SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2020 • 5AOMAHA WORLD-HERALD

first college came calling:Drake offered a scholar-ship. It was soon followedby Ole Miss, an SEC team,and Iowa State of the Big12. Then Creighton and Ne-braska.

Hunter was off and flyingon the court and in the imag-inations of college coaches,who “have been calling ortexting me every day.” Hescored 18.2 points a gameas a gangly sophomore,making The World-Herald’sAll-Nebraska third team.Another big AAU summerbrought more attention. Heate breakfast at Nebras-ka coach Fred Hoiberg’shome in November. He vis-ited Gonzaga. The list onCannon’s wall continued togrow, as has Hunter and hisnational prominence. In aninterview last week he saidhe was 6-5. His trademarkhair is growing, too.

Rivals.com now rankshim as a five-star prospectand the 20th best player inAmerica in the 2021 classwith potential to move up.

“He checks a lot of box-es,” said Eric Bossi, a Kan-sas City, Kansas-based an-alyst with Rivals.com whohas studied Hunter.

Box one: Hunter’s currentgame is good. “He can han-dle the ball, he can shoot theball,” Bossi said. “He’s gotskill; he doesn’t just rely onathleticism.” Bossi has beenstudying athletes for 20years, and called Hunter “asgood, and likely the best I’veever seen” from Omaha.

Box two: Recruiting is abet on the future, and Hunt-er’s future game is pre-dicted to be much better.Cannon, the Millard Northcoach, called Hunter one ofthe fastest-improving play-ers he’s ever seen. Hunteralready is showing the graceof his light frame as well aswhat Bossi calls “a reallysurprising explosiveness.”

Box three: Hunter is “thetotal package.” Focused,humble, low-key. No drama.And he’s got supportive par-ents.

So what’s it like to be Su-perman? Is it risky to fly soclose to the sun? How doesthe flyer keep his size 12s onthe ground?

It was hard at first tocatch Hunter for those an-swers. But plenty of othersin his orbit kept saying thesame thing: Hunter justloves the sport and workshard at it. He doesn’t let itgo to his head. He’s normal.

Says his father: He for-gets his shoes! He forgetshis keys!

Says his mother: Heblocks out the attention andfocuses on his goals.

Says his mother’s boy-friend, World-Herald assis-tant managing editor ThadLivingston, who overseessports coverage: He canSLEEP! He puts his earbudsin, closes his eyes and is out.

Says his best friend, Carv-er: He’s goofy. He likes tolaugh.

Says his sister Jerrica,

whose closet Hunter raidedwhen his feet got big enoughto wear her Nike Air Jor-dans: He’s picky! Jerrica willtake Hunter out to dinnerand he’ll order the shrimp al-fredo, hold the shrimp.

Says Coach Cannon: He’spolite and thoughtful. Can-non likes how Hunter is niceto the children who bringtheir basketballs, shoes andprograms for him to sign.Once after a game in Lin-coln, Cannon watched his9-year-old grandson, EliRempe, shag balls for Hunt-er. He heard Hunter tell Eli“thank you.”

Later, Cannon pulled thethird grader aside to say:Hunter absolutely shouldhave thanked you for help-ing him. It’s the right thingto do. But a lot of peopledon’t do the simplest, right-est thing. Make sure you’relike Hunter in that respect.And he pulled Hunter asideto say, thank you for makinga kid feel special.

Cannon, like the otheradults in Hunter’s realm,feels protective about him.No interviews for Hunt-er before the two districtgames. No interviews afterthe second district game.Let him enjoy the momentof snipping the net, posingwith the trophy.

Cannon finally let mecome on Wednesday to his

first-floor classroom with aframed drawing of JFK andtwo taped-together sheetsof construction paper onwhich he’s kept track of allthe college coaches whohave visited this year. (Fiftyare logged from Septemberthrough March 3.)

Hunter’s not the onlyMustang in demand. SeniorMax Murrell, a high-flyerin the classroom with a be-yond-perfect GPA and onthe court as a shot-blockerat 6-9, is headed to Stanfordin the fall.

Hunter had a short win-dow to talk; he was gettingout of school to ride to Law-rence, Kansas, for a Jay-hawks game. The plan wasto hit the road at 3:45 p.m.for the 7 p.m. game and re-turn in time for Hunter tobe back in the classroom onThursday.

Hunter was late for the in-terview. Cannon texted him.Nothing. Then he calledhim, and Hunter answered.

He was on his way. Hejust had to finish up a mathtest.

Cannon beamed. Mathtest, he repeated.

Seated in the back of Can-non’s classroom, Hunter

wasn’t the hair-flying,arm-flying, leg-flying, fly-ying talent with the waist-band of his white shortsrolled once, his day-glo or-

ange sneakers making hisfeet seem airborne all themore.

He was a high school ju-nior with a heavy backpackwho’d just completed hisAlgebra II test and had justfinished reading a novel forEnglish class, the stunningVietnam tale “The ThingsThey Carried.”

I’d been warned Hunterwas quiet and shy. I foundhim to be warm and engag-ing.

What was it like to be himright now?

Hunter’s not going to lie.This is pretty fun.

“I just embrace it,” hesaid. “I like it. The attentionis fine. It’s easy to block out.I know my goals.”

Which are?Win state. Play in college.

Make the March Madnesstournament. Play profes-sional ball.

I tell him that last oneseems like most little-kiddreams that remain justthat, dreams.

Hunter laughed at hismemory of being 12, at howhe didn’t feel like a basket-ball star then, at how he nev-ertheless loved basketball,kept working, kept growingand became more confident.How basketball isn’t a jobfor him, a chore.

He had one word:“Joy.”“It’s really fun,” he said.Watching him play, that

fact is obvious. He is notperforming. He is playing.He does not mug or pout orlook at the crowd. He’s in an-other world.

How far will he ascend?Time will tell. For now, hispromise hangs in the stars.This Superman has morehigh fly-ying to do.

erin.grace@owh.com, 402-444-1136

MAIN NEWS

Hunter’s great-grandmother, Lueretha Haynes, wears a Superman-style T-shirt with an H forHunter on the front. On the back is the message: He Flyys. She’ll be there in Lincoln for thestate championship. Hunter wants to play in college and play professional ball.

‘ T H E AT T E N T I O N I S F I N E . I T ’ S E A S Y T OB L O C K O U T. I K N O W M Y G O A L S ’

GRACEContinued from Page 4

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