Super Squad
Jack Poppe
Doniphan-Trumbull
6-2, Sophomore, Guard
After an impressive freshman season Doniphan-Trumbull’s Jack Poppe improved and upped his scoring average from last season. He went from 13.8 points per game to 15.9.
“Mental toughness wise, mentality wise, I think we really saw that grow and I think it was because he was put into some really tough situations as a freshman,” Doniphan-Trumbull coach Kelan Buhr said.
Buhr has watched Poppe since he was in elementary school at youth camps and growing up through the ranks. Now two-seasons into high school career Poppe has been in the spotlight but it doesn’t come as a surprise to Buhr.
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“For us who have watched him grow up in our program and have seen how good he is from a young age and seen him develop into a heck of a high school basketball player it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to us,” Buhr said. “He’s really, really good and we’ve known that for a long time.”
Poppe finished the year averaging 15.9 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game, 3.7 assists per game and 2.8 steals per game. He finished top 10 in the area in points per game (eighth), assists per game (seventh), two-point shooting percentage (first) and free-throw percentage (fifth).
Mukadi Mukoma
Grand Island Senior High
6-6, Senior, Guard
Grand Island Senior High senior Mukadi Mukoma hit tough shot after tough shot this past season.
“I think he really developed offensively as far as being able to come off of screens and being able to read screens and read coverages in order to get himself opportunities at the rim,” GISH coach Jeremiah Slough said. “By the end of the year, regardless of the scout, regardless of the defense, he knew how to attack it.”
Mukoma averaged 17.7 points per game while shooting 40% from 3-point range, both coming in the top-10 in the area. Those points and shots never came easy.
“He was 50% from the field, 40% from three and he’s not getting stand-still threes,” Slough said. “The threes that he was taking were highly contested against good defenders. He had the primary defender on him at all times. You gotta be an elite shooter to shoot 40% from three and he was doing that without a lot of space.”
Mukoma did this without ever seeming to get too high or too low emotionally on the floor.
“Mukadi is very unflappable, he’s just the type of kid that you’re not going to see a wave of emotions one way or the other and that allows him to just kind of stay in the moment,” Slough said. “No situation is ever too much for him and it just allows that consistency that you saw from him throughout the course of the year.”
Ayden Zikmund
Central City
6-3, Senior, Guard
Central City senior Ayden Zikmund has etched his name in the history books at Central City.
Zikmund holds many records including career points with 1,830, single season points with 557 and 3-pointers made in a career with 287, just to name a few.
“GOAT probably,” Central City coach BJ Blase on Zikmund’s impact on the school.
Zikmund averaged 18.3 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game and 3.8 assists per game this past season. He was the lone returning starter for Central City who went to state in 2023.
“Really proud of the year he had, especially when you come off of losing four starters and you go to the state tournament the year before and break a lot of milestones and make history,” Blase said. “Anytime you can lead a team to 20 wins in a season it’s pretty special.”
Next year Zikmund will take his talents to Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa where he’ll play college basketball.
“They’re an outstanding program,” Blase said. “I’m just really happy for him to be able to go and watch him do that and do his dream. He’s not only, obviously, a great basketball player, but he’s just a great human being, a great kid and he’s going to do great things on and off the court in the future.”
Riley Bombeck
Shelton
6-3, Senior, Guard
Shelton senior Riley Bombeck embodies what it means to be an all-around player as he filled the stat sheet every time he stepped on the floor.
Bombeck averaged 19 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game, 6.3 assists per game and 4.1 steals per game this past season, but it wasn’t always clear he’d play his senior season.
“His mom scared the heck out of me when she called and said that he injured his knee in travel team,” Shelton coach Will Reutzel said. “I was like ‘oh no is this going to be a four to six week thing,’ she goes ‘well it could be a basically career ending one for high school.’”
Shelton, helped by Bombeck, won its first state championship since 1919 this season. In the championship against Maywood-Hayes Center Bombeck had 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds.
Bombeck finished his high school career with 1,706 points, the career record at Shelton and has helped be a leader for the team.
“He has led us on and off the court,” Reutzel said.
Ashton Simmons
Shelton
6-3, Senior, Guard
It wasn’t often that Shelton senior Ashton Simmons didn’t have the green light when on the floor.
“Definitely didn’t give him a red light much,” Shelton coach Will Reutzel said. “He had some opportunities to get some scoring and he definitely took advantage of it.”
Simmons led the Class D-2 state champs in scoring, putting up 22.2 points per game to go along with 4.3 rebounds per game and 1.9 assists per game.
Throughout high school Reutzel said he’s seen Simmons grow in how he approaches the game.
