Isaiah Reed Sheppard is one of the most incredible college basketball players in recent times. His single-year stint at Kentucky, his parent’s alma mater, provided the fans and scouts alike with a remarkable display. While all this is going well, we are taking a few steps back to when Reed was still a high school basketball player trying to figure out where he wanted to play next. In that decision, his elder sister, Madison, a student-athlete herself, navigated him through the nitty-gritty of college basketball that led him to Kentucky.

Coming off the bench, Reed would hustle on the floor at the crucial moments at the end of the games. In late April this year, Reed Sheppard declared for the 2024 NBA draft, forgoing his three years of eligibility in collegiate basketball just to pursue his next dream of playing at the highest level. While he does that, let’s explore more about the pillar behind Reed’s strength and greatness.

Meet Reed Sheppard’s elder sister, Madison

Madison grew up as a competitive baller. At North Laurel High School, she garnered several accolades in her four years. Overall, she led the Lady Jaguars with the most wins in the program’s history at a 27-8 record, averaging 16.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. She would hit 54% from the floor and 41% from beyond the arc.

She won the TRIPSY Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year honor. This award was a combined effort of two newspapers in the Tri-County high school area, namely The Times-Tribune and The Sentinel-Echo.

Persistence was all she donned as she won the 49th District Championship, becoming the 49th District Player of the Year, named to Third-Team KHSAA All-State, and the 13th Regional First-Team. Not only was Madison a strong hooper, but she also excelled in academics as she received the KHSAA Academic All-State honor and graduated Magna Cum Laude, and member of the National Honors Society in 2018.

Stepping into her collegiate career, Madison appeared in 25 games and averaged 3.3 points per game while shooting 56% from the floor and 44% from beyond the arc. As a sophomore, she grew her range of gameplay a bit, averaging 3.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. Also, she shot 47% from the field goals and 40% from beyond the arc. That season, she scored a season-high 14 points in a matchup against Brescia. Madison was the type of athlete who kept the perfect balance between her sport and academics and she was named to the Academic All Mid-South Conference, which she maintained for the next two seasons as well.

As a Junior, she started 6 games out of all 23 games, averaging 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. She developed her shooting game to a level where she was making 49.6% shots from the field, 34.5% beyond the arc, and 81.8% from the free throw line, enriching her scoring ability. She a career-high 17 points in a game against Bethel (Tennessee).

Since her high school days, Madison had a fantastic and successful basketball run. However, in her senior season at Campbellsville, she sustained a back injury, that kept her from performing. Despite that, she didn’t stop pursuing excellence as she made strides academically and earned the Miss Tiger and the Don Bishop Champion of Character Awards. Similarly, she received the Mid-South Conference Champion of Character and NCCAA Scholar-Athlete honors.

Now, when the time came for her younger brother, Reed to go to college, Madison went into a whole protector mode and began looking within the details. Being a former student-athlete herself, she decoded every future aspect before Reed arrived at his decision. Let’s see how.

Madison being her brother’s guiding light

Despite the general perception, Madison was under the impression that Reed would not play basketball where both their parents played. She was halfway convinced that Reed would choose a different route than Kentucky, given the burdening pressure.

However, Kentucky’s relentless efforts and interest in Reed gave her a fresh outlook, as she put it, “Kentucky got really consistent recruiting him and everything Kentucky presented was just awesome. Once we visited for Big Blue Madness together, I had a good feeling he would choose Kentucky then.”

Exploring his options, Reed visited Virginia, Ohio State, Indiana, and Louisville before he chose Kentucky. He was getting overwhelmed and wanted to feel like a normal kid, however, Reed accepted the tough time that was to come and developed a strong mindset to live with it.

Madison, on the other hand, played a crucial role in breaking down the specifics during his recruitment as she taught her to look for some factors like chemistry, selfishness, etc. “Chemistry is so important and I explained to him to look at the way players interacted with one another on the teams he was looking at. Did he see any selfishness or do they all love one another? I encouraged him to look at that.”

Further, she told Reed to observe how the coaches interacted with the players outside of basketball or how much they were invested in their players. Gathering the conclusion, Madison described Kentucky’s chemistry and the chemistry that John Calipari had with his team was one reason Reed chose to play for the Wildcats. There was no selfishness among players as they were spending a healthy time together outside the court as well.

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