2023-2024 Boys State A Tournament

[Sorenson23]

State Class A Boys Basketball Tournament
@ FargoDome
Thursday March 14th
G1 - #2 Devils Lake def #7 Valley City 72-55
G2 - #3 Grafton def #6 Beulah 84-66
G3 - #1 Kindred def #8 Killdeer 65-41
G4 - #5 Shiloh Christian def #4 Des Lacs-Burlington 74-54

Friday March 15th
G5 - #7 Valley City def #6 Beulah 58-54
G6 - #8 Killdeer def #4 Des Lacs-Burlington 40-38
G7 - #2 Devils Lake def #3 Grafton 64-53
G8 - #1 Kindred def #5 Shiloh Christian 56-46

Saturday March 16th
G9 - 7th - #6 Beulah def #4 Des Lacs-Burlington 62-39
G10 - #7 Valley City def #8 Killdeer 67-54
G11 - 3rd - #3 Grafton def #5 Shiloh Christian 68-65
G12 - State A Title Game - #2 Devils Lake def #1 Kindred 59-54

State Champions - Devils Lake Firebirds 25-2)
Runner up - Kindred Vikings (24-1)
3rd - Grafton Spoilers (22-5)
4th - Shiloh Christian Skyhawks (19-8)
5th - Valley City Hi-Liners (14-12)
6th - Killdeer Cowboys (17-11)
7th - Beulah Miners (20-6)
8th - Des-Lacs-Burlington Lakers (22-6)

[maddog1971]

[quote="Sorenson23"]State Class A Boys Basketball Tournament
@ FargoDome
Thursday March 14th
G1 - (22-2) #2 Devils Lake vs #7 Valley City (12-11)
G2 - (20-4) #3 Grafton vs #6 Beulah (19-4)
G3 - (23-0) #1 Kindred vs #8 Killdeer (16-9)
G4 - (21-3) #4 Des Lacs-Burlington vs #5 Shiloh Christian (18-6)

Friday March 15th
G5 -Beulah
G6 Shiloh
G7 -Devils Lake
G8 -Kindred

Saturday March 16th
G9 - 7th -Valley
G10 - 5th - Shiloh
G11 - 3rd -Des lac
G12 - State A Title Game -Kindred

[chief45]

After looking at regular season scores for all 8 teams, I am sure that there will be an upset somewhere along the way. Initial reaction to the bracket, I think the 3-6 teams are very close to each other and all could beat each other on any given night.

Grafton was well deserving of the 3 seed & they got a worse draw than deserved. Grafton Vs Beulah will likely be the best game of the day.

Team Breakdowns Below - Again please don't Judge, this is based on my 1 hour of research and my own opinions from a Dickinson Resident. If I made a mistake somewhere please correct me.

1 Kindred (5-0 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams)- Has only had a handful of close games all year. I do think they have the heavily favorable side of the bracket since Beulah got knocked out of the 4/5 game. Kindred should beat Killdeer by 20+. Bismarck Shiloh Played them close this year, but it was early. I do think Bismarck Shiloh would give them a good test, and I would definitely be interested in seeing a rematch of that game

2 Devils Lake (4-1 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams)- IMO best team in the tournament. I think they will knock out Valley with ease and then will play either Grafton (Split) or Beulah (blowout W). Grafton vs Devils lake on night two would be must watch tv.

3 Grafton (2-2 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams) - Electric team, has played everyone good, battle tested, but I feel they have the hardest road to the title. Will have to go through who i would consider the fourth best team, best team & second best team to hold up the trophy. Not saying it cant be done, but they will have to be near perfect. I do not like their draw whatsoever. They will be tested by Beulah, and I actually think Beulah will complete the upset.

