School All-State teams (15 seniors, 15 underclass).
The “Supreme 15” is the top honor awarded, and players were voted to that group without regard to school size. The Large School and Small School all-state teams are secondary accolades — the Large School group including players from Class 3A and Class 4A schools and the Small School group including players from Class A and Class 2A schools. Players who make the Supreme 15 are not considered for Large School or Small School honors.
In addition, 90 more seniors and 90 more underclass players were selected honorable mention all-state. The honorable mention laurels are awarded without regard to school size.
Braden Smith of Westfield and Peter Suder of Carmel were voted to the 2022 IBCA/Franciscan Health Supreme 15 Senior boys team. The other players on the team are, listed alphabetically: Tayshawn Comer of Cathedral, Ryan Conwell of Pike, Tae Davis of Warren Central, Connor Essegian of Central Noble, Travis Grayson of Chesterton, C.J. Gunn of Lawrence North, Jalen Jackson of Fort Wayne Northrop, Armon Jarrard of Mt. Vernon (Fortville), Karson Jenkins of Fort Wayne Snider, Randy Kelley of Sullivan, Fletcher Loyer of Homestead, Billy Smith of Brebeuf Jesuit and Tommy Snyder of South Bend Adams.
Jalen Haralson of Fishers and Sam Orme of Carmel were voted to the 2022 IBCA/Franciscan Health Supreme 15 Underclass boys’ team. The other players on the team are: Jack Benter of Brownstown Central, Flory Bidunga of Kokomo, Xavier Booker of Cathedral, Joey Brown of North Central, Markus Burton of Penn, Ahmere Carson of Anderson, Zane Doughty of Ben Davis, Joey Hart of Linton-Stockton, Logan Imes of Zionsville, Mason Jones of Valparaiso, JaQualon Roberts of Bloomington North, Brandon Trilli of Munster and Ashton Williamson of Gary 21st Century Charter.
The IBCA/Franciscan Health All-State teams are selected through a process organized by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and presented by Franciscan Health Sports Medicine.
All IBCA-member head coaches have the opportunity to nominate players. A panel of 20 IBCA coaches — 16 from the current regional areas, three district representatives (one each from IHSAA Districts 1, 2 and 3) and the committee chairman — then meets to review the nominations, vote and finalize the selections.
Those on the IBCA all-state committee for 2022 included chairman David Wood, former coach at West Lafayette, plus Matt Kostoff of Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger in District 1, Chris Hawkins of Indianapolis Attucks in District 2 and David Benter of Brownstown Central in District 3.
Completing the voting panel were Mike Hackett of Munster, Ryan Osborn of Carmel, Mark James of Perry Meridian and J.R. Holmes of Bloomington South in Class 4A; Robb Berger of Mishawaka Marian, Aaron Wolfe of NorthWood, Todd Howard of Brebeuf Jesuit and Gene Miiller of Washington in Class 3A; Chris Benedict of Whitko, Matt Luce of Wapahani, Aaron Spaulding of Eastern Hancock and Travis Wrightsman of Switzerland County in Class 2A; and Scott Bowersock of Washington Township, Brian Klein of Blue River Valley, Brady Days of Southwestern (Shelby) and Josh Thompson of Barr-Reeve in Class A.
Three county seniors were named to the Large School All-State team: Cam Haffner of Westfield, Jeffrey Simmons of Fishers and Charlie Williams of Carmel.
County seniors earning Honorable Mention are: Luke Carroll of Hamilton Heights, Sam Jacobs of Hamilton Southeastern and Charlie Smith of Fishers. Underclass county players earning Honorable Mention are: Luke Almodovar of Noblesville, Sabien Cain of University, Preston Roberts of Noblesville and Alex Romack of Westfield.
Franciscan Health Sports Medicine is making a financial contribution to the IBCA Scholarship Fund as the presenting partner of the IBCA all-state teams. As part of the partnership, Franciscan Health Sports Medicine will provide plaques to Supreme 15 honorees and certificates to players receiving Large School All-State, Small School All-State or Honorable Mention All-State recognition. Those items will be made available to each recipient’s coach during April, allowing her coach to present the award to each player prior to the end of the 2021-22 academic year.
The IBCA thanks Franciscan Health Sports Medicine for being a partner in this annual project.