Notre Dame Prep hitting its stride

This is the time of year when teams are hoping to be reaching their peak and playing their best basketball of the season. Notre Dame Prep is one team that is doing exactly that in the prep school ranks. Head coach Ryan Hurd's squad is 20-3 on the season, but they are a perfect 6-0 since returning from their holiday break, and five of those wins have come on the road against very formidable foes. They began the second half of their season with wins over Winchendon, South Kent, and Bridgton before heading into last weekend's four team tournament hosted by Bridgton Academy. "We knew it was going to be a heck of a tournament going in," Hurd said, "one very good team was going to leave there 0 and 2." As it turned out Hurd's team went 2-0, capturing wins over Maine Central Institute and St. Thomas More in the final. Equally impressive was that they did it without UConn bound big man Cleveland Melvin who has missed the last three games with injury. "We have had really had good balance," Hurd said. "We're getting good production from a lot of different places." With Melvin out, Ron Giplaye has had to anchor down the paint single handedly and the Providence bound big man "has been playing great." But as with most of the Notre Dame teams of the past, this team's strength lies in the backcourt were Jordair Jett, Antonio Barton, and Lamount Samuell Jr. have all starred at times. While Barton is headed to Memphis, Jett and Samuell are two guards just beginning to generate some high-major buzz. Hurd says Baylor and Marquette are two of the programs that are keeping a close watch on Jett while TCU, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Bradley headline a long list of potential mid-major suitors. Samuell picked up his first high-major offer this week from South Florida while Oklahoma State has also been coming on strong. Canisius and Robert Morris have been on the New York native hard all year long and both putting in the hard work to get a potential steal at their level. Hurd says perhaps the most underrated guy on his team is six-foot-five swingman Levi Noel. "He's the type of guy who doesn't do any one thing to jump out at you right away but when you see us play three or four times you realize how good he is," Hurd said. "He just really knows how to play."