Gabe Cupps and Reed Sheppard have created an eye-opening duo for the Midwest Basketball Club. Cupps’ leadership, intelligence and shooting matched well with Sheppard’s athleticism and 3-point range.
The backcourt tandem most recently competed at the Adidas 3-Stripes Select event in Rock Hill, SC. Cupps and Sheppard met with Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster from The Field of 68 podcast to discuss each other’s games and college futures. Watch the full interview ONCE UPON A TIME.
But after running the show together since eighth grade, Cupps and Sheppard go to rival college programs: Indiana and Kentucky. A 2-foot quarterback, Cupps will play his final season at Centerville High School outside of Dayton, Ohio, before joining head coach Mike Woodson and the Indiana Hoosiers.
“He always brings the most energy to the game, and he’s always a dog on the defensive side,” Sheppard said of Cupps in The Field of 68, and he knows how to turn you on and when on the offensive side. shooting, when screen and pass and cut and he’s a great speaker, so playing with him was a blessing.”
With his father’s 20 years of coaching experience, Cupps’ upbringing was based around basketball. When Cupps visited Bloomington, he felt a similar aura from the Indiana fans, whose focus has always been the Hoosiers.
“My family was nothing but basketball,” Cupps said in The Field of 68. “We really didn’t know anything else, and Indiana really felt like home,” he said.
Cupps can’t wait to watch Indiana this year, a team he believes has a lot of potential. Cupps acknowledges that Woodson is defensively focused, but also believes the Hoosiers have enough talent to be a high-scoring offensive team.
“I think the goal of getting Coach Woodson back to Indiana is really great,” Cupps said in The Field of 68. “He is a super loyal guy and takes care of the people around him.”
Cupps’ AAU backfield mate Sheppard is a 6-foot-3 combo guard from North Laurel High in London, Ky. He is determined to play for John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats, following in the footsteps of his father, Jeff, who was a two-time National Champion in Kentucky in 1996 and 1998.
That path would historically have led Cupps and Sheppard to match in college, but renewing the Indiana-Kentucky regular season streak has been put on hold since Christian Watford won the game in 2011. The schools have not played since Indiana’s 32 wins against Kentucky. Talks of rekindling the competition at the 2016 NCAA Tournament and more recently stalled. Maybe Cupps and Sheppard can help bring the competition back?
“It might not be Bloomington, Lexington, I don’t know,” Woodson said. “But however we do it, I will accept it… I will not let it die. I will continue. [Calipari’s] They’re very good at putting the Kentucky-Indiana franchise back on the table because I think years later, man, it was such a good game to go to Lexington and have them come to Bloomington.”
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Sheppard is a 5-star recruit and #1 in the class of 2023. He was named the 2022 Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year, averaging 25.5 points, 7.6 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 4.4 steals, including a 50-point game last season, according to 247Sports Composite.
“He’s very athletic,” Cupps said of Sheppard in The Field of 68. “A lot of people don’t know that until he just makes fun of people.”
Cupps is just in the top 100 at #1. 99 made him a four-star candidate in the class of 2023. As a junior, Cupps averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game.
“I think Indiana is a really good basketball player,” Sheppard said of Cupps on The Field of 68. He is a really smart player who will do whatever it takes for the team to be successful. It will never come back. talk to the coaches, he will never get angry when the coaches yell at him or coach him, he is a very coachable player, on and off the court, very vocal. A stupid man who will be himself always makes everyone laugh.”
But regardless of where they fall, Cupps and Sheppard share a similar mentality of never looking at such rankings.
“I have a desire to try to be the best player I can be, and standings don’t justify it, don’t make me work harder,” Cupps said at The Field of 68. “My father always told me. That these are just ideas, just an opinion like everything else in the world. I just need to focus on trying to be the best me.”
Cupps and Sheppard are approaching a new era of college athletics, where the NIL has become a key factor in the recruitment and transfer portal. The two agreed that players are starting to make college decisions based on NIL money, but they hope this aspect doesn’t overwhelm the college game.
Speaking at The Field of 68, Cupps said, “I think players should be able to make money on their names. They’ve worked hard and I think that’s something they should be able to do. I hope not. Take over the game. Basketball should be the focus, the focus should be on winning. I don’t want men to play the game just for money. It’s much deeper than that, and I think the game deserves better than that.”
As we approach their senior year of high school, Sheppard said a major focus for both will be to become stronger and more mature. She knows that a higher level of work ethic is required in college and that their game as a whole needs to evolve.
But wherever he goes, one Cupps-related feature stands out for Sheppard in particular. Spanning two seasons, Cupps led Centerville to 45 consecutive wins, including the state championship in 2021 and state runner-up in 2022.
“He will win Indiana,” Sheppard said of Cupps. He’s going to make the right moves when he’s on the court and he’s going to do Indiana really well.”
Stories about Indiana basketball:
- TJ POWER AVERAGE 30 POINTS IN EYBL KANSAS CITY: Indiana has been heavily involved in the 2023 four-star TJ Power acquisition, but Mike Woodson and his team will now have to fend off North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas and others for a 6ft-9 forward from Worcester Academy in Massachusetts. CLICK HERE
- JAMIE KAISER VISIT TO INDIANA PLANNING: Jamie Kaiser, a four-star newbie in the class of 2023, said he plans an official visit to Indiana on Sunday. The 6-foot wing said he talks to the Indiana coaching team every day and believes it fits Mike Woodson’s professional style system. CLICK HERE
- GUNN WORKS TO BECOME A 3-POINT SHOOTER NEEDS OF INDIANA: Lawrence North High School product CJ Gunn joins Mike Woodson and the Indiana basketball program with a reputation based in part on his 3-point shooting skills. It’s an area where Indiana has struggled lately, but Gunn is working to fill that gap. CLICK HERE
- CLASSES BENEFITING FROM SEASON TRAINING: Indiana basketball freshmen have been on campus for a little over a month and are already seeing noticeable improvements thanks to Clif Marshall’s off-season training program. CLICK HERE
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