WMU, Keota headline first IHSAA basketball rankings

The Iowa High School Athletic Association released its first round of 2023-24 regular season boys basketball rankings on Friday and a pair of Union area squads find themselves inside the top 10.

Those two teams are the Wolves of Winfield-Mt. Union and the Eagles of Keota. WMU holds the No. 6 spot in Class 1A, while Keota sits just one rank down at No. 7.

Currently, 2022 state runner-up North Linn holds the No. 1 spot.

Teams are selected by an assigned committee, which includes two former head coaches, one media member and three IHSAA staff members.

Both the Wolves and Eagles have had a stellar runs through the first half of the season.

Winfield-Mt. Union has been nothing short of dominant thus far. The Wolves enter the new year with just one loss, coming from Illinois’ Illini Bluffs, 55-48, in the Iowa/Illinois Shootout back on December 2.

Other than that, the Wolves hold an 8-1 record and lead the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North at 7-0. The Wolves’ closest win of the season came against the SEISC South’s Holy Trinity Catholic which ended with the Wolves on top by 15, 55-40.

Keota has yet to lose, with its biggest win undoubtedly coming against previously undefeated and current 1A No. 10 ranked Lynnville-Sully, 59-56. The Eagles are currently 10-0.

The Eagles have a great shot to finish the season undefeated as their remaining schedule is favorable.

Leading WMU is senior Cam Buffington. Buffington missed a couple of games to start the season after an injury during football, but has bounced back nicely. He’s averaging 17 points per game with 7.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

Fellow senior Abram Edwards follows with 14.6 points per contest, while shooting an outstanding 61.2% from the field. Edwards is grabbing a team-high 11.6 rebounds per night as well. His 3.7 assists ranks second on the Wolves.

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Junior Jake Edwards is averaging 10.1 points per game and is one of the Wolves’ top shooters. He’s posting a 44.6% field goal percentage, while hitting on 42.9% of his balls from beyond the arch.

Other scoring for the Wolves comes from senior Carter Loyd (9.7 PPG), senior Cole Milks (4.6 PPG) and senior Gabriel Hemsworth (2.8 PPG).

Keota is paced by senior Sawyer Stout. Stout is dropping in 21.3 points per night for the Eagles, while also sporting a 52.3% field goal percentage.

Cole Kindred, another senior is averaging 12.1 points per game with a team-high 5.9 assists and 5.2 rebounds.

Junior Billie Kindred is next in line averaging 10.4 points a contest. Kindred is also the Eagles top rebounder, averaging 9.6 per game.

Senior Evan Vittetoe is averaging 9.7 points, while shooting an efficient 68.2% of the field. He’s also grabbing 6.1 boards.

Other scoring comes from senior Tanner Waterhouse (8.2 PPG), senior Aiden McGuire (4.6 PPG) and sophomore Chase Haifley (2.9 PPG).

“The IHSAA will use the regular season rankings as a primary tool for postseason assignments, while maintaining school and geographic considerations,” the IHSAA said. “Rankings will be released weekly. The last two editions will be following the release of substate brackets, intended to factor the entire regular season into state tournament seeding.”

The full list of 1A rankings as well as the other three classes can be found below.

Class 1A Rankings

1North Linn 9-0

2Marquette Catholic, Bellevue 9-0

3Earlham8-0

4Madrid8-1

5South O’Brien 8-0

6Winfield-Mount Union8-1

7Keota 10-0

8Kee10-0

9St. Mary’s, Remsen 5-2

10Lynnville-Sully 8-1

Class 2A Rankings

1West Lyon 10-0

2Western Christian, Hull 7-1

3Monticello 9-0

4Hudson8-1

5Kuemper Catholic, Carroll7-1

6Roland-Story8-0

7Underwood10-0

8Pella Christian 5-2

9Grand View Christian4-3

10Central Lyon5-3

Class 3A Rankings

1Decorah8-0

2Clear Lake 7-0

3ADM 7-1

4Solon 6-0

5Waverly-Shell Rock 6-2

6Bishop Heelan, Sioux City6-2

7Xavier, Cedar Rapids4-3

8MOC-Floyd Valley7-2

9Assumption, Davenport 5-3

10Williamsburg 5-1

Class 4A Rankings

1Cedar Rapids, Kennedy 5-0

2Valley, W.D.M. 6-1

3Dubuque, Senior 6-0

4Linn-Mar, Marion 5-1

5North Scott 6-1

6Cedar Falls 5-1

7Waukee 7-2

8Ankeny Centennial 6-2

9Ankeny 6-2

10Iowa City, West 5-1