Chucky Hepburn, Frankie Fidler, William Kyle III and Josiah Dotzler have been teammates before.
And in the same offseason, all four Bellevue West graduates have made moves in the transfer portal.
No T-Bird team-up was in the cards, however, as Fidler headed to Michigan State, Kyle to UCLA, Dotzler to Saint Louis and Hepburn to Louisville.
The quartet of T-Birds played together on the 2019-20 Bellevue West state championship team and shared the heartbreak of the overtime loss to Millard North in the 2021 Class A final, after which Hepburn and Fidler graduated. On those teams, they were a combined 49-6 and were the team’s top four scorers in the 2020-21 season, consisting four of the five starting spots on the floor.
Hepburn spent the last three years at Wisconsin, playing in 103 games and averaging 9.8 points, 3.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals. The 6-foot-2 guard was an All-Big Ten honorable mention in both of the last two seasons, and earned selections to the 2022 All-Freshman Team and the 2024 All-Defensive and All-Tournament teams.
People are also reading…
Fidler, also a 2021 graduate, has spent the last three seasons at University of Nebraska-Omaha, averaging 16.1 points (20.1 this year), 2.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and just over one steal per game in 93 games played (90 starts). This year, the 6-7 forward was named to the All-Summit League First Team after being named to last year’s Second Team.
At South Dakota State, Kyle III emerged in his second season in Brookings. The 6-foot-9 forward was named the 2023-24 Summit League Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Defensive Team selection. Kyle III averaged 11.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 blocks per game over two seasons with 49 starts in 67 games played.
Dotzler played in 19 games for Creighton, twice scoring six points and finishing the season with 77 minutes played. The 6-foot-3 guard led the T-Birds to a redemptive state championship in 2022-23, averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 steals as Bellevue West finished a perfect 29-0.
They might not be teaming up again, but all four made strides at the collegiate level and continue to represent Bellevue West well.
