Creighton's John Mitchell heads up a strong class of Cornhusker State freshmen on the hardwood.
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Check out the crazy action from the past week on the hardwood.
Every off-season basketball prognosticators, coaches and even some fans busy themselves pouring through rosters, postseason awards and statistics from the previous year, hoping to put together an accurate depiction of how the upcoming basketball season might play out.
But one element is always missing in their research. The newcomer. While most first-year players spend the better part of their basketball season playing with the freshman or junior varsity teams, or even riding the bench, some do make a huge impact on the varsity season.
Here at MaxPreps we have decided to take a look at which Cornhusker State freshmen are playing more like veterans this winter. And there are some outstanding rookies.
It all starts at Creighton where John Mitchell is having a fantastic basketball season. Not only is the 5-foot, 11-inch point guard scoring at will, he's pulling down almost 4.5 rebounds a contest as well as swiping nearly three enemy balls, dishing out over two assists a game and even blocking a few shots.
Gordon-Rushville's Jace Nelson steps in at No. 2 after scoring more than 11 points per game and ripping down more than 10 boards while Luke Kasten of Potter-Dix sits in the No. 3 spot after averaging close to 10 points an outing, grabbing 10.3 rebounds a night and stealing nearly three enemy balls per outing.
Landon Classen of O'Neill and Wausa's Jaxon Claussen round out the Top 5 in the No. 4 and 5 spots respectively after posting scoring averages of 12.1 and 13.4 points a night respectively.
Classes C1, C2, D1 and D2 are all represented in this week's Top 10. But that does not mean the freshman classes in Classes A and B are not competing at a high level in the Cornhusker State. Rylan Smith of Lincoln Southwest leads Class A rookies after averaging more than five points and dishing out over two and a half assists per game.
Wahoo's Owen Hancock scores more than three points an outing, to lead Class B, while also posting 1.1 assists, 1.8 rebounds and nearly one and a half steals on average. Rendell Gines of Omaha Christian Academy was seventh in this week's Top 10, but was missing some statistics from a couple of games, so we're giving the 5-foot, 9-inch guard a mention for posting a scoring average of 13.7 points to date.
Gordon-Rushville and Amherst lead all schools with two representatives each this week. The statistics used in this week's Top 10 were pulled from the MaxPreps database Wednesday evening.
In order to be considered for this week's Top 10, a player had to post a scoring average of 10 points or more, or rank rather high in rebounding, assists, steals and/or blocked shots. As you look through this Top 10 list, the top line displays the player's school as well as their height and position(s) played, while lines two and three are reserved for the player's stat line and shooting numbers respectively.
Nebraska's top first-year boys basketball stat lines
1. John Mitchell, Creighton 5-11 Fr. PG22.8 points | 2.2 assists | 4.4 rebounds | 2.7 steals | 0.4 blocked shots
76 2FGM-128 2FGA | 23 3PM-83 3PA | 30 FTM-41 FTA | 251 Points
2. Jace Nelson, Gordon-Rushville (Gordon) 6-4 Fr. F11.6 points | 1.4 assists | 10.1 rebounds | 0.8 steals | 0.5 blocked shots
54 2FGM-85 2FGA | 0 3PM-2 3PA | 20 FTM-39 FTA | 128 Points
3. Luke Kasten, Potter-Dix (Potter) 6-3 Fr. G9.6 points | 1.1 assists | 10.3 rebounds | 2.7 steals | 0.3 blocked shots
30 2FGM-66 2FGA | 4 3PM-33 3PA | 24 FTM-39 FTA | 96 Points
4. Landon Classen, O'Neill 5-9 Fr.12.1 points | 3.0 assists | 3.6 rebounds | 2.6 steals | 0.1 blocked shots
13 2FGM-27 2FGA | 19 3PM-50 3PA | 14 FTM-20 FTA | 97 Points
5. Jaxon Claussen, Wausa Fr.13.4 points | 2.1 assists | 2.3 rebounds | 1.8 steals | 0.1 blocked shots
34 2FGM-97 2FGA | 18 3PM-73 3PA | 39 FTM-56 FTA | 161 Points
6. Carter Anderson, Gordon-Rushville 5-10 Fr. G11.7 points | 4.0 assists | 3.1 rebounds | 0.4 steals | 0.3 blocked shots
31 2FGM-59 2FGA | 20 3PM-62 3PA | 7 FTM-15 FTA | 129 Points
7. Scout Simmons, Amherst Fr. SG, SF7.4 points | 3.6 assists | 5.4 rebounds | 1.3 steals | 0.2 blocked shots
11 2FGM-34 2FGA | 13 3PM-32 3PA | 13 FTM-16 FTA | 74 Points
8. Klayton Kleffner, Spalding Academy (Spalding) 6-0 Fr. F9.7 points | 1.4 assists | 5.2 rebounds | 0.8 steals | 0.5 blocked shots
32 2FGM-78 2FGA | 2 3PM-16 3PA | 27 FTM-44 FTA | 97 Points
9. Talon Trampe, Amherst Fr.7.2 points | 0.4 assists | 6.2 rebounds | 0.5 steals | 3.1 blocked shots
29 2FGM-43 2FGA | 0 3PM-1 3PA | 14 FTM-27 FTA | 72 Points
10. Trent Marquez, Bayard Fr. G5.2 points | 2.8 assists | 3.4 rebounds | 3.2 steals | 0.6 blocked shots
13 2FGM-42 2FGA | 3 3PM-21 3PA | 12 FTM-22 FTA | 47 Points
