Recruiting Report: Linaes Whiting (2018)
Bemidji guard Linaes Whiting is a three sport standout that excels in each season of the year and now he’s entering his final stretch of high school athletics.
Whiting didn’t playing AAU basketball for the first time because he was concentrating on track and field. He did play with his high school teammates in several events.
“This season was actually the first season I didn’t play AAU because of the 4X800 relay team I was on for track,” Whiting said. “We had three seniors on the relay and I didn’t want to let them down by missing practices for basketball and possibly getting hurt during AAU season and our relay ended up winning state.
“After track was over I was able to get in the gym often, working with my high school team in summer leagues and getting in the gym by myself, mostly working on ball handling, shooting off the dribble, and free throws.
Bemidji went 19-8 last year and returns some quality talent that should lead to a strong 17-18 year.
“Junior season went well, we went 19-8, but had a disappointing loss in the Semis to a good Alexandria team. Personally I thought I had a good year, especially towards the end of the season and during sections, when you want to be playing your best basketball.”
Whiting is the top returning scorer for the Lumberjacks and he’s getting ready by trying to be more well rounded on the floor.
My main focus this off-season has been finishing with my non dominant hand, and defense both on and off the ball.”
This year Bemidji hopes to hit the 20 win area with a playoff run.
“We have three returning starters and not a lot of bench experience but we do have some seniors and juniors that had good JV seasons last year and we will be looking for someone to step up for sure,” Linaes said.
“One of the players I’d keep an eye on is 6-foot-8 Spencer Konecne who will be a junior this year, he has been working hard this off season, had a really good JV season last year and we will look at him to step up and give us some post presence, as I think we are pretty confident in our perimeter and guard play.
“Both Alexandria and Fergus Falls graduated a good amount of Seniors so look for us to be right there battling for that section title along with Fergus, Alex, and Sauk Rapids.”
Whiting hopes that the Lumberjacks can hit that goal of being a state tournament team.
“My individual goals are to be a leader for my team, do my best to give my team a chance to win every night, and hopefully gain some interest in colleges along the way,” Whiting said. “As a team our goal is to win the section.”
Whiting has interest coming to him in all three sports and he ran through all of those programs with Prep Hoops today.
“I have lots of Colleges recruiting me for track,” Whiting said. “NDSU is one of the D1 schools I’d consider running for that is contacting me. For football I have some interest from D2 and D3 schools for kicking.
“Basketball is the sport I’d really love to play in college, it’s my favorite sport and it has been my whole life. Right now I’ve heard from Viterbo and Wisconsin Lacrosse only for basketball.”