Paradise Honors basketball ready for 4A competition
Surprise is on the rise when it comes to basketball.
And Paradise Honors, part of that ever-growing community, is ready for the jump to 4A basketball competition with a roster so talented that coach Zach Hettel will have so many options by the time midseason rolls around with five more players becoming eligible.
Those five transfers, two from Buckeye and three from Goodyear Millennium, along with recent 6-foot-7 junior move-in Luke Light, could help the Panthers make a serious run at Phoenix St. Mary’s for the state championship.
St. Mary’s is ranked No. 1 and Paradise Honors No. 2 in 4A in The Arizona Republic’s preseason boys basketball rankings.
At the core of this team is the veteran backcourt of Jalen Scott (Colorado State signee) and Wyatt Bell (Air Force commit).
They’re ready for the leap from 3A, where they ran the table in the Metro West last year, going 10-0 and winning 22 games overall.
Hettel always made sure his non-conference schedule was loaded up with teams in bigger conferences since he built this program in the last four years. Over time, Paradise Honors has moved from 2A to 3A and now 4A with athletes who can compete at the highest level.
Hettel has worked around players leaving for national prep academics. He lost guard Nate Pickens and 6-foot-10 Logan Pohl after last season to PHH Prep. The year before, 6-10 Matur Dhal left for PHH Prep.
Both Scott and Bell said they were recruited to play for prep academies but decided to stay at their high school with hopes that COVID-19 won’t cancel the AIA season this year.
The AIA season already has been pushed back twice by rising coronavirus cases in Arizona. “Going prep wouldn’t have done much,” Scott said. “It was better staying here.”
Bell said he doesn’t see a better alternative than Paradise Honors, which was part of the Hoophall West in Scottsdale last year, playing tough, out-of-state competition.
“I’m not sure it’s really sticking it out here,” Bell said. “This is really the best situation for both of us. That’s why we came here. Both of us had options with preps. But we’ve gotten colleges offering and we’ve committed.
“What we’ve done is because of Coach Hettel. He’s taken this program to where it is.”
Hettel believes this team could be special. He’s scheduled games with both St. Marys and the No. 1 6A team, Mountain Pointe.
“I really like this group,” he said. “A lot of experience at the guard position. I feel really good about our guard play. The only concern going into the season is our size.”
But between Light and athletic and rugged 6-6 Jayson Hunt, Paradise Honors should be able to handle bigger teams.
Light moved here from Salem, Illinois, three weeks ago. He could be the X factor.
“He’s so versatile,” Hettel said. “He can guard so many positions, the 3, 4 and 5. Just with the development of guys coming back, considering everything, it’s probably the most skilled we’ve been. Not the biggest team. But are we big enough?”
It didn’t take Light long to fit in. He said Illinois wasn’t playing prep basketball when he left. He said his parents were looking to retire in Arizona, which prompted the move. “I can play any position they need me to,” Light said. “I like these guys. They’re really unselfish.”
Hunt, a junior forward, said the competition in practice will get everybody ready for 4A. “It’s great competition,” he said. “We play at a high level.”