Kansas high school boys basketball preview guide

The Star spotlights Kansas high school boys basketball players, teams, and storylines to watch this season, centralizing on the KC area.

Retribution seekers

Blue Valley North, St. Thomas Aquinas and Piper all have one thing in common: Each team lost close games in last year’s state tournament and missed a shot at the championship trophy.

It was a rather brutal path for Blue Valley North, which lost a 43-42 decision in the third-place game when a Lawrence Free State player drew a foul and sunk two free throws with 5 seconds left. The Mustangs had just prior lost a five-point decision to Kansas Class 6A runner-up Lawrence in the semifinals.

The Mustangs will have a chance to redeem themselves, as they return four seniors — Miles Emery, Nick Orr, Dylan Freberg and Eric Baston — in the frontcourt. But junior Wyatt Turner and 6-5 wing Eric Baston, who threw himself over a press table to save an errant pass that eventually gave BV North a lead in that third-place game, will be counted on to steady a backcourt that lost first-team Eastern Kansas League guard Colby Bullock.

Lawrence, too, came close to a title, losing 64-61 to Blue Valley Northwest in the final. To get back to that stage, the Chesty Lions will need guard Clarence King to build on his breakout sophomore season, when he led the team in scoring.

Crown defenders

Although there is considerable talent in the Sunflower league — Lawrence Free State senior Garrett Luinstra, who plans to walk on at Kansas, and Shawnee Mission East’s Jack Schoemann, a Colorado State signee, will likely figure into the player of the year conversation — Bishop Miege and BV Northwest yet again feature loaded rosters.

Miege junior Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is the star of the bunch for good reason. The 6-9 forward is a five-star recruit ranked 13th in the class of 2019. He holds a slew of Division I offers, with KU, UCLA, Virginia and Creighton in the mix. And he was a game-changer for the Stags during their run to a second straight Class 4A-Division I championship, averaging 14 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

In the season opener against KC East, Robinson-Earl shined alongside senior Ezekiel Lopes, who shot 42 percent from three-point range last season, and 6-7 junior Josh Earley. All put on a veritable dunking contest in front of Oklahoma coaches, footage of which can be found on YouTube.

Which could make a game with BV Northwest in February the best Eastern Kansas League matchup of the season. Even without current Tulsa guard Darien Jackson, who averaged 18.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game on the 6A championship team, the Huskies have fourth-year starter and Abilene Christian signee Joe Pleasant and 6-8 senior forward Parker Braun to lead the way. Watch out for Christian Braun, a 6-4 junior guard who already holds offers from Missouri State and Loyola University.

Emerging talent

Kansas Class 5A teams will want to keep an eye on underrated Schlagle.

The Stallions return 70 percent of their production from last year, including senior Tyon Grant-Foster’s 20 points and 4 rebounds per game and junior D’monte Gaw’s 12 points and 6.7 rebounds. Of this year’s starting five, three averaged in double digits on a runner-up team that entered the state tournament as a No. 7 seed last season. Senior transfer Randy Campbell (16.1 ppg, 12.4 rpg) will add more physicality in the paint than the Stallions previously had.

There is reason to watch Maranatha Christian Academy this season, too. Although the Eagles went 8-11 last year, their best finish in 17 years, they just added sophomore forward Johnathan Jackson, the 6-4 younger brother of former University of North Carolina forward and 2017 ACC player of the year Justin Jackson.

The younger Jackson scored 22 points in Maranatha’s first game. He’ll be an important foil for junior guard Jax Holland, who last year averaged 16.2 points and 5.6 rebounds with 4.2 steals, and senior Roland Hou (13 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 3.2 blocks per game).

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Kansas high school boys basketball preview guide."