Postseason boys basketball thoughts: Northridge’s turnaround, superlatives and notes, and a look at 2024
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- Northridge’s Bentley Whitear (2) goes to shoot as Bonneville’s Zac Combe (5) tries to contest on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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- Fremont’s Hunter Hansen (2) drives against American Fork’s Ashton Wallace during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
The high school boys basketball season concluded Saturday with the 6A and 5A state championship games at the Dee Events Center. Here are some postseason thoughts, plus an early look at 2023-24.
NORTHRIDGE’S TURNAROUND
On Jan. 25, Northridge High lost its seventh straight game, 75-51 at Box Elder. The Knights were 5-10 overall, 0-4 in Region 5 and had allowed 73, 82 and 75 points in the previous three games.
“Dark times,” as coach Andrew Olson called it.
Suddenly, Northridge won five of its final six games, finished third place in Region 5 and made the playoffs as the No. 24, and final, seed.
“Real easy to kind of, especially where our program’s been, to kind of say, ‘Oh here we go again,’ and hang it up,” Olson said. “But they’re winners, they’re good kids and they kept battling.”
Of course, it wasn’t that easy.
Northridge jostled with multiple teams for the No. 24 spot. Viewmont won its final three regular-season games and got the No. 22 seed.
Maple Mountain went 7-3 in its region, won three of its final four games, but finished at No. 25. Provo lost three of its final four games and finished No. 23.
Anything less than winning five of the last six might not have been enough for Northridge to make the postseason, which ended in a 63-57 first-round loss at No. 9 Skyline. The Knights ended the year 10-12 overall.
“They were pretty excited but at the same time, with Viewmont winning that night (Feb. 17), we still didn’t know if we were going to get in because Viewmont won, Maple Mountain won,” Olson said. “So that next Saturday at practice, we practiced for an hour, then went into the film room and kind of did the March madness bracket reveal to see if we were in and saw that we were, so they pretty excited, they were pretty pumped.”
A few things happened down the stretch that helped. First, Northridge has 13 juniors on its roster and abundant inexperience, so Olson felt like the team finally got comfortable toward the end of the season.
Second, the practice after the Jan. 26 Box Elder loss was one where Olson said he got into the team about its porous defensive effort the night before. The team watched a couple videos on what it means to play hard. The practice was intense and energetic, Olson said.
A day later against Bountiful, Caden Christensen hit a game-winning 3-pointer to complete a fourth-quarter comeback. A week later at Bonneville, Bentley Whitear jarred a late 3 on a busted play for a 47-45 win in another comeback.
Northridge’s next four region games were a 56-45 win at Viewmont, a 79-50 loss to Woods Cross, a 68-59 win over Box Elder and a 56-47 win at Bountiful.
Over the 5-1 run to close the regular season, the Knights allowed 53.3 points per game compared to 59.9 per game in the 15 games prior.
Lineup-wise, Northridge moved Whitear from shooting guard to point guard, inserted Josh Kitchen into the starting lineup as a 4 and moved Logan Birt from the 4 to the 3 around the start of region play.
“I think the chemistry just kind of flowed better, the kids were more comfortable. Really, they just started to believe in themselves. It wasn’t anything extraordinary, I just think — I give credit to my staff for staying with it, being positive with the guys and then really the kids went out and put a focus on the defensive end,” Olson said.
SUPERLATIVES & NOTES
- Fremont’s region championship was its seventh in school history. The titles come in bunches: 2003 and 2005, 2010 and 2011, 2018 and 2019.
- Morgan slightly unexpectedly shared the Region 13 title with Grantsville at 6-2. The Trojans lost both games to the Cowboys, who in turn lost to Ogden and then, in the regular-season finale, to South Summit.
- Layton had the biggest one-year turnaround of any area team, going 16-8 after last year’s 7-15 mark. Roy (from 9-15 to 15-10), Fremont (13-10 to 16-8), Syracuse (10-14 to 15-9), Bear River (6-16 to 12-11) and St. Joseph (from 4-15 to 8-14, with two different head coaches this season) also posted big turnarounds.
- Syracuse set its single-season wins record with 15, surpassing the previous record of 14 (2012-13, 2016-17 seasons). The Titans also have won playoff games and gone to the quarterfinals in back-to-back years for the first time in school history.
- Weber’s Hunter Schenck was the Region 1 scoring leader at 22.5 points per game, the first time since 2016 (Grant Ellison) that a Weber player led the region in scoring.
- Davis’ 14-12 record ensured the Darts’ 19th straight winning season. Fremont (eight) and Farmington (five) are also on long streaks of winning seasons.
- Notable streaks of losing seasons are Clearfield (14), Ogden (six), Northridge (six) and St. Joseph (six).
- St. Joseph is figuring out the next steps for its boys basketball head job; Chad Loosemore finished the season as interim coach after Aaron Schrader resigned mid-season. There are also coaching vacancies at Layton Christian and Viewmont.
- As of Tuesday, the Weber girls head coaching spot is also open after Clay Jackson resigned.
LOOKING AT 2023-24
Based on how rosters look right now, most of the remaining six Region 1 teams have many seniors to replace and the power balance probably shifts south.
Region-champion Fremont returns its leading scorer, Utah State commit Hunter Hansen, but loses its next six leading scorers. Layton brings back its top two leading scorers in three-year starting guard Mekhi Martin and two-year starter KJ Miller, then loses its next top five.
Syracuse loses its top six leading scorers. Weber loses three of its top four but could return Hunter Schenck, sophomore Tyler Payne and junior Malachi Spencer.
Meanwhile, Davis loses three of its top five scorers but could bring back starters Zach Fisher, Coleman Atwater and Ike Morgan. Farmington stands to return four of its top five scorers, including post player Paul Beattie (16.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg).
The 6A classification will have just 18 schools next season instead of the current 26. Of the final 16 teams in the 6A tournament this year, 14 will still be in 6A next year.
Roy and Clearfield join 5A Region 5 where most teams will experience turnover. Bonneville loses its top two scorers but could return multiple starters. Box Elder basically loses everyone except Elijah Kersey (11.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and Max Isaacson (4.4 ppg).
Northridge could return its top three scorers, and six of its top seven, led by Bentley Whitear (12.9 rpg) and De’Qoune Kennedy (10.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg).
Roy loses leading scorer and rebounder Elijah Sowards (18.6 ppg, 9.1 rpg) plus multiple starters. The Royals could return four key rotation players, including guard Bronson Belnap, who finished second in the state with 23 charges taken. Clearfield loses its top three scorers and four of its top five.
The southern teams are more unknown. Viewmont will have a new head coach, Bountiful loses four of its top six scorers and region-winner Woods Cross loses its top five.
In 3A Region 13, Ogden, Ben Lomond and Morgan welcome Union to what should be a fairly open region.
Ogden should bring back multiple starters and rotation players.
Ben Lomond’s top six scorers this year were juniors and a freshman, led by junior Jake East (16.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg). The Scots were young and stand to improve upon this year’s 2-20 mark.
Morgan loses four of its top six scorers, Grantsville loses its top three scorers and six of its top eight.
Elsewhere, St. Joseph stays in 2A Region 17, but Utah Military Academy moves to Region 16. Layton Christian will play boys basketball in 4A Region 8 with the likes of Provo and Orem. The 4A classification doubles from 13 to 26 teams next season.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.