It’s no coincidence Munster has been peaking at the same time David Cundiff has elevated his game, according to coach Mike Hackett.
“The reason we’ve played really well at the end of the season — the last couple of regular-season games and the three sectional games — is because of David,” Hackett said. “David started playing well.”
Hackett noted the sophomore point guard hadn’t been at his best.
“In the month of February, I was scared he hit a wall, that sophomore wall,” Hackett said. “We play him a ton of minutes, and his play showed it. He just wasn’t sharp. Therefore we weren’t very good. The middle of February, we were playing poorly. It didn’t look good.
“But the last week of the regular season, David got a little more life and started playing well. The next thing you know, our team is playing really well, which is good timing.”
Riding the wave of their first sectional title since 2019, Cundiff and the Mustangs (22-4) hope to carry over that performance at the Class 4A Michigan City Regional on Saturday.
After wins against West Side, Hammond Central and Lake Central, which Hackett called “probably our three best games of the year,” Munster plays in a semifinal at noon against star junior guard Markus Burton and Penn (23-2), ranked No. 9 in the all-classes state coaches poll and No. 6 in the 4A poll by The Associated Press.
Cundiff acknowledged he struggled with his shot during the middle stages of the season and that he’s “still learning a bunch of stuff.” But he believes he has turned a corner.
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“I locked in,” Cundiff said. “I got going mentally. The season’s had its ups and downs for me. But I feel like I started playing well at the right time. It’s easy for me to play well when everybody on our team started playing well. Everybody’s going in the right direction.”
From a shooting standpoint, Hackett said Cundiff “broke the ice” and boosted his confidence against Hanover Central in the last home game of the season on Feb. 22, scoring a career-high 21 points.
Cundiff began his upward trajectory last season as a freshman, earning meaningful minutes for a team that had eight seniors, including all five starters. Players such as Luka Balac and Jeremiah Lovett were mentors.
“We had a lot of good guys, and they really took me in and showed me the ropes,” Cundiff said. “What I did wrong, they called me out on it. If I did something right, they praised me. They just kept me in check, and that really helped.”
Cundiff has been a sponge and has been eager to develop his skills.
His brother Jack, the team’s assistant, has been part of the staff since graduating in 2011 — the last time Munster won a regional title — working his way up after having been the freshman coach and the junior varsity coach.
“Jack has a key to the gym, and David’s bugging Jack all the time to get into the gym,” Hackett said. “He’s an extremely hard worker. He’s an absolute gym rat. He just lives in the gym. Lives in the gym.”
Cundiff is one of Munster’s three sophomore starters. They’re joined by standout junior forward Brandon Trilli and senior guard Sean Kimble. Cundiff is averaging 9.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.3 steals.
“We rely on David a lot,” said Hackett, an Elston graduate. “He’s our primary ballhandler. On top of that, we need him to score a little bit. So we rely on him to do a lot of things for us. He’s obviously doing a very good job.”
Cundiff has embraced his role.
“People look at it and think there’s a lot of tension on me,” he said. “But Brandon relieves a lot of that tension, and so do Sean, Jermaine (Coney), Nolan (Kinsella). Once you get the ball over half-court, all five guys are playing together. I’ve always dreamed of this.”