Summer Snap Shot: Creighton Hansen 2020 Burley High
Sometimes in life we are forced to deal with circumstances that are not ideal. Most athletes have a vision of how they want their high school careers to go and try to make that a reality. But sometimes things don’t…
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Continue ReadingSometimes in life we are forced to deal with circumstances that are not ideal. Most athletes have a vision of how they want their high school careers to go and try to make that a reality. But sometimes things don’t go as planned and we have to decide whether to give up or keep fighting. For Burley High Schools Creighton Hansen (2020) things haven’t gone as he envisioned. “After my sophomore year of high school I made a decision based off of multiple things going on in my life that ended up moving me to Burley High School during the summer.” The IDHSAA ruled that Hansen had to sit out a year of varsity as a result of him switching schools. “My Junior year I spent on JV for the third time due to not being allowed to play varsity and having to sit out a whole year because I switched high schools.” Hansen averaged a double double on the JV with 20 pts and 10 rebounds per game last year. He chose to fight instead of give up. This summer Hansen hasn’t let this set back slow him down at all.
This summer Hansen played for UBC out of Salt Lake City, Utah. But this wasn’t his first year playing AAU. “…my sophomore year I played for BOISE FLITE.” Over the past couple of years playing with these two good teams Hansen has played in a lot of tournaments, “I have played in tournaments all across the west coast, on Boise Flite we played mostly in Washington and Oregon and with UBC we played in California and Las Vegas multiple times.”
UBC Elite 17U (Creighton Hansen)Hansen attributes most of his growth as a player to playing on these grassroots teams, “I think AAU has had the biggest impact on me as a player honestly, in Idaho I’ve grown up being one of the tallest in my class throughout the years and have always played a post, but in AAU and at different camps I play a guard or a wing position almost every time. Without AAU I do not think I would be half of the player I am today.”
This summer Hansen attended the 8th Annual West Coast Elite Basketball High Academic Super Bowl, in Anaheim California. Hansen was described by WCE on an instagram post as, “Shooter with great lift on his jump shot and a pretty explosive first step.”
At 6’6″ 190 lbs Hansen can play multiple positions on the court. “I would best describe my game as versatile. I can play practically any position on the floor, I can play the 4 / 5 and post up and rebound well, but I can also play 2 / 3 and drive and shoot a mid-range or a three as well as anyone else on the floor. I also can guard any position too, even despite me being tall I can stay down and guard a 2 / 3 and if there’s a big post I can play strong post defense on them.”
This being Hansen’s first season on varsity he is looking to make an impression,”It’s crazy to think I’ll be having my first official time on varsity this year. Jace Whiting (2020) and I have spent a lot of time in the weight room and the gym this past spring and summer working on our game and getting stronger. I’ll be playing a 3 / 4 this season and using more of my strengths to really show the player I am this year. Expect big things, we’ll be one of the top teams in 4a this year.”
Since last summer Hansen has started to catch the eye of college programs,”My goal is to definitely try and play college basketball. Since the exposure camp last summer I’ve had tons of interest from D3, D2, NAIA, and Juco all across the country.”
To reach his goal of playing college basketball Hansen continues to work on his game,”I train with multiple people out of the Twin Falls area. For weight training I work with Brian Harshmen, basketball skills I work with Nurudeen Adepoju and Daequon Montreal.”
Basketball has always been fun for Hansen, “I love the speed and all the things you can do with a basketball, there are so many moves that I can go and work on every single day that I never get bored of it.” His favorite memory was his first in game dunk his sophomore year against Jerome High School. He ended that game with 28 points.
Hansen also excels in the classroom, “I average a 3.75 GPA all of high school and am part of the national honors society.” We look forward to seeing how Hansen and his team do this year in the upcoming season.