Prep Dig Nebraska’s 15s “Dream Team” for Club Season
OK, before you read any further please make sure to understand the following: this is not an “all-state” team for the club season nor is it designed to honor the 16 best players during the club season. I want to…
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Continue ReadingOK, before you read any further please make sure to understand the following: this is not an “all-state” team for the club season nor is it designed to honor the 16 best players during the club season. I want to make sure that’s very clear.
Now, here is a breakdown of what the Prep Dig Nebraska 15s Dream Team for club is. It’s a hypothetical look at what I, Berk Brown, would do if I were in charge of putting together a “Dream Team” from Nebraska to compete at the national championships.
It’s well documented how successful Nebraska teams are during the club season at the national level. What is even more amazing, however, is the fact that a state with a population of roughly 1.9 million people can divide its talent up among five-ish clubs that are able to compete at the national level. Now, THAT is amazing. Plus, consider most of those club teams are dominated by Omaha and Lincoln area players, so the clubs are really only drawing from a population base of closer to 1.2-1.3 million.
Now, consider that the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area has roughly 3.2 million people with about three clubs drawing from that pool. The Kansas City metro area has roughly 2.3 million to pull from and Denver has about 2.8 million. That’s just comparing the Midwest area, not even taking into account Chicago, Southern California, Texas, Florida, etc. I think you get my drift.
So, what if Nebraska consolidated all of its talent into a top team to compete at nationals – hypothetically, of course. What if Nebraska were on an equal footing with all the other national powers when it came to the size of the talent pool it had to draw from. Well, I’m biased, but such an entity would bring home A LOT of hardware – and I’m talking at the Open level here.
It’s with that thought that I give to you what I think a “Dream Team” from Nebraska would look like. Of course, since this is all hypothetical anyway, I’m going to do things a little differently. So, if I were in charge of this hypothetical club, I would have different hypothetical ways of doing things.
First, I’m taking 16 kids on each team. Traditionally teams from Nebraska have 10 players – sometimes more, but USAV restricts your roster. But, here is what drives me crazy about roster restrictions. Teams are picked before Thanksgiving and that’s your team until the 4th of July. That’s crazy to me. You’re telling me that after six or seven full months that the top 10 kids you picked back in November are still your 10 best players? What about injuries? What about kids you develop quickly or simply have the light go on and really flourish? Anyways, I’m taking 16 kids because I want kids to not get burned out. I want kids to play multiple sports in high school, which will cancel out a lot of availability for tournaments, etc.
Second, each one of the 16 kids will have a defined role on the team. Nobody sits the bench in consecutive matches. My goal isn’t to win all season long, my singular goal is to make kids better each and every day all the way through the season. I’m not going to care about winning tournaments except at nationals. I’m going to showcase all my kids for college coaches. Every single person on the team has a job and it will be vital to the team.
Finally, when it comes time to turn in a roster for nationals, I’m entering two teams of eight. I’ve spent the previous six or seven months finding out who works best with who, getting everyone quality touches in big matches and I’m likely taking the eight hottest players at the moment on my A team and the remainder on my B team, but both would play Open at nationals and I would expect both would be capable of winning it.
So, without further ado, if I could have put together an 15s “Dream Team” for nationals this year, it would have looked like this.
I’m calling it right now that this team wins the national title. I’m certain of it. Not because I did such a good job of picking it (anyone could have done that) but because the Class of 2021 has a chance to go down as the best collection of talent the state has produced in a year. The kids are that good.
Start with the outside hitting trio of Lindsay Krause (Skutt Catholic), Norah Sis (Papillion-LaVista) and Shayla McCormick (Skutt Catholic). There wouldn’t be another club team in 15 Open with close to that much talent on the outside.
I will also take my crop of middles against anyone in the nation with Rylee Gray (Elkhorn South), Alexis Markowski (Lincoln Pius X) and Gina McGowan (Nebraska City Lourdes). Gray needs no explanation, Markowski missed the whole high school season last year with an injury, but she has a Power Five skill set and McGowan is a little bit of a project, but you have her training with this group of players for 6-7 months she would take off. She has a huge ceiling.
Emily Kaup of Omaha Duchesne is a high-riser with a good hammer that I have to have as a right side with this group and I also want Brittany Wulf of Lincoln Southeast and Omaha Marian’s lefty Mary Claire Daubendiek.
Nobody – and I mean nobody – would roll out a group of setters like this team would. I’ve got Elle Glock of Wahoo, who is getting a lot of attention from Power Five schools and Allison Gray of Skutt Catholic, who has already committed to a Power Five school in Arizona State. And just because I can, give me Diller-Odell setter Addison Heidemann because she deserves to be on this team with the talent she has.
Defensively I’m complete set with the trio of Lincoln Northeast’s Holly Ochsner, Skutt Catholic’s Olivia Rouw and Molly Ramsey of Norris. All three are standout liberos for the Open level.
And the player that I absolutely have to have – even though I don’t necessarily know at what position – is Skutt Catholic’s Brilee Wieseler. She can attack, she can set and – oh by the way – she played libero for the first time during Nebraska Elite 15 Revolution’s run to the 15 Open national championship match this summer. The kid is just a baller.
So, here’s your fictional “Dream Team” for 15s
Lindsay Krause, 6’3, OH, Skutt Catholic (Premier) – committed to Nebraska
Norah Sis, 6’0, OH, Papillion-LaVista (Premier) – uncommitted
Shayla McCormick, 6’0, OH, Skutt Catholic (Nebraska Elite) – uncommitted
Rylee Gray, 6’3, MH, Elkhorn South (Nebraska Elite) – committed to Nebraska
Alexis Markowski, 6’3, MH, Lincoln Pius X (VCNebraska) – uncommitted
Gina McGowan, 6’3, MH, Nebraska City Lourdes (Nebraska ONE) – uncommitted
Emily Kaup, 6’0, RS/MH, Omaha Duchesne (Nebraska Elite) – uncommitted
Brittany Wulf, 5’10, RS/OH, Lincoln Southeast (Nebraska ONE) – uncommitted
Mary Claire Daubendiek, 6’0, RS, Omaha Marian (Premier) – uncommitted
Elle Glock, 6’0, Setter/RS, Wahoo (VCNebraska) – uncommitted
Allison Gray, 5’9, Setter, Skutt Catholic (Nebraska Elite) – committed to Arizona State
Addison Heidemann, 5’9, Setter, Diller-Odell (VCNebraska) – uncommitted
Olivia Rouw, 5’5, Libero, Skutt Catholic (Premier) – uncommitted
Holly Ochsner, 5’4, Libero, Lincoln Northeast (Premier) – uncommitted
Molly Ramsey, 5’2, Libero, Norris (Nebraska ONE) – uncommitted
Brilee Wieseler, 5’9, Libero/Setter, Skutt Catholic (Nebraska Elite) – uncommitted