PIAA boys basketball season preview 2024-25: Meet the Top 7 players to watch in Butler County
If you were wondering who would be included if the Butler County area had to put together a high school boys basketball team to go up against the best its neighbors had to offer, here are your answers.
While it’s a new season, the players named below have already made a name for themselves with what they’ve been able to do in seasons past. Some can shoot from deep, others have a way of getting things done under the glass. Then there are those who can do both — and more.
This list was formed after asking coaches in the Butler County area who they were keeping an eye on heading into the upcoming season, whether that be on their own team or others.
Here are some of the top players you need get out to a few gyms to see for yourself this winter, listed alphabetically.
Extra time in the gym this offseason should benefit Bauman, who averaged 16 points, four assists and four rebounds a year ago.
“Jackson’s stronger. He’s more explosive,” Knoch coach Alan Bauman, his father, said. “We really worked on his explosiveness. I think he’s a better shooter.”
Bauman shot 42% from beyond the arc as a sophomore.
Book averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds last year.
“It’s hard to replicate seasons like he had last year,” Rockets coach AJ Motta said. “He’s going to draw more and more attention.”
No matter his production, the senior will set the tone for Slippery Rock.
“All the recognition that he’s earned is that indeed — he’s earned,” Motta said. “He puts in the work when nobody’s watching. ... It’s easier to do things whenever he’s around. He leads by example.”
Cowan is, as Yellowjackets coach Rich Macura said, “a long-range shooter that’ll help open up things for us on the offensive side.”
In a tough section that includes Butler County teams Knoch and North Catholic, Cowan will be counted on to get Freeport rolling.
Planets first-year coach Kobe Phillippi will tell you they don’t make a lot of players like Detisch, who’s listed at 6-foot-5.
“A lot of big men who can shoot don’t want to play in the post,” Phillippi said. “They don’t want to go underneath. They want to hang out and shoot. ... Ben is not like that. He can shoot, but he’ll also play the post.”
Butler coach Matt Clement knew the leader he had in Lucas last year.
“Tayt is probably one of the top three easiest choices for one of my captains I’ve ever had,” Clement said. “I knew last year three quarters of the way through the season that Taite was going to be my captain this year.”
Things should open up more for Lucas on the offensive end this time around, too.
“Being more balanced is going to make it harder for someone to say, ‘Oh, we can’t let him shoot 3s,” Clement said.
Maddalon is the typical North Catholic player, according to Trojans coach Jim Rocco — skilled and tough. He fits into the blue-collar sort of culture the program hangs its hat on.
“One of the hallmarks of North Catholic ... is the place that is really good at promoting cohesive teams,” Rocco said. “I think we embody that.”
Pepin paced the Raiders in scoring as a sophomore. He handles the ball down the floor for Seneca Valley and plays both the wing and point.
“The high school guys that can score at all three levels — they can drive it, they can have mid-range game and shoot 3s — those are kind of rare,” Trost said. “He definitely is a guy that’s a three-level scorer.”
