Eric Hunter Named Indiana All-Star

One of the greatest honors a player from the state of Indiana can receive is being named to the Indiana All-Star team as a senior. It is generally limited to the top 13 seniors in the state, and Purdue regularly gets at least one member of the team reach year. That continues with this recruiting cycle as Erich Hunter of Indianapolis Tindley was named to the 2018 Indiana All-Star team:

Name, School, Height, Pos., PPG, College Choice

Damezi Anderson, South Bend Riley, 6-7, G/F, 19.2, Indiana

Gavin Bizeau, Plainfield, Plainfield, 6-11, F, 21.6, Duquesne

Jarron Coleman, Cathedral, 6-6, G/F, 17.2, Ball State

Chance Coyle, Bloomington South, 6-4, G, 19.9, Southern Indiana

Kevin Easley, Lawrence North, 6-7, F, 16.9, UT-Chattanooga

Sean East, New Albany, 6-0, G, 18.2, undecided

Aaron Henry, Ben Davis, 6-5, F, 16.5, Michigan State

Eric Hunter, Tindley, 6-3, G, 25.5, Purdue

Mekhi Lairy, Evansville Bosse, 5-9, G, 26.5, Miami (Ohio)

Romeo Langford, New Albany, 6-5, G, 34.2, undecided

Robert Phinisee, McCutcheon, 6-1, G, 29.4, Indiana

Dean Tate, Warren Central, 5-8, G, 11.9, undecided

De’Avion Washington, Terre Haute South, 6-4, G, 22.1, Indiana State

Head coach: Jim Shannon, New Albany

Assistant coaches: Mike Hall, South Newton; Scott Radeker, Lafayette Jeff

He has also been named one of six finalists for Mr. Basketball as the top player in the state:

The 2018 IndyStar Indiana Mr. Basketball will be announced from a group of six finalists -- Anderson, Henry, Hunter, Lairy, Langford and Phinisee -- at The Star’s Indiana Sports Awards Dinner on April 29 at Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis.

Unfortunately, Hunter won’t win Mr. Basketball. That is almost certainly going to Langford, a McDonald’s All-American and top 5 national recruit that became only the 4th player in state history to score 3,000 career points. Hunter did finish 7th on the all-time scoring list at 2,583 points, the most for any player ever from Marion County. He was just 12 points behind Purdue legend Rick Mount. Hunter also won a Class A state championship in 2017 as a junior. Had Tindley returned to the state finals this year he would have likely passed Mount and Brody Boyd for 5th all-time.

Here is the schedule for this year’s all-star teams:

2018 IndyStar Indiana All-Star key dates

June 2 — Junior All-Stars vs. Kentucky Junior All-Stars at TBA (Kentucky) — girls, 2:00 p.m.; boys, to follow

June 3 — Junior All-Stars vs. Kentucky Junior All-Stars at TBA (Indiana) — girls, 2:00 p.m.; boys, to follow

June 5 — All-Stars report to Marian University

June 6 — Junior-Senior All-Star game at TBA — girls, 6:00 p.m.; boys, to follow

June 8 — Indiana at Kentucky at Knights Hall, Bellarmine University, Louisville, Ky. — girls, 6:00 p.m.; boys, to follow

June 9 — Indiana vs. Kentucky at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis — girls, 5:00 p.m.; boys, to follow

Purdue has an interest in the junior all-star rosters too. Isaiah Thompson was selected as a “Core Six” player that will play in all three games against the seniors:

Keion Brooks Jr., 6-8, Fort Wayne North Side (undecided)

Armaan Franklin, 6-5, Cathedral (undecided)

Mason Gillis, 6-7, New Castle (undecided)

Trayce Jackson-Davis, 6-9, Center Grove (undecided)

Brandon Newman, 6-4, Valparaiso (undecided)

Isaiah Thompson, 6-0, Zionsville (Purdue)

Purdue also has offers out to Brooks, Franklin, Gillis, and Jackson-Davis, with a very good shot of nabbing at least one of them.