Sauk Valley area boys basketball previews for the 2024-25 season

Amboy

Coach: Tyson Powers (1st season)

Last season: 4-27, 0-8 NUIC South

Returning starters: Eddie Jones, 6-3, sr., G; Quinn Leffelman, 5-11, sr. G; Ezra Parker, 6-7, jr., F

Other top returners: Brody Christoffersen, 6-0, sr., G; Kabe Daniels, 5-11, sr., G/F; Rylan McNinch, 6-4, jr., F; Carson Barlow, 5-11, sr., F

Key varsity newcomers: Bryson Deery, 6-3, fr., G/F; Tucker McCoy, 5-11, jr. G

Worth noting: Powers is a 2013 Amboy grad who previously served as the freshman/sophomore coach. He intends for the team’s defense to be its foundation.

“We are focused on the process of getting better every day and controlling what we can control,” he said. “With three starters returning and three more guys with significant varsity experience from last year, we will have a veteran group that has played a lot of basketball, so our focus will be putting the pieces together within our system and beginning to win some games.”

Ashton-Franklin Center

Coach: Mike Messer

Last season: 5-26, 2-10 NUIC South (6th)

Key returner: Aaron Lester, 5-8, sr.

Worth noting: The Raiders opened the season with a 66-51 win over Hiawatha.

Bureau Valley

Coach: Jason Marquis (12th season)

Last season: 15-7

Top returners: Landon Hulsing, sr.; Bryce Helms, sr.; Elijah Endress, sr.; Landen Birdsley, sr.; Logan Philhower, jr.; Blake Foster, so.

Top newcomers: Brad Schoff, jr.; Zac Wiggim, jr.; Brandon Carrington, jr.; Liam Swearingen, sr.

Worth noting: Hulsing is the team’s top returning scorer at 12.6 points per game with 9.8 rebounds per game. Hulsing scored 23 points in a 78-50 win over Stark County to open the season. This is the first season the Storm are competing in the Lincoln Trail Conference.

Dixon

Coach: Chris Harmann (7th season)

Last season: 24-6, 8-1 BNC (2nd)

Returning starters: Darius Harrington, 6-3, sr., F; Cullen Shaner, 6-0, sr. G

Key returners: Eli Davidson, 5-11, sr. G; Brady Feit, 5-8, jr. G; Brody Nicklaus, 5-8, so. G

Key newcomer: Jackson Koehler, 6-0, jr. F

Worth noting: Dixon brings back less than half of its 11-man roster from last season, but leading the way is 1,000-point scorer Harrington, who set the program’s single-season record with 599 points last season. Shaner is the other returning starter, and he’ll look to be the floor leader as a point guard with a strong perimeter game. Davidson was one of the first players off the bench last season, and he’ll look to fill a bigger role as a shooting guard with the ability to drive to the basket. Feit and Nicklaus also will have bigger roles for the team this season as the Dukes are looking for their first regional championship since back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.

“Those guys that are coming back will be solid for us, and I’m looking forward to seeing Brody Nicklaus’ progression,” Harmann said. “Brady Feit’s been giving us some good minutes in practice; he plays hard, he’s scrappy, he just really gets after it. We’ve got Eli and Cullen and Darius, who can shoot it, so we’re going to be able to space things out a little bit again. Defensively, we’ve got to figure some stuff out. That’s going to be where we’re at early on, but these guys will play hard night in and night out.”

Eastland

Coach: Tyler Zumdahl (7th season)

Last season: 26-10, 9-1 NUIC South (T1)

Returning starters: Adam Awender, sr., G; Peyton Spears, sr., G; Tanner Stern, sr., G; Parker Krogman, jr., F

Other top returners: Zy Haveralnd, jr., F; Braden Anderson, jr., G; Brayden Jackson, sr., F

Key varsity newcomers: Harper Keim, jr., G; Perry Stoner, jr., F

Worth noting: The Cougars return four starters from last year’s team which reached the sectional before falling 60-50 to Pecatonica.

“We should be a strong team this year since we return most of our guys/production from last year,” Coach Zumdahl said. “We are hopeful to win the conference and make a postseason run.”

Erie-Prophetstown

Coach: Ryan Winckler (22nd season)

Last season: 3-22, 1-9 TRAC West (7th)

Returning starters: Connor Keegan, 6-0, jr., G; Keegan Winckler, 5-11, jr., G; Gus Schulte, 6-4, jr., F; Evan Steimle, 6-3, so., F

Other top returner: Max Milem, 5-9, jr., G

Key varsity newcomers: Derek Naftzger, 6-1, so., F; Sawyer Copeland, 6-1, so., F; Nathan Punke, 6-1, so., G; Landon VanDeWostine, 6-1, so., G

Worth noting: Winckler says the team is versatile and should be improved with experience.

“[We have] a lot of guys that are basically the same height that we can interchange with the offensive and defensive systems that we have,” he said. “They have had to play a lot of varsity minutes the last couple of years, so the experience is starting to show.”

Forreston

Coach: Jake Groom

Last season: 12-17, 6-6 NUIC South (4th)

Key returners: Kendall Erdmann, jr.; Darin Greenfield, jr.

Worth noting: The Cardinals fell to Milledgeville in the Class 1A regional quarterfinals last season.

Fulton

Coach: RJ Coffey (12th season)

Last season: 24-11, 11-1 NUIC South (T-1st)

Returning starters: Landen Leu, 6-4, jr., F

Other top returners: Braeden Brennan, 5-9, sr., PG; Jacob Huisenga, 6-4, sr., G

Key varsity newcomers: Jacob Voss, 6-0, jr., G; Braeden Meyers, 5-11, jr., G

Worth noting: Leu is expected to be out due to injury through late December/early January. Dom Kramer, who was injured during the football season, is also expected to miss his senior campaign. Coach Coffey says this is the youngest roster he’s had with the Steamers.

