Chesterton boys basketball coach looks forward to five games of leading the state’s most talented seniors, the Indiana All-Stars, in practices and games this week

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The 135th annual Chesterton High School commencement exercises are scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the CHS Football Stadium, but boys basketball coach Marc Urban won’t be able to attend the ceremonies this year.
Urban has a scheduling conflict because of his prestigious appointment as coach of the Indiana All-Stars, who take on the Kentucky All-Stars twice in a continuation of an annual series that started in 1940.
Urban will be coaching the Indiana All-Stars in an exhibition vs. the Indiana Junior All-Stars at Greenfield Central High in the second game of a girls-boys doubleheader. The girls game starts 5 p.m. CDT with the boys game to follow. Before the games, the Indiana All-Stars will have an autograph signing session of the team poster.
The boys game doesn’t project as an uncontested layup for the seniors. Purdue point guard recruit Luke Ertel of Mount Vernon High led Indiana past the Kentucky Juniors 119-108 with 36 points, nine assists and 13 rebounds. Power forward Kai McGrew, who after the season transferred from Lawrence North High to Fishers, added 23 points and eight rebounds and Crown Point’s Dikembe Shaw totaled 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Urban will be with the team Tuesday through Saturday, either running practices or a game every day. The All-Stars play the Kentucky All-Stars Friday at Lexington Catholic. The teams face each other again Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse at 6:30 CDT.
Kentucky is led by Malachi Moreno, a 7-foot-1 University of Kentucky recruit ranked 27th in the Class of 2025 in Rvials’ rankings. Indiana’s Mr. Basketball is Braylon Mullins, a 6-5 guard who signed with Connecticut and ranked 29th.
Urban met his players and put them through a double session of practices divided by a lunchbreak on a May weekend day.
“It was good to get in and sweat with the kids and feel them and coach them and take a lot of ideas and cram them into two quick practices,” Urban said. “The good thing is we were able to film it. We installed everything that we have, so we were able to put together a video playbook and send it to them.”
He shared his early impressions of the players: “They were great. They seemed like a very fun group, nice kids, all played the right way and obviously they’re very talented. You got a feel for who could pick up on stuff quickly, kind of where guys are at because you watch them on tape and hear about them, so it was good to see them with your own eyes.”
Urban said he enjoyed getting to know East Chicago Central’s Dominque Murphy, the only Indiana All-Star from a regional school this year, better after coaching against him on multiple occasions during the season and the summer.
Urban also was impressed with Mullins.
“Really intelligent. He really knew how to read screens and how to move,” Urban said. “You can tell his IQ is really high but also his release is incredibly quick, he’s able to get it off. The shot clock was coming down and he hit a 3 from the volleyball line over (Dezmon) Briscoe, who’s about 6-9. It was contested but it was quick, but then he’s also a lot more athletic than you think. He reminds me of a Tyler Herro (Miami Heat) type guy. He can come off screens, shoot it but he’s also a really good passer too.”
Urban also cited Northwestern recruit Tre Singleton from state-champion Jeffersonville for having “a really good feel for what we’re trying to do.”
He also was impressed with Notre Dame defensive back recruit Mark Zackery IV from Ben Davis.
““Some people say he shouldn’t be on the team because he was injured and didn’t play much, but I mean he was super competitive,” Urban said. “Before it even started, you could tell he was ready to go and had something to prove and I get along with those kinds of guys. He’s incredibly quick and had a very serious approach to it, so it was fun. He’s excited about it.”
Urban has two assistant coaches: Chris Hawkins from Crispus Attucks and Jason Speer from Bloomington North.
Getting the talent to mesh with such limited practice time is a challenge for any all-star coach in any sport.
“I think the trick is going to be how do we put lineups together that make sense,” Urban said. “I think that’s going to be an important part because guys can play different positions and bring different threats to the game, so we’re just trying to find the right combination that will have success.”
In addition to banking on his assistant coaches, Urban will have All-Star Director Mike Broughton as a valuable resource.
Broughton is the driving force behind keeping the series alive and at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Before becoming the face of the Indiana All-Stars, Broughton had a long coaching career. He coached Jeffersonville to a state championship in 1993 and from 1990 to 2000 he won more games (210) and had a higher winning percentage (.837) than any coach in Indiana. He coached the Indiana All-stars in 1996 and eventually moved onto the college ranks, where he was an assistant to Barry Collier at Nebraska and then became head coach at Southern Nazerene University, where he had three 20-win seasons.
“We talk once a week right now on all kinds of stuff. He’s been great,” Urban said. “His pride that he takes in running this, the fight to keep the game alive and keep people interested, it’s real with him, which is really cool and he’s a good guy, you get talking and you go in different directions in what you talk about but he’s been around the game for a long time, and I have a ton of respect for him and what he’s done with this whole process. It’ll be fun to get down there and spend a whole week with him.”
Broughton not only works to keep the series alive, but also does what it takes to keep the Indiana gamea t the most prestigious site.
“He feels it’s very important to have it at Gainbridge because he feels it’s an experience for the players, the coaches, the fans to have it at Gainbridge,” Urban said.
The Pacers playing the Thunder in the NBA Finals won’t get in the way of that.
“There are a lot of moving parts to save that date for us,” Urban said, noting that Broughton met with NBA and WNBA officials well ahead of time to go over dates of availability.
Indiana leads the all-time series 105-46. The teams split last season.