2021 State Tournament

[Sportsrube]

Wow, that 3rd place game was hard to watch. FWM was about as disinterested in playing that game as you can get. It was like watching open gym. Grafton played extremely well on both ends of the floor and you could tell they wanted to go out with a win.

[Sportsrube]

I seen a late comment on jesse white! I watched region 8 tournament on BEK. Had the opportunity to watch jesse white and what a letdown. Shot all the time in about 15-20 % from the field, made bad passes, had the ball stolen on a couple occasions and plays completely out of control! Best guard in the state simeone says, absolute baloney!!!! Did you watch the class a state tournament, if you did then you seen some very good guards!

And if he had transferred to your school you would have been thrilled to have him on your team. Jesse White is an extremely talented young man, seems like you are jealous of him beating your team?

[WalkingStick]

I seen a late comment on jesse white! I watched region 8 tournament on BEK. Had the opportunity to watch jesse white and what a letdown. Shot all the time in about 15-20 % from the field, made bad passes, had the ball stolen on a couple occasions and plays completely out of control! Best guard in the state simeone says, absolute baloney!!!! Did you watch the class a state tournament, if you did then you seen some very good guards!

Jesse White is hands down one of the best players in Class B; not even a debate there! I’d also would like to see any critic try to play the game at his level with the unfortunate disability he has...absolutely a joy to watch this winter

He nearly willed his team to the State tournament this year and just as theman stated earlier...no way White Shield makes it as far as they did without him!

[lennylive]

Awesome Game !..Congrats to Kindred Vikings Hard fought Battle...EKM gave it to them right to the end !

I ended up 7 of 8 on my picks... Grafton did a Great job for the win in the 3rd place game.

Congrats to Jessie White for both Mr. Basketball and Senior Player of the year.

[packers21]

I seen a late comment on jesse white! I watched region 8 tournament on BEK. Had the opportunity to watch jesse white and what a letdown. Shot all the time in about 15-20 % from the field, made bad passes, had the ball stolen on a couple occasions and plays completely out of control! Best guard in the state simeone says, absolute baloney!!!! Did you watch the class a state tournament, if you did then you seen some very good guards!

Clueless.

[vikingman]

So many of these games were so low-scoring that it was often boring (to me, anyway). Good defense is one thing, but to allow so much contact that the offenses could never get going is not exciting basketball. Call a few more fouls early on to force the defense to back off a bit and maybe we wouldn't see scores that look like they belong in the scorebooks of the 1930s or 40s.

[BasketballMind]

Told you powers lake was bad. Have no business in this tournament, only because they play in such a sorry region!

Powers Lake absolutely belongs in this tournament.

Teams that belong in this tournament:

Powers Lake
EKM

Teams that belong in a different tournament:

Kindred
Grafton
Four Winds
Shiloh
Rugby
Trinity

Guy you have to find something else to talk about. Every topic doesn’t have to turn into this.

[packers21]

So many of these games were so low-scoring that it was often boring (to me, anyway). Good defense is one thing, but to allow so much contact that the offenses could never get going is not exciting basketball. Call a few more fouls early on to force the defense to back off a bit and maybe we wouldn't see scores that look like they belong in the scorebooks of the 1930s or 40s.

I liked how the games were called atleast they were consistent, I thought there were very exciting and I enjoyed the great defense played.

[heimer]

Told you powers lake was bad. Have no business in this tournament, only because they play in such a sorry region!

Powers Lake absolutely belongs in this tournament.

Teams that belong in this tournament:

Powers Lake
EKM

Teams that belong in a different tournament:

Kindred
Grafton
Four Winds
Shiloh
Rugby
Trinity

Guy you have to find something else to talk about. Every topic doesn’t have to turn into this.

1) pacing myself
2) relevant to the reply I quoted
3) didn't know someone died and made you editor
4) assuming 3 didn't happen, ignore my post
5) if athletes can kneel for the anthem, you can tolerate this.

[BasketballMind]

Told you powers lake was bad. Have no business in this tournament, only because they play in such a sorry region!

Powers Lake absolutely belongs in this tournament.

Teams that belong in this tournament:

Powers Lake
EKM

Teams that belong in a different tournament:

Kindred
Grafton
Four Winds
Shiloh
Rugby
Trinity

Guy you have to find something else to talk about. Every topic doesn’t have to turn into this.

1) pacing myself
2) relevant to the reply I quoted
3) didn't know someone died and made you editor
4) assuming 3 didn't happen, ignore my post
5) if athletes can kneel for the anthem, you can tolerate this.

You can spin it however you want, but you would turn any discussion into a 3-class system discussion.

