MUNCIE, Ind. — Luke Brown sat on the bench at the historic New Castle Fieldhouse during warmups, occasionally being tapped on the shoulder from behind. Another autograph request. It was reminiscent of what you saw Romeo Langford doing at New Albany or Damon Bailey in the late ‘80s.
And Brown wasn’t even playing in the game.
That’s how far the hype around Brown and his Blackford teammates got this season. It was one of the best stories in Indiana high school basketball: 83-year-old coach Jerry Hoover and his freshman phenom helping around a program that was 1-69 the last three years combined.