Two of Basha’s three leading rushers from a season ago will be playing elsewhere next season.
J.J. Husar, who led the team with 115 carries for 785 yards and 14 touchdowns, will play for Desert Ridge. Myles Smith, who had 60 carries for 425 yards and three touchdowns, has transferred to Chandler.
Rajhan Meriwether came on strong at the end of last season, carrying the ball 66 times for 485 yards and four touchdowns in the team’s final three games. The Bears went 9-4 a season ago and made it to the …

And then there were two. As in, two weeks of regular season action left before the softball state tournaments begin in earnest on April 28.
The playoff push begins now, because teams who wait until next week to try and make a move could easily be left on the lurch.
(All games are 4 p.m. unless otherwise noted. All records are power point games as of Monday morning):
Xavier at Basha (Tuesday):  The Gators took last week off for their (late) spring break, and are No. 1 in power points at 13-0. The …

The defection of John Burns to Basha has left the Mesquite boys basketball program with a coaching vacancy.
Athletic director Jason Grantham said he is finalizing the paperwork and will begin accepting applications within the next few days. This process is going to be fluid because the school is also in the midst of choosing a new principal.
Current principal Cecillia Peterson is resigning at the end of the year, but Grantham said the incoming principal could be named as early as next week. Grantham said Mesquite won’t be interviewing candidates until …

Basha boys basketball coach John Burns will meet his team for the first time on Monday, he said.
It will be a more important introduction than usual, as star juniors Torren Jones and Jaron Hopkins still debate their transfer options.
On Tuesday, Hopkins said a decision had not been made and that the plan is still to wait until the end of the club basketball season to choose between staying and leaving. Cheryl Jones, Torren’s mom, said in a text message on Wednesday that ‘we will gather as much info as possible …

In the midst of the April softball power point race with two weeks of games left, let’s get to it:
(All games at 4 p.m. unless noted. All records are power point games only as of Monday afternoon):
Chandler at Basha (Tuesday):  The Wolves (9-2) continue to be one of the nicer stories in EV softball this season, but one of those losses came big against Basha in early March (a 12-2 defeat) and the Bears, despite losing to big to Gilbert recently, are playing well. Are the Wolves a better team?  …

Athletic director Brent Rincon and his selection committee interviewed nine candidates for Basha’s vacant boys basketball position on Tuesday.
The search has narrowed in on three candidates, said principal Ken James, and a hire could be made as early as Thursday.
“Can’t go wrong with any of them,” James said in an email.
According to sources, the finalists are likely Mesquite coach John Burns, former Chaparral coach Commander King and Estrella Foothills coach Ty Amundsen. Burns is the front-runner to land the job because of a prior relationship with James, multiple sources said.
Basha …

Firmly entrenched in the power point season again, let’s cut to the chase with plenty of really good softball matchups this week (of course that’s easy to come by when it’s 3 or 4 games per week for most schools).
(All games at 4 p.m. unless noted; All records are power point as of Monday, April 2):
Red Mountain at Gilbert (Tuesday):  Probably the biggest game of the week and another preview of Div. I state tournament semifinals or even championship game the way these two schools have been playing. Gilbert won …

Spring Break and big-time tournaments highlighted most of the past two weeks. That’s especially true for those who played in the Desert Mountain tournament, with Mountain View beating Paradise Valley for the championship.  Practically everyone there Saturday felt their team was significantly better having gone through that week’s worth of competition.
Now, however, the party is over. With most schools dealing with three- and four-games per week this week and through the month of April, it’s back to power point contests in-full.
Here we go (all records are power point games only …

The Mesa Summer PrimeTime tournament, featuring eight of the top boys basketball teams in the state, will take place June 22-23 at Red Mountain.
The first game for each team will be an exhibition, with the last three bracket play. The championship game will be the final game of the tournament. Last year, the exhibition game was played as the last game of the day, but tournament director Marc Beasley found that anticlimactic, so he switched the schedule.
Here are the teams, in order of seed:
1. Pinnacle – The Pioneers made the …

Here is some information on a few of the boys basketball coaching openings around the East Valley:
- Basha is going to interview candidates next week. Principal Ken James said the number of applicants interviewed will be between five and 10, depending on the quality of the candidates. Athletic Director Brett Rincon will head up a four-or-five person committee, which will make a recommendation on the new hire. James hopes to complete the process within a couple of weeks. Brad Pinter resigned on March 8. This hire is key, because star …