Class D1 Boys State Basketball Preview
By Dean Backes
The Nebraska boys take their turn at center court this weekend and will crown six state champions over the course of the next four days. While many of the same programs are back in the hunt, there are plenty of schools making it on the brackets after missing the chaos for a year or two, or more.
Here at Heartland Prep Basketball Scoop, we’ve taken some time to crunch numbers and pick the field ahead of this weekend’s State Basketball Tournament. Then, we gathered data from MaxPreps and elsewhere to make a list of the state tournament’s top players.
While there are no rematches scheduled for Wednesday’s Class D1 quarterfinal action, there is plenty of basketball excitement on the docket. MaxPreps No. 1 and defending Class D1 state champion Johnson-Brock and ninth-ranked Elmwood-Murdock are set to square off at 9 Am at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
At 10:45 AM, No. 4 McCool Junction and fifth-ranked Elm Creek will try to advance at the dismay of the other while No. 2 Howells-Dodge will take center court against eighth-ranked Dundy County Strattonat 6 PM at Devaney.
No. 6 Bancroft-Rosalie and third-ranked North Platte St. Patrick’s round out the first day’s Class D1 action when they battle it out at Devaney at 7:45 PM. Now, let’s take a look at the weekend’s Class D1 field.
Picking the Class D1 Field
No. 1 Johnson-Brock (26-1) over No. 9 Elmwood-Murdock (14-11)
No. 4 McCool Junction (21-5) over No. 5 Elm Creek (21-4)
No. 2 Howells-Dodge (22-5) over No. 8 Dundy County Stratton (19-5)
No. 6 Bancroft-Rosalie (21-4) over No. 3 North Platte St. Patrick’s (19-6)
No. 1 Johnson-Brock (27-1) over No. 4 McCool Junction (22-5)
No. 2 Howells-Dodge (23-5) over No. 6 Bancroft-Rosalie (22-4)
Championship: No. 1 Johnson-Brock (28-1) over No. 2 Howells-Dodge (24-5)
Consolation: No. 4 McCool Junction (22-6) over No. 6 Bancroft-Rosalie (22-5)
Dark Horse: Elm Creek
Nebraska Class D1 Boys Scoring Leaders
Quin Oberg, Elm Creek 534 Points (21.4)
Mapieu Kouchinin, McCool Junction 399 Points (21.0)
Aidan Schmidt, Elmwood-Murdock 503 Points (20.1)
Benjamin Heirigs, North Platte St. Patrick’s 442 Points (18.4)
Camden Dalinghaus, Johnson-Brock 455 Points (16.9)
Drake Porter, Bancroft-Rosalie 405 Points (16.9)
Lane Bybee, Dundy County Stratton 406 Points (16.9)
Carson McDonald, McCool Junction 424 Points (16.3)
Brody Koehler, Johnson-Brock 424 Points (15.7)
Ethan Latta, Dundy County Stratton 369 Points (15.4)
Logan Winder, North Platte St. Patrick’s 335 Points (14.6)
Kavian Blackhawk, Bancroft-Rosalie 274 Points (13.0)
Casen Dalinghaus, Johnson-Brock 324 Points (12.0)
Jaden Browning, Bancroft-Rosalie 270 Points (11.7)
Nathan Tomcak, Howells-Dodge 313 Points (11.6)
Samuel Dick, Bancroft-Rosalie 279 Points (11.6)
August Shaw, Dundy County Stratton 262 Points (11.4)
Caleb Reiter, Elm Creek 274 Points (11.0)
Andre Martin, Howells-Dodge 290 Points (10.7)
Blake Erickson, Elm Creek 261 Points (10.4)
Nebraska Class D1 Boys Rebounding Leaders
Mapieu Kouchinin, McCool Junction 232 Rebounds (12.2)
Aidan Schmidt, Elmwood-Murdock 234 Rebounds (9.4)
Austin Meyer, Johnson-Brock 245 Rebounds (9.1)
