To understand how Cole Scherer emerged as Colorado’s top player this winter, first, you have to understand how a 17-point victory wasn’t enough to satisfy Valor Christian’s ultra-competitive star point guard.
On Feb. 14, the Eagles beat Chatfield 57-40 in the penultimate game of the regular season, but it was a win in which they didn’t shoot the ball well and lacked the intensity they’d need to make a deep tournament run.
So Scherer sent a message that night to his teammates, one that resonated the rest of the season as the Eagles caught fire en route to winning the Class 6A state title.
“No one was playing very good and we were on a trend of beating teams by (not that much) that we thought we should be blowing out,” Valor senior forward Ryan Dixon recalled. “We wanted a change, and it was Cole who texted everyone that night. He said, ‘We’re having a shootaround tomorrow morning. 7 a.m., everybody be there.’ And everyone was there. From then on, we turned a page.”
While Scherer got his team to turn the page that morning, he also flipped his own script this season, morphing from a solid sophomore into a dominant force as a junior that culminated with him earning the title of Mr. Colorado Basketball.
He averaged 22 points this season, including a 26-point average in the state tournament and a game-high 28 in the championship win over ThunderRidge. For his play, Scherer swept Colorado’s top individual honors, as he also claimed the Gatorade state player of the year and the MaxPreps state player of the year.
To achieve the breakout few saw coming, Scherer put on his hard hat and went to work. After working relentlessly with three trainers for approximately 15 hours a week, he became a threat from anywhere on the court.
“He was a two-level scorer as a sophomore, because everything was from three or a layup,” explained one of his trainers, Jordan Jhabvala. “There wasn’t a lot in between. So a point of emphasis for Cole was to make him a multi-tier scorer.
“This year, the jump was he became comfortable scoring from four levels — at the rim, in the lane with the pull-up, middy kind of game, at the three line and then beyond the three line. That’s what has really separated him from the crowd.”
Scherer spent last summer grinding with the tandem of Jhabvala and Ross Haskell, as well as another trainer, Nick Graham.
With Jhabvala and Haskell, Scherer’s focus was on dribble penetration, runners and floaters, and finishing at the rim. With Graham, the majority of work was on extending Scherer’s shooting ability well beyond the arc, to the 22-foot treys he routinely drained inside Denver Coliseum.
In the sessions with Jhabvala and Haskell, Jhabvala (who played at Brown) guarded Scherer on the perimeter. Once the point guard got past him, he had the 6-foot-7 Haskell to contend with. And Haskell would wear long foam pads on each hand to simulate a 7-foot defender.
There was no taking it easy on Scherer, whose scoring was rounded out by his rebounding (5.6 per game), shot creation (4.0 assists) and tenacity on defense (2.2 steals per game).
“Something we noticed with him as a sophomore was he would shy away from the contact a little at the rim, or be more concerned about that contact than he should’ve been,” Jhabvala said. “Now, his default is he’s used to it. He knows contact is coming and he doesn’t flinch.”
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Under Graham, who trained renowned shooter and BYU phenom Jimmer Fredette for five years, Scherer transformed into a 47% 3-point shooter as a junior. That mark led all classifications among players who made more than 46 3s (Scherer had 80).
“I would demand that he would shoot deep 3s, over and over,” Graham said. “When he first started doing it, he would shoot airballs, he would not be consistent. But we kept drilling it. He’s got a great build to shoot from distance; he just needed more space to do it, and he needed the reps to prove to himself that he could.”
For Scherer, his play in 2023-24 was the payoff he knew he was capable of from his time as an undersized but talented middle schooler.
“The turning point came this summer,” Scherer said. “After I put all that work in, I knew I could have a big year. That’s what gave me confidence in the biggest games of the year at the Coliseum.”
Valor Christian Eagles Cole Scherer (1) hoists the championship trophy after defeating the ThunderRidge Grizzlies 52-40 winning the 6A boys Colorado state high school championship game at the Denver Coliseum in Denver on Saturday, March 09, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Along the way, Scherer also found his voice as a leader.
As Valor Christian went through three coaches over its last three seasons — Dennis Burrage last winter, Graham in the summer, and then Jeff Platt this winter — Scherer was the Eagles’ glue.
“They never really got to know Platt until late in the summer, and the team was in search of a leader throughout this transition,” Graham said. “But that was the best thing to happen for Cole — for him to take the bull by the horns and be the leader the team needed to bridge the gaps and keep everybody together.”
While Scherer’s leadership emerged as a key intangible, so too did his motor, mindset and coachability. Jhabvala described the 6-foot-2 point guard as “one of the few players I’ve ever coached who never slows down.” Platt agreed, and noted that Scherer “never got rattled” despite being the main focus of opposing game plans.
“He was never afraid of the big moment, and he had so much poise and composure under pressure,” Platt said. “He gets a lot of attention from other teams, and he takes a lot of physical play, but he learned how to respond in every challenge and every situation. And he rose to the occasion in all of those moments.”
Cole Scherer (1) of the Valor Christian Eagles handles against the Ralston Valley Mustangs during the first half at Valor in Highlands Ranch on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
But even with what No. 1 accomplished this year, what’s next for Scherer is even more important.
Despite his accolade-laden season and role in pacing Valor Christian to its first title since 2017, Scherer’s interest from colleges remains limited. He has one offer, from Division II Metro State.
Part of that is because of the way college recruiting has changed with the transfer portal: For non-blue-chip prospects, Division I recruiting is happening later, if at all. Another part is because of the state he plays in: Colorado does not have a reputation for producing boatloads of boys basketball talent.
For his part, Scherer says he’s “staying patient, and I know God’s got a plan.” But the point guard has a plan, too.
More work with his trainers. Showing out at some out-of-state showcases this summer with his club team, Colorado Collective. All while making last summer look like a warm-up.
“The challenge for Cole now is how he sustains this — how he can become a two-time (MaxPreps) player of the year, two-time Gatorade winner, two-time Mr. Basketball, two-time state winner,” Jhabvala said. “He’s now putting himself on a platform where that’s his new baseline. So this summer is going to be critical. He can’t rest on his laurels. He’s now got to put his foot down on the gas and go even harder.
“With that approach, colleges will start to notice. Because there’s no question he’s a Division I basketball player.”
Cole Scherer (1) of the Valor Christian Eagles is introduced before the first half against the Ralston Valley Mustangs at Valor in Highlands Ranch on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
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