[maddog1971]

Told you powers lake was bad. Have no business in this tournament, only because they play in such a sorry region!

Powers Lake absolutely belongs in this tournament.

Teams that belong in this tournament:

Powers Lake
EKM

Teams that belong in a different tournament:

Kindred
Grafton
Four Winds
Shiloh
Rugby
Trinity

Guy you have to find something else to talk about. Every topic doesn’t have to turn into this.

Funny because Kindred way Bigger than the EKM COOP.... Looked up the male enrollment for both schools and it looks like Kindred has about 20 more male students in their High school.... So I can see that EKM is a True Class B school and Kindred is a Class A school.

[The Schwab]

Told you powers lake was bad. Have no business in this tournament, only because they play in such a sorry region!

Powers Lake absolutely belongs in this tournament.

Teams that belong in this tournament:

Powers Lake
EKM

Teams that belong in a different tournament:

Kindred
Grafton
Four Winds
Shiloh
Rugby
Trinity

Guy you have to find something else to talk about. Every topic doesn’t have to turn into this.

Funny because Kindred way Bigger than the EKM COOP.... Looked up the male enrollment for both schools and it looks like Kindred has about 20 more male students in their High school.... So I can see that EKM is a True Class B school and Kindred is a Class A school.

Edit to include " I see where you came up with your number of 20, but that's comparing the adjusted enrollment with EKM including Ellendale in football"

Original post:
Actual numbers from the two:

Kindred male enrollment from ND football plan- 123
EKM male enrollment from ND football plan- 82 (35/30/17)
Kindred HS enrollment- 233
EKM- 149 (74/43/32)
Kindred k-12 enrollment- 810
EKM k-12 enrollment- 469 (242/129/98

[UNDSiouxfan]

Monday morning notes:

Huber was the best player in the tournament, and deserved the MVP even in a losing effort.

Defense was the difference. Kindred & EKM played outstanding defense and were very physical. I thought the refs did an outstanding job by being consistent. These were the two best defensive teams in the tournament.

It won't shock me at all to see Kindred back next year. Olson/Peraza make a nice high flying combo and they have plenty of other parts to complement them well.

Was glad to see Bronson Walter make the all-Tournament team and he still only played half of his games. It shows just how valuable he is as a player and his value to the FWM team. I found it extremely refreshing watching actual "down low" basketball where you have a 6'10" guy demanding the ball in the paint. Bronson's footwork, soft touch, and overall skillset was a joy to watch in a day where other big guys want to stand on the 3 point line and attempt 3's.

Jesse White continues to impress, his post game interview shows the character of this young man.

[maddog1971]

After the game the Kindred boys went around and asked the other teams to jump in the pool and celebrate the state tournament. They actually got Bronson to get out of his room and jump in after some chanting and influence from the other 4 Winds Players. Looked like a great time. All these kids played hard for all their lives good to see them to leave the competition on the court and have some fun together.

[winner-within]

Was a Fun Tournament to watch....a lot of passion and showed me how much I missed the 2020 tournament

some very good Ballers #24 from EKM, #23 Garza, Grafton, Olson from Kindred has a Bright future
hats off to all the Players and Coaches and Fans and Tournament directors and staff and Referees.....

with all the Height and length and leapers there was one Kid that just kept standing out and getting my attention...and that was #3 from EKM....he gets my grit award, he amazed me with his ability to play Ball amongst the Giants... I liked his game!

[balla45]

I seen a late comment on jesse white! I watched region 8 tournament on BEK. Had the opportunity to watch jesse white and what a letdown. Shot all the time in about 15-20 % from the field, made bad passes, had the ball stolen on a couple occasions and plays completely out of control! Best guard in the state simeone says, absolute baloney!!!! Did you watch the class a state tournament, if you did then you seen some very good guards!

Ok I'll bite. The Class A guards have other players on their team that need to be guarded. Outside of Jase Dickens, nobody on White Shield's team was a scoring threat most of the time. Jesse was always being doubled or triple guarded, and teams in the Region tourney were putting their best defense players on him constantly. As someone who has watched a lot of White Shield basketball over the last 3-4 years, I can say that the Region Championship Game against Powers Lake (excluding the last 2-3 minutes when the game was over) was the most mature game I've ever seen from him. He took smart shots, drove to the basket, and included his teammates who were open because he would draw in the ENTIRE defense. I will admit that he was having a tough time making some of his shots in the Region Tournament, but giving Mr. Basketball to someone other than Jesse White would be a grave injustice and evidence that no one from a true Class B school ever has a chance to win this award these days.

No Jesse White- I bet White Shield has a losing or 50-50 record this season and barely makes it to the region tournament, out in the first round.

