North Dakota Preps

First games of the season kicking off this weekend with many teams getting started Friday and Saturday already. Here are some notable Region 1/2 teams playing this Friday and Saturday. Tough schedule for Oakes going back to back to start the season with Sargent County and Grafton.

PRFL @ Dakota Prairie
Midway/Minto @ Cavalier
Oakes @ Sargent County
Four Winds @ Oak Grove
Thompson @ New Rockford
Northern Cass @ North Border
MPCG @ Central Cass
Grafton @ Oakes

Friday Action
Stanley @ Des Lacs-Burlington

Saturday Action
Shiloh Christian @ Dickinson Trinity
Hazen @ Bishop Ryan

I think oakes is going to surprise some people this year. They have a lot of experience coming back.

Des Lacs-Burlington and Velva play Saturday night at the Minot State Dome. Should be a solid game. Both teams Received Votes in the first poll.

Class B wrote:Des Lacs-Burlington and Velva play Saturday night at the Minot State Dome. Should be a solid game. Both teams Received Votes in the first poll.

Velva receiving votes shocked me a bit...but it is the first poll and there are a lot of unknowns.

WalkingStick wrote:

Class B wrote:Des Lacs-Burlington and Velva play Saturday night at the Minot State Dome. Should be a solid game. Both teams Received Votes in the first poll.

Velva receiving votes shocked me a bit...but it is the first poll and there are a lot of unknowns.

I'm guessing because they were a Region Runner-Up who returned most everyone from last year.

Some scores from over the weekend.

Sargent County 51, Oakes 46
North Border 64, Northern Cass 47
Central Cass 78, MPCG 47
Four Winds 70, Oak Grove 57
PRFL 59, Dakota Prairie 49
Midway/Minto 83, Cavalier 77
Thompson 62, New Rockford 49
Grafton 54, Oakes 31
Shiloh Christian 54, Dickinson Trinity 51

FWM won 70-54

DLB def. Stanley 73-36
DLB def. Velva 52-45

Bishop Ryan def. Hazen 72-46

Ellendale over South Border by double digits. 76-52 I believe.

Barnes County North 67, Lisbon 66
North Star 71, DVE 39
MPCG 63, Hatton/NWD 33
HCV 77, Kindred 71
Sargent County 67, LLM 47

I don't anticipate anyone on the east side of the state is going to be playing today with the incoming weather on it's way. Many schools south of Fargo are already not having anything today. Four Winds and Thompson was the big one today in Class B that will likely get rescheduled.

Sportsrube wrote:Ellendale over South Border by double digits. 76-52 I believe.

72-56 was what was reported

Quite the finish in Minot yesterday during the Bishop Ryan and Thompson game. That was easily the game of the day out there.

Oak Grove just upset #3 Shiloh on the road 71-68

NorthStar plays Four Winds today at 3:30 in the championship game of the Ramsey county tournament.

Region 2 games tonight.

DVE @ North Border
Langdon @ Thompson
PRFL @ Cavalier

I'll take the home teams in all three of these games. NB and Thompson likely win big. Cavalier and PRFL could be competitive but I think Cavalier is better.

Four Winds travels to Hillsboro on Friday and Grafton visits Thompson for the first time. Grafton and Thompson should be a good battle between the trios of Baldwin-Hanson-Villareal and Starcevic-Peterson-Overby. HCV goes to North Star on Saturday for a back-to-back with Region 4.

BasketballMind wrote:Region 2 games tonight.

DVE @ North Border
Langdon @ Thompson
PRFL @ Cavalier

I'll take the home teams in all three of these games. NB and Thompson likely win big. Cavalier and PRFL could be competitive but I think Cavalier is better.

Four Winds travels to Hillsboro on Friday and Grafton visits Thompson for the first time. Grafton and Thompson should be a good battle between the trios of Baldwin-Hanson-Villareal and Starcevic-Peterson-Overby. HCV goes to North Star on Saturday for a back-to-back with Region 4.

Grafton and Thompson will be a must see game - Two very different but effective styles. This will be a fun game to watch.

NB 74, DVE 20
Thompson 80, Langdon 30
Cavalier 62, PRFL 51

Games tomorrow:
Langdon @ Hatton/NWD
Maple River @ MPCG

Heavy week of traveling for Langdon.

The way it looks right now, Ellendale is the team to beat in Region 3. Disciplined team that shoots the ball very well. They are a little on the short side, but they are extremely well coached and they know how to win games. Linton-HMB may give them a run and maybe EKM by the end of the season, but I would still bet on Coach Vance and his Cardinals.