“Even though we are young, this group is very versatile and athletic. We have several guys with multiple skills that hopefully we can use to cause problems for other teams,” Coffey said. “Even though this year’s team will have to find new and different ways to be successful compared to how we have the past few years, a lot of our goals are the same. We want to compete at a level with the best teams in the area, compete for a conference title and make a run in the postseason.”

Milledgeville

Coach: Kal Engelkens

Last season: 1-24, 1-11 NUIC (6th)

Key returners: Micah Toms-Smith, 6-0, sr., G; Karter Livengood, 6-0, jr., F

Worth noting: The Missiles opened the season with a 79-59 loss to Mendota, in which Toms-Smith scored 21 points. He and the other football players on the team just wrapped up the season last Friday after reaching their first state title game in school history. Junior Bryson Wiersema is the team’s only player listed above 6 feet tall, at 6-2.

Morrison

Coach: Mark Ernst (3rd season)

Last season: 13-17, 5-7 TRAC West (4th)

Returning starter: Dawson Hepner, 6-2, sr., F

Other top returners: Asher Ernst, 6-4, jr., G; Colton Bielema, 6-0, sr., G

Key varsity newcomers: Jayden Wiebenga, 5-11, sr., G; Brayden Rubright, 6-0, jr., G

Worth noting: The team is joining the NUIC this season and hopes to win its first regional title since 2009 after falling two points short last season.

“We aren’t very tall, but may have the best shooting team in a long time,” Coach Ernst said. “With a new conference, I’m not sure what to expect. There’s a lot of teams we haven’t faced in a very long time.”

Newman Central Catholic

Coach: Ray Sharp (18th season)

Last season: 21-12, 6-4 (3rd)

Returning starters: Cody McBride, 5-10, sr., G; George Jungerman, 6-3, jr., F; Garrett Matznick, 5-8, jr. G

Other top returner: Evan Bushman, 6-0, jr., G

Key varsity newcomers: Renner Rosengren, 6-2, so., G; John Rowzee, 6-4, so., F

Worth noting: The Comets fell to Polo in the regional semifinals last season.

“We will be a young team,” Sharp said. “I am excited to see how much we can improve from the beginning to the end of year.”

Oregon

Coach: Jarrett Reynolds (3rd season)

Last season: 16-16, 2-7 BNC (8th)

Key returners: Kade Girton, 6-3, sr., PF; Nole Campos, 6-1, jr., SG/SF; Cooper Johnson, 5-9, jr., PG; Noah Johnson, 5-10, sr., SG/PG; Keaton Salsbury, 5-11, jr., SG/SF

Worth noting: The team only graduated one senior. Reynolds said the results of offseason weightlifting have shown, and the team looks to have its first winning record in five years.

“The goal would be to improve from last year. Considering that we were a young varsity team last year, I would say that this goal should be easier to obtain since we are returning all but one,” Reynolds said. “Once we pass our goal, we would set the standard for the upcoming year achieving as many wins as possible this year.”

Polo

Coach: Matt Messer (19th season)

Last season: 17-14, 7-5 (3rd)

Returners: Gus Mumford, sr., Gage Zeigler, sr., Billy Lowry, sr., Logan Nelson, sr., Jeffrey Donaldson, sr., Noah Dewey, sr.

Newcomers: JT Stephenson, jr., Aiden Messer, jr., Korbin Cavanaugh, jr., Mercer Mumford, so., Danny Johnstone, jr., Noah Yingling, jr.

Worth noting: Messer says the Marcos will be a tough out this season.

“Hopefully we can continue to work hard and be able to find our way into the mix of teams competing for the conference,” he said. “If we get good leadership, understand the price of success and find the balance of joy and hard work, we can give ourselves a chance to be successful.”

Rock Falls

Coach: Zach Sandrock (5th season)

Last season: 19-11, 6-3 BNC (5th)

Returning starters: Kuitim Heald, 6-3, sr., G; Ryken Howard, 6-1, sr., G

Other top returners: Austin Castaneda, 5-10, sr., PG/G; Nehemiah Menendez, 5-7, sr., PG

Key varsity newcomer: Cole Mulnix, 6-8, jr., C

Worth noting: The Rockets earned a No. 1 seed in the regional last season but were upset by 10th-seeded Morrison in the semifinals. Heald has scored 1,000 points in his career, and Howard could eclipse the mark this season.

Sterling

Coach: Ryan Vasquez (10th season)

Last season: 24-8, 9-5 WB6 (4th)

Returning starters: Kaedon Phillips, 5-10, sr., G; Maddux Osborn, 6-4, sr., PF; Nico Battagila, 5-10, sr., G

Key varsity newcomers: Bryce Hartman, 6-2, sr., G; Will Ports, 6-1, sr., PF

Worth noting: Sterling tied the school’s win record with 24 victories each of the last two seasons. In an 80-68 win over Plano to open the season, Kaedon Phillips scored 27 points, Nico Battagila added 19, and Maddux Osborn had 16.

West Carroll

Coach: Eric Naples (6th season)

Last season: 1-31, 0-12

Returning starter: Winter Harrington, 6-0, jr., F

Other top returners: Chanse Schnitzler, 5-11, jr., G; Ryker Budimlija, 6-0, jr., G

Key varsity newcomer: Roger LaBorn, 6-1, jr., F

Worth noting: Naples said the team has added some new seniors to round out the bench. “We will have some depth, as we are currently sitting at 29 total athletes,” he said. “I believe our boys are ready to compete and are eager to hit the court.”