Colorado Academy lost last season’s 3A championship game by one point to Holy Family. (Pam Wagner)
It’s good to be wanted, a fact to which Justin Bassey can certainly attest.
The Colorado Academy junior is on the radar of a number of Division I colleges these days. Programs ranging from Harvard and Cornell to Gonzaga, Creighton and Vanderbilt, not to mention Colorado and Denver, are all interested in the 6-foot-4 standout.
But when the 2014-15 prep basketball season tips off in early December, Bassey has only one focus: Bringing the Class 3A state championship trophy back home with the Mustangs.
“It’s another thing to consider and contemplate,” Bassey said of the attention. “But during the season I don’t think my main focus will be college. It’s an exciting experience to have, but I also don’t want to allow that to sidetrack me from the current season.”
Colorado Academy comes into this winter with big ambitions after a one-point loss to Holy Family in the 3A state title game last March. The Mustangs had a final chance to take it all, but a last-second shot went off the back of the rim.
“Holy Family was kind of destiny. It was kind of their year. They were very good, very talented, very well-coached and had some really good senior leadership,” CA coach Steve Hyatt said. “We learned what it takes to get there. We know you’ve got to prepare every day and get better very day and focus on the process, not the product.”
“We don’t really care about win-loss records or rankings – all we want to do is try to hold that ball up at the end of the year.”
Holy Family moved up to the 4A classification this year, and Colorado Academy is among the early favorites to replace the Tigers as champions. In fact, on Monday, the Mustangs were ranked No. 1 in CHSAANow.com’s preseason poll.
Colorado Academy’s Justin Bassey. (Mark Adams)
Bassey, fellow junior Christian Hyatt and senior Chris Kuelling lead the way, with Bassey coming off a season in which he averaged 20.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
“Justin is definitely a special, special player,” Coach Hyatt said. “He’s an unbelievable athlete – he can play point guard, post up, shoot 3s and handle the ball.”
Christian Hyatt started as a freshman and averaged 14.5 points as a sophomore. Kuelling was right behind him with 14 points a game, shooting 51 percent from 3-point range and knocking down 90 3s on the season.
The team is still young with a lot of junior talent, including Peter Vukovich-Simonson, a transfer from Valor Christian; and Will Creedon, a 6-8 post who played junior varsity as a sophomore.
“We’re constantly hungry. We had 11 guys on varsity last year and only four of those guys left,” Bassey said. “So really we have seven guys returning to the team who still have that bitter taste in their mouth. We came so close to winning a state championship, but coming up short, that will be a major motivation for us coming this year.”
Colorado Academy lost its second-leading scorer in Jack Buckmelter, who transferred to Denver East. Bassey said it’s a big loss, but it will force the Mustangs to play a different style and create a different dynamic.
“We have a really strong group of guys. Pretty much the whole lineup, I’ve known them all since fourth or fifth grade,” he said. “Our relationship off the court really blossomed on the court. You can see that chemistry we have and the feeling we have for each other’s game.”
Hyatt said scoring won’t be an issue for the Mustangs, but depth and getting the younger talent ready to play will be an early focus. With teams like Colorado Springs Christian (preseason No. 2), Faith Christian (No. 3), Moffat County (No. 4), Jefferson Academy (No. 5) and 3A newcomer Lutheran (No. 6) in the mix, getting back to the 3A state title game will be a challenge.
To help it better prepare for that competition, Colorado Academy is taking part in early tournaments at Fossil Ridge and Mullen, playing a handful of 5A and 4A teams.
“We want to go play good competition,” Hyatt said. “I tell the kids we can go 0-9 and I don’t care; we can go 9-0 and I don’t care. The purpose is to get better and we need to play tough competition.”
Boys basketball preview
- Regular Season begins: Dec. 1
- Regular Season ends: Feb. 21
- Preseason rankings
Class 5A
- Defending champion: Denver East
- Runner-up: Fossil Ridge
- Preseason No. 1: Overland
- Returning All-State Players: Blend Avdili, Sr., Eaglecrest (3rd team); Jack Buckmelter, Jr., Denver East (1st, 3A with Colorado Academy); Austin Conway, Sr., Overland (2nd); De’Ron Davis, Jr., Overland (2nd); Jake Holtzmann, Sr., Chaparral (2nd); Thomas Neff, Sr., Arvada West (3rd); Michael Sparks, Sr., Abraham Lincoln (3rd).
- Championship: March 12-14, Coors Event Center, Boulder
Class 4A
- Defending champion: Pueblo East
- Runner-up: Denver South
- Preseason No. 1: Longmont
- Returning All-State Players: Dylan Brink, Sr., Erie (3rd team); Jake Gavitt, Sr., Elizabeth (3rd); Luke Golter, Sr., Holy Family (2nd, 3A); Chris Helbig, Jr., Holy Family (3rd, 3A).
- Championship: March 12-14, Coors Event Center, Boulder
Class 3A
- Defending champion: Holy Family (moved up to 4A)
- Runner-up: Colorado Academy
- Preseason No. 1: Colorado Academy
- Returning All-State Players: Justin Bassey, Jr., Colorado Academy (1st team); Alex Greenly, Sr., St. Mary’s (3rd); Grant Harkness, Sr., Faith Christian (2nd); Deron Harrel, Jr., Denver Science & Tech (3rd); Kort Hawthorn, Jr., Moffat County (3rd); Samuel Howard, Jr., Colorado Springs Christian (2nd); Sam Parker, Sr., Grand Valley (3rd); James Willis, Sr., Lutheran (1st, 2A).
- Championship: March 13-14, Lockridge Arena, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
Class 2A
- Defending champion: Sanford
- Runner-up: Akron
- Preseason No. 1: Sanford
- Returning All-State Players: Chance Canty, Jr., Sanford (1st team); Jared Clarkson, Sr., Akron (3rd); Connor Fiscus, Sr., Merino (3rd); Wyatt Hayes, Jr., Ignacio (3rd); Adison Jones, Sr., Ignacio (2nd); Christian Ortiz, Sr., Center (2nd).
- Championship: March 13-14, Massari Arena, CSU-Pueblo
Class 1A
- Defending champion: Hi-Plains
- Runner-up: Caliche
- Preseason No. 1: McClave
- Returning All-State Players: Michael Durrill, Sr., Cornerstone Christian (3rd); Austin Littlefield, Sr., Prairie (3rd).
- Championship: March 13-14, Budweiser Events Center, Loveland