Mr. Basketball Candidate: Kellen Dunham

Forty points. Win. Thirty-seven points. Win. Thirty-eight points. Win. That's the way Pendleton Heights' senior Kellen Dunham's senior season has begun. As a player who has averaged over 20 points a game since his sophomore season, he's long been a known name on the Indiana high school basketball scene. But there has always been a negative perception of him as a "one-trick pony," a standstill shooter in the mold of Matt Roth of IU or Lee Humphries of Florida. Over last season, and certainly in the beginning of this one, Dunham has silenced the critics, scoring the ball in a myriad of ways while carrying his Arabians squad to a 3-0 start. He's scoring almost two-thirds of their points! While this kind of crazy output may not last the whole season, he's still one of the top seniors in the state, bar-none. Let's look in depth at Dunham.

Player
Kellen Dunham

Position
6'5 Shooting Guard

High School
Pendleton Heights Arabians

College Choice
Butler University

Junior Stats
23.6 points, 77/179 3FG (43%), 84% FT

Past Seasons
Sophomore - 18-6, lost in Sectional Final
Junior - 20-6, lost in Regional Final

National Rankings
Rivals.com - 3 star, 141st overall
Scout.com - 4 star, 88th overall
ESPN.com - 4 star, 97th overall
247sports.com - 3 star, unranked

Mr. Basketball Outlook

This season could be one that legends are made of in regards to Kellen Dunham. He is shorthanded with the loss of Kendall Waters (transfer), two other players for a time to suspensions, and Brogan Gary for a while to injury. He'll have an opportunity to lead his team against one of the toughest schedules in 4A, and also have the opportunity to continue to put up Maravich-esque scoring numbers. The Arabians square off against Hamilton Southeastern twice, Mount Vernon, Kokomo or North Central (depending on the Hall of Fame Tournament results), Lawrence North, Muncie Central, Fishers, New Castle, and North Central before Sectional play. That's a murderers row. If Dunham can navigate those games, winning a majority while putting up consistently solid numbers, no one will be able to deny his validity as a legitimate Mr. Basketball candidate. Working against him may be the fact that he not exactly a "big name" player. Tat he is ranked anywhere below fifty on the recruiting services is a head-scratcher to me. Also working against him is his lack of big-time team success. So far as a varsity player, he's lost to Muncie Central in Sectionals, and lost to Kokomo in Regionals in that memorable double-overtime thriller. Winning that game could have cemented him even more as one of the major frontrunners for the award. Ultimately, winning games will help him most in his campaign for Mr. Basketball, no matter what his numbers may be. If Pendleton Heights can finish the season 18-5 or better and make it out of their Region for the first time in Dunham's time, no one will have any reason not to vote for him.