Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Quality hoops abound at Great Western Classic

By 202 Comments

DRAPER – Many of the top boys high school basketball programs in Utah – and beyond – have been on display at Juan Diego High in this Salt Lake City suburb the past two days.

The Great Western Summer Classic, which has become one of the elite “real high school team” events anywhere over the past few years, continues Friday and wraps up Saturday.

Each of its games (which are also being played at surrounding high schools) is being lived-streamed by BallerTV.

Utah state champions Lehi (6A) and Salt Lake City Judge Memorial (3A) are among those that have been in action here, while Owyhee of Meridian (the Idaho 5A winner) turned in two strong efforts Thursday in knocking off traditional Utah power Corner Canyon and a split Judge Memorial squad.

Some highlights before I head home to South Orange County Friday evening:

*Lehi, despite losing State Player of the Year Cooper Lewis and his dad, Quincy Lewis (one of the sport’s best coaches stepped down after the title win over Corner Canyon; he remains as the school’s AD), should contend for a superb 2024-25 season.

With Lewis assistant Reed Bromley now in charge, Lehi will be led  by 6-foot-4 Easton Hawkins, an all-state selection last season and one of the best guards in the western class of 2025.

*Judge Memorial has a deep roster (so deep, it has a couple of teams in this event) with another of the better western prospects in the class of 2025, 6-5 J.J. Apathjang, the lynchpin.

*Lone Peak, despite losing 6-10, senior-to-be Chamberlain Burgess to transfer (he’s playing here with his new program, Orem), seems built for a lot of 2024-25 success with two-sport standout Ike Staley – he’s a terrific quarterback, too – leading the way after averaging 11.5 points and 3.1 rebounds as a junior.

*Orem, 18-7 last season, is scheduled to return four starters, including one of the state’s best 2025 guards in Jax Allen (14.1 ppg) and now has a potential dominant post in Burgess, who plays with Allen on the Utah Prospects 17s squad on the adidas spring and summer circuit.

*American Fork, led by another of the finest high school coaches anywhere in Ryan Cuff, lost all its starters, including Cuff’s son, Tiger (who signed with Weber State).

But there won’t be any slippage from one of the state’s top programs, with 6-8 junior-to-be Jax Clark (superb as a rebounder and post scorer here the first two days) and one of the state’s best 2027 prospects, point guard Jax Oyler, pacing the attack.

*Another of the state’s best 2027 guards, Karter Miller, was exceptional Wednesday and Thursday while playing for his father, Kelby Miller, for the Layton squad.

*Springville was 14-10 last season but could make a strong run in the 2024-25 state 5A tournament with the bulk of its roster set to return.

Leading the way will be one of the best big prospects in the western class of 2026, Jamyn Sondrup, who averaged 19.2 points and 10.4 rebounds as a sophomore. He’s quite the low-post presence.

*Mountain View was 15-10 last season but could crack 20-plus wins in 2024-25, with two gifted players from the class of 2026 leading the way in 6-4 Bryce Mella (very good!) and 6-5 Simeon Suguturaga.

*On the topic of 2026 standouts, Timpview of Provo has a bushel of them returning from its 19-7 season.

And the best of those is 6-8 Dean Rueckert, whose physical and basketball gifts make him one of the prospects, nationally, in his class. His versatility is comparable to that of one of the top players in the national class of 2025, Nikolas Khamenia (of two-time California Open champion Harvard-Westlake).

Timpview is set to play Owyhee on Saturday’s final day of the event and that should be a sizzling showdown between what may be the two-best teams here.

Owyhee lost 6-5 Liam Campbell (who is bound for Saint Mary’s) from its 24-3 championship squad but returns pretty much everyone else to make up what could be Coach Andy Harrington’s most gifted squad.

Leading the way will be 6-7 Jackson Rasmussen (who plans to sign a letter of intent with the University of Idaho in November), who dominated in the post, on the drive and from the perimeter (hitting four 3s in his first game) Thursday.

Another non-Utah quality program here is Ironwood (from Glendale, AZ), which lost three times to quality opponents – including Timpview Thursday night – but has the goods to make another state tournament run next spring after its 27-3 performance this past season.

Seniors-to-be I’yar Shadowvine and Landon Brownstein make up one of the most skilled backcourts here.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  131. Thank you for your sharing. I am worried that I lack creative ideas. It is your article that makes me full of hope. Thank you. But, I have a question, can you help me?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *