Braydn Kemper is entering his third year as the Panthers’ head coach and recently helped them earn third place in the KCI Conference Tournament, which was the best finish the program has had since 2004.
DEARBORN – Year three of the Braydn Kemper era has the potential to be the best one yet, especially since the North Platte boys’ basketball team won its first three games of the season for the first time in more than 15 years.
North Platte has gone almost a decade without double digit wins or finishing above .500 but is on pace to change that. Despite not being at full strength in the opening two games – missing some key players who were still playing football, making it to the Class 1 State Championship – the Panthers still found ways to win.
“Our state football run meant practicing without some guys for awhile and other guys that maybe weren’t supposed to be there earned a spot and chances to go play two games and ended up playing well and getting two wins against solid teams,” Kemper said.
The first time North Platte had its expected guys back – which included two of the five returners who saw some starting time last winter – it resulted in the program’s first win over Mid-Buchanan since 2016. Senior big man Creek Johnson and junior forward Westin Snook took the floor alongside the sophomore trio of Brenden Matt, Dylan Armstrong and Hunter Palmer.
“Creek has grown a lot since his sophomore year with us and Snook has been here for three years now; he stepped in right away and has kind of a calming presence and understands what I want. Brenden has grown a lot maturity wise and Hunter has made a role jump from being one of the first off the bench to now being a starter. Dylan is going to do his thing – he’s going to rebound, he’s going to play defense and he’s going to take care of business and lead by example,” Kemper said.
All five of those guys have seen some crucial minutes in two straight 9-18 seasons that saw a first-round loss to Maysville in the Class 2 District 15 Tournament. This year, the Panthers have been bumped up a class and will have a tougher road in the postseason even though the North Platte girls will remain in Class 2 and North Platte is the smallest Class 3 boys’ school in the state.
“When I told them we were in Class 3, I said, ‘Hey, we can make excuses and feel sorry for ourselves or we can go and try to win a district,’ It’s one of those things where we either complain about it and cry about it or we just get up and go play,” Kemper said.
The Panthers have only won one district title all time, happening in 2011, so they have some work to do to. Bench guys like Haiden Palmer, Jaxson Carpenter, Hudson Buckler, Chase Harper and Caleb Wright aren’t only fighting for minutes in games but have been playing hard in practices to make that a reality.
“The biggest thing is practicing with that championship level intensity and that’s where we can make a big jump from nine wins to something more than that. We’re talented in the gym right now with a lot of underclassmen that are good – and a good mix of upperclassmen – so practices are competitive and intense,” Kemper said.