“The mentality of the game, he has accepted the fact that some people are going to try and rev him up, box and one’s or something like that, triangle and two and try to deny him touches,” Reutzel said.
The 577 points Simmons scored is a Shelton single season record.
“He works really hard. He’s up at the gym a lot just shooting on a shooting machine or shooting with friends,” Reutzel said. “Whether it’s summertime or whenever, on the weekend or something, he is a kid that has always wanted to do well.”
Name | Year | Height | Position | PPG | RPG | School |
Hunter Nepple | Fr. | 6-8 | F | 14.9 | 7 | Adams Central |
Thomas Liban | Jr. | 6-3 | G | 12 | 3.3 | Grand Island CC |
Booker Scheierman | Jr. | 6-7 | F | 12.6 | 6.2 | Aurora |
Jaden Williams | Sr. | 6-2 | F | 10.3 | 6.1 | Doniphan-Trumbull |
Josh Luehr | Sr. | 6-1 | F | 12.3 | 5.6 | Wood River |
Name | Year | Height | Position | PPG | RPG | School |
Blake Hinrichs | Sr. | 6-3 | G/F | 14.4 | 6 | Ord |
Sam Wells | Sr. | 6-2 | G | 17.1 | 4.5 | St. Paul |
Kaden Brodersen | Sr. | 6-4 | F | 16.5 | 15.3 | Ravenna |
Parker Volk | So. | 6-4 | F | 12.7 | 5.3 | Doniphan-Trumbull |
Braxton Wiles | Sr. | 6-2 | F | 12.2 | 8 | Hastings St. Cecilia |
Name | Year | Height | Position | PPG | RPG | School |
Micah Perdew | Sr. | 6-1 | G | 24.1 | 5.3 | Nebraska Christian |
Kane Wetovick | Fr. | 6-6 | F | 15.7 | 8.7 | Fullerton |
Tate Soto | Jr. | 6-2 | F | 12.2 | 7.4 | Central Valley |
Drew Carraher | Jr. | 5-10 | G | 10.6 | 4.1 | Riverside |
Caden Block | Sr. | 6-4 | F | 10.7 | 7 | Hastings |
Honorable Mention
Adams Central: Jayden Teichmeier, Sr.;Dylan Janzen, Sr.;Decker Shestak, Sr. Arcadia/Loup City: Max Lewandowski, Jr. Aurora: Canon Allen, So.;Ethan Ramaekers, Sr. Broken Bow: Braxton Johnson, Jr.;Dominic Nowak, So.;Gavin Curizales, Jr.;Zach Johnson, Fr. Burwell: Wryder Svoboda, Sr. Central City: Jakob Ruhl, Jr.;Colter Leuders, Jr.;Blake Jensen, Sr. Central Valley: Zaden Wolf, Jr.;Boston Wood, Jr.;Cordel Wagner, Jr. Centura: Barrett Fries, Jr.;Weston Kroeger, Jr.;Mason Gorecki, Jr.;Caden Ruhl, Sr. Doniphan-Trumbull: Kaedan Detamore, Sr.; Jake Collinson, Sr. Elba:Logan Adams, Sr. Fullerton: Nolan Dubas, Jr.;Fletcher Dubas, Jr.;Terrick Gonsior, So. Grand Island CC: Thomas Birch, So.;Braylon Wolfe, Fr.;Connor Haney, So.;Jack Alberts, So. Grand Island Senior High: Evan McDonald, Sr.;Babur Choul, Jr.;Ethan Coslor, Jr. Hastings: Brayden Power, Sr.;Parker Ablott, Jr.;Landon Hinrichs, Sr. Hastings St. Cecilia: Dawson Kissinger, Sr.;Quinn Rosno, Sr.;Graham Daly, Sr. Heartland Lutheran: Ethan Olson, Sr.;Chad Rostvet, So.;Vance Smith, So.;Colton Zehender, So. Nebraska Christian: Oliver Herman, Jr. Northwest: Brandon Bykerk, Jr.;Sam Dinkelman, Sr. Ord: Talen Bruha, Sr.;Elijah Pollard, Jr.;Jordan Williams, Fr. Ravenna: Chase Rager, Sr.;Cooper Todd, So. Riverside: Dane Schalk, Jr.;Jack Molt, Jr. Shelton: Ben Myers, Jr.;Luke Gillming, Sr.;Gerardo Romero, Sr. St. Paul: Chris Thomas, Sr.;Gage Sack, Jr. Wood River: Christian Johnson, Jr.;Reid Graves, Sr.;Anthony Rindone, Jr.