PHD: Walk me through your off-season. What did you do to improve your basketball game?

“This summer I spent a lot of time in the gym with both my high school team and my AAU team, Team Warwick. Kernel basketball did a lot of team camps and played Tuesday night Impact league. As a high school team our coach put an emphasis on competition and shooting so we worked to get shots up as a team. I also spent time in the weight room getting stronger for the season.“

PHD: What’s one specific part of your game you focused on improving this offseason, and where do you feel like you’ve made the most progress?

“Outside shooting. My role last season was primarily in the post. I am looking to be more offensive on the perimeter. I worked to put up shots in the gym.“

PHD: What does your fall look like right now? Are you playing another sport, or is it all basketball focused?

“I am playing football this fall, so my focus has been on that.“

PHD: What are your goals for the coming season, both individually and for your team?

“The goal for the team is to host a SoDak 16 game and go to the State Tournament. My individual goal is to be a leader of the team and expand my scoring. I would like to be All-Conference.“

PHD: Can you give some insight on an influential coach you have had? What made them memorable?

“I have had a lot of really great coaches, but I would say my most influential would be Ryker Kreutzfeld. This will be my 4^th year with him and he pushes me as a player and I know that I can talk to him about things both on the court and off the court. He is great at supporting multi-sport athletes.“

PHD: Time to give a shout to a teammate…Who do we need to know about from your high school team?

“I’m giving a shout out to Kysen Herman, he a good shooter, a hard worker and a great teammate to be around.“

PHD: Who is your favorite player to watch in college or the NBA, and why?

“I like Nikola Jokić because I think my game style is like his.“

PHD: Where do you feel like your game has grown the most in the past year or two?

“I think that I have become more consistent around the rim. I keep working on post moves and adding more perimeter shooting to my game.“

PHD: Where is your hot spot on the floor or can you tell us about a “go-to” move you like to use?

“One of my go to moves would be a jump hook from the left block.“

-Has unreal strength

-Dominates inside rebounding and scoring on post touches

-Physical defender inside, very difficult to score against

-Has great hands and touch around the basket

Absolute beast in the post/powerful and will not get pushed off his spot once he has it. Rebounding machine on both ends of the floor, has nice touch around the basket and decent footwork in the post. Gets to the foul line often because he gets so many offensive boards draws fouls. Strong post defender/moves feet well. Gets up amd down the floor well for how big he is.

-8 points

-Has pure man strength

-Extremely strong and powerful/can’t move him off his spot

-Caused havoc all game rebounding the ball and keeping rebounds alive for teammates

-Nice looking shot from freethrow line

-Scored all tough hard nosed baskets, with guys hanging on him

-Strong hands, not getting the ball away from this guy once he has it

-Showed nice footwork and touch once again with his limited opportunities

-Did alot of the dirty work

-Had a nice pass to a cutting teammate down the lane for two/good court vision and awareness

-Just a sophmore

-7 points

-Power big man/physical/tough very difficult to move this kid

-Has better feet then you would first think but does a very nice job inside, I was impressed

-Great power drop step, uses the glass nicely and with great touch

-Once he gets to his spot you can all but count it, extremely difficult to handle down low

-Uses both his left and right hand to score

-Soft hands in the post catches the ball the way a big man should

-Nice passer out of the post

-He is one BIG Kernel!

-Space-creating size, owns the boards

-Physical & strong, efficient finisher

-A mountain of a player, mature size & strength

-An immovable object in the paint, crushes on the glass

-Stout defender, plays hard, has a soft finishing touch

-Cleaned up the glass on both ends

-Crushed on the O-glass, impressive lefty putback finish

-Immovable in the paint/on the block

-Looked good setting screens & slipping to the hoop

-Good hands

-Eats up space

-He was a horse on the boards

-Caught in traffic & finished with defenders all around him

-Big, thick, strong

-Multiple O-boards

-High points rebounds, no problem creating space

-Grabbed boards over opponents

-Team player, did not force shots, did the dirty work

-Took away passing lanes, tipped passes for steals

I’ve seen a lot of Owen in the past, and up live, and he’s clearly a top prospect in the class, but I maybe only saw him 2-3 times this season, twice as the starting Big for Mitchell’s Sophomore team, and once as the first Big off the bench with the JV. So not a major update on him right now, but he’s the most physical Big in the class and he was dominant and a mismatch at the Sophomore level. He’s an easy D2 scholarship-level prospect and the next Big for Mitchell and Coach Kreutzfeldt to bank on.