First story

Here is my first story for my new paper.

By Nick Brockman

Messenger Sports Reporter

nbrockman@the-messenger.com

For those high school basketball players looking at reaching the next level, the summer, not the high-school season can be the best time to work on developing skills.

Three Hopkins County athletes have been working on becoming stronger basketball players this summer on respective Amatuer Athletic Union teams.

Madisonville-North Hopkins star hoopster Jon Hood will compete with the  U-17 Nashville Celtics in a three-day tournament in Cincinnati beginning Sunday. After Hood and the Celtics depart Cincinnati the team will visit Memphis and then Las Vegas.

The tournaments, which are NCAA-sanctioned events, provide players with a stage to improve upon skills against the nation’s top prep prospects while also performing in front of college coaches.

Hood, the 6-6 senior guard who verbally committed to the University of Kentucky earlier this year, said the high level of competition will help him improve his game as he prepares for not just the Maroons’ high-school season, but Southeastern Conference play in future years.

“I just want to get every bit stronger and better,” Hood said. “I really want to work on my strength and defense, my lateral quickness by staying in front of somebody.”

The opportunity to play every night of the week was another advantage to joining the team, Hood said.

Two other Hopkins County basketball players have also benefitted from playing this summer as part of AAU teams.

Hopkins County Central Storm teammates Dan Croft and Chuck Jones are playing for different squads this summer.

Croft, a junior, shot 55 percent from the field during his sophomore season and picked up with the Kentucky Hoopstars U-16 team for the summer. Eddie Ford leads the Hoopstars as coach and draws players from the Louisville and western Kentucky area.

Playing for Ford, whose name is well-known in the basketball community, makes the experience even more worthwile, Croft said.

“It’s good because whenver people ask you who you play for and you say Eddie Ford, they know you’re on a good team,” he said.

While Croft remains under the direction of Ford, his teammate Jones, a 6-9 senior, has split playing time with the Indiana Swish and the Hopkins County Hurricanes this summer.

Central coach Matt Bell directs the teammates during the high school season, but he welcomes input from the players’ respective summer coaches.

“I think it’s good that a player has an opportunity to play for another coach,” Bell said. “It gives them an opportunity to hear things from another perspective.”

Croft echoed his coach’s feelings of getting different viewpoints.

“Coach Bell will tell you what he wants and summer coaches tell you what they want,” Croft said. “You just put it together and it makes everything better.”

The biggest advantage for the players, however, has been facing taller opponents in order to be ready for similar competition in the winter.

“It’s not common that you have 6-8, 6-9 guys on a high school team that you play against,” Bell said. “Playing against AAU teams, it’s going to give them an opportunity to play against guys their size they might not see during the high school season.”

College coaches also take note when the recruits have success during the summer against other highly-touted players.

“Chuck’s name has been thrown around,” Bell said. “(Jones and Croft) have been getting a lot of exposure they wouldn’t otherwise get.”

Whether the Storm teammates catch the eye of an interested coach or not, Bell wants his players to have a good time, he said.