NCAA Basketball: State of Nebraska is Producing College Basketball Players
By Bryan Mauro
There are several states that are known are recruiting pipelines in NCAA Basketball. Is the state of Nebraska starting to become one of them?
As the incoming 2018-2019 recruits are starting to begin their college basketball journey, one state who has never produced much in the way of Division 1 talent. That state is starting to place many of their players at High Major and well-known mid-majors. The state of Nebraska is turning into one of the better states to find talent in.
As the AAU season wraps up and the teams get ready for the final year championship tournament, before the final live period. The Omaha Sports Academy Crusaders are one of the best teams on the Adidas circuit. They were finally shoe company sponsored around 3 years ago, and ever since they have been on the Adidas circuit the kids have been turning heads of coaches everywhere. Nebraska commit Brady Heiman and his recruitment really took off during his time with the Crusaders.
Nebraska and Creighton have always been able to find the good talent in Nebraska, and talent that was so good, that they actually had long decent careers in the NBA. Eric Piatkowski, Erick Strickland and Rich King are a few of the notable players to grow up in the state of Nebraska, play for the Huskers, and then move on to the NBA. Creighton has had two players in the recent past who are going to have long illustrious careers in the NBA. Those players being Justin Patton and soon to be drafted Khyri Thomas.
The latter are the two players that started to put Nebraska high school basketball on the map, as these two players will play in the NBA. Thomas was an unranked three star, who after graduating from a Nebraska High School went to a prep school. Patton and other Nebraska high school player Akoy Agau were both ranked players. Agau ended up playing at 3 schools but started at Louisville and ending at SMU. Patton was a player who the virtual unknown, he was ranked highly and committed to Creighton so early that no other school was able to get in on him.
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A lot of the players from the state are going to end up staying at home at least initially, but there are a lot in the two most recent classes who have gone on to play basketball at some big programs. Programs that have and will continue to make the NCAA tournament. These schools include South Dakota State, San Diego State, West Virginia, Wichita State, Memphis, UC Davis, Nevada, Arkansas Little-Rock, South Dakota, and Texas Southern. Every one of the out of state schools listed has had or has a current Nebraska high school graduate on their roster.
South Dakota State and Memphis have two of the players from Nebraska, these players come from small towns that hard to recruit. Mike Daum, who is one of the best players in the entire sport is from the tiny town of Kimball, NE. Kimball is a town of about 2,500 people located in the southern panhandle of the state. The fact that South Dakota State found Daum at a High School game is impressive. David Wingett who is an incoming freshman for the Memphis Tigers, comes from the city of Winnebago, NE. Winnebago is an Indian Reservation and is hard to get to. Wingett who was one of the best high school players the state has potentially ever produced did not have a single offer out of High School.
Some of this is equated to underexposure and the rest is school work and college credit related. Penny Hardaway was able to find Wingett playing for Bull City Prep in North Carolina. Know the name David Wingett, he is a skilled player who is going to be very good for Memphis.
The state of Nebraska has many South Sudanese players in their High School system. These players have helped give the state an uptick in the talent level. The players mentioned below are all some of the most talented players in the state and all had numerous high major offers. Ed Chang is the best of these players. He was a one time commit to the University of Washington, he has since decommitted and now has a final three of Ole Miss, San Diego State and Nebraska. Chang originally had offers from Washington, Oklahoma State, Oregon and Nebraska before his original commitment. If Chang chooses San Diego State he will be joining another skilled player, who is a former Nebraska commit in Aguek Arop. He graduated from a Nebraska school in 2017, and spent the last year playing basketball in the prep ranks for the Skill Factory. Arop should be a contributor right away for the Aztecs. Wanjang Tut is a big man who elected to stay instate after initially going to Arkansas Little Rock. Tut is currently a member of the University of Omaha roster.
Nebraska also can claim that two of their high school graduates, were two of the hottest commodities on the recent transfer market. Teddy Allen who committed to West Virginia out of Boys Town high school. He was a key cog in the Mountaineers season. Allen played a lot and was poised for the huge season as a mountaineer. The forward decided to transfer back closer to his home to be with his family. He chose Wichita State, but his list of suitors was large. The other high-profile name on the transfer market was Tre’Shawn Thurman. He started his career in state at Omaha, and transferred for his final year of eligibility to Nevada. Thurman may get overshadowed a little at Nevada with the talent on that roster, but he’s going to be playing a key role for a team that has final four potential.
The University of Nebraska does have the best-ranked player in the state enrolled and on their basketball team. Brady Heiman who is a center with raw basketball abilities, but with a redshirt year should be able to add much-needed muscle to his frame and could be a serviceable player in the league. Nebraska recently offered a 2021 prospect named Chucky Hepburn. Hepburn is just starting in high school basketball and his ability is off the charts. He will start to receive many high major offers and potentially from numerous blue bloods of College Basketball.
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The state of Nebraska and their high school basketball programs are on the rise. Tim Miles, Doug McDermott and Omaha coach Derrin Hanson should take a lot of responsibility for this. They have helped get fans and young kids excited about basketball in the state again. If all three coaches continue their recent run of success and the players from Nebraska in those programs, develop and help their teams win games. Nebraska should start to develop more instate talent.