IBCA Honors 501 Indiana Basketball Players With 2026 Academic All-State Awards
The IBCA honored 501 Indiana basketball players with Academic All-State recognition, including 87 first-team seniors and a new Team Academic Award won by 128 schools.
The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association named 87 high school seniors to its first-team Academic All-State roster for 2026 and recognized 414 more players as honorable mention, bringing the total number of student-athletes honored this year to 501.
IBCA executive director Marty Johnson said 233 boys and 181 girls earned honorable mention recognition. The 87 first-team honorees split nearly evenly by gender: 44 boys and 43 girls. Selections weigh both academic and athletic achievement, with evaluators considering grade-point average, academic class rank, and SAT or ACT scores alongside athletic production measured in points, rebounds, and assists per game.
The 2026 program also debuted a new IBCA Team Academic Award, with 128 teams qualifying in the inaugural year. Girls' programs dominated the category, with 99 girls' teams earning the award compared to 29 boys' teams. To qualify, a school needed a cumulative team GPA of 3.50 or better when averaging the first-semester grades of every player on its 2026 sectional roster. "The IBCA firmly believes that academics are an essential component of developing well-rounded basketball players and that outstanding academic achievement deserves recognition," the association stated.
Among the 43 girls named to the first team, the partial list released by the IBCA includes Konley Ault of Bluffton, Hannah Baker of Shelbyville, Addison Barnes of Delta, Lilli Barnes of Valparaiso, Olivia Berzai of Indianapolis Bishop Chatard, Ally Bland of Edgewood, Sydney Bonds of Carmel, Joslyn Bricker of Warsaw, Brooklyn Campbell of Washington Township, Elise Coleman of Floyd Central, Carly Davison of Clinton Central, Sarah DePew of Garrett, Sophia Dyer of Whiteland, Reese Ford of Tell City, Gracyn Gilliard of Center Grove, Grace Goldman of North Harrison, Lani Graves of Bloomfield, Madison Grossman of Westview, Hannah Higgs of Evansville Christian, Olivia Jones of Pendleton Heights, and Emma Kincaid of Bremen. The full first-team list for both boys and girls appears in the complete IBCA press release.
Among the boys earning honorable mention recognition, the IBCA release includes a number of players from northeast Indiana programs. Fairfield alone placed four players: Matthew Holsopple, Ben Kio, Isaac Mast, and Brady Park. Lakeland placed three: Keyan Arroyo, Levi Cook, and Keegan Merrifield. Bishop Dwenger contributed J.T. Morlan and K.C. Pieper, DeKalb placed Brady Culler and Caden Rice, and Angola's Tommy Caswell and Haven Stockamp both earned honorable mention. Other honorees from the boys' list include Gabe Armstrong of Garrett, Mydin Burgher of Warsaw, Grant Campbell of Huntington North, Trey Deckman of Columbia City, Keegan Derry of East Noble, Keegan German of Prairie Heights, Clayton Goodman of Concordia, Jake Hackman of Bellmont, Cooper Long of Wabash, Brogan McNiece of Homestead, Kade Sommers of Jay County, Brett Springer of Westview, Trevor Steele of West Noble, and Brady Strater of Prairie Heights.
The IBCA released the full selections March 11. Media inquiries can be directed to Pat McKee, IBCA Director of Special Projects, at 317-403-1665.
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