MileHigh Prep Report Class 2A Boys Basketball Preseason Rankings
Note: I am just going to quickly give the rankings and a quick breakdown of what they are returning. I will be doing my District/League Predictions for Class 1A thru 3A later in the week along with full Season Previews next week. Games kickoff for Basketball November 27th.
Class 2A
| Rank | Team | Notes |
| #1 | Wray Defending State Champions | Wray is your defending State Champions. They defeated Sanford in the State Championship. Wray has a few key holes to fill mainly at the guard position but return the talent to defend their title. Wray returns their top two scorers in Rafael Trejo (13.6 ppg) and AB Ruiz (13.1 ppg). As mentioned, the big holes to fill for Wray are at guard and depth scoring. |
| #2 | Limon Made State Tournament (Went 2-1 3rd place) | Limon made the state tournament last year finishing in 3rd place with a hard-fought win over ECA. Limon will have key pieces back but lose 3 of their top 5 scorers from a year ago. Jordan Rockwell (14.6 ppg) and Treyton Marx (7.6 ppg) are back to be leaders but will look for other pieces to step up this season. Depth scoring is my main concern for Limon this year. |
| #3 | Plateau Valley Made State Tournament (Went 2-1 5th Place) | Plateau Valley made the state tournament last season finishing in 5th place with a win over Golden View Classical. Plateau Valley will be looking to push for that state title this year and have the pieces to do so. Plateau Valley returns their entire roster. Jack Vig (12.8 ppg), Ethan Morse (11.1 ppg), and Jackson Bevan (8.7 ppg) are the leading scorers from last season coming back. They will look to use the key experience from last year to push for that state title. |
| #4 | Crowley County Made State Tournament (Went 0-2) | Crowley County made the State Tournament last year going 0-2. I believe this is back-to-back years for Crowley County to go 0-2 and this year they will look to snap that streak. Crowley County will have key pieces back in Gunner Hughes (17.1 ppg) and Elijah Mcneil (11.0 ppg). Depth scoring will be key to Crowley County success and improved defense. |
| #5 | Sanford Made State Tournament (Runners Up) | Sanford made the State Tournament last year and finished as the runners up. This is back-to-back years of being the runners up and they will look to finally get over the hump. Sanford will return some key pieces mainly at the guard position with Cash Caldon (11.3 ppg) and Ben Sittler (10.0 ppg) coming back. Sanford will be searching for a few new bigs along with some depth scoring. Trason Gartrell (3.6 ppg) and Lincoln Reynolds (2.9 ppg) are a few names to keep an eye on. |
| #6 | Simla Made State Tournament (Went 0-2) | Simla made the State Tournament in their first year in Class 2A Basketball. Simla went 0-2 but gained valuable experience for their players. Simla will return plenty of talent including 4 of their top 5 scorers. They will have to replace a big piece with their #1 rebounder and #3 scorer graduating. Simla will return Caston Cox (16.7 ppg), Brent Bowker (10.1 ppg), and Treven Kocerha (8.7 ppg). If they can pick up the slack in rebounding, they could make that push again. |
| #7 | Merino Lost at Regionals to Sanford | Merino did not make the State Tournament last year falling to Sanford in the Regional Finals. Merino will look to push into the State Tournament this year and have key pieces back. Merino returns 4 of their top 5 scorers but lose their top assist leader. Merino will have top scorers Tyler Miller (20.3 ppg), Kaden Piel (11.6 ppg), and Jaxson Samber (9.0 ppg) back. |
| #8 | Mancos Lost at Regionals to Golden View Classical | Mancos did not make the State Tournament last year falling to Golden View Classical in the Regional Finals. Mancos pulled a huge upset in the opening round as the #22 seed and nearly push for a state tournament berth. Mancos gained valuable experience for a young team and will look to push for the State Tournament. Mancos returns their entire roster including top scorers Kaiden Wyatt (13.7 ppg), Brian Veach (13.4 ppg), and Andrew Jaime (9.7 ppg). Look for Mancos to push for that state tournament berth this season. |
| #9 | Holyoke Lost at Regionals to Evangelical Christian | Holyoke did not make the State Tournament falling to Evangelical Christian in the Regional Finals. Holyoke was another double-digit seed (25) to nearly push for the State Tournament. Holyoke will look for that berth this year and return 4 of their top 5 scorers from last season. Holyoke will turn to Wyatt Sprague (14.2 ppg), Cash Weber (11.4 ppg), and Reid Sprague (11.4 ppg) to be leaders again. Holyoke could be a dark horse team to push for a deep playoff run this season. |
| #10 | Heritage Christian Lost at Regionals to Holyoke | Heritage Christian did not make the State Tournament last season falling to Holyoke at Regionals. Heritage Christian was upset in the opening round of regionals by Holyoke. Heritage Christian will look to move past that this season and have the returning players to do so. Heritage Christian returns 4 of their top 5 scorers including their top two scorers in Raul Bertinato (13.0 ppg) and Levi Hermsen (12.1 ppg). Heritage Christian will look for more depth to step up and push for the State Tournament. |
| #11 | Holly Lost at Regionals to Mancos | Holly did not make it to the State Tournament last season falling at regionals to Mancos. Holly was upset by Mancos in the opening round of regionals, and they will look to use that as motivation. Holly returns 3 of their top 5 scorers from last season but lose key depth. Holly will look for Devin Eaton (12.8 ppg), Truman King (11.1 ppg), and Andre Salgado (10.5 ppg) to be leaders. My main concern for Holly is depth behind their top 3 scorers. |
| #12 | Fowler Lost at Regionals to Burlington | Fowler did not reach the State Tournament last season falling to Burlington at Regionals. Fowler will look to retool this season as they return their top 2 scorers from last season. Fowler will be searching for depth behind their top scorers. Gage Gottbehuet (14.4 ppg) and Harrison Proctor (10.7 ppg) will be the leaders early in the season for Fowler. Depth will be key to Fowler making a push for the State Tournament. |
| #13 | Elbert Lost at Regionals to Limon | Elbert did not reach the State Tournament last season falling to Limon at Regionals. Elbert found success in their first year in Class 2A reaching regionals. Elbert will now look to retool and push for a deeper run. Elbert returns 4 of their top 5 scorers including their top two scorers in Logan LaFollette (16.8 ppg) and Eli Cornell (9.5 ppg). If Elbert can get more depth scoring watch for them to make a run. |
| #14 | Byers Lost at Regionals to Wiggins | Byers did not reach the State Tournament last season falling to Wiggins at regionals. Byers will have some holes to fill losing their #1 and #5 scorers from a year ago. Byers will return Chase Long (10.3 ppg), Quincy Eacret (10.3 ppg), and Zach Cary (8.9 ppg). The main concern will be rebounding as they lose their top rebounder as well. Byers has some depth coming with a good group of juniors, but they will have to step up. |
| #15 | Burlington Lost at Regionals to Limon | Burlington did not reach the State Tournament last season falling in the regional finals to Limon. Burlington will return their top scorer in Keziah Williams (18.8 ppg) but will have to develop the depth behind him. Burlington will look for players like Daniel Chacon (5.9 ppg) to step up this season. |
| Teams to Watch for: | Akron, Telluride, Las Animas, Walsenburg, Denver Christian, Vail Christian, Monte Vista, Haxtun, Cotopaxi, Evangelical Christian, Wiggins, Hoehne, Swink, Del Norte |
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