The North Platte boys’ basketball team reached new heights in the first year under Bradyn Kemper – ending with its most wins since the 2015-16 season – and the Panthers are hoping to keep that success going into this winter.
With five consecutive seasons with seven or less wins, Kemper helped lead North Platte to nine wins – which was just two victories shy of the combined win total in the three years prior – last winter. The Panthers lost three seniors who were key pieces to the turnaround as some underclassmen will have to fill in those spots.
Bradyn Kemper is in his second year as North Platte’s head coach after leading the Panthers to their best season since 2016 last year.
“We did a great job of setting the foundation of this program and we had three tremendous seniors to be building blocks in a program that we’re trying to build,” Kemper said. “We’re going to be quite a bit younger this year, so it’s important for them to still follow those same building blocks to continue to build success within this program.”
The Panthers have five seniors this year – Kaden Mullendore, Wesley Meadows, Jayce Gibson, Josh Schaffart and Ian Bledsoe – who have been stepping up early. Sophomore Westin Snook has also made that jump as a leader.
“Westin (Snook) played for us a lot as a freshman a year ago and he got thrown into that role where we needed a scorer and a shooter. He knows what I want as a player and what I’ve envisioned for our team, so he’s a good guy to be on the floor,” Kemper said.
Following impressive middle school careers, freshmen Brenden Matt and Hunter Palmer will be fighting for playing time. The freshman duo is competing with Meadows, Snook and sophomore Landen Green for the point guard position.
“There are some kids that are fighting for that spot, so it’ll be a committee for now, but someone will emerge to take over that point guard role at some point. Those two freshmen and Dylan Armstrong, who’s more of a forward or wing type, have really impressed me this summer and this year,” Kemper said.
Before Kemper’s arrival, winning games were few and far between for North Platte, but after winning a pair of conference games and finishing in fifth place in the Osborn Invite last year, the Panthers gained some confidence. North Platte’s solid season last winter even translated to an impressive baseball season in the spring followed by historical football and cross-country seasons this fall as the Panthers are hoping to keep the strong play rolling on the basketball court.
“I have a lot of kids that were on those teams, and they helped keep that momentum going as far as success on the boys’ aspect of the sports that has been lacking recently. It’s not that we don’t have the athletes, it could be more because they didn’t have that motivation or that push and now, they’re starting to get that from our coaches and their peers,” Kemper said.
Juniors Creek Johnson and Noah Heckman also add experience to this year’s squad, along with sophomores Waylon McCracken and Jax Carpenter. North Platte hasn’t finished with double digit wins since 2016 and will look to change that when this year ends.
“Those freshmen and sophomores have some high basketball IQ’s and have played a lot of games. There’s going to be some growing pains, but we have some upperclassmen who have done a good job of showing them what’s going on,” Kemper said.