balla45 wrote:Just some context on the 3 out of state games that Enderlin plays.
Byron features 6'9" Ahjany Lee. At one point he had a Kansas offer and he is committed to St. Thomas.
Morris Area features 6'8" Jackson Loge. At one point he had offers from UND and Toledo, and he is committed to Augustana.
Canton features 6'8" junior Jacob Vande Weerd. I understand he is getting NAIA and Division 2 looks.
It would be challenging to find 3 North Dakota teams with quality 6'8" - 6'9" bigs. I would argue that it would be impossible to replicate that against ND teams without convincing the Class A schools to all do it. The Enderlin coaching staff also did a nice job in securing a scrimmage against Bismarck and Treysen Eaglestaff.
I have no idea if Enderlin will or will not win state this season. I feel envious of any person who got to watch Four Winds @ Enderlin in person.
Four Winds has so much offensive fire power and team speed, and wow are there some athletes. Deng Deng is super impressive athletically and I imagine he will have a plethora of schools going after him the next few years. Wow is Deng impressive. Yankton really stands out with his ability to score. Pearson and Left Bear are nice slashers and play makers.
Joe Hurlburt is a generational talent and I think he has a legitimate shot of playing in the NBA at some point in his life. Brian Qvale got very close and his skillset as a senior in high school was no where near the skillset that Joe utilizes.
What I loved about this game is all the "studs" showed up and did their thing and it was a battle to the last minute.
I think it says a lot for the depth and talent of Class B basketball that some of the generational talents it has produced are not even able to make it to the state tournament, most recently I would use Austin Dufault as this example.
You kind of proved some points here about not being a true "team". Yes Joe is a once in a lifetime athlete, but what about the rest of the Enderlin Eagles, don't you think they want to make it to state, something that after this year will be very hard to do. This isn't about making Joe better for college, have him live in the here and now of high school basketball. Yes in a few years all of this won't matter in the grand scheme of life, but there might be a lot of "what ifs". I hope for the small town of Enderlin they do make it to state but when all the focus is on Joe and his future I don't see that happening. Region 1 is always a dog fight and whomever comes out of it will be a legitimate contender for the state title.