Jeremiah Shoemaker, Elm Creek 214 Rebounds (8.6)
Lane Bybee, Dundy County Stratton 205 Rebounds (8.5)
Peyton Kramer, North Platte St. Patrick’s 194 Rebounds (7.8)
Dashiell Coleman, Elmwood-Murdock 185 Rebounds (7.4)
Quin Oberg, Elm Creek 168 Rebounds (6.7)
Brody Koehler, Johnson-Brock 179 Rebounds (6.6)
Blake Erickson, Elm Creek 159 Rebounds (6.4)
Ethan Latta, Dundy County Stratton 146 Rebounds (6.1)
Logan Winder, North Platte St. Patrick’s 136 Rebounds (5.9)
Hunter Luther, Howells-Dodge 151 Rebounds (5.8)
Braylon Wegner, Bancroft-Rosalie 138 Rebounds (5.8)
Dane Meyer, Howells-Dodge 155 Rebounds (5.7)
Nathan Tomcak, Howells-Dodge 155 Rebounds (5.7)
Andre Martin, Howells-Dodge 152 Rebounds (5.6)
Carson McDonald, McCool Junction 142 Rebounds (5.5)
Sutton Tickle, North Platte St. Patrick’s 138 Rebounds (5.5)
Breck Horner, Dundy County Stratton 124 Rebounds (5.2)
Carson Towle, Elmwood-Murdock 131 Rebounds (5.2)
Nebraska Class D1 Boys Assist Leaders
Dashiell Coleman, Elmwood-Murdock 186 Assists (7.4)
Dane Meyer, Howells Dodge 150 Assists (5.6)
Carson McDonald, McCool Junction 133 Assists (5.1)
Michael Furmanski, North Platte St. Patrick’s 121 Assists (4.8)
Nathan Tomcak, Howells-Dodge 118 Assists (4.4)
Etan Latta, Dundy County Stratton 100 Assists (4.2)
Brody Koehler, Johnson-Brock 112 Assists (4.1)
Quin Oberg, Elm Creek 97 Assists (3.9)
Camden Dalinghaus, Johnson-Brock 96 Assists (3.6)
Kole Steiner, Elm Creek 91 Assists (3.6)
Dante Horner, Dundy County Stratton 78 Assists (3.4)
Jaden Browning, Bancroft-Rosalie 78 Assists (3.4)
August Shaw, Dundy County Stratton 68 Assists (3.0)
Casen Dalinghaus, Johnson-Brock 78 Assists (2.9)
Bryson Plock, McCool Junction 74 Assists (2.8)
Benjamin Heirigs, North Platte St. Patrick’s 58 Assists (2.4)
Jaxon McDonald, McCool Junction 61 Assists (2.3)
Drake Porter, Bancroft-Rosalie 54 Assists (2.3)
Kolten Keim, Elm Creek 18 Assists (2.3)
Blake Erickson, Elm Creek 56 Assists (2.2)
Braylon Wegner, Bancroft-Rosalie 52 Assists (2.2)
Carson Heard, Howells-Dodge 56 Assists (2.1)
Logan Winder, North Platte St. Patrick’s 48 Assists (2.1)
Kavian Blackhawk, Bancroft-Rosalie 45 Assists (2.1)
Nebraska Class D1 Boys Steal Leaders
Quin Oberg, Elm Creek 84 Steals (3.4)
Ethan Latta, Dundy County Stratton 68 Steals (2.8)
Sutton Tickle, North Platte St. Patrick’s 59 Steals (2.4)
Dane Meyer, Howells-Dodge 62 Steals (2.3)
Drake Porter, Bancroft-Rosalie 53 Steals (2.2)
Dante Horner, Dundy County Stratton 50 Steals (2.2)
August Shaw, Dundy County Stratton 51 Steals (2.2)
Brody Koehler, Johnson-Brock 56 Steals (2.1)
Camden Dalinghaus, Johnson-Brock 55 Steals (2.0)
Nebraska Class D1 Boys Block Leaders
Aidan Schmidt, Elmwood-Murdock 79 Blocks (3.2)
Lane Bybee, Dundy County Stratton 34 Blocks (1.4)
Brody Koehler, Johnson-Brock 35 Blocks (1.3)
Mapieu Kouchinin, McCool Junction 25 Blocks (1.3)
Austin Meyer, Johnson-Brock 31 Blocks (1.1)
Andre Martin, Howells-Dodge 22 Blocks (0.8)
Logan Winder, North Platte St. Patrick’s 18 Blocks (0.8)
Quin Oberg, Elm Creek 16 Blocks (0.6)
Samuel Dick, Bancroft-Rosalie 14 Blocks (0.6)
Ja Soukup, McCool Junction 13 Blocks (0.5)
Peyton Kramer, North Platte St. Patrick’s 12 Blocks (0.5)