April 12, 2009

Mike Pegram
Peegs.com & Inside Indiana Staff Writer

To nobody's surprise, Bloomington South point guard Jordan Hulls was officially named Mr. Basketball earlier today. The 6-foot-0 senior who signed with Indiana, led South to a perfect 26-0 ranking and the school's first Indiana state title in 90 years.

Hulls averaged 15.8 points per game this year for South to go along with 5.2 assists and 2.6 steals per game. Earlier in the week he told Peegs.com what it would be like to win the award.

"It would be a dream come true," said Hulls. "It is every kids dream in Indiana to win Mr. Basketball. All the candidates are deserving of it but I hope I am the final one because that has been a dream of mine since I was little."

The voting was not even close. Hulls finished with 131 votes, more than five times higher than the 26 votes garnered by runner-up Bruce Grimm of Rochester. Third was Indiana signee Derek Elston. The 6-foot-8 forward from Tipton had 18 votes. Purdue bound D.J. Byrd of North Montgomery had 16 votes and NC State signee Scott Wood of Marion rounded out the top five with 15 votes.

Bloomington South completed their magical season with a 69-62 victory over Fort Wayne Snider in the Class 4A state title. Earlier in the regular season the Panthers knocked off another then Super 25 top five team, Detroit Country Day. Hulls had a game high 27 points in that 73-67 victory at the South gym. He knew coming into this weekend the team success would be a huge assist in the vote getting.

"If I do get it, it would be because the team got me the award. Could not have gotten it without my teammates and coaches and going that far in the tournament. 26-0 doesn't hurt either."

That team success and well known talent at South likely allowed voters to overlook his modest scoring stats.

"That (scoring) is not really my game," said Hulls. "I like to distribute the ball. Whatever I have to do to win. If I have to score 30, then I can try to score 30. If I can get 10 assists, then that is what I will do. Scoring is not the most important thing to me in my mind. That is the way my dad has always brought me up --- to play that way."

Last night Hulls added to his resume by taking home the three-point shooting title in the Wazoo Sports Derby Festival Classic all-star game at Freedom Hall in Louisville. He scored 14 points in the final to beat out three other finalists including fellow Hoosier signee Maurice Creek.