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CLAY CUSTER
6-1, jr., Blue Valley Northwest
Stats: Custer, a two-time All-State selection and a three-year starter, led BV Northwest to its fourth straight Class 6A title game, a 25-0 record and the Class 6A title. He is 71-4 as a Husky. He averaged 22.2 points, 2.1 steals, 3.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds. Custer, who has a knack for finding his teammates, can quickly get up the floor, find the open man or pull up for a shot. Sometimes Custer didn’t score in the first quarter because his focus was to involve others. He shot 59 percent from the field, 39 percent from three, 80 percent from the free-throw line. He has made an oral commitment to Iowa State.
NCAA men’s tournament pick: Iowa State
Most memorable moment: “When the buzzer sounded in the state championship game. I think after losing in the state championship for the two years before, it made it feel even better when we won. To win that with these teammates was the best.”
Advice you live by: “The Michael Jordan quote, ‘I failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.’ It’s probably the advice I live by. In sports you’ll always play bad, get knocked down. You have to keep your head up, trust that you can play, keep your confidence.”
Favorite pastime outside of basketball: “Probably just hanging out with friends. I’m like any normal kid, just go out, hang out, watch movies with friends. A pretty low-key person. Go with the flow.”
Coach Ed Fritz: “We’re 71-4 since he’s been a part of our program. I don’t know a lot of people with a better record than that. That’s a credit to him. He already texted me that he wants to win 50 games in a row and do all we can to be good next year. He knows what he needs to do to be better. When your best player is your hardest worker and most team-oriented player, it really makes it good.”
TREVON EVANS
6-0, jr., Eisenhower
Stats: Through Evans’ first two years of high school, he was most known for his dazzling passes and his quickness with the ball. As a junior, though, Eisenhower needed him to score, and he obliged. He averaged 25.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 steals. Evans, who had eight games of 30 or more points, including 44, 39 and 37, is an efficient scorer with the ability to create his own shot. Even when he scored his season-high 44 points, he took 25 shots, and those shots came within the offense. He took his ballhandling to the next level – Evans had the ball 90 percent of the time — and uses his speed to get past defenders while keeping the ball in his control. He led Eisenhower to a 19-2 record and the Class 5A sub-state final.
NCAA men’s tournament pick: Kansas
Most memorable moment: “When all of our seniors played against Maize South and all of our seniors scored on our senior night.”
Advice you live by: “Don’t take anything for granted. Nothing comes easy. If you want something, you have to go get it.”
Favorite pastime outside of basketball: “Hanging out with friends, playing X-Box. I usually play NBA 2K, Call of Duty.”
Coach Steve Blue: “He works very hard on his ballhandling. He spends a lot of time in the offseason with the ball in his hands. He’s able to use both hands so well. A lot of guys have quickness, but he’s able to beat guys and take the ball with him…. There are guys who are quick but can’t handle (the ball) at that pace. He’s able to play at that pace, and that’s what’s so scary about him.”
CONNER FRANKAMP
6-1, sr., Wichita North
Stats: Frankamp, a two-time All-State selection who has signed with Kansas, led North to a 20-3 record and a second-straight Class 6A berth. Frankamp wowed fans with his ability to score, no matter what defense he faced or how physical opponents were. He averaged 31.1 points and finished with 2,275 career points, a City League record. He made 93 three-pointers, shot 49.2 percent from three-point range and 91.7 percent from the free-throw line. Frankamp averaged 3.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals. Frankamp, who missed 2½ games after suffering a concussion, had 14 games of 31 or more points and five of 40 or more.
College: Kansas
NCAA men’s tournament pick: Kansas
Most memorable moment: “Probably making it to state the last two years and also breaking the all-time City League (scoring) record was pretty sweet. I’ll always remember that, for sure.”
Advice you live by: “Always work hard and don’t take any day for granted because you never know if tomorrow will be given or not.”
Favorite pastime outside of basketball: “I like to hang out with my friends a lot and try to be a normal person.”
Coach Gary Squires: “When he got in that zone, got that look on his face, it was over. He had a lot of negative feedback from the crowd, night in and night out on the road. That just fired him up. He’s so competitive. He can create his shot any time, any place on the floor with his crossover. He’s very quick with the ball. He’ll kind off feed of your defense and go from there. His leaping ability, his ability to rise up from the floor has gotten better, and then he’s got that quick shot.”
