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"There’s nothing like The B."
By Josh Haugen
There is one time of year in North Dakota when small towns shut down. The lights are turned out, and school is let out for a strategically placed spring break. It’s North Dakota’s own version of March Madness.
It’s “The B.”
The North Dakota State Class B Boys Basketball Tournament is the biggest event in the state every year. It is unrivaled on the high school level and arguably even on the college level. There is nothing else that brings the entire state together like The B does year in and year out.
Whether it’s Divide County or Fairmount-C-T, Cavalier or Bowman County, Westhope/Newburg or Standing Rock, the cities each school hails from will be empty if their team runs the gauntlet of the region tournaments and makes it to the big dance.
(The 2015 State Class B Boys Tournament set an attendance record with over 10,800.)
And it really is a gauntlet. After a regular season of around 19 games for each team, district tournaments start for those that still have districts. The atmosphere of the double elimination district tournaments is one of the best around. Most of the time they are held in a gym too small for the crowd and the fans show up to cheer for their guys fighting to continue their seasons.
If you’re one of the four teams that make it through the first leg of the gauntlet then you advance on to the regional tournament on a larger neutral court. For most regions this means a Class A gym, but over the three days of the tournament that gym will be the fullest it will be all year. These games are the only atmosphere that I think rivals The B. People will line up outside the venue waiting for the doors to open. To have a good seat for the championship game you need to be there before the third place game begins.
The regional tournament begins with eight teams, but in the end only one from each region will be advancing to the state tournament. The teams are narrowed down from 107, to 64, to eight.
Now the players and coaches are local celebrities. They’re doing something that may not have happened in their communities for decades. They have the chance to put their homes on the map and make their names known statewide. During the week leading up to The B they will be on radio shows, have pep rallies held for them, and every business on Main Street will display signage in support of the team. They’ll be escorted out of town by both the fire and police departments.
It’s not just the small towns that feel the effects of The B. Wherever the tournament is being held hotels are fully booked, restaurants are packed, and the mall sees an influx of customers that makes it look like Black Friday all over again.
The first day of The B might be the most exciting. It’s the first time most of these teams are playing each other. It’s also the first time most of the teams will experience a media timeout as the entire first day of games is televised statewide. Fans of the game in general are excited to see the teams from the other side of the state that they have heard so much about, but have never seen in person.
The second day of games brings just as much excitement as the stakes are raised. Teams are playing for a chance to play on the biggest stage there is in North Dakota. The day a majority of televisions and computer screens in the state are watching, and when the attendance at the game is more than the combined population of the towns involved. What day?
Championship day. The day the best of the best close-out the basketball season. The day one team will be crowned as state champions.
To win the state championship you have to win six games in a row against some of the best teams in the state. You have to win three games in four days at the regional tournament and three games in three straight days at The B. It’s a gauntlet that only one team will survive. It’s The B.
I had the privilege to play in three state tournaments. I was able to play with and against some of the best players in North Dakota history. Class B fans will recognize the names of Hagler, Lindahl, Komrosky, Lovejoy, Langstaff, Klug, Beck, Yale, Hanson, Robbins, Three Irons, Kueber, Malzer and countless others.
Those names are written into Class B history. Each state champion has their name written into Class B history. That’s the biggest prize. Teams like Linton in 2009 and North Star in 2011 that go undefeated and teams like Bisbee-Egeland in 1989 who wasn’t expected to win a thing are remembered forever because they ran the gauntlet and won. Whether they got there by beating everybody they played or by winning every game they were supposed to lose they are a part of history.
The B creates legends. Those teams are legends. Many of the players in the tournament, win or lose, become legends. Even the media covering the tournament become legends. Jon Cole is known statewide because of how passionate he was for the tournament. His interviews may have been a little awkward at times, but that was Jon Cole and Jon Cole was The B.
North Dakota is a small town state and nothing exemplifies that like the Class B Tournament. Whether the tournament is in Bismarck, Minot, Fargo, or Grand Forks The B has an atmosphere that is impossible to replicate.
There’s nothing like The B.