Boys Basketball Breakdown: Magic Valley teams to watch in 2024

After more than a month of switching off between conference, nonconference play and traveling out of state for tournaments, it’s finally time for the meat of the Magic Valley high school boys basketball season.

Conference play will have started in each classification here in the Magic Valley at the end of this week. District tournaments are coming in mid-February. Here is how things have stacked up so far. All rankings are from the IdahoSports.com Coaches’ Poll.

4A In a Great Basin Conference where the top is not far away from the middle, Canyon Ridge (9-4 overall, 4-0 conference) is the early frontrunner after beating No. 4 Twin Falls (4-7, 3-1) on Thursday night.

Riverhawks head coach Alex Wells has been preaching patience all season, and it has paid off as they have won seven of their last eight games. Canyon Ridge uses a good combination of size with 6-foot-9 Mason Hill and guard play in senior Cooper Cartwright and junior Kade McEntire.

Canyon Ridge has never advanced to the state tournament.

Twin Falls remains in the hunt, despite Thursday’s loss. The Bruins tested themselves in nonconference with games against state runner-up No. 1 Pocatello and No. 3 Preston, played three 2023 Utah state qualifiers in an early season tournament, and are a senior heavy squad with leadership from Jared Mix and Logan Pittard.

So who could stop both Twin Falls schools from getting to the state tournament? Keep an eye on Minico (4-5, 2-1). The Spartans have yet to play either of their games against Twin Falls and will travel to Canyon Ridge on Jan. 26. Last year, the Spartans entered the conference tournament as the No. 3 seed and won.

3A Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference play starts this week when Filer travels to Gooding on Tuesday and Buhl travels to No. 3 Kimberly on Wednesday.

In nonconference play, the Bulldogs (9-1) and Indians (6-5) have looked like the frontrunners. Kimberly has a win over defending state champion Sugar-Salem and two wins over state qualifier Homedale, and 4A’s Jerome and Wood River. Only loss? No. 1 Snake River, a state qualifier from last year. The Bulldogs thrive in an up-tempo style, with seniors Jakob Cummins, Kasen Hammond and junior Broden Anthony leading the way.

Buhl also likes to push the pace, and has played a similarly tough schedule. The Indians own wins over 2023 3A state qualifiers Fruitland and Snake River, 2A state qualifier Declo and 4A Wood River.

Senior Kyler Kelly and sophomore Tate Trevino are lights-out shooters when on.

Don’t expect Filer (4-5) and Gooding (4-7) to go down without a fight, though. Both teams brought back a ton of experience, and the district tournament last year featured plenty of tight games. Expect more intense competition this year, since only the tournament champion advances to the state tournament while the runner-up will be in a play-in game.

2A

Once again, the Canyon Conference looks to be a battle between Declo and Wendell.

It will meet for the first of two regular season matchups at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Declo.

The Hornets (6-4) play fundamentally sound basketball, and junior Emmett Gibby is a problem inside. All four of their losses have come against 2A or 3A schools with a win over 3A Gooding.

The Trojans (6-3) have the most impressive win between the two teams, knocking off defending 2A runner-up No. 5 Melba, 58-56, on Nov. 28. They also have wins over 3A schools American Falls, Filer and Gooding. Most nights, sophomore twins Jonathan and Jordon Swainston, and senior guard Bodey Cutler lead the Trojans. Only the winner of the conference tournament will advance to the state tournament.

1A Division I

The Snake River Conference is the most wide open in the Magic Valley, boys or girls. No team has separated itself as the definitive favorite so far, though Glenns Ferry (9-2, 1-0) and Lighthouse Christian (7-3, 1-0) earned the best starts so far.

Keep an eye on Oakley (4-5, 1-0), who has a win over No. 4 Butte County; and Valley (5-4, 1-0), after the Vikings knocked off 3A school Gooding on Saturday. Defending conference champion Carey (6-5, 0-1) could make a run in the district tournament after taking the Lions down to the final play on Wednesday.

The top two teams in the conference tournament will qualify for the state tournament.

1A Division II

The same group of Camas County seniors who helped lead the Mushers to their first state football championship appearance in 42 years have made them the favorite to win the Sawtooth Conference in basketball.

Camas County has some unfinished business on the hardwood, falling to Rockland in the state championship game two years ago but won the conference in the 2023 regular season before dropping back-to-back games to Richfield in the conference tournament to end its season.

The No. 2 Mushers (8-1) only loss so far has come at 4A Emmett by five points. Seven of their eight wins have been with double digit margins of victory, with four teams which qualified for the state tournament in their respective classification. Only the conference tournament winner advances to the state tournament, so keep an eye on Dietrich (5-4) and Hagerman (5-3) as potential spoilers.