North Dakota Preps

Mr.Basketball?

Two Words Jake Hagler

I think Hagler will win Mr. Basketball and I also think that AJ Jacobson is much better.

Why is he much better? In the games I've watched him (Jacobson) he didn't score when attacking left and pulling up for a shot, only scored when attacking right. Just my observation

AJ can score against and dominate essentially any type of competition. Watched both of them play multiple times this summer and it isn't really close honestly. AJ scores going right, going left, with the pull up, in the post, and spotting up. Can defend 2-4 against mid-major competition and 1-5 against low major. Would literally do well defending 6'10" and then come back and score 25-35. Scores in more ways than Joe did. Joe was better than AJ, because Joe's a better shooter and more athletic, but AJ scores with much more variety. Has great vision as well. Rebounds out of his area and consistently makes plays on both ends of the floor.

I'll take Hagler, makes everyone around him so much better, didn't see the same from Jacobson. In a college situation with college coaches and gameplanning if they had AJ defend a 4 IMO he would be a defensive liability.

I'm a Hagler fan, but I just don't see it being close. In a college situation, AJ can guard a spread 4. I don't see him being the type to bang with a 6'8" 240, but I don't see him being a liability against a 6'7" 210 who tries to create from the top of the key.

I will agree that Hagler puts his teammates in position to score, but even that needs to be looked at with a grain of salt, as he has been playing with at least 2 people who can create their own offense for his entire career.

I personally just do not see it being a very close race. I think Hagler will win Mr. Basketball, but I even struggle to say that he is the clear cut second best player in North Dakota. I don't see Hagler bringing anything to the table that Jacobson doesn't, and I see Jacobson bring things to the table that Hagler doesn't.

This really is not a Class A vs. Class B thing, as I'm using summer basketball to judge most of this, as they are both better than almost everyone that they play in North Dakota.

balla45 wrote:I think Hagler will win Mr. Basketball and I also think that AJ Jacobson is much better.

If Hagler makes his college decision early Jacobson will have a better shot. Right now I think Jacobson has the edge.

I do not think it will. The media has shown that recently, the level of college basketball that will be played has not been taken in to consideration.

Hanstad - Boise State lost to Schanilec D2 transitional.
Werner - NDSU, Yale - Minot State, Purintun - University of Mary, all lost to Langstaff JuCo.

I think Hagler wins because he has a good story, will average whatever he wants, and will go back to the state tournament.

I think if AJ wins, he'll need to come in to the state tournament with a record of at least 17-2 and he'll need to be averaging about 25 and 12, because Hagler will average 35 8 8 8 or something like that. On AJ's side, he is unique in that his mother was the first Miss Basketball winner.

balla45 wrote:I do not think it will. The media has shown that recently, the level of college basketball that will be played has not been taken in to consideration.

Hanstad - Boise State lost to Schanilec D2 transitional.
Werner - NDSU, Yale - Minot State, Purintun - University of Mary, all lost to Langstaff JuCo.

Didn't Schnailec and Lanstaff make their decisions after the vote?

I think if AJ wins, he'll need to come in to the state tournament with a record of at least 17-2 and he'll need to be averaging about 25 and 12, because Hagler will average 35 8 8 8 or something like that. On AJ's side, he is unique in that his mother was the first Miss Basketball winner.

Is he that much better than last year?

Yes, but everyone knew that Schanilec and Langstaff would not be playing Division 1 basketball, while other candidates were.

That's about what AJ averaged last year. Hagler could pretty much pick a number under 40 and average it. He'll get rebounds, assists, and steals naturally. His scoring numbers basically just reflect the number of shots he takes. He's going to shoot a high percentage from all over, and he'll maybe play three teams all year with someone who can defend him.

balla45 wrote:Yes, but everyone knew that Schanilec and Langstaff would not be playing Division 1 basketball, while other candidates were.

