Best Basketball Team From ND

[ndfan]

97-98 Mayville team was mentioned on board. Is there any team in the state that could have beat them? Were they the best team ever in ND, or was their a better team?

[NDSportsFan]

 I recall a team from Fargo South that was really good, didn't they go undefeated?  Someone help me out.  Mid 90's I believe.

[UND9296]

 I recall a team from Fargo South that was really good, didn't they go undefeated?  Someone help me out.  Mid 90's I believe.

I think the best South team was the undefeated 1988-89 team. They were led by Chris Gardner, who went onto a great career at UND, and Steve McAndrew, who also played for the Sioux. Both were very athletic and about 6'7". There were several great athletes on that team.

[NDSportsFan]

 Yeah, that's the team I was thinking of, they had some incredible athletes.  I also sat in the 3rd row of the Bismarck Civic Center for the B tournament, I believe in 84 when Dan Carr's Linton Lions, led by Dennis Beck,  beat Bob Hunskor's Newburg Eagles.  Unfortunately Steve Hall got hurt early, but that was a classic Matchup, Linton was too good that night, one of the best teams I'd ever seen.

[bruins44]

The 89 Fargo South team went 25 - 0.... only the second class A team to go undefeated in like 40 years... they had everything, outside and inside,  I remember this team had about 3 dunks a game!!  Gardner and McAndrew went on to play at UND,  Greg Stephens went on to play D 1 baseball at Iowa State and Tony Paper went to USD and play until a knee injury stopped his career.

they only had one close game all year and that was in the first round of state when Chris Carlson from Dickinson has an unbelievable game,  the bruins won in OT on a Garnder steal and dunk in the closing seconds

They are my vote for the best ND team ever!!

[itsallabouteddie]

The only teams that would've beaten that mayville team were the other mayville teams from 95 to 97. they were dominating. they didn't even try most games. i played for hillsboro in 96 and we beat mayville in the district title game. if you ever see eddie beyer ask him what his biggest win was and he will tell you it was that game. even more so than the state titles just because of the fact that he said they were the greatest team he has ever seen. everybody on the team was 6'5'' or taller except one guy. they could shoot, dunk, defend anything you wanted to do they did. i remeber a newspaper article about them once and coach kessler said sometimes i don't think they need a coach, crazy thing about that is he was probably right.

[1337]

Well if everyone else is going to be a homer, I will as well.

96'-97 & 97'-98' Shanley Deacons. We by no means went undefeated but the level of competition just in the EDC those years were unbelievable. Just a few names from schools at that time: Jeff Bosche and the Terry brothers from Valley City, Jared Wells Wahpeton, Josh Johnson and a host of others from Devils Lake, Jade Jahner from Fargo North, Adam Doubmeier from Fargo South, Scott Majkrzak from West Fargo and out west Jeff Brandt from Minot and that list is just off the top of my head.

There were many rumors and attempts to get a game between Class A Champions Shanley and Class B Champions Mayville to play a game but it never happened. I would have loved to see that one!

[ndfan]

Shanley had a heck of a team those years. Out of all those players you named Shanley still had the best player in the state I believe his name was Nick Jacobson. I'm guessing people will say Boschee was, but it was fun watching Jacobson at the state tourney. I think Mayville would of beat them in a close one. Just my opinion :cool:

[bruins44]

Its very hard to compare Class B with Class A when it comes to best team,  they have hardly ever played in any regular season or Holiday tournaments so there are no game scores to compare...  I do know that most Class A teams are much deeper than any Class B team, there are Junior Varsity players in Class A that would be starters on most Class B teams, you have 1 or 2 very good players and then a freshman or sophomore filling out the starting lineup that might not make a Class A schools sophomore team.  Im not taking anything away from B but when a Fargo South or Bismarck has 600 boys in the top 3 grades they should be able to find 10 pretty good players.  The Mayville teams of the late 90s would have been a great Class A team, they had both size, quickness and skills, it would have been fun to see what they would have done in the EDC...  but please dont tell me when voting for the states best teams that we would not have a bunch of Class A teams on that list.

[ndfan]

[user=14]bruins44[/user] wrote:

  but please dont tell me when voting for the states best teams that we would not have a bunch of Class A teams on that list.

Who said there wouldnt be a bunch of class A teams on the list?

