LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- While the basketball season has ended for Kentuckiana schools, the madness continues for at least one student.
On April 30, Samuel Nolan, a third grader at Georgetown Elementary School, will compete in the Elks Hoop Shoot free throw contest in Chicago.
The 4-foot-6 basketball player thinks he can hit 23 free throws again.
Nolan earned a trip to nationals after winning regional and state free throw contests.
"And then I went to New Albany to do it again, and this time was 25. I hit 24 out of 25," he said.
As Nolan made one basket after another, it even surprised one of his biggest fans.
”It probably didn't really occurred to me how good he was until he started locally here at New Albany when he hit 24 out of 25," Samuel's father, Matt Nolan, said. ”And that just kind of blew my mind and it's just kind of gone on from there.”
Samuel is the last man standing from southern Indiana and the local Elks Lodge is behind him all the way.
"Win, lose or draw, he's top in our book," Phil Reich, the program director for Elks Hoop Shoot New Albany, said.
"He even said, 'you know even if I come in 12th, he said I'll still be the 12th best shooter in the nation,'" Matt Nolan said.
Samuel's hoop dreams are bigger than the free throw contests, but he understands its a long shot.
"I want to play in the pros one day, but the odds of that are slim," Samuel said.
When it comes to long shots, Samuel has already made a few from the half-court.
"During practice for our Georgetown team, I hit four in one day," Samuel said.
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