Greenfield-Central’s Braylon Mullins is playing in today’s Futures Games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Mike Brown | For The Daily Reporter
Indiana high school basketball will send off its senior stars in fine fashion, playing at the home of the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, today.
It will also showcase what’s coming next.
For the first time the Indiana-Kentucky Basketball All-Star Series will have a Futures Games doubleheader to highlight Indiana’s top boys and girls underclassmen.
Indiana Juniors and Kentucky Juniors have played in recent years and the Indiana Juniors have traditionally taking on the Indiana Seniors in exhibition games. The Futures Games include all underclassmen and all players are from Indiana.
Greenfield-Central sophomore Braylon Mullins will play in today’s 2 p.m. boys game.
“It’s a great opportunity I feel to get my name out more,” Mullins said. “It should be fun and I’m really excited about it.”
Today’s games culminate a full week of putting the states top high school players on center stage.
It started Sunday in Jeffersonville with an Indiana-Kentucky Juniors doubleheader.
Mt. Vernon junior Ellery Minch played for the Indiana Junior Stars Sunday. In a 79-69 Indiana win, she had five points, hitting her lone field goal attempt, a 3-pointer, and both of her free-throw tries. She also had one rebound.
Minch was invited to play in the Futures Game but will now be playing in the Under Armour Future 60, an event that will feature the top 30 girls, and top 30 boys on the Under Armour circuit.
During this past season, Minch, the Hancock County Player of the Year, averaged 16.4 points per game for the 19-7 sectional champion Marauders. She grabbed 5.3 rebounds per contest, nearly doubled her assist totals from a year ago – from 1 per game to 1.8 – and averaged 1.2 steals and 1.5 blocks per contest.
She shot 57 percent from the field on 2-point field-goal attempts and 49 percent overall. At the free-throw line, she made 83 of 99 tries for an 84 percent clip, 17 percent higher than her sophomore season.
Four games are on tap today at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The girls Futures are scheduled to play at noon with the boys Futures at 2 p.m. The girls open the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star doubleheader at 6 p.m. Senior boys are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
This winter Mullins was a key factor in the Cougars recording the most wins (21) in school history. He was the team’s second leading scorer averaging 16.9 points per game. The 6-foot-5 guard led the Cougars in rebounding at 5.2 per contest. He made 54 3-pointers and shot 47 percent (54 of 116) from distance and 58 percent overall. He shot 77 percent from the free-throw line. He averaged 2.6 steals, 2.3 assists.
“I’m just going out (today) and try to get better and get my teammates better,” Mullins, who has added Division I offers from Indiana State and Miami of Ohio to go with a previous offer from IUPUI, added. “It’s definitely a great opportunity to play with some other players from around the state. I feel like if I can score a couple, play some defense, it’ll go great for me.
“I’ve really enjoyed the past six months, especially when I first got the Indiana State offer. It gave me the confidence that I could get a lot more than three. Playing in the Futures Games, it’ll definitely show that I can play with the Top 20, Top 25 players in the state.”