That's about what AJ averaged last year. Hagler could pretty much pick a number under 40 and average it. He'll get rebounds, assists, and steals naturally. His scoring numbers basically just reflect the number of shots he takes. He's going to shoot a high percentage from all over, and he'll maybe play three teams all year with someone who can defend him.

Schanilec was offered Division 1 walk on opportunities. Height/size (5'10 165lbs) was the only issue of him not playing D1 basketball. UND, SDSU, Western Illinois were all interested. He made his college choice based on academics and not the level of school for basketball. Aguably the best school for Engineering is SD School of Mines and thats where he went. He went to the highest level of school for what is important. EDUCATION
-10points on 5x5 from the floor, 6 boards, 2 steals, and 2 assists in 17 min during season opener last night and he dunked on Montana State last week putting up 7pts on 2 of 4 shooting.

Good for him.

Haglar is the best player in the state and will win Mr. Basketball barring injury.

Wnat makes him a better player than AJ Jacobson or Mac Kroeplin? Not hating. Just curious as to what your thought process on this one is. I can maybe see the argument for him being better than Kroeplin, but I don't understand how he is better than Jacobson.

I believe that hes a all around better basketball player. His vision, passing, ability to score in multiple ways, his incredibly high basketball IQ, and most important his abiltity to make everyone around him better and no worry about his stats and what he could ave scoring wise. Hes played in 3 state tournaments prob going to be 4, and the other game he lost was in OT in a region champ. Plus he still has all his senior season to play.

I disagree with you completely, but I like that you actually have an argument to support your opinion.

I could actually quote what you said, other than losing in OT to the region champ, and use it as an argument for AJ Jacobson, but that is beside the point.

Everyone looks at scoring, Hagler will win it.

Before this season I would have said Hagler had the edge. I haven't been able to follow all of Hagler's stats, but he seems to be inconsistent this year. At this point I think it's almost a lock Jacobson wins Mr. BB.

AJ is the best player. Mertens is averaging 31 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists. Kroeplin 21, 10, and 5, and undefeated. AJ leads class A in rebounds, blocks, and is second in scoring. AJ should win, but no one really can tell what the voters will do year in and year out.

I also should add that I find it rather, stupid, for lack of a better word, to base the winner of this award solely on statistics. I think that most would agree that having the best stats does not actually mean that the player is the best. IMO at this point in the game, Zacher is the best Class B player, and I doubt anyone is putting up numbers that rival was Lavachek is putting up. Haven't checked lately, but at last check it was somewhere around 32 and 15.

balla45 wrote:I also should add that I find it rather, stupid, for lack of a better word, to base the winner of this award solely on statistics. I think that most would agree that having the best stats does not actually mean that the player is the best. IMO at this point in the game, Zacher is the best Class B player, and I doubt anyone is putting up numbers that rival was Lavachek is putting up. Haven't checked lately, but at last check it was somewhere around 32 and 15.

I agree that you can't only look at stats. And Zacher is deineitely better than Lavachek. He's much more of an all around player

I also completely agree that you can't just look at stats. Zacher is a tremendous ball player and has definite WOW factor. He is one of the top of the state on the top team in the state. He is, in my opinion, a certain all stater.

However, in terms of an individual award like Mr. Basketball, I believe Zacher is the 3rd best senior ball player in Region 7.

Please, I don't say this to subtract anything from the young man, he is tremendous. I simply want to also give the deserved credit to the other two.

newkidontheblock wrote:I also completely agree that you can't just look at stats. Zacher is a tremendous ball player and has definite WOW factor. He is one of the top of the state on the top team in the state. He is, in my opinion, a certain all stater.

However, in terms of an individual award like Mr. Basketball, I believe Zacher is the 3rd best senior ball player in Region 7.

Please, I don't say this to subtract anything from the young man, he is tremendous. I simply want to also give the deserved credit to the other two.

Pretty big first post! Who you got 1 and 2?

I would assume he has to be talking about Volk from Trinity and Carr from Hazen

The Schwab wrote:I would assume he has to be talking about Volk from Trinity and Carr from Hazen

correct assumption