[Ming01]

I thought Chris Gardner went on to play at Stanford?  Or is that someone else who played at South?

[Ming01]

The Fargo North team of 2002 I believe was one of the best teams.  They went undefeated and easily won state.   They handled every team they played pretty well and dominated everyone.

[bruins44]

I thought Chris Gardner went on to play at Stanford?  Or is that someone else who played at South?

Chris Berg played football for Stanford, he tranfered to Northern Iowa after his sophomore year....Chris Gardner played basketball at UND

[hfs77]

Actually, the best May-Port-C-G team would have probably been 1996, followed closely by 1997. (only Klabo & Macejekovic were seniors on the 96 team)

Starting five:

• Darren Klabo - 6'5"  - later became All-NDCAC at MaSU 
• Tom Jacobson - 6'5" - great career at UND
• Matt Swift - 6'5" - played at MaSU
• Jeremy Macejekovic - 6'5" - played at MaSU
• Andrew Leclair - 6'6" - All-conference football player at U of Kansas, later transferred to NDSU.

Off the bench:

• Chuck Klabo - 6'7" - Played football at NDSU; signed by Cleveland Browns & played some NFL Europe
• Travis Kraft - 6'7" - Started out playing at a DI school (South Carolina maybe?) then transferred to NDSU

[/*]
Not many teams really touched these guys....would play in holiday tournaments and beat some of the top teams from the Twin Cities.

Also pretty exciting to watch...they probably averaged about 2 dunks a game

 

[point/center]

1976 LaMoure Loboes
Bruce Schockman
Leon Thielges
Derold Haugen

I believe they won state title, undefreated by the widest margin in the history of the 'B'

[bbjay]

1977 Epping Eagles! Come on, gotta chear for those underdogs!:)

[Y-not Daily]

Give me the '89 Fargo South team. I never saw them in the regular season, but watched every game of the state tourney in Minot. They were un"bleeping"believable. Minot had some good teams. The best may have been 96 when they were undefeated until the title game and lost. 1999 Minot was pretty good too. But I'll take the Bruins.

[bigbballfan]

maybe it's just the fact that from the devils lake team i got to see most of the year from going all over and watching teams play, the devils lake team of '06 was impressing to me with all the passion and heart they played with. even when things just weren't going their way they played through it and never gave up. maybe they didn't win state or didn't even make it there and maybe they wouldn't have beat the 89 team from south or the 98 team from mayville but i would put them in my book of legendary teams.

[1337]

A team that doesn't even play in a regional championship game, let alone finish in the top 4 thereby not qualifying for the state tournament is far from legendary. I appreciate you being a fan and supporting your team, but come on now, one can only taking being a homer so far. It was a strong season for the DL team, but it definitely is not the thing from which legends are made. This is especially true considering they're not even the best team from DL ever.

*Edit, added last sentence.

[WildWarrior]

Best team from DL has to be 1980-1981.  I will never forget watching the upset of the undefeated DL SATANS team in the semi-finals in state.  What a joy they were to watch as a young DL student.  No state titles there either but they should be considered among the top teams as well.

[ndfan]

WildWarrior do you know who was apart of that 80-81 DL team? Where does that team with the Johnson boys stand Ryan and Josh. How about the team with Kermit Cooper and Justin Johnson?

[point/center]

Even the late 80's teams from DL with Kendall Railing, Blain O'Gorman et al were better than some mentioned

[WildWarrior]

WildWarrior do you know who was apart of that 80-81 DL team? Where does that team with the Johnson boys stand Ryan and Josh. How about the team with Kermit Cooper and Justin Johnson?

Can't remember all names, I am sure someone on this board can help me out.  Doyle Heisler was the big name.  Gene Manson was the coach.

[1337]

Gene Manson was the coach.

Yeah...that right there probably had something to do with their success!

[UND9296]

WildWarrior do you know who was apart of that 80-81 DL team? Where does that team with the Johnson boys stand Ryan and Josh. How about the team with Kermit Cooper and Justin Johnson?

Can't remember all names, I am sure someone on this board can help me out.  Doyle Heisler was the big name.  Gene Manson was the coach.

I can't remember either, but were Brian O'Gorman and/or Al Walford on that team? I was a little kid back then, but I have a vague recollection of those guys.