North Dakota Preps

Any Surprises?? Who's is your pick?
West: Mandan, Century, Jamestown, BHS
East: South, RR, Shanley, Devils Lake

I think MHS, BHS, and SHS all challenge for the championship, and I can't pick against Ali Collins and my school.

I think in the east it's going to be South, Central, Devils Lake and Red River. South brings back a lot of talent, Central brings back everyone, Devils Lake has Mertens and Red River still has a lot of good players that will prove themselves early.

I heard Central had 1 or 2 juniors that played a lot last year not finish the year out because of discipline or something. Are they coming back this year?

West - Mandan, Bismarck High, Century, Jamestown...i wanna throw Belcourt in there this year because they didn't have to bad of a year last, but choking against Minot in the state qualifying game doesn't want me to pick them

East: South, RR, Shanley, Devils Lake

Shanley is going to have a very young team this year? Do you really think they are good enough to be ranked third?

I say that for the west it will be Mandan and Century on top and the rest will be up for grabs. as returning champs you can't pick against mandan and century has a lot of experience and young talent

I agree with people's predictions that GFC will be a good team this year, but one thing about high school sports that many people tend to forget is that teams need to learn how to win, and how to play as the favorite. When you are the favorite, every team you play gives you their best shot and thats a completely different mindset than playing as "just another team". For GFC to be good (finish 1st or 2nd in the conf, make it to state, etc) they are going to need to learn how to win. Somewhere along the line, they will need to beat a team like South or Red River or Bismarck or Mandan (not sure of their non-conf schedule). If they can knock one of those type of teams off during the regular season, then i think they will advance to state and do well. If they get swept by the Bruins and Riders during the regular season, I can see them feeling the pressure at the EDC tournament. It will be fun to see how this season plays out.

I could not agree with you more. Before you can win you must learn how to be the favorite

I think being young will give them more of a drive to beat the older and more experienced teams..i dont get what learning how to be a favorite has to do with anything

jordan23 wrote:I think being young will give them more of a drive to beat the older and more experienced teams..i dont get what learning how to be a favorite has to do with anything

Playing as a middle of the pack team is a different mindset than playing as a favorite. If you are a middle of the pack team, you get up for the "big game" against the favs. When you are the favorite, you need to be "up" for every game, since you are going to get the best effort from every other team. For teams like South and Mandan this is just the mindset their coaches and players have. There can be no down nights. Period. The kids/coaches are so used to this mindset - they just know what it takes. For a team like Central, who is not used to this kind of pressure playing as the favorite, it sometimes can be a tough thing to deal with.

i think most teams..no matter if they are considered "middle of the pack" or the "favorite", consider each game a big game and they need to be ready for each game.. it doesnt matter what you are ranked each team should consider each game important

jordan23 wrote:i think most teams..no matter if they are considered "middle of the pack" or the "favorite", consider each game a big game and they need to be ready for each game.. it doesnt matter what you are ranked each team should consider each game important

yes, should being the operative word, however in reality, thats not what happens. some games are deemed more important than others. ask every team in the edc who they would most like to beat, and i guarantee every team, with the possible exception of gfc and gfrr, will answer one team. any guesses as to who that team is?

of course every team has their biggest rival, but that does not mean that that is the only game they mark as important. i dont think the younger teams need to learn how to be favorites because most likely they will not be cocky so they will go into each game thinking they need to work hard for the win.

jordan23 wrote:of course every team has their biggest rival, but that does not mean that that is the only game they mark as important. i dont think the younger teams need to learn how to be favorites because most likely they will not be cocky so they will go into each game thinking they need to work hard for the win.

well, we disagree on that, but i can see your point. I will grant you that if - and this was my whole initial point - if - a team like gfc plays the season out like you are describing, then they will have a very successful season. I personally think that the knights will be a very good team, i've never said otherwise, its just my opinion that in order to take things to the next level, you have to learn how to win and play as the favorite, something the perennial favorites like mandan and south know how to do, and upcoming teams like the knights, who have not traditionally been top dogs, will need to learn how to do. i'm not saying they can't do that, just that they need to.

hoopster1 wrote:I think in the east it's going to be South, Central, Devils Lake and Red River. South brings back a lot of talent, Central brings back everyone, Devils Lake has Mertens and Red River still has a lot of good players that will prove themselves early.

Devils Lake is way more than just Mertens. They bring back everyone on the team from last year but one, who wasn't really a star, but a decent outside shooter which is always nice. They also have Privratsky back as their coach, who did a great job bringing a completely new group of girls together. Look for DL to be at the top of the EDC.

I wasn't trying to cut Devils Lake down by saying they just have Mertens, I said because they have Mertens. She was great last year and will only get better with experience. Devils Lake is going to be very tough. It will be interesting to see were they, GFC, and RR all fall in order after South.

Is Hammer for Central hurt? I haven't seen her in the last 2 or 3 box scores. If so, that's 2 pretty good wins in a row without arguably their best player. Hope it's not serious. Anyone got the 411?

hoopster1 wrote:Is Hammer for Central hurt? I haven't seen her in the last 2 or 3 box scores. If so, that's 2 pretty good wins in a row without arguably their best player. Hope it's not serious. Anyone got the 411?

She is having some issues with her calves that is making really hard for her to play. I guess it is something she has struggled with since last season and hasn't given them enough time to heal. I wish her a speedy recovery. She is a great player.

Baller wrote:

hoopster1 wrote:Is Hammer for Central hurt? I haven't seen her in the last 2 or 3 box scores. If so, that's 2 pretty good wins in a row without arguably their best player. Hope it's not serious. Anyone got the 411?

She is having some issues with her calves that is making really hard for her to play. I guess it is something she has struggled with since last season and hasn't given them enough time to heal. I wish her a speedy recovery. She is a great player.

I heard it might be season ending, if so that will really hurt Central, especially against teams with good guards.

Hammer has been told she has compartment syndrome. Remedy is a Fasciotomy on both legs. She is going to Fargo on Monday for a second opinion before she has the 1st surgery which is tenatively scheduled for February 9th. She will then wait approximately 6 weeks and have surgery on the other leg. She is heartbroken, because she loves the game so much, but confident she will be back next year and better than ever!

BBAngel wrote:Hammer has been told she has compartment syndrome. Remedy is a Fasciotomy on both legs. She is going to Fargo on Monday for a second opinion before she has the 1st surgery which is tenatively scheduled for February 9th. She will then wait approximately 6 weeks and have surgery on the other leg. She is heartbroken, because she loves the game so much, but confident she will be back next year and better than ever!

That is really hard to hear. I wish her a speedy recovery so she can come stronger next year.