The Locker Room: Boys Basketball State Finals Preview

Justin Prince and Petar Hood get you ready for Saturday's IHSAA boys basketball state finals with help from Indianapolis Star high school sports reporter Kyle Neddenriep.

With that, we say good evening to you..welcome inside the locker room..joined as per usual by partner petar hood, my name is justin prince..

Thank you, as always, for making us a part of your friday night...and pete it's a bittersweet night in the locker room...bitter because this is the last time we'll be talking about high school hoops for a while on this show...but sweet because we've got a couple of state championship games to preview...yeah, first time since 2009 the fort wayne area will have two representatives in the boys basketball state finals..blackhawk christian and leo have both earned an opportunity to compete for the ultimate prize on saturday..

We'll get to the lions in just a moment, but for the braves, tomorrow represents the end of an era...the most successful senior class in program history can cap their careers with another state championship...of course blackhawk is no stranger to banker's life having played and won there just two years ago..their opponent, however, is not only new to this stage, they're just new in general..

Parke heritage has only been an i-h-s-a-a member school for three seasons..they went 8-16 in year one, 23-3 in year two, and now here they are at 27-3, playing in their first ever state title game..how do you get that good that fast?for the wolves, it starts with their defense..this season parke heritage is holding opponents to just over 42 points per game..that ranks 12th among all teams in indiana...but that d will certainly be tested by a blackhawk team that leads the state in scoring at over 82 points per contest... tipoff between the braves and wolves is set for 1:30 tomorrow down in indianapolis..

Meanwhile, in class 3-a, the storyline is very similar..

You've got a team that's been there & done that vs.

A team that's never been here before..

In this case, the leo lions are the new kids on the block..

After last weekend's improbable comeback in semi-state, the lions find themselves in the state finals for the first time in program history..leo's run in this tournament has been magical, but they'll face their toughest test yet tomorrow night..the silver creek dragons are the defending state champions...their senior class has a career record of 94-15...and they're led by perhaps the best player in the state in trey kaufman-renn... the 6'10" purdue signee averages over 25 points and 11 rebounds per game..and he's complimented by toledo recruit kooper jacobi, who's averaging 20 and 10 in his own right this season..

The lions and dragons are scheduled to tip off at 5 o'clock tomorrow inside bankers life fieldhouse..

So we've heard from the teams involved..now, for some analysis on tomorrow's matchups, we turn to one of the foremost authorities on high school hoops here in the state of indiana..yeah if you follow the sport at all, you've probably heard the name kyle neddenriep plenty of times before..he covers high school sports all across the state for the indianapolis star..got a chance to catch up with kyle earlier this week, and we begin with his thoughts on the matchup between leo and silver creek..

Indianapolis sports reporter kyle neddenriep breaks down the matchups in the ihsaa boys basketball state finals..

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