Indiana Elite went out to the exclusive Adidas Uprising Super 64 Invitational this weekend in Las Vegas and it went very well for Purdue's only 2015 commitment. Ryan Cline was named the event's Most Valuable Player after going 9 of 13 from the field, including an impressive 7 of 10 from three, in scoring 25 points as the Indiana Elite AAU won the event. Tonight's championship game against Dream Vision and won 79-64.
In addition to Cline's performance several of his teammates, who are also Purdue targets, played well:
Kyle Guy - Guy is a 2016 prospect and he finished with 16 in the championship game. Dream Vision featured three 2015 ESPN top 100 players, but Indiana Elite worked circles around them with 20 assists on 32 made field goals. Guy showed a very nice midrange game and made Dream Vision pay for over-committing on defense. He ended up as one of the top shooters in the event and the top 3-point shooter overall by percentage.
Hyron Edwards - I didn't see a lot of Edwards, but with all the assists I am sure he was involved since he serves as the starting point guard for Indiana Elite. He had a major role in this impressive stat:
Indiana Elite 2015 finishes 157-12 in 3 years of AAU ball, with tons of trny titles. Great, unselfish group to be around and coach!
— Kristof Kendrick (@Stof34) July 27, 2014
Grant Weatherford - Weatherford is an interesting prospect because he could go D-1 for basketball OR football, and Purdue is looking at him for both. He is a great team player and is built like a house for a guard, mostly from his football training. In football he is going to be one of the best wide receivers in the state of Indiana this fall. I have seen him several times in basketball and he is a solid shooter that can make excellent passes.
What was most impressive about the whole performance was that Indiana played TEAM basketball. That is where I am really excited to get Cline. The AAU game is all run and gun with no defense, but Indiana constantly made the extra pass and looked to get teammates involved as opposed to showing one-on-one skills. Cline's Carmel HS team is this way too. I have seen them multiple times in person and there isn't a high school team in Indiana that plays more like a single unit rather than five individuals than Carmel.
That bodes well for Cline. His stock rose greatly this weekend and it confirms that Matt Painter got a good one. In 2015-16 we're going to have three absolutely snipers in Kendall Stephens, Dakota Mathias, and Ryan Cline.