Carmel junior's commitment encouraging sign for Butler Bulldogs

David Woods
IndyStar
FILE -- Carmel's #33 John Michael Mulloy gets a hand in his face as he drives against North Central.

INDIANAPOLIS – It has been difficult for Butler to bring in basketball players from the Indianapolis area, or even to recruit the state. The Butler brand can be stronger elsewhere than it is in Indiana.

Yet consider local contributions of the past decade: Gordon Hayward (Brownsburg), Andrew Smith (Covenant Christian), Kellen Dunham (Pendleton Heights).

None was ranked high nationally coming out of high school. Neither is 6-9 John-Michael Mulloy, a Carmel junior who announced his commitment to the Bulldogs on Wednesday night.

Mulloy is more consequential than a single recruit ordinarily might be. He is the first for new Butler coach LaVall Jordan, and he is local.

He is in the 2019 class, and the Bulldogs could use some 2018 recruits. Two they are pursuing are also local: Tindley guard Eric Hunter, who announced Thursday his decision is coming soon, and Ben Davis forward Aaron Henry.

Mulloy said he developed a “good bond” with Butler assistant coach Jeff Meyer ever since July’s Peach Jam at North Augusta, S.C. In five games for Spiece Indy Heat, Mulloy averaged 12.4 points and 10.6 rebounds.

He grew in confidence from what he called the “incredible experience” of playing against some of the nation’s top teenage prospects.

On Aug. 28, Butler was the first Power Six program to offer Mulloy a scholarship. He inevitably would have collected other offers, but he said he was not interested in counting them.

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“Why wait? You could get all those offers and end up taking the first offer,” he said. “Just because it checks off so many boxes. What I wanted, how I played.”

He said he wanted to be near home so his parents and grandparents could see him play and so he could attend games of a younger brother, Mitchell, a 12-year-old in sixth grade. He liked the business school. He said he viewed Butler as a “family” and that other programs seemed like basketball organizations.

“It’s basketball, but it’s more than that,” he said. “It’s life and stuff.”

The left-handed Mulloy averaged 9.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game as a sophomore for a 22-5 team that came within overtime of reaching the Class 4A semistate. He shot 82 percent on free throws.

First-year Marian University coach Scott Heady, who coached Mulloy at Carmel, said the 17-year-old has made “tremendous strides” in skill development. It is worth nothing Mulloy cannot play for the Bulldogs until November 2019.

“I look at how far he’s come in the last year or so, and the thought he’s got two more years of high school,” Heady said. “I think he’s going to be really good. Because I know how hard he works.”

Mulloy spoke to IndyStar on Thursday after a workout at St. Vincent Sports Performance, where he labors four times a week. He is friends with Cooper Neese, a Butler freshman, from practicing against each other in summer ball two years ago.

“Now, I can just concentrate on getting better and winning for my high school team,” Mulloy said.

Tipoffs, TV set for PK80

Butler will meet Texas at 7 on Thanksgiving night in a quarterfinal of the PK80 tournament on ESPN2 at Portland, Ore. Tipoff times and TV assignments were announced Thursday.

The Bulldogs’ Nov. 23 opener of the Motion bracket will be at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. They will play Duke or Portland State on Nov. 24 at the Moda Center – at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN if they win, or at 3 p.m. on ESPNU if they lose.

Other quarterfinals are Florida vs. Stanford and Ohio State vs. Gonzaga. The tournament has an off day Saturday and concludes Sunday, Nov. 26.

Call IndyStar reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.