The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association announced 10 semifinalists for its annual Mr. Basketball Award. See who has the edge for the coveted honor.
The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association announced 10 semifinalists for its annual Mr. Basketball Award on Feb. 3, but who has the edge in the hunt for the coveted award?
The field will be narrowed to five finalists upon the conclusion of the WIAA regular season at the end of February. A winner will be announced by the WBCA during the WIAA state boys basketball tournament, held March 19-21 in Madison.
In a 2024 interview with Dennis Uppena, the former WBCA president, Hall of Fame coach and Mr. Basketball committee member said the following aspects of a senior's candidacy for Mr. Basketball are among the top considerations in choosing the winner: individual statistics, team success, head-to-head play with other finalists and the finalist's recruitment interest/projection as a college prospect.
With those criteria in mind, here is a look at the case for each of the semifinalists, listed in alphabetical order.
Zavier Castillo, Greendale
College commitment: Uncommitted.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 26.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.0 apg.
The 6-foot-5 guard has put himself firmly on the radar for this award with a breakout senior season. Coming off a junior year in which he averaged 11.9 points per game, Castillo has honed his jumper to devastating effect for opposing defenses. He was a pivotal piece of Greendale's 12-0 start amid what has remained a competitive 13-4 record. In five of Greendale's closest wins during that start over Pewaukee (91-84), South Milwaukee (76-67), Mukwonago (71-68), Badger (77-71) and Greenfield (74-66), Castillo averaged 30.4 points. One thing working against Castillo is the head-to-heads with fellow semifinalists in Wisconsin Lutheran's Zavier Zens and Yusef Gray Jr. of West Allis Central. Castillo's Panthers are 0-5 in matchups with those two teams over the past two seasons, but a Feb. 13 rematch with Wisco could provide an opportunity for Castillo to make a closing argument.
Yusef Gray Jr., West Allis Central
College commitment: Iowa State.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 25.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.3 spg.
The 2025 Mr. Basketball Award winner, Xzavion Mitchell of Oshkosh North, now plays collegiately for Iowa State. Could a second straight future Cyclone take home the award in 2026? Gray is certainly a strong candidate to do so, as he leads a West Allis Central program with a 16-1 record while converting at a 58.5% rate from the field. The 6-5 guard and the Bulldogs have played competitively with Zens and Wisconsin Lutheran over the past few years, with the two sharing a conference home in the Woodland West until the former moved to the East Division this year. WAC beat Wisco, 78-70, last year in what would prove to be Wisco's only loss to an in-state team all season. Gray threatened a triple-double in that game with 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Wisco would take the other regular season meeting, 87-70, and sectional final rematch, 72-53, with the individual performances slightly favoring Zens in the series as well.
Amare Hereford, Beloit Memorial
College commitment: Uncommitted.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 37.1 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 5.9 apg, 4.6 spg.
State leader in points per game this year with more than 2,000 for his career is about as strong of a case as any candidate can make as far as individual statistics are concerned. The 6-2 guard leads his team in rebounds and assists as well, while also averaging just under five steals per game. Team success is another plus, with the Purple Knights sitting second only to Waterford in the Southern Lakes Conference at 14-2 overall. The absence of matchups with other semifinalists, as well as an overall lack of quality opponents both inside the lower half of the Southern Lakes and out of conference, may hinder an otherwise strong individual bid.
Andrew Jensen, Kaukauna
College commitment: DePaul University.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 17.3 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.6 bpg, 2.3 apg.
The 6-10 forward has been a pivotal player for the Galloping Ghosts the past three seasons, including a 17-2 mark this season and 12-1 record in the Fox Valley Association. Jensen is efficient around the paint, shooting nearly 73% and is also solid from the free throw line (75%). He is also disruptive as a shot blocker. As a junior he averaged 17.2 points on 73% shooting, 10.7 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.3 assists in helping Kaukauna to a sectional semifinal berth in Division 1. Jensen was also a top player as a sophomore (13.5 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.8 bpg). He also had offers from Illinois, Loyola Chicago, Marquette, UW-Milwaukee, Southern Mississippi, Toledo and West Virginia.
Cahlil Jones, Germantown
College commitment: Uncommitted.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 25.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.2 spg.
Rising to the top in a rough-and-tumble Greater Metro Conference is a difficult task, but Jones has had his Warhawks in the thick of that race for the latter three years of his high school career. His team-leading scoring average has improved each season, and his efficiency from the field has gone from 50.2% as a sophomore to 58.3 as a junior and now 59.4 as a senior. The 6-2 guard has helped the Warhawks to a 10-6 record, a couple losses of which came in two games he missed to start the year. Germantown is 8-3 in the Greater Metro, putting it in a group of four teams within a game of each other for the league title. In matchups with fellow semifinalists the past two seasons, Jones and Germantown are 0-3 in two matchups with Zens and Wisconsin Lutheran along with one with Gray and West Allis Central.
