PLAYERS TO WATCH
Elias Blackhawk, Century
Charlie Horrocks, Century
Julian Bowie, Pocatello
Gage Ontiveros, Pocatello
Kesler Vaughn, Pocatello
Cruz Harris, Preston
Druw Jones, Preston
Written by: Brandon Baney
What started as a small murmur amongst a few diehard basketball fans has swelled to a growing number of voices statewide that are asking: can’t we expand the number of teams that compete at state?
Currently, only eight teams are allowed to advance to the proper State Tournament. Depending on the number of State Tournament Play-In Games per classification, as many as ten or eleven teams could theoretically compete. But a growing contingent of fans are asking for an expansion into twelve or even sixteen teams.
And the league everyone points to when making this argument is Class 4A’s South East Idaho Conference, where Century, Pocatello and Preston have been beating up on each other over the past several years. Since it’s a three team league, only one team advances to state, and the second place finisher doesn’t even have the chance to earn their way in via a Play-In Game.
Just look at some of the quality teams that haven’t advanced to state over the past three years:
2022-23 Preston (17-8)
2021-22 Century (18-6)
2021-22 Preston (14-9)
2020-21 Century (15-8)
2020-21 Pocatello (17-8)
And so, these three talented teams will trudge on in 2023-24, scrapping and clawing and fighting for that one golden ticket to state. Coaches gave Pocatello the nod in our preseason poll, based upon the Thunder’s appearance in the Class 4A state championship game last season, but both the Indians and Diamondbacks will be breathing down Poky’s necks.
Pocatello returns a talented nucleus that starts with reigning 4A Player of the Year Julian Bowie. The Boise State commit set a new 4A State Tournament record last year for most points in a single tourney, and he can stroke it from the outside and drive to the basket with equal aplomb.
6-foot-10 center Gage Ontiveros returns as well, and senior guards Kesler Vaughn, Parker Smith and Drey Contreras are all talented playmakers.
“We can really shoot the three-ball,” says coach Joe Green. “We have experience at every position, and our guards can really shoot it. We also have a solid inside presence with Gage Ontiveros and Isaiah Leonard.”
Leonard is a newcomer to varsity ball this year, and the senior will be called upon to spell Ontiveros down low. Other JV promotions expected to produce this year are guards Hunter May (junior) and Tavin Williams (sophomore).
“I’m really excited about our depth,” Green says. “We can score at all three levels and every player on the court is a threat.”
The Preston Indians have experienced a two-year state tournament drought, which is unusual for a program that has claimed four of the past eight Class 4A championships.
Tyler Jones is entering his 14th season as Preston’s head coach, and returns his son, senior point guard Druw Jones, and junior forward Cruz Harris. Each picked up All-Conference honors a year ago, and both are expected to lead a fairly young group of Indians.
“We only return one starter and two players with much varsity experience from last year,” says Jones. “We like our squad and we are longer and more athletic than we have been, but we just need to gain some experience as we go and hopefully we can continue to improve as the season goes along.”
Seniors Tytan Knapp (center), Carson Winder (forward) and Kolter Moffitt (guard) are among the newcomers. Junior guards Jake Schumann and Reggie Larson will also be called upon. The learning curve will have to be accelerated for these athletes to thrive in Preston’s press-heavy, up-tempo attack.
“We want to play faster and in transition more,” says Jones. “We feel like we have some speed and athleticism and want to use that to our advantage. We always talk about defense and rebounding, and that will be huge for us this year.”
Century is another team that is trying to figure out the pieces of its puzzle in 2023-24. “We have a good mix of seniors, juniors and a couple of sophomores that can all play,” says coach Ryan Frost.
Senior guard Elias Blackhawk earned 2nd Team All-Conference honors a year ago, and he’ll be joined in the starting lineup by forwards Charlie Horrocks (junior) and Jordan Wilkinson (sophomore). Everything else is up for grabs, and with so many new faces mixed in this year, coach Frost is keeping things simple.
“If we can play defense and rebound, then we will be competitive every game.”