Iowa’s Top Returning Rebounders: Class 3A
Tick tock, the season is almost here. Practice started across Iowa on Nov. 12, and games will start across the state on Tuesday, Nov. 27. That gives us just enough time to bring some quantitative lists, counting down the best returners in a given statistical category. The series continues with us bringing you the best returning rebounders, from 4A to 1A.
10 Keith Keahna, South Tama — 7.5
A multi-sport athlete at South Tama, Keahna is a guy that excels year-round in athletics, and now he’ll shift his focus to a senor season on the hardwood. The athletic 6-foot-4 forward gets a slew of boards on both ends of the court, offensively and defensively, and could average a double-double this season for the Trojans.
9 Cham Deng, Strom Lake — 7.9
Storm Lake is going to be a major threat in 3A this season, Deng is one of several reasons why. He was recently featured in Josh Sachnoff’s “10 Intriguing Players to Watch in Northwest Iowa” article: Sachnoff says “Look for Deng to pose an even bigger problem for opponents this season and be one of the top players to watch in Northwest Iowa.”
8 Austin Simpson, Fairfield — 8.0
Fairfield has a very strong 2019 class, and Simpson is one of the headliners. He nearly averaged a double-double last season with points and rebounds. This season, there’s no reason to expect he won’t up his boards to more than 10 per game.
7 Henry Hoversten, Webster City — 8.2
A big and ever-evolving center, Hoversten is a throw-back guy who doesn’t waste his time outside of the paint. He does not shy away from contact down low, it’s that size and mentality has made him one of the better rebounders in Iowa.
T5 Kylan Smallwood, Creston — 8.7
Well, here we are writing about Smallwood again. The 6-foot-3 wing headlined the top returning scorers list, and it turns out he’s an high-level rebounder too. The Panthers will go as Creston goes this season, and that’s good news for fans of the team. We expect to write about Smallwood a lot this winter.
T5 Matt Barragy, Gilbert — 8.7
Probably one of the more underrated bigs in Iowa, Barragy is a 6-foot-5 senior who averaged not just 8.7 boards per game last season, but also 11.6 points and 1.5 blocks. Those numbers should only swell this season, and Barragy could be a stock-riser in the next 2019 rankings.
4 Nathan Weaver, Chariton — 8.9
We got the chance to see the 6-foot-4 combo-forward play this past June at the Grand View Team Camp, and it was evident that he’s going to be leading way for the Chargers this season. He’s very active on both ends of the floor, which is the primary reason he’s able to rebound at such a high clip.
3 Nick DeJong, Pella — 9.9
An Iowa Hawkeyes football commit, the 6-foot-6 bruiser likes to mix it up with the Dutch on the hardwood, too. As you can imagine, any player worthy of donning an Iowa football jersey is big and physical enough to dominate at the high school basketball ranks, that’s what DeJong did last season, and what he’ll do again this winter.
2 Owen Coburn, Spirit Lake — 11.1
A length 6-foot-10 center, it’s no secret that Coburn is one of the premier prospects in the state of Iowa. He committed to South Dakota State relatively early in the recruiting process and signed his letter of intent last week. Now, he heads into a senior season with nothing more to accomplish, expect bringing a state title to Spirit Lake.
1 Derek Krogmann, West Delaware — 12.4
Another guy who recently signed with a Division I program, Krogamnn joins a fleet of other 2019 guys who will appear on Northern Iowa’s roster starting in the fall of 2019. He’s a left-hander with extremely long arms, he’s stronger than he looks and plays physical, so, ya, we were not surprised to see he would be topping this list.