Region 7 lost a Purdue commit, a UVU commit, Timpview’s best player in years, and the guy who just coached the T-Birds to 21-3. Brad Kitchen took the Snow College job after one winter in Provo. Troy Kaufusi is at Wasatch Academy. Jamyn Sondrup and Mason Hansen signed and left Springville. There is still a real basketball region here. It just doesn’t run through the same office anymore.
Special thanks to my stupid AI research helper for the box scores. If I get a class year wrong, blame the robots.
Timpview went 21-3 and 8-0 in region. Springville and Orem sat at 6-2. Pleasant Grove was 3-5 and 15-12 and somehow never felt like a team you could ignore. Then the gym emptied. If you only read last year’s standings, the T-Birds are still the team. If you actually look at who is walking back in the door, the top of this region flipped.
Pleasant Grove
Preston White is in American Fork but we still see PG as BIG favorites
Oliver Mosman is 6-8 and had a monster spring and summer. Brennan Blackett is 6-7 and arguably the best player in the region. Dax Valgardson is 6-8 and already a name people argue about when they talk about the next wave in the valley (i was told after publishing Dax has transferred?). The Vikings went 15-12 in a region that eats wings for lunch. Last year that size was a piece. This year it is the team. Carsen Williams does not need a hero. He needs those bigs to play like bigs for 32 minutes. That’s why they sit first until someone proves they can’t.
Orem
Kaufusi walking to Wasatch Academy is the headline that still stings. The next sentence is why the Tigers are second and not fifth.
Cooper Harris had a real year. Not a cameo. He is one of the best guards in the 2027 class and he is will make the opposing guards lives miserable at both ends of the court and will be asked to carry the load before David Massengo shows up for the second half of the year. Massengo is the center they added who played on the EYBL for 17u and is a force defensively. Lincoln Beck makes the move from Lone Peak as well and will need to step up offensively to help Cooper and sharp shooter 2028 Kekane Manua. Orem will be tough to score on and Coach DJ Connor will have them ready every night. Plan the season in two pieces. First half is Harris/Manua and working in Beck. Second half is a different frontcourt. Fifteen and ten last year, 6-2 in this meat grinder. The Tigers can score. They can defend. Will Rock Speredon enroll early to play football or will he play for the Tigers and bolster the front court?
Springville
Sondrup signed with Purdue after 18.5 and 12.4. Hansen signed with UVU after 19.2. That is two first-team pieces out of the same locker room.
Swift Hall is still here. Fourteen points, 3.5 assists, the guard who made that first unit work when the bigs got doubled. Sam Nadauld gave them 7.5 and 3.2 assists and never needed a press release. The Red Devils were 16-8 with two future college players eating first. Now Hall has to eat first. Springville has been good for a long time. This is the year you find out if that was the bigs or the program. I’m betting the program.
Timpview
Kitchen is in Ephraim. Rueckert is at BYU. Openshaw took the 6-10 rim protection with him. Mason Ford ran the show and graduated. Lincoln Holcombe to Weber State. 3 D1 players and a potential D1 player in Mason Ford.
The T-Birds still have young talent. Dieter Tuitavuki, Jackson Ford, and Jayden Palmer already got varsity run on a senior heavy team. Jacob Billeter and Taj Taylor have been in that building long enough to know what Timpview basketball is supposed to look like. A new coach and a senior class that just left is still a lot to ask in a region that just grew up around them. They are not a rebuilding project. They are fourth until the new staff proves the standard survived the moving truck.
Payson
Austin Staheli and Joseph Wolfe graduated. Blake Jensen and Scott Bylund did not. Jensen went for 12.1. Bylund went for 13.5. The Lions were 14-9 and 3-5 and never felt like a bye. If those two take the next step, Payson stays in the pile that decides seeds.
Maple Mountain
Solomon Krommenhoek and Nash Jackson graduated — 12.3 and 11.0, and Jackson was pulling eight boards a night. Maddux Duncan, Brandt Nelson and Trevor Clegg already know Johnny Averett’s gym. Fourteen and ten last year. Same fight. Fewer easy baskets.
Salem Hills
Fourteen and eleven. Three and five in region. Good enough to beat people they were not supposed to beat. Middle of the table until somebody in that locker room decides they are not.
Spanish Fork
Three wins. Zero in region. Long year. They will steal a night if somebody shoots it. I don’t think they’ll sneak up on Pleasant Grove and challenge for region title this year
How I see it finishing
Pleasant Grove — the size is the team now. White is gone. The frontcourt is not.
Orem — Harris runs the first half. Massengo changes the second.
Springville — Hall has to be the guy. The program is still Springville.
Timpview — young talent, new coach, standard still there. Fourth until they take it back.
Payson — Jensen and Bylund can score. Need a third.
Maple Mountain — Averett’s teams compete. The easy points left.
Salem Hills — good enough to ruin a seed.
Spanish Fork — long year, some nights.
First-team preseason
Cooper Harris, Orem
Swift Hall, Springville
Oliver Mosman, Pleasant Grove
Brennan Blackett, Pleasant Grove
Fifth: Blake Jensen, Scott Bylund, Dax Valgardson, Sam Nadauld, or Dieter Tuitavuki