Indiana
Indiana State basketball is in complete rebuild mode. Meet the 8 new Sycamores players.
Indiana State basketball fans will always remember the 2023-24 season. But that’s all that’s left — memories. The coach and team that rejuvenated the Hulman Center are gone.
Josh Schertz left for Saint Louis. Robbie Avila and Isaiah Swope followed. Jayson Kent and Julian Larry transferred to Texas. Ryan Conwell landed at Xavier. Masen Miller picked North Dakota State. Augustinas Kiudulas chose VMI. Jake Wolfe and Xavier Bledson graduated.
Only Aaron Gray, Jayden Daughtry, Derek Vorst and Cooper Bean remain from last year’s NIT runner-up team. Bean redshirted and the other three combined for 6.1 points per game last season.
New coach Matthew Graves has been busy on his root-and-branch rebuild adding eight new players so far. Here’s a look at who Sycamores fans will need to get to know ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Merritt Alderink, F, Zeeland, Mich.
Alderink committed to the Sycamores when Schertz was in charge and stuck with the Sycamores after Schertz left for SLU. Ranked the No. 3 player in Michigan in the 2024 class, per 247Sports, the 6-6 Alderink checks in as a three-star prospect and No. 64 power forward in the class. He led Zeeland West to the best season in program history, with district and regional titles, and earned Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Best of the Best and Detroit Free Press all-state honors this season.
Picked ISU over offers from Kent State, Toledo, Miami (Ohio) and others.
Bobby Cannon, F, Lewisville, N.C.
Cannon originally signed with New Orleans to play for Mark Slessinger. After 13 years at UNO, Slessinger decided to return home to Indiana and joined Graves’ staff as associate head coach. Cannon followed the coach to Terre Haute.
“Bobby is a dynamic player with a dynamic personality,” Slessinger said when Cannon signed with UNO. “He plays with great energy and passion. With his size at 6-10 his ability to shoot the ball and spread the floor is tremendous. He has great skill level offensively handling and passing the ball beyond scoring.
“His length also gives him opportunities defensively to change a lot of shots.”
Cannon averaged 11 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as a junior. Before committing to UNO, he had offers from East Carolina, Old Dominion and Winthrop.
Tyran Cook, Milwaukee (VMI)
He started 23 of 32 games last season as freshman for the Cadets, averaging 12.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. A 6-2 guard, he shot 34% from behind the arc. He scored a season-high 28 points vs. Chattanooga on Feb. 8 when he went 6-of-6 from deep.
He graduated as Waukesha South High School’s second all-time leading scorer (1,913) and rebounder (650) and he finished second in the state in the high jump.
Markus Harding, F, Toronto (Central Michigan)
A 6-10, 255-pounder, Harding averaged 10.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and shot 53.3% from the field last season for the Chippewas. He junior forward started 39 of 46 games over the past two seasons. He hit 21 3-pointers at a 30% clip in 2022-23, but saw that number shrink to just seven 3s at a 19% rate last season.
He arrived at CMU via Eastern Florida State College by way of Toronto after only starting to play basketball at 14 years old.
Jahni Summers, G, Evansville, Ind. (Coffeyville Community College)
The Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference freshman of the year, Summers averaged 18.2 points, 4.5 rebounds a game and shot 37.1% from 3, earning second-team All-KJCCC honors. He also had offers from Appalachian State, Eastern Kentucky, UC Riverside, Winthrop, IU Indianapolis, FGCU and others.
A standout at Evansville Harrison, schools contacted him or his coach weekly. Division II programs couldn’t believe he didn’t have more offers. Division I schools wanted to watch his film. But between the transfer portal and the extra year granted because of the pandemic, no one provided him a chance.
“I had to come to the realization that it takes time,” he told Courier & Press reporter Kyle Sokeland in 2022. “Patience is something I had to go through. I’m just letting it sink in day by day. Trying to be in the gym every day and go hard.”
Samage Teel, G, Greenville, N.C. (Presbyterian)
Teel started 21 of 32 games for Presbyterian last season as a junior, averaging 13.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He shot 41.5% from behind the arc, with 54 makes from deep. The 6-2 guard scored over 20 points five times last season, finishing last year with a season-high 28 points in a CBI first-round loss to Montana.
He started his college career at Winston-Salem State, scoring 594 points over two seasons. In high school, he helped lead Farmville Central to two North Carolina state championships.
Camp Wagner, G, Dallas (Rice)
A 6-6 guard, Wagner played in 18 games last season as a freshman for the Owls, averaging 3.5 minutes a game (1.2 points). Coincidentally, he scored a career-high 11 points against… yup, you guessed it, Indiana State, hitting three 3s.
He played at Link Prep Academy (Mo.) where he averaged 16.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists as a senior.
Jayan Walker, G, Raleigh, N.C.
A 6-6 combo guard out of Charlotte’s Combine Academy (N.C.), Walker had offers from Marshall and Georgia State, and added new offers from Utah State and Kennesaw State. He was offered by Indiana State on April 22, visited campus on May 3 and committed May 4.
Indiana
Suspects flee robbery at Chase Bank in Plainfield
PLAINFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — Suspects fled a Plainfield bank after it was robbed Tuesday afternoon, police say.
Plainfield Police Department was called at 2:10 p.m. Tuesday to the robbery of a bank in progress at Chase Bank, 807 Southfield Drive. That’s southwest of the intersection of Quaker Boulevard and Stafford Road/East County Road 450 South in the Hendricks County town.
Deputy Chief Ryan Salisbury of the Plainfield Police Department said detectives were working on the case.
The police department posted on social media on Tuesday night that no one was hurt in the robbery, and the suspects, who were not in custody, fled prior to the arrival of first responders.