With Jesse White- White Shield plays Powers Lake close through 3 quarters in the Region Championship. There is no player in the state who made more of a difference to their team this year. This is indisputable.

I expected Jesse White to win. Personally, I would have voted for Carter Birrenkott and I do not think it would have been a travesty if he or Deonte Martinez won the award. Legitimate cases could have been made for all of the candidates honestly. I played with Jesse White recently and he is definitely very talented. Will be fun to follow his career wherever he lands in college.

Will be a fun race next year with Trey Brandt, Treysen Eaglestaff, Carson Hegerle, Joe Hurlburt, and maybe others who step up.

[BasketballMind]

I seen a late comment on jesse white! I watched region 8 tournament on BEK. Had the opportunity to watch jesse white and what a letdown. Shot all the time in about 15-20 % from the field, made bad passes, had the ball stolen on a couple occasions and plays completely out of control! Best guard in the state simeone says, absolute baloney!!!! Did you watch the class a state tournament, if you did then you seen some very good guards!

Ok I'll bite. The Class A guards have other players on their team that need to be guarded. Outside of Jase Dickens, nobody on White Shield's team was a scoring threat most of the time. Jesse was always being doubled or triple guarded, and teams in the Region tourney were putting their best defense players on him constantly. As someone who has watched a lot of White Shield basketball over the last 3-4 years, I can say that the Region Championship Game against Powers Lake (excluding the last 2-3 minutes when the game was over) was the most mature game I've ever seen from him. He took smart shots, drove to the basket, and included his teammates who were open because he would draw in the ENTIRE defense. I will admit that he was having a tough time making some of his shots in the Region Tournament, but giving Mr. Basketball to someone other than Jesse White would be a grave injustice and evidence that no one from a true Class B school ever has a chance to win this award these days.

No Jesse White- I bet White Shield has a losing or 50-50 record this season and barely makes it to the region tournament, out in the first round.

With Jesse White- White Shield plays Powers Lake close through 3 quarters in the Region Championship. There is no player in the state who made more of a difference to their team this year. This is indisputable.

I expected Jesse White to win. Personally, I would have voted for Carter Birrenkott and I do not think it would have been a travesty if he or Deonte Martinez won the award. Legitimate cases could have been made for all of the candidates honestly. I played with Jesse White recently and he is definitely very talented. Will be fun to follow his career wherever he lands in college.

Will be a fun race next year with Trey Brandt, Treysen Eaglestaff, Carson Hegerle, Joe Hurlburt, and maybe others who step up.

Do you have an idea where he might be leaning? I would think he has a few offers on the table already. That being said, Carson Henningsgard was only offered by Lake Region last year, so the Class B stigma is still alive and well.

[Flying Wallenda]

State tourney thoughts:
I'd have taken FW vs. field if offered before the tourney. Kindred really showed up to play. Couple great games. Pretty evident how the big black haired guard being out against DT really hurt - they really handled FW's press.
I don't recall seeing a class b team with the high flying capablities of Kindred. WOW! Dunk fest - fun to watch. The teams in the semi's and finals REALLY left it on the floor. The effort was AMAZING during the championship game. Guys flying all over. That's what its about.
Games were called consistently all tourney - it was rough. That's the wave of the future. Who does it benefit? The big man? Or can you just hack him more now? Not sure.....
I saw a pile of games this year, both in person and online, and IMO the teams who finished 1 through 4 were the best teams in the state - they'd have beaten most good teams that didn't make the state consistantly. 5 and 6 were good. 7 and 8 really benefited from being in their respective regions. No disrespect intended, but I can think of about 10 teams that didn't make the state that would have handled those two teams, and that's just in regions 1 through 4.
Huber is a stud. Olson too. Several other really really good players. Always fun to get to see the kids play in person.
I thought the tourney was well presented - hard to stay up til 10:30 for this old-timer, but I made it. Worth it. So glad we got to have the tourney.

[BBfan4life]

It’s ND basketball. It’s fun to watch. It’s exciting but at the end of the day... it’s ND. Athletics. Mediocre compared to the rest of the country. Class A plays a completely different style of ball compared to class B. It’s collegiate level but low D 3 level. There’s a reason why the big time colleges aren’t recruiting most of these kids, not taking away what they are don’t but not higher than D 3 skills. Put into thought mason Walters Doing very well D 3
Upper Midwest and his teammate. The one thing these kids do get to do is compete in several sports. That’s to their advantage. Like it said, very entertaining but ND athletics. Just enjoy the moment.

