The annual Summit Summer League is back for a third year, with games starting this Wednesday, August 7.
This season, the SSL will take place at SportOne Parkview Fieldhouse, adding a new home, but also the ability to run two courts at a time with Summit City Sports streaming the games live. Also new this year is an expansion in players to 40, now composing four teams as opposed to the 30 on three teams in the two previous years it has run.
Outside the Huddle has covered the Summit Summer League each of the past two Augusts as it has become one of the more unique leagues due to multiple of the events rules being different than many typical leagues around the area. Among those unique rules:
• A shot clock, set this year at 35 seconds.
• The Elam Ending. What is it? Popularized in the TBT and now used in NBA G League overtimes, time will not be an element at the end of the game. The game will be stopped with two minutes remaining in the second half and seven points will be added to the winning team’s score. That becomes a target score and whoever reaches it first wins the game. For example, if Team A leads Team B 70-65 with two minutes left, the score to win becomes 77 and its a race to get there.
• Switching teams. Players are assigned teams and one of the four league coaches week one and then they will play two games that week under them. The following week, rosters change and it gives all 40 players the chance to have a unique weekly experiences where they also get different coaching and can play with a variety of different types of players to make their own roles change along the way.
Admission to the Summit Summer League is listed at $8 at SportOne Parkview Fieldhouse with games every Wednesday evening in the month of August. Check out the league’s Week One Program here.
Each week, Outside the Huddle will preview the week ahead on Tuesday and then recap parts of the week following Wednesday night’s games. So take a look at some of the things that could be exciting week one:
THE COACHES
Only one coach from the 2023 Summit Summer League will return in East Noble varsity boys coach Brandon Durnell, who’s teams had a lot of success last August. Obviously, Durnell’s pedigree lends a lot to a league like this and we will get to see him with a new cast of characters, mostly, than what he had in the SSL in 2023.
Joining Durnell will be Josh Deming, David Prokop and Marq Abram, each with a unique history and connection to players as coaches. Deming serves as an assistant coach at East Noble High School but has spent multiple years as a youth organizer both in Kendallville and for Summit City Elite. Prokop recently began as the athletic director at Hamilton but was Eastside boys’ head coach last winter as well as a longtime Valpo assistant. Abram comes from North Side High School, where he has been a major part of the rebuild of the Legends program into championship level.
One of my favorite things about this league always has been the ability for players to get to work with different coaches and this season will be no exception. The unique history and depth of the coaches this season will be fun to watch week to week as those player/coach dynamics unfold.
LOOK WHO IS BACK
Several players are back for a second straight season in the SSL and some will even make their third appearances in as many Augusts in the league, that is now more a staple of the late summer/early fall than the upstart that it has been.
Ryker Quake (East Noble), Owen Prater (Rochester), Jake Stoy (Prairie Heights) and Kyle Hartsough (Lakeland) were all players that extended or made a name for themselves last August and we noted that in our look back at the 2023 league after it wrapped. Quake was the guy that we thought caught the most attention heading into the school year as far as raising his profile in last year’s league and he went on to be an All-Northeast 8 performer. He was also part of OTH’s unofficial All-League team in 2023 after making his Summit Summer League debut in 2022’s inaugural league.
Wyatt Weaver (Homestead) returns for a third year after being a breakout and bounce back performer in 2022.
Michael Raudenbush (Homestead) was also one of 2023’s standout performers as one of the best early league scorers, really showing off a diversity in his play that we weren’t as used to seeing on such a high level.
Having players back in the league shows how much it can be an impactful opportunity and its good to see so many familiar faces among a sea of new and high level guys.
THE BIG FELLAS
While last August was home to some of what you’d consider non-traditional bigs like Weaver, Prater and others, it was then-Canterbury senior Tucker Day as one of the only real post players in the league. It led to Day being able to have his own way quite a bit. In 2022’s first year, it was Dalman Alexander (Northrop) and Hunter Kline (East Noble) that did the brunt of the work inside.
Things may not be so easy on the inside this year.
A lot of really strong, physical, big men will take to the SSL court and it should make the interior play be the best its ever been.
Woodlan’s 6-foot-8 big man Oliver Adams has the immediate ability to stand out, joined in week one on Team Abram by Garrett sophomore Kohen Smith. Team Prokop will see Tippecanoe Valley standout Stephen Akase for week one, while Team Deming has Owen Prater and Fort Wayne Hawk Isaiah King inside and Team Durnell boasts Wyatt Weaver, NorthWood’s 6-foot-6 power man Mason Pearson and Central Noble’s stretch big Colt Kirkpatrick.
There could be some epic, physical and bruising meetings around the rim over the next four weeks.
WEEK ONE PRIME MATCHUPS
Team Durnell and Team Prokop are one of the tipoff games on Wednesday and right now, my most must see game of week one on paper.
Durnell boats a really unique roster of guys who know how to play roles really well, so it is a chance to some guys to excel when stepping above and beyond those roles. Mason Pearson doesn’t get enough attention in and around Fort Wayne, so it is a great place to show what he can do, while the common fan may not be as familiar with Colt Kirkpatrick, who is now at Central Noble as a senior after playing for the Noble Whitley Warriors, or a guy like Dom Keferl (Carroll) who can really shoot the ball and has improved his downhill offensive game.
While Team Prokop is headlined in many ways by the Tippecanoe Valley duo of Stephen Akase and Davis Cowan, Aidan Good (Homestead) is coming off a really good summer and could be one of the best performers in the league this August, Carter Coffman (Garrett) is a scrappy guard who can make things happen on both ends of the floor and Niko Downs (Coldwater, Michigan) is a really crafty defender that adds a lot to this squad.
While the interior play sounds fun here too with Pearson and Akase likely to go at it, guard play is going to be intense with high level defenders taking on capable offensive guys on both sides and it is going to make the offenses have to step up early and often.
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