Chase Thompson was a senior standout on the UNK men’s basketball team this season. UNK is Thompson’s fourth school in his college journey.
As Thompson was looking for his final school, he had some Division I offers with NIL deals but finding a coach he connected with was important.
“I had some situations where I would have been set up really nicely if I went there, and none of that mattered to me,” Thompson said. “I’m a relationships guy at the end of the day. I want to be a pro, and I knew that Marty (Levinson, UNK men’s basketball coach) could help me do that.”
Thompson was born and raised in Omaha. He went to Omaha Westside High School where he competed in football, basketball, track and field and played legion baseball in the summer. Basketball stood apart from the rest.
Thompson was second-team All-Nebraska for Westside his senior year. He averaged 20.9 points and nearly eight rebounds a game. He stands as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,243 points. Thompson was a part of the Westside team that made it to the state tournament in 2019, their first appearance in five years. In the A-6 District final game, Thompson assisted on the buzzer-beater against Millard North to make it to the state tournament.
Basketball was in Thompson’s blood. His dad played at Colorado and his grandpa played at the University of Houston, and also played professionally in the NBA and overseas. Thompson’s dad surprisingly wanted him to play college baseball instead of college basketball.
Thompson has always been internally motivated when people would say he couldn’t do something.
“Everybody said I wasn’t going to play Division I,” Thompson said. “Then they were like, ‘He’s not even going to play Division II. He’s not going to get out of juco.’ Every single step of the way, I’ve had something in my ear that’s kind of just helped motivate me.”
Thompson committed to Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff. He had a few Division I scholarships, but he wanted to be a part of a team where he had a prominent role. So, taking the junior college route made sense for Thompson.
Coach Billy Engel played a significant role in Thompson’s commitment to Western Nebraska.
“He recruited me the hardest out of anybody,” Thompson said. “He came to my school multiple times a week, and he was driving from Scottsbluff, which is a six to seven-hour drive to Omaha. He thought my best route was going to play juco, and he wasn’t even the head coach when he was recruiting me, and the fact he was recruiting me that hard, it was a no-brainer when it came down to it.”
In Thompson’s freshman year, he earned third-team all-region honors and averaged 19.4 points. Then, he transferred to Southeast Missouri State where he appeared in 25 games with two starts. In his two years prior to attending UNK, Thompson attended Division II Florida Tech where he appeared in 47 games. In the 2023-24 season Thompson averaged 12.5 points.
A lot of people questioned Thompson’s decision to leave Florida to go to small-town Nebraska to play for a first-year head coach. Out of high school, Thompson wanted to go to UNK, but he felt at the time the style of play UNK had wasn’t for him.
Levinson wanted Thompson for the right reasons.
“Marty wanted me, to make me better, to make me a better man,” Thompson said. “I think he has done that in the process. Everything he said he was going to do he’s done. He’s the second coach besides Coach Engel that’s done everything he said he was going to do for me. People have always said that about him. He’s a man of his word; he’s always caring and he always loves his guys.”
Thompson finished the year as the Lopers’ third leading scorer, averaging 14.6 points while shooting 39% from the 3-point line.
He was one of the seniors who helped set the foundation for the future of UNK basketball. After starting the year 1-7, UNK finished 12-16 with a 10-9 conference record and made it to the MIAA tournament for the first time in five years.
Thompson is looking for the possibility to get his D2 eligibility back so he can play at UNK for his last season.
