Recruiting Report: Tate Hebrink (2018)
Austin has played nine games and they’ve won nine games. Point guard Tate Hebrink has lead the team on both ends of the floor.
“Personally I think I have been playing good,” Hebrink said. “I would still like to see myself score a little more and be more aggressive. For our team we are playing very good right now, we just had a big win against a very good team in Lakeville North.
“We really play well as a team and we share the ball very well. We like to get in peoples shorts on defense and pressure them all game long and we create a long of our offense off of steals and turnovers.”
Pressure? The Packers? Teams like Lakeville North, Forest Lake, and Totino-Grace have learned what the Big Nine teams are familiar with and scared of, the long arms of the Packers flying around in that pressure.
Tate is the pressure man on the press and a guy flying around behind the ball. Hebrink is also leading the Packers in scoring for the four games that the Basketball Hub has recorded stats for.
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement in me being stronger with the ball and making the right decisions, not turning it over,” Tate said. “I think I’ve also became a better playmaker and setting up my teammates for open shots.”
The loss of Both Gach to prep school had many thinking the Packers shot at playing for the state title was lost. Most still expected Austin to be a state tournament team and a top five team in state but a title contender? The experience of the Austin senior group has shown that they can be just that.
“We have a couple players returning as in me, Duoth Gach and Moses Issa,” Tate said. “We have a lot of seniors on this years team that are really good ball players and younger kids really stepping up!
“We are a very talented team, we can handle the ball and shoot it very well which helps us win a lot of ball games.”
Austin is 9-0 and they are also getting great minutes from supporting players like Medi Obang, Ngor Deng, Dongrin Deng, and Nyagoa Obany.
The leader of the team though is Hebrink along with Moses and Duoth.
“Some of my personal goals for this year would be to score more, and earn a couple more scholarships,” Tate said. “For our team, the goal is to win our conference and after that it is to get back to the state championship game again but bring home the 1st place this year.”
College programs are calling Hebrink not just for his talent but also for his leadership. Tate is both the point guard on the basketball team and the quarterback on the football team.
“I have been talking to Valley City State (they offered me a scholarship), Wisconsin-River Falls, Concordia-Moorhead, Mayville State, and a couple of other schools,” Tate listed. “I have visited Valley City State, UWRF, and Concordia so far. I haven’t planned any other visits yet.”