Those who keep up with basketball recruiting have heard of an athletic freshman guard from Louisville who plays like he has a built in pogo stick.
For those who did not know, now you do. St. Xavier went up against Great Crossing Sunday evening in the Derby City Tip-Off put on by MADE Hoops. It was accurately billed as the biggest high school game to date in the state of Kentucky. It is a rarity when Great Crossing loses inside the borders of the Bluegrass, but that is exactly what happened as St. Xavier won by a pretty comfortable 72-58 margin.
But there was more to takeaway than just the final score. Those who were in attendance left raving about Josh Lindsay. The 6-foot-0, 180 pound 9th grader finished with 13 points and 4 rebounds, and played his fair share of the game above the rim.
"It was definitely the biggest high school game I have been involved in, "Lindsay told Cats Illustrated Monday night. "It was electric. The crowd was really what got us going. The 'Rage Cage' got us together and our energy up a lot. I feel like played really good. I facilitated well, and I played defense well.”
He had 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists the night before against Covington Catholic in the same event. The Tigers are now a perfect 6-0 with an average winning margin of 38.5 points per game. Lindsay has already played a part in that, but he as we said earlier, the basketball world already had knowledge of him. Lindsay picked up an offer from Ohio University just one month into his high school career.
Lindsay is not old enough to receive direct contact from college coaches, but he still already has received interest from Morehead State and Louisville. He told Cats Illustrated Monday night that he has had a conversation with Kentucky.
Whether you are a teenager or on Social Security, the Mark Pope experience at UK is new to all of us. Lindsay says it has something he has enjoyed so far.
“The University of Kentucky is really good. I really like Kentucky though. I’ve seen a few games (this season). I like the way they attack and push the ball up the court and stuff.”
Lindsay describes himself as a "baseball player" in his younger days, so he didn't watch a lot of basketball. Now that he has become an interested spectator he is not a fan of any certain team or teams, but instead watches the players he patterns himself after.
“In the NBA I like to watch Anthony Edwards and Kyree (Irving), how they facilitate, and how they score whenever they want. In college I like to watch Tahaad Pettiford and Dylan Harper, "Lindsay admitted to Cats Illustrated.
When asked to give a scouting report on himself, Lindsay responded, "I’m like a really aggressive attacker. I’m able to shoot the three, athletic, plays defense really hard, and brings defense to the team.”
St. Xavier is a talented team, and normally a freshman is just trying to make the team. But with a talent like Lindsay, St. Xavier Head Coach, Kevin Klein, is using his star ninth grader in multiple roles.
“It’s a little bit of both (point guard and shooting guard). I’m more off the ball right now though. Our coach wants a little bit of both. We really work on Stampedes which is catching it on the move and being ready to attack. We are a really good shooting team, so if we catch it and we’re open we are going to shoot it, " Lindsay explained.
Since this is our introductory story, we naturally wanted to know more about the talented youngster, and how he got introduced to the game.
“I got started in third or fourth grade, like before the COVID year, "Lindsay told Cats Illustrated. "After the COVID year sitting in the house for a long time I saw all of these basketball clips on Instagram and stuff it just pulled me closer to the game. I really started getting into basketball my seventh grade year, and progressed over the years. I would say my sixth grade year is when I started taking it serious. My eighth grade year at Ramsey Middle School the highest I had was 40.”
The lead to the obvious next question. Lindsay is already a human highlight reel even though he doesn't graduate high school until 2028. When did he first begin dunking the basketball?
“I was 12 going on 13. It was my seventh grade summer, "Lindsay explained. "I was about 5-foot-6 when I started dunking. I actually got my first dunk during halftime. We were warming up, and I actually dunked during halftime."
Next up for St. Xavier is Lloyd Memorial and Walton-Verona this coming week. The Tigers are expected to take over the No. 1 spot when the next state rankings are released.