[balla45]

It’s ND basketball. It’s fun to watch. It’s exciting but at the end of the day... it’s ND. Athletics. Mediocre compared to the rest of the country. Class A plays a completely different style of ball compared to class B. It’s collegiate level but low D 3 level. There’s a reason why the big time colleges aren’t recruiting most of these kids, not taking away what they are don’t but not higher than D 3 skills. Put into thought mason Walters Doing very well D 3
Upper Midwest and his teammate. The one thing these kids do get to do is compete in several sports. That’s to their advantage. Like it said, very entertaining but ND athletics. Just enjoy the moment.

I am struggling to understand this post.

Mason Walters does not play at a D3. Most big time colleges are not recruiting most of the kids that play basketball in America.

[justplayalready]

Total random on this thought...I noticed Kindred didn't dunk in warmups(Only saw Fri & Sat in person). Is this something they've done all year?

found it interesting, and refreshingly different...

[leroybla]

Total random on this thought...I noticed Kindred didn't dunk in warmups(Only saw Fri & Sat in person). Is this something they've done all year?

found it interesting, and refreshingly different...

I believe that dunking in warmups is a technical foul if the refs see it.

[BasketballMind]

It’s ND basketball. It’s fun to watch. It’s exciting but at the end of the day... it’s ND. Athletics. Mediocre compared to the rest of the country. Class A plays a completely different style of ball compared to class B. It’s collegiate level but low D 3 level. There’s a reason why the big time colleges aren’t recruiting most of these kids, not taking away what they are don’t but not higher than D 3 skills. Put into thought mason Walters Doing very well D 3
Upper Midwest and his teammate. The one thing these kids do get to do is compete in several sports. That’s to their advantage. Like it said, very entertaining but ND athletics. Just enjoy the moment.

To your point, that is why people get as invested into as they do. We are all aware that the majority of the kids we watch, coach, or play with will not play basketball at the next level. So it means more, especially to the schools that feel they don't have a fair shake to have these discussions. I've retired from the 3-class discussion on this board so I'm going to pivot right now.

Schools like Mayville State aren't doing a good job of getting local boys players on their roster anymore. They let Carson Henningsgard slip through their fingers and he's having a good year over at LRSC. If I'm Mayville State I'm going to as many Region 1 and 2 games as I can and using that as a yearly part of my recruiting/signing. I heard Jase Crockett is going to Jamestown during the R1 tournament. I would be surprised to hear if Mayville even so much as sent the Northern Cass school a letter addressed to his name.

There are kids good enough to go NAIA or D2 from ND every year, but their is a "Class B" stigma and these coaches don't even look at some of these kids. Or if they do they get it in there head that they couldn't play at that level because of their "level of competition". Yeah, I don't anticipate the Class B kids to show up and put up the same numbers in college as they do in high school. But if you have two eyes and a brain you can see skills that they have that are on par or better than what you currently have. It also helps ND people get invested in your college knowing they can watch some kids they know from the area. I don't know how prevalent it is on the Minnesota side, but I don't often see many kids from "Class B" sized Minnesota schools playing NAIA/D2 basketball.

Now, that doesn't mean they are all scholarship guys, but someone like Stevan Garza or Colton Konschak could play in the NAIA, get scholarship money, and it wouldn't sink your program. Last year there were multiple, granted a few of them went on to play football. Carson Henningsgard getting one offer from a Juco is a joke.

On the contrary, Mayville State's women's team has done a phenomenal job of getting local girls from ND/MN to commit there and they've had plenty of success doing it. Hailey Longtin was their second all-time leading scorer when she graduated, Karliegh Weber from Thompson had a good career, now they've got McKenzie Hughes and Cassie Sieben signed for next year. Jamestown and Valley have been good about getting "Class B" girls as well.

[maddog1971]

Total random on this thought...I noticed Kindred didn't dunk in warmups(Only saw Fri & Sat in person). Is this something they've done all year?

found it interesting, and refreshingly different...

No dunking in warm ups for Kindred. They each will do at least one lay in above the rim...
BUT... They have about 6 kids that can throw it down.... and more on the way. Olson and Peraza are two the best jumpers and dunkers in the state and they can do all the 360 (540), windmill, reverse between the legs dunks you want to see.
If you like above the rim action... you will get it for next few years in Kindred again.

and Yes the tournament was very physical... but that is the way the game is going. Post players better go up strong and be able to finish through contact and guards better be able to take hand checking and taps on the arms.

[justplayalready]

Total random on this thought...I noticed Kindred didn't dunk in warmups(Only saw Fri & Sat in person). Is this something they've done all year?

found it interesting, and refreshingly different...

I believe that dunking in warmups is a technical foul if the refs see it.

yes, but most refs aren't coming out at the beginning of warm ups, usually after the layup portion before they are out...