Indiana
Why Sophie Cunningham turned down multi-year contract offers to return to Indiana Fever
INDIANAPOLIS — Sophie Cunningham wants to emphasize she’s perfectly happy with the Indiana Fever. She just wishes she could be locked down longer.
Cunningham, who signed a one-year, $665,000 deal with the Indiana Fever for 2026, said on her podcast, “Show Me Something,” on Tuesday night that she was frustrated with the free agency process in the condensed offseason.
She shook her head vehemently when her co-host West Wilson asked if the contract was better than she thought it would be, then said in part, “It’s tough because I came off an injury … I’m not even going to lie to you, that’s a little, kind of, frustrating.”
Fans on social media largely took that as she did not get interest from other teams, she didn’t want to return to the Fever, or she was unhappy with the salary she got.
She shut those thoughts down on social media Monday night, then expounded on her frustrations with local media at Fever training camp on Tuesday morning.
Buy 2026 Indiana Fever tickets!
“I think Twitter kind of blew up last night about a comment I made on my podcast. But that wasn’t what I meant at all,” Cunningham said. “I think if you listen to the full clip, you really understand that I just wanted to be somewhere for more than one year. I’m almost 30 years old. I want to have a home. I want to get established. And I would love to get established in a place like Indiana.”
The Fever prioritized as much financial flexibility as possible this offseason because of the new EPIC clause, which allows both Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark to renegotiate their fourth-year salaries up to the max with an extension. Boston’s salary was bumped to $1 million in 2025, and she will make the supermax from 2027-29. Clark is eligible to negotiate up to the max in 2027, and both Clark and Boston could be making the supermax starting in 2028.
Only Lexie Hull and Monique Billings got major multi-year deals with the Fever out of free agency. Hull signed for $765,000 in 2026 and $803,250 in 2027, per Her Hoop Stats, while Billings got $800,000 for both 2026 and 2027. Damiris Dantas is the only other player that got a multi-year deal out of free agency, but that was for the minimum cap hit of $277,500.
Kelsey Mitchell signed a one-year, $1.4 million supermax, Cunningham returned on a one-year deal, and Myisha Hines-Allen and Tyasha Harris each signed one-year deals.
Cunningham added that she got multi-year offers from other teams, but chose to stay with Indiana on a one-year deal.
She wanted to return to Indiana, she said, because of friendships she created with her teammates and the potential they showed, even after six separate season-ending injuries on the roster. She is also closer to her hometown of Columbia, Missouri.
“When you find a group of girls who really make you fall in love with basketball games and you enjoy it, you enjoy them, not only on the court, but off the court, like, you want to hold on to that,” Cunningham said. “ … it was never about the money, it was just about the years, because I wanted to be with them. And God forbid a girl loves her teammates, you know what I mean?”
Cunningham is also coming off a major knee injury after she tore her MCL in August 2025. She was ruled out for the rest of the 2025 season and got surgery in Indianapolis, then had a six-month rehab process before she was cleared in February.
Since then, she has been ramping back up as much as possible, including playing one-on-one, three-on-three, plyometrics, and everything she does to get ready for a regular season.
Still, she said, she’ll need to actually play to get back into full basketball shape.
“Basketball shape is just different,” Cunningham said. “You can run as many suicides as you want, you can get your butt kicked however you want, but until you’re out here playing, you’re never fully going to be in game shape until you’re playing games.”
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at chloe.peterson@indystar.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
Indiana
Indiana police find semi trailer loaded up with nearly 400 pounds of cocaine: troopers
CLOVERDALE, Ind. (WKRC) – Authorities in Indiana found a semi trailer loaded up with hundreds of pounds of suspected cocaine.
According to a statement issued by the Indiana State Police (ISP), 27-year-old Harmandeep Singh of Bakersfield, California was taken into custody after nearly 400 pounds of suspected cocaine were reportedly found in the trailer of a commercial truck.
Per the statement, an ISP trooper seized the suspected cocaine during a traffic stop on Interstate 70 in Putnam County, authorities said.
The stop occurred Tuesday morning near the 37-mile marker, just east of Cloverdale, after a commercial motor vehicle was observed exceeding the posted speed limit.
Police said Singh displayed several indicators of possible criminal activity during the encounter. After obtaining consent to search the vehicle, troopers discovered multiple duffel bags and cardboard boxes in the trailer containing approximately 392 pounds (178 kilograms) of suspected cocaine.
Authorities estimated the street value of the drugs at about $9 million.
Singh was taken into custody and taken to the Putnam County Jail, where he is being held on a $30,000 cash bond.
He faces the following preliminary charges, per the post:
- Possession of a narcotic drug
Formal charges will be determined by the Putnam County prosecutor.
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT
Indiana State Police said drug interdiction remains a priority, with troopers focusing on major highways to disrupt the flow of illegal narcotics into the state.
-
Dallas, TX21 seconds agoGame Day Guide: Stars at Wild | Dallas Stars
-
Miami, FL6 minutes agoMay a steadying presence as Cards hold off Marlins in Miami
-
Boston, MA12 minutes agoTyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe flex in Boston: Takeaways from Celtics-76ers Game 2
-
Denver, CO18 minutes agoMotorcyclist seriously injured in Denver hit-and-run crash – AOL
-
Seattle, WA24 minutes agoBrock: 2 drafts fits at edge rusher for Seattle Seahawks
-
San Diego, CA30 minutes agoJoseph Allen Oviatt – San Diego Union-Tribune
-
Milwaukee, WI36 minutes agoMilwaukee Brewers overpower Detroit Tigers to win 12-4
-
Atlanta, GA42 minutes agoWhat this food hall could mean for a south Atlanta neighborhood