DREW KITE
6-4, sr., Scott City
Stats: Kite was a solid double-double every night, averaging 19.5 points and 10 rebounds, even though most of his games during the regular season ended in the third quarter because of the margin of victory. Kite, a Top 11 football selection in 2012 after leading the Beavers to the Class 3A title in the fall, ended his basketball career with his third straight 3A title. He’s a strong presence inside with the ability to battle against bigger post players and able to control his body around smaller defenders.
College: Undecided
NCAA men’s tournament pick: Indiana
Most memorable moment: “I think winning state football. Basketball is my favorite sport, but because nobody had won state football in so long, I think (my most memorable moment) would probably be winning state football.”
Advice you live by: “Coach O’Neil keeps us really motivated. He gives us advice in practice. He keeps everybody motivated. I think he’s one of the best coaches to definitely come through Scott and maybe even Kansas. He’s great.”
Favorite pastime outside of basketball: “I hang out with friends, play X-Box (Madden, NBA 2K13), go to Garden (City) to watch movies.”
Coach Glenn O’Neil: He’s really strong with really nice feet. He’s a kid who rarely shoots it off the first step, which makes it tough to defend. He gets that extra pivot step to get closer to the basket. When these guys were in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, they were playing against guys like Willie Cauley (then living in western Kansas, now playing at Kentucky), who was 6-3 then. Drew and our guys were 5-6, so …. Drew had to work on different pivot moves down there. It’s so natural, that there’s a lot of times he’d shot fake when he didn’t need to.”
SEMI OJELEYE
6-8, sr., Ottawa
Stats: Ojeleye, a two-time All-State selection, led Ottawa to a 25-0 record, the Class 4A title and setting the state’s single-season scoring record (952 points) and the career scoring record (2,763). Ojeleye averaged 38 points, shooting 63 percent from two-point range. He made 96 three-pointers, shooting 38 percent from three. He also shot 82 percent from the line, hitting 236 of 289. He had 11 games of 40 or more, including 53, 56 and 58. Ojeleye’s strength and skill allowed him to score in a variety of ways, but he also dominated the lane. Ojeleye had 213 rebounds and finished with 754 for his career.
College: Duke
NCAA men’s tournament pick: Duke
Most memorable moment: “I’d have to say Saturday when we won (the 4A) title. After losing all those times (three straight years), it’s kind of surreal to win it. I couldn’t believe it at first. I’d been in the same situation and we lost, and so when (Saturday’s) game ended, I thought, ‘Is this real?’ ”
Advice you live by: “First of all, to have faith, trust God and try to be humble. When you get cocky, things usually don’t tend to work out for you.”
Favorite pastime outside of basketball: “I really just relax and spend time with my brother. He’s taught me a lot. We like to hang out and chat and talk about life. It’s nice to just be around him and learn from what he’s been through.”
Coach Jon McKowen: “He became the complete leader this season. I felt like last year he was a complete player. Offensively, defensively, he was very, very skilled. This year he really transitioned to being an unbelievable teammate and leader. He could sense his teammates’ feelings, know if they needed to be picked up or pushed. He truly got the best out of everybody.”
GLENN O’NEIL
Scott City coach
Scott City’s focus from the time the 2011-12 season ended was on winning that third straight Class 3A title and becoming the first 3A team to accomplish that goal. The Beavers did just that, finishing with a 25-1 record, the only loss coming in overtime against Wichita North in the semifinals of the Dodge City midseason tournament. O’Neil, whose sons Brett and Trey played for him, also won his 300th game along the way, and has won 306 games in 17 seasons and four titles.
O’Neil, who has coached Scott City football for six seasons, also led the Beavers to the Class 3A football title in the fall.
Scott City senior Collin Ratzlaff: “I think personally, he’s just really dedicated to not looking too far into the future. Going into the state tournament, he was just looking at the first game, not looking to the championship too much. He’s telling us, ‘We just have a couple more steps to get to our goal.’ The whole year our goal has been three-peat, but he kind of just focused on one thing after the other. It made it more special for me.
“… Obviously we were all thinking about the state championship game, but he wanted us to be focused on the first game ahead of us. If we don’t win the first game first, we can’t make it to the champ game. It made us more relaxed, taking it just one step at a time, just playing the game.”
