North Dakota Preps

Based on this point in the season, I imagine the candidates will be the following.

Please add discussion.

Trey Brandt - Beulah
Treysen Eaglestaff - Bismarck
Joe Hurlburt - Enderlin
Mike Nhial - West Fargo Sheyenne

And it’s really between two names there

Treysen Eaglestaff will win the ND Mr. BB award this year, and if anyone thinks otherwise just go and watch him play. UND is getting a gem.

Trey Brandt should finish 2nd in voting.

I may be in the minority, but if we are awarding it to the best senior basketball player in ND I think it's a closer race than most do. I also think there will be an interesting vote when it comes to Class B senior athlete of the year.

IMO its between Hurlburt and Eaglestaff and I think Hurlburt still wins it. Very close though.

I think it's Eaglestaff, Hurlburt, Brandt right now...but it could be a very close vote in the end.

In my personal opinion, I think that Hurlburt is the best player, so I would vote for him.

I think very legitimate arguments can be made for Brandt and Eaglestaff as well. I could see Nhial as a candidate with the numbers that he is putting up, but I do not think he has any real chance to win.

I think that Eaglestaff will win the award but I agree with Balla45 that Hurlburt is the best player.

I think Eaglestaff wins if voting ends today.

I think Hurlburt wins if he makes state and wins on the first night.

I think Brandt wins if Bismarck and Enderlin do not make state and he makes state and gets a 35 point game in the opening round.

balla45 wrote:Based on this point in the season, I imagine the candidates will be the following.

Please add discussion.

Trey Brandt - Beulah
Treysen Eaglestaff - Bismarck
Joe Hurlburt - Enderlin
Mike Nhial - West Fargo Sheyenne

For discussion purposes:
1. Treysen Eaglestaff - Bismarck - Mr. Basketball - Best high school player in ND.
2. Joe Hurlburt - Enderlin - Runner-up in voting - Most potential going into college.
3. Mike Nhial - West Fargo Sheyenne - College ready.
4. Trey Brandt - Beulah - Most important to his team of these listed. Will do well in college.

Just for the discussion, I do not think Treysen is a better high school player than Joe. They are both pretty much playing in leagues where 99% of the players matched up with them have no chance of guarding them. Treysen has more opportunity to score with the pace of play their team has and the lack of a lot of other consistent scoring options.

I am not in any way taking a shot at Treysen as I think he is on that same level as Aanen, AJ, and Boden were at the same stage. I think Joe is at a completely different level than any of them were as high school seniors. I have been paying close attention to North Dakota basketball beginning with the graduating class of 2007 and I think he is a completely different animal than anyone else has been.

I think Brandt has a better skillset than Nhial but Nhial is obviously in a different place athletically.

In my opinion for the topic of discussion I would say that you can make a case for Hurlburt, Eaglestaff and Brandt. I think it's very easy for people to make cases for Joe and Treysen (they are very hot topics for discussion lately). Treysen is featured on the news frequently and Joe has been the most polarizing figure in ND hoops since Boschee. I will make a case for Trey Brandt as I have had plenty of opportunities to watch him in person and on film the last 5 seasons:

Made state his 8th, 9th and 10th (covid) seasons (was All-Tournament team as a 9th).

1. All region player as a 10th and 11th (somehow wasn't on it as a freshman but that's a whole different story)
2. I don't know his career stats but he went over 1000 before Christmas of his Jr. year. Would not be surprised if he finished with 1,750+ plus points.
3. He is one of the better passers I have seen in the last 10+ years in ND, he truly makes his teammates better.
4. One of the smartest basketball players I have seen, truly is a coach on the floor.

Unfortunately for Trey, he is up against 2 of the better candidates we've seen in a while. Joe will get a majority of the "class B" votes for Mr. Bball.

I do think that Balla45 is correct on his assessment of what it will take for Trey to win. If Beulah makes it to state and Enderlin doesn't and Trey gets loose on Thursday, he just might win it!!

balla45 wrote:Just for the discussion, I do not think Treysen is a better high school player than Joe. They are both pretty much playing in leagues where 99% of the players matched up with them have no chance of guarding them. Treysen has more opportunity to score with the pace of play their team has and the lack of a lot of other consistent scoring options.

My reasoning is as follows:
Eaglestaff goes up against better competition every game in Class A. The above bold also proves another point. In Class A, there are better athletes across the board to assist in double teaming him due to lack of other scoring options on his team, making it more difficult for him night in and night out.

balla45 wrote:I am not in any way taking a shot at Treysen as I think he is on that same level as Aanen, AJ, and Boden were at the same stage.