4 DLB (1-2 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams) - This team is the hardest for me to gauge. I have not seen them play but I know they have an excellent coach and from what I've heard they are very balanced. They have not played a single team out east besides Thompson. Not sure what to think on that but I know they will have a game plan to exploit Bismarck Shiloh. This will be a rematch of their game early in the year (Bismarck Shiloh 8 PT win). I will slightly Lean Bismarck here, but I do think this should be a great finish do Day 1.

5 Bismarck Shiloh (4-4 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams) - Have only seen them play twice in their regional tournament. Well coached team, experienced, battle tested. Shiloh VS Beulah Region Championship was back and forth. As stated in section above I will slightly lean Bismarck Shiloh here.

6 Beulah (5-2 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams) - Best team out of the west regions IMO. Saw them play the final two nights in regionals and in their play in game. They are dangerous. Even though they lost to Shiloh in OT I thought their regular season resume should have warranted the 4 seed. I don't think their seeding matters though. Their lefty is a stud and I expect him to have a monster Thursday. I think Beulah slightly edges Grafton in the closest game of the day.

7 Valley City (1-5 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams) - Valley City back to the State Tournament! I have only seen their play in game via live stream replay, and they looked good. Thompson is no slouch and Valley had their way offensively. I think beating Devils Lake is a tall ask, and although I don't think they will get it done I do think they give DL a better game than expected.

8 Killdeer (0-6 VS Other 7 State Tournament A Teams) - 71 years since Killdeer has been to state! I was Admittedly bummed when they knocked out my team Standing Rock, but it is a very exciting story for them to make it! They are young, but hungry. Pruitt has done an excellent job this season, & I feel they are a year ahead of their team building. I don't expect them to hang with Kindred, but I do think they could make some noise on Day 2&3.

Day 1 Picks
Devils Lake
Beulah
Kindred
Bismarck Shiloh

[WalkingStick]

Grafton lives and dies from the outside...but when it's dry they play pretty sound defense.

the 3/6 & 4/5 games are setup to be good ones...DL beat VC by nearly 30 during the season and Kindred will just be too long and athletic for Killdeer.

[Sportsrube]

I will take all of the top seeds in round 1. After that it could get very interesting. Really looking forward to the semi-finals.

[Thundersnow]

G1 - Devils Lake over Valley City
G2 - Beulah over Grafton
G3 - Kindred over Killdeer
G4 - DLB over Shiloh

G5 - Grafton over VC
G6 - Shiloh over Killdeer
G7 - Devils Lake over Beulah
G8 - Kindred over DLB

7th Place - VC over Killdeer
5th Place - Grafton over Shiloh
3rd Place - Beulah over DLB
Championship - Kindred over Devils Lake

[aNDkid91]

1st-Kindred
2nd-Grafton
3rd-Devil’s Lake
4th-Shiloh
5th-DLB
6th-Beulah
7th-Valley City
8th-Killdeer

[WalkingStick]

Devils Lake
Grafton
Kindred
Shiloh Christian

Beulah
Des Lacs-Burlington
Grafton
Kindred

Valley City
Beulah
Devils Lake
Kindred

3/6 & 4/5 games could go either way...great matchups; #1 & #2 just seem to be a tier above 3-6.

[UncleRico]

I have been here at the Fargodome in person today, and this is an unbelievably weak gameday production for a state tournament. No music for intros, no music during timeouts or commercials, two songs at the end of halftime. About 3 random replays per game on the big video board. It feels like a 10am Saturday C squad game in here. Zero energy in the building. A PA system you cannot hear or understand. Uffda.

[maddog1971]

Bad place to watch a game. Seating is horrible... Environment is weak.... yep an production is bad. You have the big screen.... play the replay.... so when you are sitting in the horrible seats at least you can see the game. I spent more time watching the big screen than I did the game because the seating is so bad.

Fun games with lots of talent on the floor. Kindred better figure out how to shoot in the Dome or their winning streak will come to an end. Devils Lake looked really good and will be a very tough team to beat.

