Senior point guard Jalen Bundy can frequently be found making the hustle plays for Center Grove.
Daily Journal file photo
When you’re capable of putting as many weapons on the floor as Center Grove can, the last thing you need is a shoot-first point guard playing hero ball.
Jalen Bundy is exactly the right fit.
“He’s a true point guard,” Trojans coach Zach Hahn said. “He’s a guy that, he creates everything on the floor for you — offensively, defensively — through how he plays, the energy and emotion that he plays with. He’s the guy that makes everything go for us; he is critical.”
Bundy might not receive the same fanfare as his backcourt mate, fellow senior Joey Schmitz — the team’s top returning scorer and a shooter capable of going ballistic on any given night. He doesn’t command the same attention as senior post player Will Spellman, a hulking presence in the paint who can bang with the state’s premier big men but also step out on the perimeter. And he won’t inspire gawkers upon entering the gym like 6-foot-10 newcomer Michael Ephraim, a native of Nigeria, will.
And while he did lead the Trojans in assists (103) and steals (34) last season, Bundy’s overall numbers won’t jump off of the stat sheet at you, largely because of his relatively pedestrian scoring average (7.5 points per game). But that could change this winter; Hahn points out that Bundy is very much capable of scoring, as he proved while averaging around 18 points during summer league play while some of his teammates weren’t available.
Wherever the points need to come from, Bundy is confident that they will — whether they’re coming from him or from someone else.
“When we can get open shots, we’ve got to take them,” he said. “I don’t always have to be able to score. At times, there’s been points where I should have probably shot the ball, but there’s times where we have better scorers and we’ve got to get them the ball too.”
Bundy is the one tasked with finding that balance. He’s able to make plays without making mistakes, as evidenced by his assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly 3 to 1 last season, and he’s got a variety of avenues to pursue with the ball.
There’s Schmitz (12.0 ppg), who can’t be left open outside the 3-point line; Spellman (9.7 ppg), who can either use his big frame to wreak havoc down low or step out and knock down the deep ball; 6-foot-7 bookends Peyton Byrd and Ben Chestnut, both skilled enough to play on the perimeter; senior guard Dylan Meador, a regular off the bench last season; and Ephraim, the great unknown. And if all else fails, Bundy is capable of getting buckets himself.
“It’s nice,” Bundy said. “You can’t always prepare for just one guy, like most teams. They’ve all got one guy that you can prepare for. You’ve got to prepare for all of us. You can’t just go scout Joey, because we’ve got Byrd, we’ve got Will, we’ve got Mike. So I feel like it just depends on the game. If some team wants to take away Joey, that’s fine; we can go down low, get the ball to Will. We’ve got Byrd — he can dribble, drive, shoot.”
Even with all of the talented players surrounding him, it’s clear that Bundy is Center Grove’s metronome, and not just from an Xs and Os standpoint. As he goes, so go the Trojans.
“I wouldn’t say he’s a vocal leader, but he is an emotional leader for us,” Hahn said. “Good and bad; when he shows negative emotion, it negatively impacts us, but when he shows positive emotion … he’s pretty special.”
And with Bundy at the controls, Center Grove’s season could be pretty special too.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Coach: Zach Hahn
Last season: 22-3, won county championship; lost to Bloomington North in Class 4A sectional final
Key returnees: Jalen Bundy, Peyton Byrd, Dylan Meador, Joey Schmitz and Will Spellman, seniors
Top newcomers: Ben Chestnut, Grant Long and Carson Newell, seniors; Mike Ephraim, junior; Gabe Baxter and Kellen Thomson, sophomores
Outlook: With six of the top nine players coming back from the best regular season in school history, the Trojans are fully loaded and ready to make a run at something bigger. With three senior starters back in the fold (Bundy, Schmitz and Spellman), a pair of 6-foot-7 seniors (Byrd and Chestnut) beside them, Hahn’s team would have already had the makings of a contender. Throw in the 6-foot-10 Ephraim, a move-in from Nigeria by way of Miami, and this group has the size and skill to compete with anyone in the state. Hahn says the key to success will be the players caring about, committing to and trusting each other. The pieces are all there; if they can fit together, Center Grove should not only be the best team in the area by a considerable margin but also give itself a real chance to make the state final for the first time in its history.
