BasketballMind wrote:And it will destroy basketball in North Dakota so that a small group of Class A administrators can get their way by any means necessary. State tournament atmosphere will be a shell of itself and middle class participation (especially in girls) will plummet worse than it is now.
Congratulations guys, you did it!!!
BasketballMind, if this plan destroys basketball in North Dakota, it never had a chance to survive. Our current 2-class system is what's destroying basketball in North Dakota, and this proposal is our last chance to slow or stop its destruction.
State tournament atmosphere will be a shell of itself? As compared to what, 1976? 1990s? 2019?
Obviously the State B hasn't been what it was in its heyday. Was "The B" at its best when it was Hillsboro vs. Epping? That is NEVER happening again. Was it at its best when it was Thompson vs. Shiloh Christian? If that was its best, then we have to do everything we can to make sure that we keep the private schools in Class B so that we can have a private vs. public in the state championship every year.
Last season, we could've theoretically had the following teams in 4 state tournaments, which would've had great atmosphere and competitiveness:
Boys A - Beulah, Dickinson Trinity, Rugby, Four Winds-Minnewaken, Kindred, Wahpeton, Minot Ryan, and Turtle Mountain
Girls A - Grafton, Kindred, Devils Lake, Central Cass, New Town, Watford City, Shiloh Christian and Beulah
Boys B - Enderlin, LaMoure-L-M, Bowman County, Powers Lake, North Border, Harvey-Wells County, Wilton-Wing and Velva
Girls B - Kenmare, Mohall-L-S, Linton-HMB, Garrison, Richland, Benson County, Hettinger-Scranton, and May-Port-C-G
All of those fanbases would've traveled well wherever their state tournament was held. The whole state could've gotten a look at the Hurlburt boys from Enderlin and Tyson Enget from Powers Lake. In girls basketball, we could've seen Quinn Neppl from Benson County and Megan Roob from Richland. While some will argue this "waters down" the state tournament, I think it does the opposite. It gives the state and sport a better chance to showcase more of its best athletes to a statewide audience. Along with the showcasing of the athletes, it gives more fans more reason to pay attention to more games throughout the season and into the postseason. By stubbornly sticking to 2 classes, we've been cheating ourselves out of more and better basketball.