Dallas Roberts is North Oldham High School's newest star player

(North Oldham class of 2023 guard Dallas Roberts | Photo courtesy of John Mayhugh)

While Justin Powell was making a name for himself, Dallas Roberts lurked in his shadow.

Before committing to Auburn University ahead of the 2020-21 season and recently deciding to transfer away from the Tigers, Powell was a frontrunner to win 2020 Mr. Kentucky Basketball at North Oldham High School. Unfortunately, an injury halfway through his senior year of high school cut the rest of his final season short. Despite that, he had already established himself as a high-level recruit and ended up signing with Auburn as a top-rated prospect. Both 247 Sports and Rivals ranked him as a three-star.

Now on the transfer market, Powell was recently tabbed by ESPN as the second-best available transfer out there. There is no doubt that the Kentucky fan base is clamoring for head coach John Calipari to bring in the former in-state star.

Powell played his senior season at North Oldham up in Goshen, KY, a roughly 30-minute drive outside the city of Louisville. After he arrived following a brief stint with the highly-regarded prep school down in Florida, Montverde Academy, the 6-foot-6 guard instantly became one of the best players in the Bluegrass State. Powell averaged 22 points and eight rebounds over the course of the eight games he did manage to play during the 2019-20 season before the injury forced him to the sidelines.

The result of Powell’s absence opened up more opportunities for the rest of his North Oldham teammates–and one player who took advantage of the extra minutes was then-freshman guard Dallas Roberts, who has been a varsity starter since he was in eighth grade. He poured in 13.5 points per game as a freshman in 30 outings while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor, 44.4 percent from long range, and 82 percent on his free throws. Now a sophomore in the class of 2023, Roberts is scoring even more points at slightly over 19 per game on shooting splits of 44.3/40.0/83.1, including an impressive 25-point performance on 4-4 made triples against nearby rival South Oldham in the 29th District Tournament on Tuesday night.

North Oldham has only been able to play 14 games so far this season, compared to most teams in the region who range anywhere from 17 games played to 26. COVID-19 protocols forced two separate shutdowns for North Oldham, including the week prior to the opening round of the District Tournament. As for Roberts, he was hit with a significant ankle injury last summer that he retwisted before eventually making it back on the hardwood.

Despite the unordinary schedule and lack of continuity (North Oldham’s starters had only played 24 minutes together on the season prior to Tuesday night), they still have a chance to make the Regional Tournament scheduled for next week. Roberts is a big reason why and he’s been doing so for nearly three years now.

“He was one of those kids who–he’s always been super shifty and fast,” North Oldham head coach David Levitch told KSR on Wednesday. “In eighth grade, he shot an enormous amount of free throws for his size as an eighth-grader. He had 29 on South [Oldham] in eighth grade. He’s just progressively gotten better through the years.”

Learning more than ever, appreciate all the help this year family. @Specter_Smit @Born_R3ady pic.twitter.com/mGpNf8da13

— Dallas Roberts (@Dallas1Roberts) December 13, 2020

Still a sophomore, Roberts is in the early stages of his recruitment and has yet to receive any scholarship offers, but he is receiving interest from Divison I programs such as Western Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, Belmont, Morehead State, Bellarmine, and Evansville. Morehead State made the field for the 2021 NCAA Tournament while pundits believe Belmont was over-looked for a bid after posting a 26-4 record this season. In particular, Belmont, Bellarmine, WKU, and Evansville have all been in contact with Roberts or Coach Levitch over the past few weeks.

At this point in time, Roberts is just looking for a good fit when it comes to a potential college choice, but he also realizes there is still a long way to go before he can think about making a decision.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve looked into schools a lot yet,” Roberts told KSR after North Oldham won on Tuesday night. “I’m more so waiting on them to come contact me. At the end of the day I want a free education and a free degree so that’s really what I’m looking for.”

At the rate he’s been playing and improving, Roberts might wind up looking for more. Earlier this month, he surpassed the 1,000 point mark and will surely top the North Oldham all-time scoring record by the time his high school career is over–a mark currently held by his head coach, who scored 1,871 in his four years.

Roberts is a strong, still-growing 6-feet tall with impressive athleticism and quick feet on defense. He’s developing into someone who can score from all three levels and has shown the ability to shoot from a few feet behind the 3-point line. On Tuesday night, South Oldham tried relentlessly–to no avail–to pressure Roberts into backcourt turnovers, which he constantly beat and exposed.

“When he [Roberts] was in eighth grade or even last year sometimes he would just go head down,” Levitch added. “He lets the game come to him a lot more. He still shoots the same amount of free throws that he usually has. But the pull-up is something–last year he would have just barrelled that in and tried to get foul. His progression as a player overall and understanding of the game is a lot better.”

Roberts’ recruitment is likely to spike more this summer once he can participate in the AAU circuit for Griffin Elite. Right now, he’s not currently ranked by any of the major recruiting services, but has plenty of time to continue improving and is clearly one of the better players in the Louisville area.

Of course, hearing from the likes of the nearby Cardinals or the Kentucky Wildcats would be a dream.

“For sure, for sure,” Roberts said about receiving attention from the big in-state programs. “Coming out of Kentucky, you always wanna go to a Kentucky, Louisville–be around home. Whatever comes is whatever comes, but that’s a dream.”

With two more years of high school still ahead of him, Roberts has taken plenty of steps into assuming the star role that Powell left behind. An added spotlight will surely come with it.