Podcast: Recapping the 2025 prep season through winter break

Ladanion Payne (left) and Juice Coston are part of breakout teams so far this winter. (Anoke Deitg-Blanchard/Ethan Fuller)

As the calendar flips to 2026, NEPSAC basketball teams are planning their resolutions for both the new year and the rest of the season.

It’s been a fast start to the winter, with several of the big weekend showcases behind us. But what have we learned about the top teams and players through the 2025 portion of the schedule?

Steve Hewitt and Ethan Fuller catch up on the season so far. They go through Class AAA down to Class B small, hitting on the championship picture and big surprises in each class.

At the end of the episode, Steve and Ethan also briefly recap their highlights moments from 2025 as a whole and look ahead to the important topics that could define New England basketball in 2026.

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Highlights

How has girls Class AAA been compared to your expectations?

Ethan: “I would say the biggest surprise has been Dexter and Tabor and Newman, with first-year head coaches, are all just way more competitive at the start of the season than I thought they would be. I thought it would be more of a process for all of them. … That’s seven out of eight AAA schools that are in my Top 10. So they’ve been really, really fun, and I really think — now that Newman’s done it — I think any of those teams can beat each other on a given night.”

How contentious is the Class A boys championship picture?

Steve: “This might be even more wide open than AA. Just like in terms of depth, it probably rivals it. I don’t think I fully realized just like how many good teams are in Class A. There are gonna be, like, five teams in Class A that don’t make the playoffs that are really good teams. I was going through the list and I’m like — all these teams are good. We need to make like a 16-team playoff just for this season, because I think that would be electric.”

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