PLAYERS TO WATCH

Preston Wood, Carey
Jayme Ramos, Castleford
Landon Stuart, Glenns Ferry
Josiah Valencia, Glenns Ferry
Nic Gill, Hansen
Jack DeJong, Lighthouse Christian
Sam Rogers, Lighthouse Christian
Jr. Benites, Murtaugh
Isaac Cranney, Oakley
Talon Taylor, Raft River
Tanner Tracy, Raft River
Nathan Christensen, Valley

Written by: Jesse Richens

The Snake River Conference finished on a competitive note last season. Castleford finished first at 7-1 in conference play, but Carey was only one game behind them in their conference record. There was then a 4-way tie between Valley, Lighthouse Christian, Murtaugh, and Oakley as they all finished at 5-3 vs. conference opponents.

Castleford comes off their great season atop the conference while posting a 17-7 overall record. They battled with Carey until the very end of the regular season and beat them in a very close overtime battle that ended 51-49, thus putting them at the top of the conference.

Castleford looks to repeat the success from the last season continue to do well in conference play and hopefully make a deep tournament run in the state tournament. Senior Jayme Ramos will lead the Wolves in their attempts to repeat.

Carey, who finished 6-2 in conference play last season and 18-9 in the regular season, is trying to get to that top spot in the conference. As mentioned before, they lost that close game to Castleford in a game that could have gone anyone’s way. Carey had defeated Castleford earlier in the season but could not pull off the win in overtime.

The battle for the top spot in the conference will not be easy for Carey however, with multiple teams just one game behind them in the standings last season. Junior Preston Wood is expected to lead Carey into battle in 2023-24.

Despite significant graduation losses from last year’s top two teams, don’t count them out. “People might think Castleford and Carey might drop off due to graduation, but they played really well this summer,” says Valley coach Brian Hardy.

Valley, being one of the teams that finished third in conference play is also looking to make a nice run in the conference.

Speaking of Valley, Brian Hardy enters his 12th years on the Vikings’ sideline and is looking forward to the upcoming season. “I love to see the steps kids take along their careers,” says Hardy. “I believe in this group and trust the work they have put in. I am excited to see how far they can improve since the end of last year.”

Hardy says one of their biggest focuses this year will be shooting, “You can never have enough great shooting,” he says. “We want to attack the hoop more this year.” Hardy also feels confident in his team's defense for the upcoming season. “We have several guys that can defend multiple positions, they are versatile and we should be able to switch defensive assignments,” Hardy says.

Lighthouse Christian is another team that finished with a conference record of 5-3. Their overall record ended up being 15-6, placing them just below Valley in the standings. After a long and storied career at Twin Falls High School, Matt Harr enters his first season on the Lighthouse sidelines. Harr is excited to work with a team with a lot of work ethic and basketball knowledge and says the X-factor for the season is, “The bench will have to become a major contributor in all our games.”

Harr hopes to exploit other teams by using their height from Sam Rogers and Jack DeJong inside of the painted area and their goal defensively is to hold teams to less than 40 points per game. Harr is preaching a lot of aggressiveness to his new team, especially defensively, saying, “We will play 94 feet for 32 minutes with a lot of pressure, both full court and in the half-court setting.”

Murtaugh and Oakley finished last season with the same exact records, 5-3 in conference play and 11-12 overall. Both of these teams look forward to the new season hoping to get out of the middle of the pack and make a push to be leaders in the conference for the upcoming season. Jr. Benites for Murtaugh and Isaac Cranney for Oakley will have to get their legs under them after deep postseason runs on the football field this fall.

Glenns Ferry finished conference play with a 2-6 record and an overall record of 9-13. Second-year head coach Jared Lemieux is excited for this year's team and expects them to make a leap forward this season. Lemieux expressed his pride for the team saying, “I’m excited for another year with this core group of kids from last year. Really looking forward to what they can bring to the table with their experiences over the last couple of years. They are all going to have to have a scoring mentality this year and I am excited to see what that brings.”

Lemieux says that the most important thing that can help the team this season is defense. “If we can defend and get steals and rebounds that will allow us to get up the floor and get quick, efficient looks at our basket,” he says.

Lemieux adds that they are smaller than most teams but is eager to attack the advantages of having a smaller team. Glenns Ferry has the confidence and if they show grit they could surprise a lot of teams this season.

Hansen finished the season with a 1-7 record in conference play and 4-16 overall. Hansen will look to their veteran players like Nic Gil, Dillon Egbert and Sam Huerta-Sanchez to help them make a further push into the Snake River Conference.

Shoshone coach Garr Ward will have to hit the hallways to find players. Last year’s team featured seven players, and six of them graduated in the offseason.

Raft River came in last place in the conference with a record of 0-8 in conference play and 3-20 overall. Fourth-year head coach Jeff Davenport says, “I’m excited to watch the growth of younger players that are getting their first varsity experience and also watching our seniors taking on leadership roles.” The focus of the team this season will be playing great defense to create easy offense for themselves. Davenport says they will put a lot of focus on rebounding on both sides of the ball to create more opportunities to score.

The Snake River Conference seemed like it could have been anyone’s for the taking last season, and it looks like it will be no different this season. A lot of competitive teams will be going head-to-head to see who will end up on top.