Under The Radar: Northwest Standouts

I had a chance to witness 3 programs this week out of Northwest Kansas near Hays, and found some guys that stood out that might be under the radar for most people. These young men are playing out of Victoria, Plainville, and Hill City High Schools, and they are showing some major potential for the future in their most recent games over the last week and a half.    #2 for Victoria Knights, A highly impressive young point guard with size who seems to have a knack for hitting big shots. Nick has good situational awareness and has extremely high potential. He showcased this during their game against Plainville last week in a solid victory led by his clutch threes throughout the game during Plainville's comeback attempts.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/nick-Sander.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/nick-Sander.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3350481" /></a></figure>       #23 for Victoria Knights, plays with brute force and physicality. Weston has surprising speed and quickness @ about 230 lbs listed. His physicality allows Victoria to be a force on defense.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/nick-Sander-1.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/nick-Sander-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3350557" /></a></figure>     #30 For Hill City, Kason is a left-hander that would bode well against a zone coverage. Plays in the box and at the free-throw line and has a pretty smooth mid-range jumper that's a bit unpolished as of now, but could be dangerous very soon. He's already starting to figure out where his areas of the floor are, to a degree, and has the potential to do way more. He is conscious of noticing what his teammates are doing and what they need from him. Whether it be a screen or a nice bounce pass feed into the post, sometimes he's a step ahead of them as well, which to me shows some high IQ potential.     #20 For Hill City, Big man with good hands and a decent touch around the rim. Runs well and doesn't seem to have much of a problem defending along the perimeter. His teammates trust him to make tough catches during out-of-bounds plays and sharp cuts to the basket in traffic.     #4 For Plainville, Davyn moves well without the ball and is a solid cutter, especially in zone coverages. Davyn has a soft touch around the basket and has enough fundamentals already to know not to bring the ball back down on layups or put-backs. He keeps the ball high so it doesn't get stripped and finishes with good touch. He plays more of a point-forward for this Plainville squad and does a good job of taking good shots and not forcing threes up, even though he doesn't mind shooting them. He prefers to get better shots in the paint on most possessions. When his team is down on the scoreboard, he is the one who presses the throttle for them to get things going again.     http://www.hudl.com/v/2TRQV4   #2 for Plainville, Joey is the #1 scoring option for Plainville, and for good reason. He consistently gives you a much-needed shooting threat on this team. He's shooting way north of 70% from the free-throw line, at least against Hill City, and he didn't miss from there at all until the game was out of reach for Hill City. Joey shoots from everywhere, but he seems to especially excel at the uninterrupted dribble pull-up from the mid-range. He seems to have his rhythm down on that, so you can't let him dribble into that shot, or else it's money. More impressively, Joey is active on the defensive boards and is not afraid to get a few splinters on the hardwood. He also has a sneaky good outlet passing ability, especially with his chess pass. He made one against Hill City from the opposite corner on the opposite half of the court, directly into Plainville's corner pocket three right before a timeout. That pass was a straight bullet from about 54 feet as a chess pass. I don't think I've ever seen that before!

I had a chance to witness 3 programs this week out of Northwest Kansas near Hays, and found some guys that stood out that might be under the radar for most people. These young men are playing out of Victoria, Plainville, and Hill City High Schools, and they are showing some major potential for the future in their most recent games over the last week and a half.