Top Team Preview: Carmel

Carmel head coach, Mark Galloway, seems always to have his teams in the running for big time postseason success. This year should be no different. Already having beat last years' 4A Stae Champs, Brownsburg, in a 67-52 throttling, the Greyhounds are posed for another big year, despite heavy losses. Carmel was hit hard by graduation. They will have to do without guard Stu Douglass, now playing for John Beilein's Michigan Wolverines, Jordan Brewer, a 6'6" post who is suiting up as a tight end for Purdue, and my personal favorite, IU freshman point guard, the incomprable Daniel Moore. There is also some question as to whether or not they will receive back Morgan Newton, a 6'4" senior guard, who may choose to end his basketball career to prepare to play quarterback for the Kentucky Wildcats. No matter. Carmel will still field a top notch team.

Carmel is led by Scott Laskowski, son of former Hoosier great and current Big Ten Network analyst John Laskowski. The youger Laz is a 6'5" forward who plays with great energy and intensity. He has the ability to mix it up inside with the big boys, and he is a capable outside shooter, although his release point is low and he is a bit slow in getting it off. He will find a college home somewhere, no doubt. The Greyhounds have a couple of deadeye shooters in Robert Kitzinger and Alex Payne. Kitizinger had three by himself in the season opener. Another big (pun intended) player for the Greyhounds this year could be 6'10" freshman AJ Hammons. Another in the line of qualtiy Carmel big men (see Josh McRoberts), Hammons had a solid, if not spectacular, debut coming off the bench. Hammons finished with 8 points and several rebounds, but his true presence was felt in the many shots he blocked or altered in his time on court. Hammons is much more comfortable in his frame than you would think for a 6'10" fifteen year old. His movements are fluid and he is by no means uncoordinated. AJ did an admirable job on Brownsburg's 6'10" junior, Nique Mason. He is definitely one to keep an eye on in the coming years. If Newton should choose to return, Coach Galloway will be blessed with an experienced player who is widely known as a lockdown defender and an excellent athlete who scores by slashing.

Carmel's main competiton in Sectional 9 will come from Noblesville, but should Carmel advance, they sky is the limit for this Greyhound team.