On Russell Byrd

As we mentioned earlier, we ventured to a little burg called Bourbon yesterday (actually, we were assigned there) to cover a IHSAA Class A regional featuring Blackhawk Christian (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and its star sophomore, Russell Byrd.
Byrd is being recruited by Notre Dame and as a 6-foot-7 shooting guard reminded us a lot of current Irish forward Zach Hillesland with a good jump shot. Byrd can handle the ball a little bit and already has a fairly built body for a kid who might still be growing. His shoulders are fairly broad and he has good leaping ability.
In two games, we also saw the good and bad of Byrd. The good was in the afternoon session, when he scored 15 points and displayed some point forward abilities the Irish will lose when Hillesland graduates.
The bad came in the night session, when Byrd clearly got frustrated by Triton's defense, missed his first 10 shots and finished with six points, all gotten with the game out of reach.
Byrd said he has offers from Butler, Notre Dame, Purdue, IU, Louisville and Arizona among others.

"He has tremendous potential as an athlete," Blackhawk Christian coach Gary Merrell said. "He showed that a lot (Saturday). One thing that's really helped is his development this season as a rebounder. He's not been a big rebounder before but he's taken over for us and he can really get the treetop boards for us now."
Byrd likely won't decide until next year about where he'll go to college. He plays AAU ball for Blessed IJN.
-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette