Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

There was a time, and in the not too distant past, when scoring 1,000 career points was a somewhat unusual accomplishment and reason for a big celebration. 

However, with the changes to high school basketball in Wisconsin over the past several decades, those days are gone. 

The changes began in November of 1987 when the three-point line was implemented by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. 

It continued over the following decades with the move from 18 regular-season games to 20 and then to 22 and now to 24. 

And then, several years ago, the WIAA went from four eight-minutes quarters to two 18-minute halves, extending each game by four minutes. 

So it comes as no surprise that at least 19 players enter next season having already scored 1,000 career points.

According to the statistics entered on WisSports.net, all 19 players who have surpassed the 1,000-point mark will be seniors during the 2021-22 season.

A few juniors, led by De Pere's John Kinziger (983) and Arrowhead's Mac Wrecke (957), figure to go past 1,000 points early in the upcoming season.  

While more games, longer games and the three-point line have made it much easier to hit the 1,000-point mark, many prolific scorers of today also benefit from better physical training and more opportunities to work on their game during the off season. 

In addition, many coaches have given the green light to their big-time scorers to shoot as often as they can. There are more possessions and more shots taken in 2021 than in 1975.

The result of it all has drastically altered the look of the state's all-time career scoring chart. 

Since the end of the 2013-14 season, almost half of the top 22 scorers in state history completed their high-school eligibility.

The list of those 10 newcomers includes No. 6 Jacob Ognacevic of Sheboygan Lutheran (2,501), No. 7 Jordan McCabe of Kaukauna (2,442), No. 8 Cam Ward of Marshall (2,384), No. 10 Trevor Anderson of Stevens Point (2,360), No. 12 Preston Ruedinger of Lourdes Academy (2,349), No. 14 Marcus Domask of Waupun (2,307), No. 16 Henry Ellenson of Rice Lake (2,295), No. 19 John Diener of Cedarburg (2,250), No. 21 Diamond Stone of Dominican (2,193) and No. 22 A.J. Hendrickson of Pecatonica (2,177). 

It's possible the 2022 class could add a name or two or three to the list of all-time leading scorers in the state. 

Lake Country Lutheran's Luke Haertle (6-4) is the top returning scorer with 1,576 points in 76 career games, an average of 20.7 ppg. Haertle scored 691 points in 28 games as a junior and if he matches that total as a senior, he'd wind up with 2,267 points, which would be good for 19th place on the all-time list. 

It might be difficult for Haertle to reach that mark, though, as Lake Country Lutheran boasts a very talented squad with seniors Ben Lubbers (6-6), Noah Howard (6-0) and Johnny Nehls (6-4) all providing strong scoring support for a Lightning program that went 26-2 a year ago and lost to Racine St. Catherine's in the WIAA Division 3 state-title contest. 

Another player from a Lutheran high school -- Sheboygan Lutheran point guard Casey Verhagen -- could also work his way into the top 20 career scorers with a big senior season.

Verhagen (6-1) begins the 2021-22 season with 1,557 career points in 83 games for an average of 18.8 ppg.

The son of Sheboygan Lutheran coach Nick Verhagen, Casey took on a bigger scoring load for Sheboygan Lutheran as a junior, scoring a whopping 758 points in 28 contests for an average of 27.1 ppg. 

Verhagen scored 512 points as a sophomore as he spent a good chunk of his time feeding the ball to Ognacevic, who scored 1,024 points in 26 contests (39.4 ppg) to join all-time greats Anthony Pieper and Mickey Crowe as the lone players in state history to score 1,000 or more points in a single season. 

Should Verhagen match his junior total point as a senior, he would wind up with 2,315 career points, which would put him 14th on the all-time scoring list.

Another player with an outside shot of putting his name among the top 22 all-time scorers in Wisconsin is Derek Lindert, a 6-foot-2 guard from Pardeeville and the son of Bulldogs' coach Chris Lindert. 

Derek Lindert begins his senior season with 1,424 points in three seasons. He scored 345 points as a freshman, 618 as a sophomore and 461 as a junior. If he can match his sophomore total of 618 points, Lindert would conclude his prep career with 2,042 points. That would leave him 135 points shy of tying Hendrickson for No. 22 on the list with 2,177 points so Lindert needs to have a huge senior season and probably advance far into the WIAA playoffs to reach that total. 

Listed below are the known players in Wisconsin to already have scored at least 1,000 points. Also listed below is the all-time leading scorers chart.

If you know of a player with an incorrect scoring total or if we have missed a player who should be on the list, please let me know by emailing me at wbnews@yahoo.com. 

For the latest and most up to date boys' basketball news and recruiting information, follow Mark on Twitter @wisbbyearbook. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Mark by clicking here.