The Republic County boys ended last year on a 13-game winning streak and a 64-53 overtime win against Meade in the 2A state championship game.
The Buffaloes were led to their first boys basketball state championship since 1999 by first-year head coach Kevin Kuhlman, a Republic County-Belleville Alum who began coaching at Republic County Junior High in 1988. He moved up to assistant coach at the high school for a number of years before taking over as head coach last season.
The Buffaloes had two losses on the year leading up to the Hillsboro Trojan Classic where they suffered their third loss and finished as runner-ups in the tournament. From that point on, the Buffaloes did not lose another game.
Republic County advanced to the 2A state tournament by defeating Lincoln, Solomon, and Bennington in sub-state. Both Solomon and Bennington were ranked as top 5 teams in 2A. In the state tournament, the Buffaloes rolled past Jefferson County North and Ness City to play in the state championship game against No. 1 seed and unbeaten Meade and the rest is history.
The Buffaloes have one key starter back this year in senior Trevor Allen (14.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg, and 4 apg). Two big contributors who are expected to step into more prominent roles this year are senior Jeff Hadachek (5.5 ppg, 2 rpg, 26-of-62 3-pointers) and senior Drew Hoops (3.5 ppg, 15-of-32 3s).
Kuhlman also feels like he has a very strong sophomore class this year so it will be interesting to see which sophomores step up and log lots of quality varsity minutes.
Although the Buffaloes are a 2A school, their schedule consists of mainly 3A and 4A teams. They play three big rivals this year in non-league foe Concordia and fellow NCAA members Beloit and Sacred Heart. They will also look to win the Hillsboro Trojan Classic this year and avenge their loss in the championship game last year.
Kuhlman does not expect an easy road to a second straight 2A championship or even a league championship as both 3A Sacred Heart and 3A Southeast of Saline will be tough in the NCAA this year.
As far as other prominent 2A teams this year, St. John-Hudson makes the jump up to 2A after winning the 1A Division I championship last year and Hillsboro will be tough as usual.
