They’re working, improving and growing. Cathedral High School 2025-2026 boys basketball is about being focused on what’s important – and what’s important for this Irish team is what always matters most for a program annually among Indiana’s best: Preparing for the end of the season and postseason. “Everything we’re doing is geared toward March,” Jason Delaney said. The Irish in Delaney’s 10th season as head coach started the ‘25-‘26 season 7-0 and were 9-3 through mid-January. They were ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 3A in the Sagarin Ratings at that time, No. 3 overall. “It’s been everybody kind of playing their role,” Delaney said. “I’m excited about where it’s heading.” The Irish in addition to a 70-60 road loss to a strong Princeton (Ohio) team in mid-January had narrow losses to then-unbeaten Class 4A No. 6 Crown Pointe (75-72) and then-unbeaten Class 4A No. 4 Carmel (63-62). “Those are veteran teams led by seniors and juniors that have been through it,” Delaney said. “We started to learn things. You’re proud of the resiliency.” The Irish this season returned two prominent players who played extensively for a strong 2024-2025 team that ranked among the state’s best: Seniors Keaton Aldridge and Julien Smith, who will play collegiately for Detroit Mercy and Mount St. Mary’s, respectively. “We came into this season knowing that we were inexperienced at the varsity level,” Delaney said. “We got off to a 7-0 start and even during that time, we were talking about some of the details needing to be addressed.” The ’25-26 Irish are led by: *Aldridge (19 points per game through 10 games, 8.0 rebounds per game). *Smith (17.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg). *Ryan Gold, freshman point guard (8.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.7 assists per game). *Braylon Pippens, junior forward (8.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg). “He’s really developed over time,” Delaney said. *Skylar Rogers, junior guard (5.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg). *R’mani Wells, senior (6.0, 4.0). “I love this group,” Delaney said. “They're extremely coachable. They work hard. They really like each other off the court. They’re a dream to coach. You have two ‘stars’ by their names, but other than that, you have guys who are just playing their roles and that's kind of fun because it’s not the same guy every night. You have guys that emerge and step up. “The other thing we really have noticed is the development of our program, how these guys develop over the years. That's why you should be in coaching, trying to make people better in their four years. That's the rewarding part.” The Irish, after a strong 2024-2025 season ended with a loss to Attucks in the Class 4A sectional final, this season increased their focus on peaking for the postseason. The approach included what Delaney called “really ramping up” practices in early January to better time how they will play once the sectional tournament begins in early March. “We ramped them up like we would the first practice of the year, so guys are competing hard and playing hard,” Delaney said. “I’ve said this a couple of times this year: We went 20-5 last year, but it felt like 5-20 because of losing in that sectional game. We reference that a lot because that's what it's all about. “A glowing record in the regular season doesn't make that any better. That’s why you play those games. If we wanted to just feel good about ourselves, we wouldn't schedule the way we do. We've learned a lot from there.” Delaney said the key for the Irish late in the season will be continuing to improve defense and ball security. “We talk about toughness,” Delaney said. “Toughness is not flexing and pushing someone, shoving someone around. Toughness is making the right play when you need to make that play or getting a rebound when you have to get a rebound or sitting down and having the grit enough to get a stop when you need to. “That’s what is it ultimately comes down to. We've got pieces here. I like that they want to get better every day. I like that they're competing. Even in practices they compete with each other and wan to win and even through all that they stuck together.” “I feel like we're getting better. That's a whole part of this thing. “ And Delaney said the makeup of the 2025-2026 Irish absolutely should enable the team to improve as needed as early March approaches. “They embody everything we want,” Delaney said. “They have a 3.9 GPA overall team. They are blue collar. They play extremely hard. The games we lost we made some mistakes or couldn't get shots when we needed to. We’ve had three writeups from referees about the great sportsmanship and class they show and how well they play. “They're everything you'd want out of a team. You can't speed up experience sometimes and that's why this is the longest season there is.”