The games have been very physical and when you get in the lane your better be ready for some contact and when you are handling the ball you better be able to handle the ball with some toughness.

[Sportsrube]

I'll take DL over Grafton by double digits and Kindred over Shiloh by double digits.

[WalkingStick]

I'll take the "upset" pick of Grafton over DL by 5
Kindred wakes up and plays with more intent and their length wins over Shiloh by 5-8

[Bisonguy06]

The east will be stronger than the west in class A basketball, boys and girls, for the foreseeable future. It's purely a numbers game and the bigger numbers are out east in the middle division.

This is okay, by the way. I've come around to three divisions. I would mostly keep the current plan intact, but move to combined boys and girls Super AA, A, and B tournaments.

[senditin]

I'm for the three class system but always thought DL should be in AA and what do you know, boys and girls win the 'chips and both probably will next year. Good job ndhsaa. Why was the BB 3 class pushed through but VB needs 2 years to be implemented?

[WalkingStick]

I'm for the three class system but always thought DL should be in AA and what do you know, boys and girls win the 'chips and both probably will next year. Good job ndhsaa. Why was the BB 3 class pushed through but VB needs 2 years to be implemented?

Someone from Garrison threatened lawsuit and there were two others that threatened issues if the board didn’t approve the proposal…

[bk1990]

I'm for the three class system but always thought DL should be in AA and what do you know, boys and girls win the 'chips and both probably will next year. Good job ndhsaa. Why was the BB 3 class pushed through but VB needs 2 years to be implemented?

So if I understand it correctly, 6 success points over a 3 year period, as of now, DL has 4 points as the won the championship and Kindred has 3 for getting there? So, same match up next year, anther 3 point to both, doesn't matter who wins it, they both have at least 6 points. So if I understand it, they move up to AA? I know this forum is for boys, but will comment on girls A, both DL and South Prairie have a good chance of getting back to 'ship, same scenario, both now have a minimum of 6 points, they both get moved to AA? Also, I know this is A boys, but Westhope boys, now have 4 points. I can easily see them in the 'ship next year, they also have acquired minimum of 6 points, they get moved to A?
I know, there is an appeal process and a number of factors can be considered to allow them to not move up, but I see a mess coming. Congratulations to the above mentioned teams and their success, and to the NDHSAA, they got what they wanted, DL with 'ships, Valley City in a state tourney, but I see a major mess coming next year with the current success formula (penalty), - good luck with it!

[UNDSiouxfan]

I thought the state A was an excellent tournament. Kindred & DL were definitely the two best teams and it made for a great championship.

Kindred had a couple of key possessions where they drove to the hoop and DL got stops/turnovers, and this turned out to be very decisive in the end. Coach always said defense wins championships, and DL was the better defensive team.

Looking towards next year, Kindred should be the heavy favorite as they have mostly everyone back. DL will be good as well and there's a decent chance these two could meet again.

Also - congrats to Deng Deng on getting Sr. Athlete, as he was very deserving of this award.

[5-time state chump]

You folks crying about DL and VC (and Wahp) you don't think they should have a chance?

Here's what I saw with Class A and B.

IF DL and VC and Wahp are in Class A, those 3 schools complain.

IF they are in Class B, allllll of the Class B folks complain.

Here's what I'm asking someone to do, that no one has ever done.

Set up 3 divsions or 2. You pick. Lay out all the teams in the division and make it so no one has a valid reason to complain. All of the schools in the 2 or 3 division system must be the same size.

Here's a tip: you can't. Not possible.

The only way you'd get "the same size" teams...is to have like, I dunno, 10 or 12 divisions. Maybe more. Then you could have it be "fair" lol.

It's better now than it was. It's never going to be perfect. We don't have enough schools in ND.

[packers21]

You folks crying about DL and VC (and Wahp) you don't think they should have a chance?

Here's what I saw with Class A and B.

IF DL and VC and Wahp are in Class A, those 3 schools complain.

