North Dakota Preps

How does this year's Magi basketball team stack up against past Magi State Championship teams? Understanding, of course, that the game has changed quite a bit since past championships, but the fundamentals and intangibles seem to stand the test of time (hustle, heart, effort, defensive play, etc). Further, we could look at past State Champs from other schools across the state as well. Just curious as to what people's thoughts are regarding this year's team.

1999 with Jeff Brandt and company is #1

Baller wrote:1999 with Jeff Brandt and company is #1

There's one problem. That '99 team had no bench. This years team could go 9-10 deep and and not lose much.

Agree with gomaji. This year's bench was a huge contributor to the team's overall success. The ability to run 9-10, some nights even 11 deep, was a nice advantage for this team in their ability to wear teams down. I'm curious, in people's responses, to get the reasoning for their opinion as well. Was it inpenetrable defense? Lights-out scoring? In your opinion (all that choose to reply), what made that team "the one" or one of the top teams in your eyes?

I don't think they rank that high in history. They had 10+ capable players. That depth combined with the effort they played with is real nice for wearing teams down in the regular season. The problem is, in any level of basketball, the bench shrinks in postseason play. Naturally, you want your best players on the floor as much as possible. Halvorson is a very good player, and Lund was physical, but their star power wasn't too high. That's what made them interesting is how balanced they were. I feel like if they played past state champs that had a few stars they might struggle matching up with them.

Agreed as far as the bench shrinking as teams move through the tournaments. We saw that both in the regional and state tournaments from many teams. I think the benefit that Minot had is that, although they did have a "standout" player in Halvorson, they also had a number of other guys that could (and did) step up on any given night. Who would have expected Lund to go for 25 and 12 (the 12 is realistic, but the 25 didn't happen all season), or Bolinske to go for 20 in the championship. Engg put up 17 in the WDA championship. In fielding a team of "capable" athletes, I think it frustrated teams that keyed on certain players, and then others stepped up and produced nice games. I'm not saying that this team is the #1 team in history, but their depth, ability to score from multiple players, defensive tenacity (teams struggled to score against these guys, with exception of a couple games, as shown by the opponent scoring average) and overall heart has to put them in the conversation somewhere.