Josh Manchester, Mount Horeb
College commitment: Uncommitted.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 30.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.0 apg.
Manchester has missed a couple of weeks with an injury he is expected to return from soon, but the WIAA reported at the end of January that he is Division 2's top three-point shooter by percentage (46.2). In 2024-25, the 6-4 combo guard averaged 31.1 points per game, good for top 10 in the state. He surpassed 2,000 points earlier this season, becoming the 69th in state history to do so. His game of the year to date was a 58-point effort in an 82-80 overtime loss to Sauk Prairie. Mount Horeb is 14-5 overall on the season, and sits third in a top-heavy Badger Small Conference behind McFarland and Sauk Prairie.
Chris Pohl, Marshfield
College commitment: University of Wyoming.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 21.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.5 apg.
Pohl has been a crucial piece of a Marshfield team coming off consecutive 20-plus win seasons as it strives for a third straight while sitting at 15-2. The 6-8 forward recently surpassed 1,000 career points, another milestone met in a bounce-back senior year after seeing his points per game drop from 14.6 as a sophomore to 12.7 as a junior. Pohl is 1-1 in meetings with semifinalists the past two seasons, with the win being 69-53 over Kaukauna and Jensen on Jan. 17. Pohl outscored Jensen, 25-15, in that win. The loss, however, was a big one in the WIAA Division 1 state title game last year to Wisconsin Lutheran. Marshfield led 55-50 with three-and-a-half minutes remaining in that game before a 6-0 run capped by a go-ahead Zens layup put Marshfield in a 56-55 hole with 2.9 seconds remaining. A three-quarters-court inbound heave from Joey Ketterer sailed just out of the reach of Pohl and into the arms of Wisco's Alex Greene, who hit one of two free throws on the ensuing foul trip to clinch the 57-55 state title win.
Kayden Schultz, Plymouth
College commitment: Michigan Tech.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 28.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 4.1 apg, 2.1 spg.
The 6-3 guard surpassed 2,000 career points in January as he continues to put the finishing touches on a standout career with the Panthers. Plymouth is 12-6 on the season, with a 6-2 mark in the Glacier Trails Conference that trails only Port Washington. Schultz can knock down the three with some of the best in Division 1 as he appears on the WIAA three-point leaderboard in the top 20 as well for his 37% conversion rate. His lone matchup with a fellow semifinalist in the past two seasons is one he will run back on Feb. 10 against Oostburg's JJ Zavatchin. In their meeting last season that went 75-62 to the visiting Panthers, Schultz narrowly outdueled Zavatchin in scoring, 33-30.
JJ Zavatchin, Oostburg
College commitment: Bethel University.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 30.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.0 spg, 1.9 apg.
Another 2,000-point scorer who eclipsed the milestone in mid-January, Zavatchin held a steady 20-21 points per game average his first three years with Oostburg before taking his scoring to another level as a senior. The explanation for that jump perhaps may lay in a 70.7 field goal percentage that represents a roughly 15-point jump from his junior year. Few in this class of semifinalists know their spots on the floor like the 6-4 guard, and it has helped the Flying Dutchmen to a 16-2 start to their season that leads the Big East Conference-South. The aforementioned meeting and rematch with Plymouth and Schultz are Zavatchin's only meetings with fellow semifinalists over the last two seasons.
Zavier Zens, Wisconsin Lutheran
College commitment: University of Northern Iowa.
2025-26 statistical highlights: 24.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.9 spg.
Can Zens become the second Wisconsin Lutheran player to win Mr. Basketball in three years? The 6-7 small forward has been a pillar of one of the best three-year runs in WIAA state history alongside his Vikings teammates. While 2024 Mr. Basketball Kon Knueppel was the unquestioned leader of a 2024 state title winning team that became just the second in state history to go 30-0, Zens knocked down four triples in five attempts in the title game to highlight a 6-of-7 night yielding 16 points in an 83-62 win over Pewaukee. A year later with Zens as the primary option with Knueppel gone, Zens came up clutch again with 19 points including the go-ahead layup through a foul to lead Wisco to consecutive titles with a 57-55 win over Pohl and Marshfield. This season, with two of Knueppel's younger brothers Kager and Kinston in his supporting cast, Zens has led an 18-0 Vikings team that has rolled through both in and out-of-state competition. That includes a 57-54 win over North Cowley, Texas, in the Beach Ball Classic Championship in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Zens rattled home the game-winning three in that game, proving the clutch gene is still alive and well in his senior year. In addition to the overall team success, Zens has led Wisco to a 7-1 record over fellow semifinalists and their teams over the past two seasons.
Ricardo Aguello contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Mr. Basketball: Analyzing the 10 semifinalists
Category: General Sports
