Navy senior center Aidan Kehoe is arguably the Patriot League's best inside player this season, an interior weapon who has laid the groundwork for a talented, veteran-laden Navy squad aiming to win the school's first conference title since 1998.
 
At 6-feet-11, 246 pounds, Kehoe has emerged over the past two seasons as a scoring force in the paint, a prolific rebounder at both ends and an excellent passer in the post, often in the face of frequent double-teams.
 
Kehoe and star senior point guard Austin Benigni – and numerous, effective role players -- have created a potent punch that has pushed the first-place Mids (14-6, 6-1) to nine victories in their past 10 games.
 
While Benigni has been a scoring and assisting machine over three seasons, Kehoe's reliable presence the past two years has helped Navy to unleash a high level of complementary basketball in Annapolis.
 
"Aidan is our anchor at both ends of the floor. He is a dominant force," said senior forward and team captain Mike Woods, who has been a close friend of Kehoe's since plebe summer in 2022.
 
"[Kehoe] demands a lot of double-teams. He still catches pretty much everything [down low] and is able to pass it back out [if necessary] to great shooters like Austin [Benigni], [Jordan] Pennick and [Jinwoo] Kim. Aidan is really unselfish," added Woods. "We run our offense through him. Once we get the ball to him, we expect somebody to end the possession with a bucket."
 
A backup during his first two seasons, Kehoe announced his improvement loudly as a junior. Over 33 starts, he ranked third in team scoring with 9.0 points per game on impressive 62.1 percent shooting.
 
His steady rebounding (8.9 boards per game) at both ends elevated the possibilities for the Mids, who reached the Patriot League championship game last year, but were denied their first NCAA tournament appearance in 27 years by American.
 
Kehoe set a single-season, program record as a junior with 115 offensive rebounds – six more than NBA and Olympics champion and Hall of Famer David Robinson, by far the greatest player in school history. Kehoe also produced eight double-doubles.
 
As a senior, Kehoe has taken his game to a different level, while averaging 33 minutes per contest. He ranks second among the Mids with 15.1 points per game, with a 72.2 percent shooting accuracy that ranks second in Division I.
 
As a rebounder, Kehoe has been more consistent and prolific than ever, averaging 10.6 per contest. Seventy-two of his league-high 212 boards – fifth highest in the nation – have been at the offensive end. His 22 blocks lead the team. He has generated nine double-doubles, six of which have featured at least 20 points scoring.
 
For a guy who is on the floor for most of the game, attracts so much attention in the paint and has the ball in his hands during so many possessions, Kehoe's average of 1.7 turnovers per game is remarkable. He has yet to foul out of a game this season.
 
"[Kehoe] has to make a lot of quick decisions at a really physical position in the game of basketball," said Jon Perry, Navy's longtime assistant who took over the head coaching reins when Ed DeChellis retired last year. "Such a sharp guy. He shows up every day positive, joyful, super receptive, focused, accountable and coachable."
 
As Kehoe looked forward to facing Navy's archrival again, when Army visits Alumni Hall on Saturday, he looked back to the days when his Division I journey was barely underway, when he had little reason to believe he'd be enjoying this level of success for the Mids.
 
"I used to move my opponents around easily in high school," recalled Kehoe, who has been the tallest player on the floor ever since he started playing the sport in first grade. "I remember trying it after plebe summer [in preseason practices with older teammates in the post]. I couldn't move anybody."
 
Kehoe gives much credit to former Navy center Daniel Deaver, who took Kehoe under his wing in one-on-one settings following team workouts his freshman year.
 
"[Deaver] taught me how to use my body. He helped me to develop into an effective Division I center. My first two years [as a backup] were very important," Kehoe added. "My junior year was good. Not great."
 
"I've watched Aidan be a very mature guy who sees things beyond himself. He always considers others. People gravitate to him. He is all about winning," Perry said.
 
"He can read a room and know the right thing to say. He has a sense of humor at the right time and sees the big picture. It's leadership maturity," Perry added. "That's why he is going to make a great officer and leader [in the U.S. Navy]."
 
