Basketball Lincoln Northwest drops varsity basketball this year

[Alum-Ni]

Lincoln Northwest will not play varsity boys or girls basketball this winter, as announced by Lincoln Public Schools today, citing player safety.

The Falcons instead will play junior varsity, reserve and freshman games to build experience before playing a varsity schedule in 2023-24. LPS has notified the Nebraska School Athletic Association of the decision, and Northwest administrators have contacted the schools on their winter schedule.

The move comes exactly three weeks after LNW canceled the remainder of its varsity football games after an 0-3 start left the team's roster decimated by injuries and lack of experienced athletes.

"This was a difficult but appropriate decision," LPS athletic and activities director JJ Toczek said of the basketball move. "I appreciate the administration at Northwest being thoughtful and putting student safety, learning and success first."

"We have learned valuable lessons during our fall sports season that we carry with us as we navigate the rest of our first year," Lincoln Northwest activities director Rob Psencik said in a news release. "Putting student safety first, we are taking this unique opportunity to start slow and build our teams and players’ experience.

"By focusing on the junior varsity, reserve and freshmen level, we can focus on developing our young players. Next year, we will have competitive varsity teams for both boys and girls basketball."

 

[baseball31ne]

Sounds like the right decision. Wonder how this will impact the spring seasons.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

So they have 250 boys in grades 9th - 11th while in class B and they can't field a basketball team?

McCook opted up to class B with 145 boys.

Class D plays with under 47.

Player safety? Freshman play on varsity teams all over the state. If the refs reduce the physicality of basketball, can't they improve the safety of the players on the court?

 

[highschoolfootballnut]

So they have 250 boys in grades 9th - 11th while in class B and they can't field a basketball team?

McCook opted up to class B with 145 boys.

Class D plays with under 47.

Player safety? Freshman play on varsity teams all over the state. If the refs reduce the physicality of basketball, can't they improve the safety of the players on the court?

Player safety in basketball is a joke. It is more realizing they are not going to be good at all and wil get stomped It is probably still the correct choice, that should have been done last year but the safety thing is just dumb

 

[liltoad_99]

Player safety in basketball is a joke. It is more realizing they are not going to be good at all and wil get stomped It is probably still the correct choice, that should have been done last year but the safety thing is just dumb

Or it could be they don’t have enough girls to field a girls varsity team and LPS doesn’t want the boys team playing varsity and the girls team not playing varsity…

Look across the state and girls’ basketball numbers are “down”. Too many girls think basketball is to hard, or they’re being told they have to play softball or volleyball all winter and don’t go out for basketball. I’m willing to bet the LNW and LPS decision had more to do with the girls team than the boys, and they wanted to be the same across the school. Almost makes you think that schools shouldn’t have the option of playing varsity team sports the first year they open, especially if they don’t have a senior class.

 

[jehresm]

So they have 250 boys in grades 9th - 11th while in class B and they can't field a basketball team?

McCook opted up to class B with 145 boys.

Class D plays with under 47.

Player safety? Freshman play on varsity teams all over the state. If the refs reduce the physicality of basketball, can't they improve the safety of the players on the court?

I'm old enough to remember when overcrowding at Millard High prompted the need for a second high school.

For the 1978-79, 1979-80, and 1980-81 school years, only 9th and 10th graders had classes at the 144th and Pacific campus. 11th and 12th graders attended the old campus at 149th and Q.

Students from both campuses competed still for Millard High.

In the fall of 1980, the Millard School Board officially established separate high schools Millard North and Millard South for the 1981-82 school year, and that was when they fielded separate athletic teams.

Something few remember -- Millard students at the time didn't favor the high schools being named Millard North and Millard South.

The Millard High student council had proposed naming the high schools Pershing and Kiewit, but the school board opted for generic directional names.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

Or it could be they don’t have enough girls to field a girls varsity team and LPS doesn’t want the boys team playing varsity and the girls team not playing varsity…

Look across the state and girls’ basketball numbers are “down”. Too many girls think basketball is to hard, or they’re being told they have to play softball or volleyball all winter and don’t go out for basketball. I’m willing to bet the LNW and LPS decision had more to do with the girls team than the boys, and they wanted to be the same across the school. Almost makes you think that schools shouldn’t have the option of playing varsity team sports the first year they open, especially if they don’t have a senior class.

We had a girls varsity team with under 10 girls on the team for 3 years in a row with under 30 girls in grades 9th - 11th, which is why it's crazy to think a team would cancel a season when they have 250 girls in grades 9th - 11th.

Why does it matter if you have a senior class? Our school won't have any seniors on the basketball team this year. Our girls basketball team will consist of 4 jrs, 2 sophs, and 7 freshmen.

It's basketball. It takes 5 players. Who cares if your team goes winless when you at least get the experience of playing so you are better the next year? It happens in class D all the time.

 

[Huskers4464]

They don't actually have 250 boys, that was the number they submitted to the NSAA before they opened the school. It was an estimate, they did not get the enrollment they were planning on when they submitted that number. But yes, they do have enough to field a boys basketball team. I was told they had 14 girls sign up for basketball.

 

[liltoad_99]

We had a girls varsity team with under 10 girls on the team for 3 years in a row with under 30 girls in grades 9th - 11th, which is why it's crazy to think a team would cancel a season when they have 250 girls in grades 9th - 11th.

Why does it matter if you have a senior class? Our school won't have any seniors on the basketball team this year. Our girls basketball team will consist of 4 jrs, 2 sophs, and 7 freshmen.

It's basketball. It takes 5 players. Who cares if your team goes winless when you at least get the experience of playing so you are better the next year? It happens in class D all the time.

You're playing similar teams day in and day out too. It's a bit different if you expect those same kids to compete against schools that are playing nearly all juniors and seniors on their roster. We're talking about mostly metro area teams that are playing a bit more physical style of basketball typically than what happens in most class D schools.

I'm not a part of LPS, but I visit with enough people that are that I was simply stating why I thought they might have been making that decision. My initial response was also to the face that it isn't all about the boys sports all the time...

 

[TC53]

I'm old enough to remember when overcrowding at Millard High prompted the need for a second high school.

For the 1978-79, 1979-80, and 1980-81 school years, only 9th and 10th graders had classes at the 144th and Pacific campus. 11th and 12th graders attended the old campus at 149th and Q.

Students from both campuses competed still for Millard High.

In the fall of 1980, the Millard School Board officially established separate high schools Millard North and Millard South for the 1981-82 school year, and that was when they fielded separate athletic teams.

Something few remember -- Millard students at the time didn't favor the high schools being named Millard North and Millard South.

The Millard High student council had proposed naming the high schools Pershing and Kiewit, but the school board opted for generic directional names.

Great story. I knew about the 9/10 and 11/12 buildings but didn't know about the naming debate. Which would have been which name?

 

[jehresm]

Great story. I knew about the 9/10 and 11/12 buildings but didn't know about the naming debate. Which would have been which name?

Pershing (John J.) for Millard South and Kiewit (since they were the builder) for Millard North.

(Harry) Andersen (Millard mayor before annexation) was another proposed for Millard South, his name was later used for a middle school.

Flanagan was suggested for Millard North, since Boys' Town sold (donated?) the land.