The South Greene Rebels have won two-straight District 1-2A Championships, appeared in three-straight championship games, and look to continue their strong run at the top in the 2024-25 season.
Coach Terry Hoese will be the head coach of the Rebels for the 25th season now with Derek Dyer returning as his assistant.
They finished 25-7 (8-2) with the highest win total in 18 years since the 2005-06 team finished 26-10 (10-1). Their season ended in the Region 1-2A semifinals for the third-consecutive season at the hands of Austin-East.
Coach Hoese has the duty of filling three more starting roles for the second year in-a-row after losing Cooper Kelley, TJ Buckner, and Woody Hixson. Only two previous starters from last year’s squad will return. Fourth-year varsity player Jase Roderick will step into his senior season as a starter along with junior Cayden Fillers.
“Jase Roderick is pretty much a four-year starter. He’s started for three solid years. Started a little bit as a freshman,” Hoese stated. “Cayden Fillers is back. He has started now for all of last year and a game or two as a freshman.”
As for the rest of his starting lineup, you can expect to see Chandler Gamble step into one of those spots this year after transferring to South Greene late last season. Gamble is back as a senior and, with a full summer in Coach Hoese’s system, will step into the starting lineup as a weapon on both sides of the floor.
Senior Trey Gentry is a senior who returns to the game of basketball after two years off to snag the starting point guard spot. Gentry, an uber athletic guard, is expected to play big minutes for the Rebels. “He hasn’t played since he was a freshman, but he will see the point guard spot and he will make a big impact for us,” Hoese expressed.
The last spot in the starting lineup will be a revolving door. At this moment, Will Arrowood, Lucas Coach, and Charlie Lane are expected to be the three players rotating in that spot. “All three of those will start at some point this season. My intentions are at this point to rotate them as that fifth starting spot,” Hoese stated.
The bench will include one other senior in Micah Shelton and two other juniors in Zack Mason and Brant Wilhoit. Sophomores Noah Wright and Gavin Dyer will return as second-year varsity players and Simon Burns will look to earn playing time as the only first-year varsity sophomore. No freshmen are listed on this year’s varsity squad.
“I like what we’ve got,” Hoese exclaimed. “I look for all of those guys to contribute to be honest with you.”
The style of play presented on the hardwood will change just a bit with the loss of sharpshooters Cooper Kelley and Woody Hixson on the perimeter. The Rebels will still have the size of recent years, but not the shooting. They will look towards the paint more than the three-point line this season and want to pound the ball inside.
“We’ll have to play a little bit different than what we played last year. Last year we had Kelley and Hixson, along with Jase, they could all three make shots and we could stretch the defense out. We scored a bunch of our points from the three-point line. With Jase 6’6”, Cayden 6’6”, and Chandler at 6’8”, we’ll look to pound the ball inside a little bit more than what we have in the past,” Hoese explained.
Coming off back-to-back District 1-2A Championships, the target on South Greene’s back might be a little bigger now heading into crucial conference play in January and February. The district will remain at six teams this year as the Rebels are joined by county counterparts West Greene and Chuckey-Doak, Carter County’s representatives Hampton and Happy Valley, and the Johnson County Longhorns.
After back-to-back titles with two key starters coming back, the Rebels once again look to finish towards the top of the standings. “Just to be upfront and honest, I think it’s wide open. I would think with what we’ve got coming back that we would be thought of to finish toward the top somewhere,” Hoese mentioned.
South Greene’s gym has been beat up and weathered over the calendar year of 2024, but will be good to go and serve as their host site for all home games.
“We are ready to go. They are actually down there cleaning the bleachers right now as the finishing touch. The gym floor is ready. The whole gym has been painted and the floor has been redone. We’ll be ready to go come season time,” Coach Hoese expressed.
South Greene’s first night in action will be November 21st as they travel to Cherokee to take on the Chiefs in a Hall of Champions game.
