Class D2 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 get the preseason previews started with Nebraska's smallest schools, who has a tremendous amount of returning talent from last season. <strong>RETURNING CHAMPION: </strong>Wynot left Lincoln with their seventh state championship in the last fifteen years with a thrilling 39-38 title game victory over Falls City Sacred Heart.  Wynot came into a balanced D2 field as the 7th seed, but won a tough opening round game against Humphery St. Francis before defeating BDS in the semi-final. <strong>TOP RETURNING PLAYER: </strong>The best player in D2 might be the best player in the state.  Allison<strong> </strong>Weidner averaged 19.8 points per game as a sophomore for Humphery St. Francis, and she holds almost a dozen Division I offers in hand right now, and that number is probably going to grow.  Weidner had a great summer playing for All Nebraska Attack and is poised for a hugh junior year. <strong>TEAM ON THE BRINK:</strong> Loomis looks to make the move from a good team to a great team this season.  After going 16-7 last season, the Wolves have four returning starters, including senior Darla Thorell, who averaged 12 points and eight rebounds a game, and junior Alexis Billeter, who was selected as First Team All-Fort Kearney Conference.  Look for the Wolves to move up into the upper echelon of D2 this season. <strong>BEST CONFERENCE:</strong> There is a lot of balance in D2, and most of the teams at the top of the class are pretty spread out throughout the state.  With that being said, the deepest conference in the state might be the Pioneer/MUDECAS Conference, which hosts one of the best conference tournaments in the state in late January every season. <strong>REGULAR SEASON GAME OF THE YEAR: </strong>Again, most of the teams in the state are spread out geographically, so we're going to go with BDS against Lawrence-Nelson early this season.  Lawrence-Nelson went 20-5 in D1 last season, but has dropped down to D2 for the 2019-20 season and figures to play a big part in what will happen in late February and early March. <strong>"SUPER SEVEN" INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS IN CLASS D2:  </strong>Alison Weidner, Humphery St. Francis (19.8 ppg, 5.9 apg, 5.5 spg, Jr.)/ Regan Alfs, BDS (19.3 ppg, 11.4 rpg, Sr.)/ Colby Theis, Sterling (14.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg, Sr.)/ Katelyn Heine, Wynot (11 ppg, Sr.)/ Samantha Moore, Mullen (16 ppg, Jr.)/ Erison Vonderschmidt, Falls City Sacred Heart (9.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, So.), Alexis Billeter, Loomis (14 ppg, 4 rpg, Jr.) <strong>"ELITE EIGHT" IN LINCOLN THE FIRST WEEKEND IN MARCH: </strong>Falls City Sacred Heart/ Ewing/ Humphery St. Francis/ Wynot/ BDS/ Loomis/ Lawrence-Nelson/ Cody-Kilgore <strong>PRE-SEASON STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PICK: </strong>There are so many things that can happen throughou the season, but before the first tip, I like Falls City Sacred Heart to cut down the nets this spring.  Coach Luke Santo has built a great winning program, and they probably play the best schedule in the state year in and year out in D2.  With a great amount of depth returning from a team that fell just short in the state tournament last year (thus having a chip on their shoulder) I like the Irish to get a little more lucky this year. &nbsp;