Recently, we unveiled our plan to name area programs’ top five players of the 21st century, which sits at 25 seasons in both football and basketball.
Reminder, this is based on high school career performance ONLY. This is by no means a definitive list and, if anything, is encouraging debate on potential omissions to this list.
Through exhaustive research, reaching out to former coaches and players and our own personal opinion, here is the OTH Quarter Century Team for Whitko boys basketball.
Note: The list is in alphabetical order
Logan Irwin
At Whitko, Logan Irwin was one of the best scorers in state history, finishing with 2,230 career points and a monster senior season with averages of 29.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.6 steals per game. He earned IBCA Senior All-State first-team honors and picked up a Kent Benson FCA Mental Attitude Award at the Indiana Class All-Star Classic, underscoring both his production and character. Irwin signed with Stetson out of high school and later became an all-league caliber guard at Grace College.
Kyler Krull
Krull emerged as one of the school’s top scorers and two-way players during his tenure. He averaged 18.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in his senior season while being named OTH All-Area, and earned First Team All-Conference honors three times, and was twice named Small School All-State. He surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in February of his senior season and had signature games like a 27-point performance in a tight overtime win over Columbia City. He averaged 12.9 points per game as a sophomore. After finishing at Whitko, Krull went on to play at Ohio Dominican University.
Brett Sickafoose
At Whitko, Sickafoose was a prolific perimeter scorer who finished with 1,629 career points, highlighted by a 23.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game junior season and a senior line of 17.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. He earned TRC All-Conference honors and appeared on the IBCA All-State lists twice during his career. Sickafoose went on to Grace College.
Nate Walpole
A dominant scorer and occasional stat stuffer, he finished his high school career with 1,977 points. He had standout performances such as a 46-point game (plus 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals) in a hard-fought four-overtime loss to Tippecanoe Valley and a 44-point game against Northfield. In that high-scoring eight game stretch in 2016, he averaged nearly 28 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.1 steals per game. Following Whitko, he went on to Manchester University.
River West
West was a consistent two-way guard who over 72 varsity games averaged 17.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game, with 1.3 steals over his career. He had standout senior numbers — 20.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.3 apg — and was honored as the 2018 Times-Union Area Player of the Year. He then went on to sign with Manchester University. As a junior, West averaged 16.2 points per game and had 15.5 ppg as a sophomore.
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