IF they are in Class B, allllll of the Class B folks complain.

Here's what I'm asking someone to do, that no one has ever done.

Set up 3 divsions or 2. You pick. Lay out all the teams in the division and make it so no one has a valid reason to complain. All of the schools in the 2 or 3 division system must be the same size.

Here's a tip: you can't. Not possible.

The only way you'd get "the same size" teams...is to have like, I dunno, 10 or 12 divisions. Maybe more. Then you could have it be "fair" lol.

It's better now than it was. It's never going to be perfect. We don't have enough schools in ND.

I think most ppl are fine with the 3-class, its the politics, back door deals, number moving to get "yes" votes and then pushing a plan out that definitely needs improvement before it was ready.

I haven't heard anyone complain about VC and Wahp they are fine in the middle class, Devils Lake has plenty of proven recent success at the AA level.

Also just a note, you would only need 4 classes to fix "same size team" problems.

[UncleRico]

Good thing we were at the dome Saturday...the crowd would have never fit into the SHAC. LMFAO.

[maddog1971]

Great Job by Devils Lake. They played like they wanted it and Kindred played timid until Sunram got in the game. It was a fist fight on the court and Kindred needed some more muscle out on the court but it still came down to the end. Good game and fun to watch. I believe the Devils Lake kids are more accustom to playing in the AA level so they handled the physical game quite a bit better. Also Kindred needs to spend the off season working on making free throws. It was a problem all year and really showed in this game.

Also they need to move this tournament to the Shac.... Bad place to watch a game... environment is horrible...seating is horrible... walking in and out is horrible... BUT the milk game was very awesome... NO.

[BasketballMind]

It’s one thing to force the Class A teams and fans in the FargoDome, it’s quite another to put in zero effort into making the atmosphere/energy in the gym something memorable. The region tournaments at the SHAC/Mayville State were head and shoulders better than the state tournament in terms of atmosphere, energy, and everything else. The people in charge of the tournament at the Fargodome did the bare minimum and this was called out a year ago after they moved to three classes. NDSU is never going to host the summit league tournament, so the SHAC should be available every year, right?

[olufsen2022]

Great Job by Devils Lake. They played like they wanted it and Kindred played timid until Sunram got in the game. It was a fist fight on the court and Kindred needed some more muscle out on the court but it still came down to the end. Good game and fun to watch. I believe the Devils Lake kids are more accustom to playing in the AA level so they handled the physical game quite a bit better. Also Kindred needs to spend the off season working on making free throws. It was a problem all year and really showed in this game.

Also they need to move this tournament to the Shac.... Bad place to watch a game... environment is horrible...seating is horrible... walking in and out is horrible... BUT the milk game was very awesome... NO.

Agreed, Devils Lake was more comfortable with the physical play that was allowed. I feel if that's the style of play they want to use, they should have stayed in the upper division though. Why should all the old class B teams have to adjust to the physicality of Devils Lake because they "moved down". I feel like Devils Lake should have been the team that should have to adjust to the middle division style of play. Kudos to them though, they played how they were allowed to play and used it to their advantage.....exactly how they should have. They had a very talented team, would have been interesting to see where they would have finished in the upper class if we still had only 2 this year.

[BelfieldBantams]

I was disappointed in the lack of work done by the head table. I didn't pay attention to every game, but I thought during the one game where they missed the 5th team foul and then made it up during the 6th team foul. That was beyond ridiculous.

Also during the championship game, for the entire scoreboard screwed up for most of the 1st quarter.

Come on FargoDome, get people in there that know how to run your table and your system. If you can't find someone I'd love to come in and do it. Can't be that hard.

[maddog1971]

Good thing we were at the dome Saturday...the crowd would have never fit into the SHAC. LMFAO.

How great would it have been to sell it out and standing room only in the SHAC..... Make the tickets something of a value so people buy the place out. Shooting was horrible as a general rule and I think shooting in the dome stinks.