Every offseason, basketball prognosticators, coaches, and even some fans churn out rosters, postseason awards, I’ve been busy looking up last year’s stats.
However, one element is always missing in their research. Rookie. Most of his freshmen spend most of his basketball season playing with his freshman or junior varsity team or on the varsity bench, but some Some have a big impact on the national team season.
MaxPreps decided to find out which Cornhusker State freshmen are playing like veterans this winter. And there are some good newcomers.
It all starts in St. Mary’s, where Gage Hedstrom is running his Monster Rookie campaign. The 5-foot-11-inch guard isn’t just scoring 18.9 points, he’s pulling down 6.9 rebounds, swiping 2.4 enemy passes, and giving 2.1 assists overnight.
Doniphan Trumbull’s Jack Poppe was second with 15.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, while Ogallala’s Sawyer-Smith was third with 13.4 points, 4.2 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 3.4 steals per game.
Deshler’s Carson Sieber and Fremont’s Coriahnn Gallatin finished in the top five with scoring averages of 11.3 and 16.3 points respectively, placing them in 4th and 5th place respectively.
Classes A, C1, C2, D1 and D2 are all in this week’s Top 10. But that doesn’t mean his freshman players in Class B aren’t competing at a similarly high level. Norris small forward/power forward Chris Garner averaged 10.4 points, 1.1 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 0.3 steals and 0.4 blocks his shots, leading the way to his second-largest classification in Nebraska. I’m here.
To be named in this week’s Top 10, players had to average 10+ points or reach certain criteria in one of the other four stat categories.
When looking at this week’s Top 10, the top row shows the player’s school, height, and position played. Rows 2 and 3 are reserved for player stats and shot stats respectively. The statistics rows used in this week’s Top 10 were pulled from MaxPreps’ statistics database on Monday morning.
Nebraska’s Top 10 Basketball Rookies
1. Gage Hedstrom, St. Mary’s (O’Neill, Nebraska)
18.9 points | 2.1 assists | 6.9 rebounds | 2.4 steals | 0.0 blocked shots
39 2PM-86 2PA | 14 3PM-27 3PA | 12 FTM-18 FTA | 132 points
2. Jack Poppe, Doniphan Trumbull (Doniphan, Nebraska)
15.3 points | 2.7 assists | 5.8 rebounds | 2.8 steals | 0.8 blocked shots
36 2PM-59 2PA | 17 3PM-42 3PA | 23 FTM-28 FTA | 146 points
3. Sawyer Smith, Ogallala (Ogallala, Nebraska)
13.4 points | 4.2 assists | 5.2 rebounds | 3.4 steals | 0.0 blocked shots
23 2PM-26 2PA | 7 3PM-15 3PA | 0 FTM-0FTA | 67 points
4. Carson Seaver, Deshler (Deshler, Nebraska)
11.3 points | 1.0 assists | 9.3 rebounds | 0.7 steals | 0.2 blocked shots
30 2PM-50 2PA | 0 3PM-2 3PA | 13 FTM-25 FTA | 73 points
5. Corian Gallatin, Fremont (Fremont, Nebraska)
16.3 Points | 2.8 Assists | 2.2 Rebounds | 1.0 Steals | 0.1 Blocked Shots
21 2PM-44 2PA | 29 3PM-76 3PA | 18 FTM-26 FTA | 147 points
6. Carter Urkoski, High Plains (Pork, Nebraska)
6.2 points | 1.4 assists | 10.6 rebounds | 2.0 steals | 1.6 blocked shots
17 2PM-44 2PA | 0 3PM-1 3PA | 18 FTM-32 FTA | 52 points
7. Logan Levick, Garden County (Oshkosh, Nebraska)
11.7 points | 1.4 assists | 6.4 rebounds | 2.1 steals | 0.1 blocked shots
24 2PM-53 2PA | 6 3PM-18 3PA | 16 FTM-28 FTA | 82 points
8. Elkhorn Valley, Corbin Warner (Tilden, Nebraska)
8.0 Points | 3.9 Assists | 5.4 Rebounds | 1.9 Steals | 1.1 Blocked Shots
8 2PM-24 2PA | 10 3PM-28 3PA | 10 FTM-17 FTA | 56 points
9. Gage Neen, Bridgeport (Bridgeport, Nebraska)
11.0 points | 2.8 assists | 3.8 rebounds | 2.2 steals | 0.0 blocked shots
20 2PM-50 2PA | 4 3PM-17 3PA | 14 FTM-20 FTA | 66 points
10. Carson McDonald, McCool Junction (McCool Junction, Nebraska)
12.2 points | 2.0 assists | 2.5 rebounds | 2.2 steals | 0.0 blocked shots
17 2PM-26 2PA | 13 3PM-36 3PA | 4 FTM-8 FTA | 77 points
