Class D1 Season Preview

Over the next three weeks, we're going to take a look at each class in Nebraska, starting with Class D2 and ending up with Class A right around Thanksgiving weekend.  Today, we will take a look at Class D1, which has a lot of balance, but going into the season, there seems to be two schools that stand out above everyone else. <strong>RETURNING CHAMPION: </strong>Fremont Archbishop Bergan rode the broad shoulders of all-staters Allison Dieckmann and Haley Kempf, plus a strong regular season schedule that prepped them for post-season play, to win Class D1 last year in a 36-27 slugfest over Pleasanton.  However, both Dieckmann and Kempf have both graduated, opening the door for other schools to take Bergan's crown. <strong>TOP RETURNING PLAYER: </strong>Nebraska-Omaha committ Grace Cave out of Weeping Water is the best returning individual player in this class.  After averaging 18.3 points a game last year, Cave, along with her teammate Peyton Barrett, look to take the Indians a couple of steps further this season after losing in the first round in last season's state tournament <strong>TEAM(S) ON THE BRINK:</strong> Two teams are on the brink of cracking the top level of Class D1 this season.  Johnson-Brock returns a lot of depth from last season's 15-9 squad, including one of the best players in their class, sophomore Dakotah Ludemann, who averaged 12.8 points a night last season.  Overton, who was 16-7 last season, also returns a lot of depth , including outstanding junior guard Rachel Ecklund, a 5'10" athlete who averabed 13 points and 7 rebounds a game as a sophomore. <strong>BEST CONFERENCE:</strong> The East Central Conference is probably the best conferene in D1 this year, led by Weeping Water and Johnson-Brock.  Along with these two outstanding teams, Yutan, Elmwood-Murdoch, Louisville and Auburn have had solid seasons in the last couple of years and figure to have a say in the top part of the conference again this year, which makes this the deepest conference all-told in D1. <strong>REGULAR SEASON GAME OF THE YEAR: </strong>In D1, the best head to head contest between schools in D1 should be a great regular season match-up on January 11th, when Weeping Water heads to Johnson-Brock for a heavyweight match-up.  In combining our two smallest classes, however, the game of the year will be on February 13th, when Weeping Water goes on the road to visit the pre-season state champion pick on Prep Girls Hoops, Falls City Sacred Heart. <strong>"SUPER SEVEN" INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS IN CLASS D1:</strong> Grace Cave, Weeping Water (18.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 4.5 spg, Jr.)/ Taylor Peter, CWC (20.1 ppg, 12.7 rpg, Sr.)/ Peyton Barrett, Weeping Water (20.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 3.5 spg, Sr.)/ Miah Wiebelhaus, North Central (17.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, Sr.)/ Rachel Ecklund, Overton (13.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg, Jr.)/ Dakotah Ludemann, Johnson-Brock (12.8 ppg, So.)/ Ashley Ostrand, Pender (14 ppg, 7.3 rpg, So.) <strong>"ELITE EIGHT" IN LINCOLN THE FIRST WEEKEND IN MARCH: </strong>CWC, Weeping Water, Pleasanton, Dundy County-Stratton, Humphery/ Lindsay Holy Family, Johnson-Brock, Overton, Pender <strong>PRE-SEASON STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PICK: </strong>There is a little more new blood in the D1 projected field than in D2, but I believe that two schools that have been there before (and have met before) will ultimately meet on the first Saturday in March; Pleasanton and Weeping Water.  If it were a 7 game series, I would take Pleasanton because of more depth, but in a one game playoff, I like the one-two punch of Cave and Barrett to avenge their state tournament loss in 2019 and raise the champion's trophy in 2020. &nbsp;