To be clear, it is good to have discussions and hear other viewpoints. It shouldn't be taken as a swipe at any players or posters if there are differing opinions. Agree with your assessment, but because of Eaglestaff's ball handling, athleticism and the fact he is very young, think he has a real good chance at developing even more in college.

balla45 wrote:I think Joe is at a completely different level than any of them were as high school seniors. I have been paying close attention to North Dakota basketball beginning with the graduating class of 2007 and I think he is a completely different animal than anyone else has been.

The only thing that puts Joe in 2nd on my list, is he doesn't dominate his competition in every Class B game where he also has a lot of good teammates around him. Granted, it's really not fair to expect that from a high school player. But as you stated, he is such a specimen basketball wise, IMHO, he's held at a different standard. Probably not fair, but that's my opinion.

The Schwab wrote:In my opinion for the topic of discussion I would say that you can make a case for Hurlburt, Eaglestaff and Brandt. I think it's very easy for people to make cases for Joe and Treysen (they are very hot topics for discussion lately). Treysen is featured on the news frequently and Joe has been the most polarizing figure in ND hoops since Boschee. I will make a case for Trey Brandt as I have had plenty of opportunities to watch him in person and on film the last 5 seasons:

Made state his 8th, 9th and 10th (covid) seasons (was All-Tournament team as a 9th).

1. All region player as a 10th and 11th (somehow wasn't on it as a freshman but that's a whole different story)
2. I don't know his career stats but he went over 1000 before Christmas of his Jr. year. Would not be surprised if he finished with 1,750+ plus points.
3. He is one of the better passers I have seen in the last 10+ years in ND, he truly makes his teammates better.
4. One of the smartest basketball players I have seen, truly is a coach on the floor.

Unfortunately for Trey, he is up against 2 of the better candidates we've seen in a while. Joe will get a majority of the "class B" votes for Mr. Bball.

I do think that Balla45 is correct on his assessment of what it will take for Trey to win. If Beulah makes it to state and Enderlin doesn't and Trey gets loose on Thursday, he just might win it!!

Absolutely great resume and agree with your assessment.

Best of luck to all players who are nominated and stay healthy.

I've watched Joe a few times in person over the years, got to watch him again last night. I will say this Joe improved alot on his ability to go to the basket and pretty much take any at will, but he is lazy on defense. Never hustled back down the floor and tried to cherry pick alot and continuously complained to the refs. LaMoure hung with them, but couldn't make shots. They are playing with very heavy hearts this week after losing one of their main players tragically last week and another main player was missing last night. Kudos to LaMoure for going out there and competing after the tragedy they've suffered.

@ClassB4Ever

I do agree that Eaglestaff goes up against better competition, for the most part, playing in Class A. That said, it is almost irrelevant to me.

My analogy that I like to use is the Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher argument. If you put prime Kobe Bryant in to Class A or Class B and you put prime Derek Fisher in to Class A or Class B, but they are in different classes, would you be able to tell who is better if they never played each other? Obviously, Kobe Bryant is much better than Derek Fisher, but if these 2 are playing in their prime against ND high school kids, they would be on such a different level that they can both do whatever they want. For the most part, a skilled D1 basketball recruit can do whatever they want in North Dakota high school basketball. Eaglestaff is averaging 31, 8, and 6, or around there. Hurlburt is averaging 27, 14, and 6 or around there. For the most part, they are playing against people who have no chance of guarding them. This is what it looked like when AJ played, Boden played, Aanen played, Grant played, etc.

I am a big Trey Brandt fan as well. He, for the most part, can get his shot off whenever he wants to as well. The gap between the "haves" and "have nots" is gigantic. That said, Brandt has an incredible offensive skill set and I think he is a D1 player if he is 6'5".


I do think that Class A does provide better nightly competition, but if the situations are flipped, Treysen still does his thing, Joe still does his thing, Trey still does his thing, etc.


Also, to be quite clear, I am going to be happy for any of these guys who win. I had the fun opportunity to coach with Coach Brandt in a tournament this summer and all 3 of them played. Humble kids. Hard working. Can not say enough good things about the 3 of them. I think Joe is the best player, but if Treysen or Trey win Mr. Basketball, their body of work over their careers and senior years matches up pretty well with anyone else who has won it since 2007.

sportsphenom wrote:I've watched Joe a few times in person over the years, got to watch him again last night. I will say this Joe improved alot on his ability to go to the basket and pretty much take any at will, but he is lazy on defense. Never hustled back down the floor and tried to cherry pick alot and continuously complained to the refs. LaMoure hung with them, but couldn't make shots. They are playing with very heavy hearts this week after losing one of their main players tragically last week and another main player was missing last night. Kudos to LaMoure for going out there and competing after the tragedy they've suffered.

