If you wanted to see the New Albany boys basketball team play last winter, more often than not you needed to arrive early.
Romeo Langford drew a crowd everywhere he went.
Coming into his own senior season at Center Grove as the prohibitive Mr. Basketball favorite, Trayce Jackson-Davis knows he’ll likely be facing at least a similar reception wherever he goes.
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Not surprisingly, he’s ready.
“I’ve prepared for it,” Jackson-Davis said. “I talked to (Langford) a little bit, and he said that he didn’t really pay attention to it much during the season, so I’m going to try to do the same thing.
“I’m just going to focus on winning, being a great teammate. That’s really my main goal — and winning every game on our schedule.”
Despite an onerous schedule, the Trojans should be able to overtake the bulk of their opponents thanks largely to the presence of Jackson-Davis, who made a huge leap forward from intriguing sophomore prospect to dominating junior (21.9 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 70 assists, 112 blocks) a year ago and then followed that with a monster summer.
Not only did the 6-foot-9 forward earn a gold medal with Team USA at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship in Canada, but he also turned in some impressive summer performances with his Indy Heat team. At the Peach Jam in Atlanta, Jackson-Davis faced a team with arguably the top recruits in both the 2019 (Vernon Carey) and 2020 (Scottie Barnes) classes and dazzled to the tune of 27 points, 17 rebounds and 10 dunks.
“I think the USA experience, getting to play against other bigs that are 6-10, 6-11, put in perspective where he’s at and what he can do,” Center Grove coach Zach Hahn said. “I think that was exciting for him.”
Jackson-Davis was pleased with his offseason progress, but he’s clearly more excited about his final season as a Trojan.
“That environment is crazy, when you have 40 college coaches sitting there,” he said of the summer. “So there’s pressure, but there’s still nothing like Indiana high school basketball, where there’s five thousand, six thousand, seven thousand fans.”
Large crowds should follow Center Grove wherever it goes this season, especially for the many marquee matchups on the schedule. In addition to playing almost all of the top IHSAA schools, the Trojans also face one of the nation’s elite prep programs in La Lumiere, which features a pair of top-20 national recruits in Isaiah Stewart and Fort Wayne’s Keion Brooks Jr., one of Jackson-Davis’ summer teammates.
Expectations are through the roof, but it appears that the team wouldn’t have it any other way.
“A lot of people get geared up to beat us and play us,” Hahn said. “It’s something that we take pride in, and hopefully it fuels some positive stuff for us and gets us to continue to push and play hard.”
“The pressure’s good if we handle it right,” senior guard Ben Nicoson added, “because I think that’ll just increase our mental toughness playing in loud gyms and stuff like that, and just help us prepare for where we’re going.”
Which, if Jackson-Davis and his teammates have any say in the matter, could be all the way. The Trojans enter the year ranked third in the IBCA coaches’ poll, trailing only defending Class 4A state champion Warren Central and Carmel.
Despite all of the hype surrounding he and his team, though, Jackson-Davis hasn’t let his head get too gassed up.
“Trayce is a really humble kid and really exemplifies the kind of kid that we want around here with the way he carries himself and the way he plays,” Hahn said.
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Which gym is your favorite — or least favorite — to play in, and why?
"I’d say Warren (Central) is my least favorite gym. Not because of competition or whatever, but there’s a weird lighting in there; it’s like yellow. I just don’t like playing there. My favorite gym? I like Southport. I like their rims and the atmosphere is really nice."
Which team not on your schedule would you most want to play?
"HSE, because we played them in the summer at IWU and game them a good game; I think they beat us in overtime. … Last year we played them and went to overtime, so I’d just want to play that game again."
Which player that we might not know about is likely to have a breakout season?
"Justin DeGraaf. He’s a junior, he’ll probably start, 6-6, super athletic, can shoot the ball pretty well for his size, super physical. Just a good all-around player."
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Coach: Zach Hahn
Last season: 20-7, won Johnson County and sectional championships; lost to New Albany in Class 4A regional final
Top returnees: Lucas Doyle, Ben Greller, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Ben Nicoson, Cam Petty and Spencer Piercefield, seniors; Justin DeGraaf, junior
Key newcomer: Tayven Jackson, freshman
What to expect: A whole lot of attention on Jackson-Davis, the prohibitive Mr. Basketball favorite and one of the top high school players in the country. The Trojans have a veteran group of perimeter players around him, as well as a pair of intriguing pieces in DeGraaf and Jackson. Center Grove faces a murderous schedule both in and out of conference, but it will only serve to prepare the team for what it expects will be a very deep postseason run.
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