They’ve been paired up on the AAU circuit for multiple years, and the duo of Reed Sheppard and Gabe Cupps will visit IU in tandem on Aug. 2.
Jody Demling of 247Sports reported on Monday that Sheppard and Cupps have a visit to Bloomington scheduled for next week. At least for Sheppard, IU is the first visit he has scheduled as on campus visits open back up.
Sheppard and Cupps played AAU basketball for the Nike sponsored Indy Heat program last summer and this year the pair stayed together and took advantage of the opportunity to play up a year for Cupps’ father with the Midwest Basketball Club Adidas sponsored program.
That Sheppard is taking visits is particularly noteworthy. Both of his parents were star basketball players at Kentucky, and he was offered by that program in July.
At North Laurel High School (London, Ky.), Sheppard scored 30.1 points per game, tied for first in the state. He also led the Jaguars in assists with 7.1 per game, and shot 55.8% from the field and 40.9% from three.
In addition to Kentucky and IU, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard has high major offers from Louisville, Virginia, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Iowa, and Clemson.
Cupps, a true point guard, averaged 15.2 points, 4.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game while making 35 percent of his 3-pointers on 116 attempts and 82 percent of his free throws. He led Centerville High School (Centerville, Ohio) to a 2021 state title.
Also the head coach at Centerville, Cupps’ father Brook recently told The Daily Hoosier what they hope to see while on their upcoming visits.
“We just want to expose him to everything to kind of have a good feel,” Brook Cupps said. “To be honest, it’s not about the campuses, it’s more about being around the coaches. That will be the biggest factor for him. How he feels with those people.”
Along with Indiana, the 6-foot-2 Cupps has high major offers from Ohio State, Clemson, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Xavier, Stanford, and Virginia Tech.
Both Sheppard and Cupps generated substantial buzz this spring and summer while playing against mostly 2022 competition. Indiana’s coaching staff was able to watch them both live on multiple occasions, including this past weekend in Indianapolis.
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