I will agree on you about last nights game as I was also there. They shouldve beat that team by 30+..I say Kudos to the Loboes also for being short, playing with that kind of loss to a team is hard . Joe didnt hustle back defensively, to much complaining to the refs. .. they also had to many foolish turnovers once again as a team. I sure hope they dont play like that on Thursday against HCV.
Joe was Impressive otherwise, great skills, and has done nothing but improve since last year. He is always double teamed but still makes great plays for the most part. I think it will be a tough choice to make out of the top 3 for Mr. Basketball.

Eaglestaff and everyone else.
Hulburt is a player I would take any week... but this year belongs to Eaglestaff.

maddog1971 wrote:Eaglestaff and everyone else.
Hulburt is a player I would take any week... but this year belongs to Eaglestaff.

Minot did prove last week that you can slow Eaglestaff down; I don't know many Class B schools that are going to stop Hurlburt from scoring and rebounding at a 25/15 clip.

Yankton should be a candidate as well. I do not think he is the best player, but if he keeps up what he is doing, he definitely deserves to be a candidate.

WalkingStick wrote:

maddog1971 wrote:Eaglestaff and everyone else.
Hulburt is a player I would take any week... but this year belongs to Eaglestaff.

Minot did prove last week that you can slow Eaglestaff down; I don't know many Class B schools that are going to stop Hurlburt from scoring and rebounding at a 25/15 clip.

Well I guess that will depend on how many times he shoots it in a game. IF he shoots it 25 times..... you are right.... nobody can stop him from getting is 25 and 15. BUT I have seen many players come through the state that can score and their teams never go any place. BUT I have seen players that can put those numbers up but don't for the good of the team.

maddog1971 wrote:
Well I guess that will depend on how many times he shoots it in a game. IF he shoots it 25 times..... you are right.... nobody can stop him from getting is 25 and 15. BUT I have seen many players come through the state that can score and their teams never go any place. BUT I have seen players that can put those numbers up but don't for the good of the team.

He has zero games this season of shooting 25 times.

Flip wrote:

maddog1971 wrote:
Well I guess that will depend on how many times he shoots it in a game. IF he shoots it 25 times..... you are right.... nobody can stop him from getting is 25 and 15. BUT I have seen many players come through the state that can score and their teams never go any place. BUT I have seen players that can put those numbers up but don't for the good of the team.

He has zero games this season of shooting 25 times.

His two highest outputs for shots is 22 & 23 but he made over 50% of those shots; he has struggled from the field the past two games but it didn't matter against HCV.

I just don't get why some of ya feel the need to rag on HS athletes. If your opinion is that Eaglestaff is going to win then that's great...but don't lie trying to make claims about another athlete...especially when his stats are all available for all to see.

balla45 wrote:Yankton should be a candidate as well. I do not think he is the best player, but if he keeps up what he is doing, he definitely deserves to be a candidate.

Before the season I assumed Hagerle would be in the discussion as well, but like Yankton and Brandt he has no chance of winning. Do you think he'll get nominated?

east sider wrote:

balla45 wrote:Yankton should be a candidate as well. I do not think he is the best player, but if he keeps up what he is doing, he definitely deserves to be a candidate.

Before the season I assumed Hagerle would be in the discussion as well, but like Yankton and Brandt he has no chance of winning. Do you think he'll get nominated?

Right now, I do not think he is going to get First Team All State in Class A.

Braydon Lund was nominated and was Second Team All State before, as was Tanner Purintun.

Today I think First Team All State in Class A is

Eaglestaff - Lock
Klabo - Lock
Dissette - Lock
2 of
Erikson
Nhial
Sem

Hegerle does not have the numbers that pop, whether that is fair or unfair, it just is.

I believe Wagner from Ellendale should also be considered for one of the B Mr. BB finalists. I agree that he is the best post player in the state.

Recently, there was a clip on Midco Sports about Wagner and his unfortunate car accident from last summer. They weren't even sure he'd be back for his Senior year but he has defied all odds. An excellent story about a wonderful kid with a great work ethic.