Quick note here, I am absolutely not going to get everything correct and I’m SO appreciative of the feedback. Example, I didn’t realize Wasatch had dropped to 4a this year so my Region 7 email article is wrong, but I will go back and correct the stories on News.UtahBasketball.net . Unlike other publications, I don’t mind the feedback and am more than happy to make corrections. This is a bit of a crowdsource exercise :)
Photo corrected!
Region 8 is a different animal than it was in February. Provo just cut down the 4A nets. Then Makai Allen and Callen Tollestrup walked out the door, and Chris Collinsworth took the Wasatch Academy job. Wasatch High walked in from 5A. Jace Tavita left Orem for Summit Academy. Deer Creek is a brand-new school in Heber. There is still a real basketball region here. The top of this region is extremely murky for me right now!
Special thanks to my AI research helper for the box scores and editing. If I get a class year wrong (or even an entire team in the wrong region :), blame the robots.
Provo went 23-4, 7-1 in region, and beat Hurricane for the state title. Timpanogos was 5-3. Mountain View 4-4. Uintah and Summit Academy brought up the rear. Then the gym emptied. If you only read last year’s trophy case, the Bulldogs are still the team. If you look at who is actually walking back in, this region flipped.
Provo
Collinsworth just won a state title and then left for Wasatch Academy. Allen was 4A player of the year at 22.2. Tollestrup went for 20.7 and 8.3. Lucas Castagnetto was right there with them. That is a championship core and the coach who built it, gone in the same summer.
What they kept is the next wave with the same last names. Malik Allen already got varsity run. Hudson Miles and Cameron Rust are 6-4 juniors. Kaleb Tollestrup is a 6-4 freshman who has been in that gym his whole life. A new coach and a senior class that just left is a lot to ask. The Bulldogs do not start from zero. They hand the keys to the next Allen/Tollestrup combo and see if the standard survived the moving truck. It’s a toss up for me on who starts at the top, but I’ll take the state champs!
Wasatch
They spent last winter in 5A Region 7 going 19-6 and making the bracket look ugly. Now they live here.
JJ Serre is gone — 18.5 and 9.1. Carsen Behnke is gone — 17.1. Dante Rodriguez is gone. That is a lot of usage leaving Heber. What Dan McClure kept is Caleb Balch, who already averaged 11.8 as a junior and does not need a press release to run a team. Cole Moore got varsity minutes. 4A is not 5A. It is also not a rebuild if Balch is the first option from opening night.
Mountain View
Fifteen and eleven. Four-and-four in a region Provo owned. Josh Hair graduated. The Bruins have been the team that makes Provo work on a Tuesday. If the young wings step forward, they stay in the conversation. If they don’t, they are the third team in a three-team race that used to be two.
Timpanogos
Jaxen McCuistion went for 23.5 and 71 threes and graduated. Golden Ingle’s Timberwolves were 13-14 and 5-3 and good enough to steal a region night from Provo. Miles Montague and Tyson Knapp got varsity run on a senior-heavy team. Timp is not starting from zero. They are starting without the guy who could drop 25 on a random Friday.
Summit Academy
Seven and seventeen. One and seven in region. Then they hired Jace Tavita out of Orem.
That hire changes the sentence. Beckham Meredith and Korbin Clegg are the juniors who already know the gym. Sam Troester is a 6-5 sophomore. Tavita does not show up to a 1-7 roster to sit still. There’s not a much more intriguing team in 4a than the Bears
Uintah
Nine and fifteen. Three and five in region. Mitch Argyle’s first year was a fight. The Utes were never a bye and never a favorite. Same sentence this year unless someone steps and proves me wrong!
Deer Creek
Brand new school. Brand new gym. They already have a football team playing Wasatch this week. Basketball is going to look like a first-year program because it is one. Respect the kids who chose to start something! Randomly, Deer Creek is the street corner I grew up so I’m rooting for them!
How I see it finishing
Provo — the program is still Provo. The stars and the coach graduated.
Wasatch — 5A leftovers, 4A problem. Balch is the guy now.
Mountain View — always a Tuesday you do not sleep on.
Timpanogos — McCuistion is gone. The program is not.
Summit Academy — Tavita changes the building. Meredith and Clegg get to grow up in it.
Uintah — compete. Need a first option.
Deer Creek — year one. The region does not wait.
First-team preseason
Caleb Balch, Wasatch
Malik Allen, Provo
Beckham Meredith, Summit Academy
Miles Montague, Timpanogos
Fifth: Kaleb Tollestrup, Hudson Miles, Cameron Rust, Korbin Clegg, or Cole Moore