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Region 9 is about to look younger than it has in a long time. Kemp, Simmons, Odjegba, Ranson, Schmitt, Lindquist, Travis Murdock, MacKay, Rowley — that’s most of last winter’s scoring, all gone at once. St. George still has the gyms and the coaches. The first options are different.
Dixie and Pine View were the two teams you circled on a Friday night. Crimson won the region. Hurricane dragged Provo into a state final. Cedar went 3-21 and still had a kid drop 21 on Dixie. That kid is back. The rest of those headliners are not.
Dixie
Collin Simmons was the problem in the paint. He’s not walking through that door again. Tyler Roberts still is.
Asher Spence already did the work last year — 319 points, 22 against Pine View, 20 at Cedar, the kind of nights that tell you who is taking the first shot in November. Mack Howard played next to him. Beckham Webb is 6-7 and was barely unwrapped. Foster Simmons is a freshman with the last name people in that gym already know. Sixteen wins. Seven region wins. The Flyers don’t need last year’s post if Spence is allowed to hunt.
Pine View
Eighteen wins. The Pit was loud because Odjegba, Ranson and Schmitt all scored in bunches on the same night. All three graduated.
Ethan Ott is the one who stayed and actually produced — almost five a night and he shot it like he belonged in that group. Easton Jensen gives them length on the wing. Maddox Schijf is 6-7 and has already been in the rotation. Amico’s teams are rarely easy to beat in October and rarely soft in January. This version has to grow up in public.
Crimson Cliffs
Ten and two in region. Lindquist and Travis Murdock carried the scoring. Both seniors.
Scott Murdock still has the building. Alex Ogden is 6-7. Baden Cottam and Ben Luekenga already know the system. Tyler Murdock is a sophomore who has been around winning. The Mustangs will look smaller. They will not look lost.
Snow Canyon
MacKay was the Warriors in a lot of ways. Fourteen and eleven without him is the question Ryan Ball has to answer and I believe he will.
Issaiah Thompson is 6-5 and already took varsity hits in this region and is an exceptional 2 sport athlete who can impose his will on a game. Terrail Brown, Dante Ochoa, Brody Lounsbury and Parker Olson were not spectators. Snow Canyon has enough pieces to stay in the middle of every Tuesday. Whether those pieces become a first unit is the whole story.
Cedar
Three wins. One region win. Ty Rowley went for 18.2 and left.
Owen Ryan is why they are not automatically last. Eight points a night on a team that couldn’t buy a stop, 21 with six threes against Dixie, 19 at Canyon View. He guarded, he rebounded, and he recently picked up an offer to play D2 basketball. If this is the year his usage jumps, Cedar stops being the trip everybody pencils in as a win. I’m putting them fifth because I think Ryan forces that conversation by Christmas.
Hurricane
Kemp averaged 23, 3.7 assists and almost four steals and then played in a state championship. Gubler, Blair, Stout and Clyde Berrett left with him.
Carter Wardle, Parker Hurst and McKabe Gardner were on that roster. Adam Stout will have them organized. Somebody has to score 18 now. Until that happens, the Tigers are a dangerous five-out night and a short bench.
Desert Hills
Nine and fourteen. Openshaw isn’t walking back in either. There aren’t any easy nights in Region 9 when Desert Hills is at the bottom. Very well coached team who will make you work every game.
How I see it finishing
Dixie — Spence already produced. Webb gives them a different look inside.
Pine View — Ott, Jensen, Schijf. The Pit still travels badly for visitors.
Crimson Cliffs — younger, still coached, still physical.
Snow Canyon — Thompson and a junior core that has already seen this region.
Cedar — Ryan’s year. If he takes the leap, the Reds wreck a seed.
Hurricane — talent left. The habits didn’t.
Desert Hills — compete every night. Need a closer.
First-team preseason
Asher Spence, Dixie
Ethan Ott, Pine View
Owen Ryan, Cedar
Issaiah Thompson, Snow Canyon
Fifth: Mack Howard, Beckham Webb, Easton Jensen, or Alex Ogden