Woods recalled a key moment when he witnessed that leader in action – no speech, just thoughtful words spoken at the right time, with the right tone, like a big, warm teddy bear exuding positive energy and charisma.
 
At the end of the 2025 regular season the Mids had learned they would have to tangle with Boston University on the road in the league tournament quarterfinals. The Terriers, who had gone undefeated in the Patriot League at home including a 62-47 win over Navy, had beaten Navy in Boston the previous year in the Quarterfinals.
 
Kehoe sat, listening to his teammates expressing some anxiety about once again facing the Terriers in the quarterfinals in Boston.
 
"The locker room was a little like 'Here we go again.' Aidan was sitting in the corner,"  Woods said. Then he broke the tension by yelling something like, 'Hey man! I guess we have to go up there and get it done!' Suddenly, guys were smiling and high-fiving and hugging. [Kehoe] gave the room real positive energy that didn't exist before he spoke up. He can be goofy at times."

Navy defeated Boston 86-78 and then won at Bucknell in the Patriot League Semifinals before losing to American in the championship game.
 
John Kehoe, Aidan's father, recalled a time when his then-fourth grade son, at a Cub Scout function with lots of parents in attendance, came up with quite the idea to win a contest that challenged the boys to design something original with a roll of toilet paper.
 
Goofy Aidan Kehoe instructed his partner to wrap him up completely in toilet paper. The stunt drew the loudest laughs and applause.
 
"We didn't want Aidan to lose that goofy side of his personality at the Naval Academy, with all of its demands and rigors," John Kehoe said. "He hasn't lost it."
 
"I think sports in general is a great thing for future officers to have on their plates," Aiden Kehoe said. "It takes time to build up that confidence over four years with a team, knowing what to say and how to say it. Basketball is an emotional game, but you can't get too emotional. I try to stay calm out there. We call it "staying blue."
 
Molly Kehoe, Aidan's twin sister, who stands five feet, 11 inches – she was born three minutes ahead of Aidan and still calls him "my baby brother" – recalled their youth together as ultra-competitive kids who would tease each other, argue countless times and have never stopped leaning on and supporting each other. They talk on average twice a week and text each other more.
 
Molly Kehoe graduated last year from New Orleans University, where she excelled at Division I volleyball and was team captain as a senior. She ribs her brother about finishing college a year before him. She also deeply appreciates the endless competition that was part of their childhoods, such as climbing trees, wiffle ball, games of 'H-O-R-S-E" on the basketball court.
 
"We fought a lot, but that really built me up to become a Division I volleyball player," she said. "We talk about his academy workload. He gives me good, logical advice when I'm trying to solve a problem. We will always be in each other's corner."
 
"We are very close. We get each other. We can vent, or just ask each other for advice. I loved watching [Molly] kill on the volleyball court," said Aidan Kehoe, whose decision to enroll in a post-graduate year in 2021-22 at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut got him on the recruiting radar at Navy.
 
Kehoe, who is coming off a career-high 29-point effort on Wednesday to lead Navy to a season sweep of Holy Cross – four days after more than 20 family members witnessed his monster effort (21 points, 21 rebounds, 4 assists, 49 minutes) that lifted Navy to a double-overtime victory at Lehigh – is firmly focused on the next four months.
 
And it's about more than doing everything possible to help the Midshipmen reach the NCAA tournament.
 
He will graduate in May with a degree in political science and be commissioned a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare (Nuclear) Officer. Kehoe will be in charge of operating the engine room that powers an aircraft carrier he will be assigned to soon.
 
"I'm in charge of maintaining a nuclear-powered engine that keeps everyone afloat and alive on a massive boat," Kehoe said. "It's a cool system to learn about. It will be a cool step in my life."
 
"I knew the academy wasn't going to be sunshine and rainbows. Anything worth doing is going to be difficult. I am glad that I've gone through it," Kehoe said. "I've developed time management skills and priorities. I'm such a different person than I was on I-Day."
 
"We [fellow senior basketball players] talk a lot about how many days are left for us," he added.  "How many days before that first playoff game? We will be playing in this or that arena for the last time. Change is coming. I'm enjoying the moments."