MaxPreps 2014-15 National Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Ali Patberg

Video: MaxPreps National Girls Basketball Player of the Year - Ali Patberg
See interviews and highlights from Ali Patberg's trip to the McDonald's All-American Game

There are a lot of impressive numbers for Columbus North (Ind.) star Ali Patberg:

-  25.9 (points per game her senior season);
-  99-9 (career record at Columbus North);
-  50.5 (career shooting percentage);
-  6 (final ranking for Columbus North in the Xcellent 25);
-  534 (career assists);
-  And many more of the caliber one would expect from MaxPreps' Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

But here's another number: 5:30.

That's what time Patberg arrived at Columbus North almost every school day of the year. She would set up the shooting machine, and for the next 90 minutes, she would just shoot.

"Any time I can get in a gym, it feels good. It's like home," said Patberg, who first tagged along with her dad to the gym when she was 2 years old.

So is it any wonder the 5-foot-10 Patberg scored 2,026 points in her career, including an incredible 14 of 18 from the field and nine of 10 from the free throw line in a 39-point explosion in an Indiana state semifinal game?

* Editor's note: Ron Patberg's role was corrected to reflect that he coached the freshman team

Of course, Patberg has been groomed for that kind of moment from birth. Her dad Ron and his twin brother Rick both played college basketball, and Ron was the boys freshman team coach at Columbus North, and then was the assistant to head coach Pat McKee during Ali's career. Her mom, Julie Davis, scored 1,000 points in her college career, and the rest of the family -- including three other Patbergs on the Columbus North roster this year -- is focused on basketball as well.
"Even when we're not playing, we watch basketball and talk basketball," the Notre Dame recruit said.

"From 2 years old, she was in the gym with her dad," said Davis, "and that's all she wanted to do."

Patberg also benefited from the coaching of Damon Bailey, an all-American at Indiana who is now an assistant on the Butler University women's basketball staff.

"He taught me to give my all. We really had to execute," Patberg said about her time with the Indiana Elite.

All of that came into focus at Columbus North.

"She understands the game," McKee said. "She understands the strengths and weaknesses of her teammates. She understands the psyche of her teammates."

Put all of that together with a generous helping of pure athletic ability, and you have the recipe for MaxPreps National Girls Basketball Player of the Year -- but you better start cooking at 5:30 a.m.

Past MaxPreps National Players of the Year
2014 - A'ja Wilson, Heathwood Hall Episcopal (Columbia, S.C.)
2013 - Diamond DeShields, Norcross (Ga.)
2012 - Breanna Stewart, Cicero-North Syracuse (Cicero, N.Y.)
2011 - Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
2010 - Chiney Ogwumike, Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas)
2009 - Skylar Diggins, South Bend Washington (Ind.)
2008 - Nneka Ogwumike, Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas)
2007 - Maya Moore, Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.)
2006 - Jacki Gemelos, St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.)