2026 Senior All Stars

The 2025-26 Alaska basketball season isn't over until the College Exposure Showcases and the AABC Senior All-Star Weekend. Between the two, this final stretch is part senior send-off, part recruiting evaluation, and part basketball community reunion.

College programs from across the Pacific Northwest made the trip to see Alaska talent in person this year. Head coaches from South Puget Sound, Spokane, Skagit Valley, Peninsula, Everett, Southwestern Oregon, and Olympic College were on the floor at the girls showcase at Dimond. The boys showcase at West High brought in head coaches from Grays Harbor, Northwest Indian College, and Centralia, plus assistants from Yakima Valley, Shoreline, and Pierce. That's not a small delegation. Alaska basketball is drawing real attention from programs that recruit this region hard.

UAA and UAF were spotted throughout the weekend too. Coming off the fresh announcement of Bella Hays returning to Alaska to play for the Seawolves, Prospect caught up with UAA Women's Coach Matt Thune and assistant Mia 'Uhila at the Senior All-Star Games. Hays joins Mylee Anderson and incoming freshman Savannah Kroon to give UAA three former Wasilla Warriors on the roster. UAA Men's assistant Ryan Engebretsen, UAF Men's Coach Frank Ostanik and assistant Tobin Karlberg, and UAF Women's Coach Michael Ricks were busy catching games and looking at players throughout the weekend.

Between games, coaches swung by the Prospect setup to talk ball — what they saw on the floor, what they thought of Alaska talent, and where they see it going. Ask almost any of them what they're looking for in a recruit and the answer comes before the basketball: high character, players they can build a program around. Post players are always in demand, but several coaches on the women's side noted the need for bigs was running a little higher this year than last, when guards were the hotter commodity. The feedback on Alaska talent overall was encouraging. Those conversations are coming to the Prospect Athletics YouTube channel soon.

On the court, Blue teams won all four games against the Gold.

Seward's Mikinley Williams set the tone early, leading the 1A/2A Girls game with 13 in a 65-52 Blue win. The 1A/2A Boys game belonged to Northway's Terrence Nutting-Titus — 27 points in his final high school game, closing a career that included the Alaska single-game scoring record of 82 points and 3,000 career points, only the second player in state history to get there. Mountain City's Keelie Kronberger saved 21 for her last one, Blue winning the 3A/4A Girls game 61-46. The 3A/4A Boys game was the tightest finish of the day — Blue held off Gold 77-72, Juneau's Joren Gasga finishing with 13 and Juneau Douglas's Kurt Kuppert adding 11 to close out the 2025-26 season.

The halftime competitions had their own highlights. Mountain City's Keelie Kronberger won the girls 3-point contest. Skagway's Royce Borst took the boys side. The dunk contest came down to Dimond's Amelio Ambrosio and Susitna Valley's Austin Barnard — Ambrosio edged it out in a close one.

The 2026 AABC Hall of Fame class honored ten people who built Alaska basketball. Valdez's Todd Wegner, Ward Romans of Nikiski and Grace Christian, Tikigaq's Ramona Rock, and Bartlett's Ronnie Chalmers were inducted as coaches alongside players Kotzebue's Butch Lincoln, Bartlett's Mario Chalmers, and North Pole's Brad Olsen. Official Ron Henderson, media figure Norman Bouchard, and Unalakleet's Jeff Erickson — recipient of the Steinbrecher Integrity Award — completed the class.

Not every story from the weekend was ready to be told yet. When Barrow's Aiga Unutoa was asked if she had committed to a college, she smiled and kept it close. That one's coming...

There's a different energy in an All-Star game. The season-long grind is over, the pressure of a playoff run is gone, and for the first time all year these players are sharing a floor with people they spent the season competing against. It loosens something up. But watch closely and the intensity never fully leaves — not with college coaches from across the Pacific Northwest in the seats, and not when you've spent four years working for exactly this kind of moment.

Full game highlights for all four Senior All-Star games is on the Prospect Athletics Youtube channel.