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INDIANAPOLIS -- Of course Adison Daub has the big-time college dream. What standout basketball player doesn't?
You see yourself in the realm of Cody Zeller and Robbie Hummel, of Yogi Ferrell and E'Twaun Moore.
They were once Indiana All-Star hopefuls who emerged into major college players for Indiana and Purdue.
And for a while during last week's Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Top 100 camp at Ben Davis High School, Daub played on the same team as Indiana-committed players Devin Harris and Collin Hartman, Notre Dame-bound V.J. Beachem and Purdue-bound Basil Smotherman.
“They're great players and you just try to fit in with them,” Daub says. “Hopefully you do your part and get a W. Maybe you show something to the coaches that you can play.”
But the DeKalb senior-to-be lacks high-profile college prospects. At least, he does for now. No matter. Daub has an All-Star chance, one more week of travel-ball possibilities and then a senior season to showcase his skills.
And he has skill. He can shoot and score, and plays to his strengths. He's been a double-figure scorer ever since he reached high school. He has a quick first step, a consistent pull-up jumper and a knack for being in the right place at the right time. You want to have the ball in his hands with the game on the line.
Where will it lead?
Daub doesn't know. Nobody does. But clues are out there.
Illinois-Chicago is the only NCAA Division I program showing interest. Saint Francis, an NAIA power, was one of the first schools to recruit him. Then there's Grace, Indiana Wesleyan, Huntington, Goshen, Alabama-Huntsville, Northwood. Some Division II schools are looking at him. He's made unofficial visits and will make more.
Daub is listed at 5-11 and 174 pounds. Coaches have talked to him about what he has to improve to thrive at the next level.
“It's my athleticism,” he says. “Make sure I can lock a guy up so he doesn't get around me. Get in the lane. Try to get my teammates better where they can knock down open jump shots. Stuff like that. Keep working on my shooting.”
What does Daub want in a school and program?
“I'd like someplace kind of close to home. I don't want to go too far away. Someplace I can go that has a history of basketball where people come and watch. I don't want to go to a place where basketball is not a big deal. Someplace that fits with my academics and my future.”
Daub sees himself as getting into sports medicine, perhaps being a personal trainer.
But that's for the future. For now his focus is on the last five-day session of the July evaluation period. His Spiece Select team will be in Fort Wayne after being in Indianapolis last week and Chicago the week before.
“It's a lot of basketball, and you get tired, but it's worth it,” Daub says. “Playing basketball is fun.”
Fun sometimes brings butterflies when you're playing in front of college coaches and state coaches who will decide your All-Star fate. Daub says he felt the nerves even before the Top 100 camp despite years of playing in such environments where your every move is judged and critiqued.
“You always get nervous when you get the top players in the state together,” he says. “Anytime you have this many coaches and talent, you're nervous. I always get butterflies.”
Butterflies don't draw Daub into a selfish approach where he's launching shots at a machine-gun pace. No matter the setting, team matters.
“You do what you're good at,” he says. “You step up and hit threes. You get to the lane and kick out. You finish in the lane. You knock down shots when you're open.”
In other words, you play to your strengths.
The next “big” name in Fort Wayne high school basketball might just belong to Caleb “Biggie” Swanigan. He's a 6-6, 260-pound power player who drew plenty of interest during last week's Best of the Midwest Tournament in Fishers.
He's part of the Class of 2016, which means he hasn't started high school yet. He's set to attend Homestead.
Swanigan ran the floor well and showed an outside jumper with his Spiece Indy Heat in Fishers, and coaches from Purdue, Indiana and Butler were there to watch. He isn't a three-point threat, but do you really want a guy that big, who will almost certainly get bigger by the end of high school, launching shots from beyond the arc?
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