MPCG beats Maple River 60-30 last night. Sounds like Koenig had a big night for the Patriots. Would not have predicted that going into the game. MPCG must have played well.

Some big region 2 games tonight. The top teams (minus MayPort and HCV) play big games that should give us a better idea of who is where. Some important games in the 6 to 11 section of the region that should give some clarity on the regional seeding race early.

Grafton at Thompson - This game puts someone in the driver seat for the one seed (especially if Thompson wins as they have already beaten NB). It should be a really good game between two successful programs who play different styles. I think it is a close one but I don't see how Grafton matches up inside with Thompson. Thompson wins 53 to 47.

Four Winds at HCV - not a region game but one of the better out of region matchups. Four Winds has actually played some close games early this season but looks solid. HCV opened with a huge win over Kindred but then got shut down offensively by Sargent County at home so I'm not sure what to make of them. I think we learn something about where these two teams really are tonight. I will take Four Winds to turn it on late and win by a score of 68 to 58.

Cavalier at Midway Minto - if I was a betting man I would say this determines the 6th and 7th seeds unless something happens later that upsets the apple cart. First game of the year was a no-defense track meet 83 to 77 in Cavalier with Midway coming out on top. If Cavalier establishes an inside game and avoids the track meet I think they win. If Midway controls pace and hits outside shots they win. I will take Midway at home 70 to 62.

DVE at Larimore - This game probably has a lot of impact on the 8, 9, 10 part of region standings. Larimore played well in the Ramsey County and that big guy was a force. First one was a 2 point win by DVE. I think Larimore uses the big guy more effectively and splits the season series. If DVE can get contributions outside of their top guy I think they win. Larimore 50, DVE 40.

North Border has gotten on a roll since their early season loss to Thompson. They've got a two-point region match-up on Friday with Grafton. They went through what looks like the weaker portion of their schedule pretty seamlessly, and have picked up back to back wins against a good Kindred team and beat MPCG on the road last night. They've got the two best seniors in the region in their starting lineup every night, which makes a difference. When they get offensive production out of their role players they become very difficult to beat.

Grafton is in a bit of a must-win situation to stay in the Region 2 race after dropping back-to-back conference games to HCV and Thompson. Friday's game is a 2-pointer and a loss would drop Grafton to 4-4 in the Region. They follow that with another 2-point game against MPCG. 8-2 with two wins, 4-6 with two losses. Probably hoping for a split at the absolute worst. Two big games for the Spoilers that will determine a lot when it comes to the Region 2 tournament seeding. Should be good match-ups in both contests.

BasketballMind wrote:North Border has gotten on a roll since their early season loss to Thompson. They've got a two-point region match-up on Friday with Grafton. They went through what looks like the weaker portion of their schedule pretty seamlessly, and have picked up back to back wins against a good Kindred team and beat MPCG on the road last night. They've got the two best seniors in the region in their starting lineup every night, which makes a difference. When they get offensive production out of their role players they become very difficult to beat.

Grafton is in a bit of a must-win situation to stay in the Region 2 race after dropping back-to-back conference games to HCV and Thompson. Friday's game is a 2-pointer and a loss would drop Grafton to 4-4 in the Region. They follow that with another 2-point game against MPCG. 8-2 with two wins, 4-6 with two losses. Probably hoping for a split at the absolute worst. Two big games for the Spoilers that will determine a lot when it comes to the Region 2 tournament seeding. Should be good match-ups in both contests.

Big games too from the stand point of wanting to avoid the 4 v. 5 matchup. Having to play in that one which should be a close game then come back with the 1 seed (likely Thompson the next night will be a tough path through regionals). My guess is we end up with a 1. Thompson 2. HCV 3. NB 4. Grafton 5. MayPort regional tournament. HCV vs. North Border in Walhalla should determine everything because the other big games will be played out by then unless someone gets upset. Comes down to outside shooting of NB vs. depth and size of HCV.

After the top 5 in region 2?
6 MM
7 Cavalier
8 PR
9 DVE
10 HN
11 Larimore

I'm sure there may be some adjusting in there, but that seems reasonable right now.

Ya if my calculations are correct I would think that Midway is closed to locked in at 6 and Larimore will have an uphill battle to get past 10. 7 to 10 could go any which way though. I would probably rank it like you had it. PR just played midway really close and I heard Cavalier had an injury so maybe those two could flip with a PR win. Lots of games in that tier next week to iron it out. I would say by next weekend you will largely know.

Seems to be very little talk about FWM. Is it going to take a monster upset for them not to win it all this season? What are their strengths and weaknesses (if any)?