Motivated Millard North has unfinished business
OMAHA, Neb. (BVM) — The Millard North Mustangs have never won a boys basketball state title. But last March, they were as close as they’ve ever come when they lost to Bellevue West by two points, 64-62, in the NSAA Class A state championship game.
Most of the same players who started for that state runner-up team have returned this season, and that title game loss hasn’t faded too far back in their memory.
“It’s on everybody’s mind a lot,” Millard North head coach Tim Cannon said.
The Mustangs even made shirts with the letters UB printed on the back, which stands for unfinished business.
“I think the players are very motivated by that and it’s just always there,” Cannon said. “Sometimes I remind them. I think about it every day, to be honest.”
Considering the amount of talent the Mustangs have back, there’s plenty of reason to believe they can redeem themselves this winter. And that’s the expectation not just within the Millard North program, but outside of it as well. The Mustangs are considered to be the best high school basketball team in Nebraska, and MaxPreps even ranks them No. 24 among the top 25 teams in the country. The high expectations are nothing new to North, however.
“The good thing is we’ve kind of been through it for a year and a half,” Cannon said. “Last year was pretty similar with a lot of expectations with really [most] of the same kids, so we’ve kind of been through it for a year and a half. … I just try to tell them to play for today and we try to enjoy the moment. They’re very competitive and they’re enjoyable and I think everyone is enjoying the process. I guess that’s kind of how we handle it. We don’t talk too much about the other stuff.”
A lot of people are likely going to talk about the Mustangs, who are loaded with future Division I players. Among their four returning starters is senior point guard Jadin Johnson, who’s committed to Old Dominion. Senior forward Saint Thomas, last year’s second-leading scorer, is averaging 22.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 block so far this season and currently holds 11 Division I offers. Junior forward Jalen Green, who was third on the team in scoring as a sophomore, is averaging 10.8 points, 7.5 points, 1.0 steal and 1.5 blocks thus far as a junior and he already has offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, Stanford and Nebraska.
But the biggest star for Millard North is Hunter Sallis.
The 6-foot-5, 175-pound five-star recruit is ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the country for the Class of 2021 by both Rivals and 247Sports and he’ll have his pick of where he wants to play basketball at the next level. Back in November, Sallis narrowed his list of potential college destinations down to eight: Gonzaga, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, UCLA, Creighton, and Iowa State.
“As a player, he’s improved each year as good or better than anybody I’ve ever seen in high school,” Cannon said of Sallis. “It’s just consistent improvement and you always wonder if it’s going to level out and he’s not going to have that big year of improvement, but right now he’s way better than he was last year.”
Sallis is averaging 21.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals through the first eight games of his senior year with Mustangs, who are off to an 8-0 start and look primed to make history and finish their unfinished business in 2021.
“The best thing I think for all of us I think is that we finally got to start a new season,” Cannon said. “We talk a lot about, ‘Let’s prove what we got this year,’ and I think we’ve done real well so far.”
