North Dakota Class B Burning Questions
Basketball season is right around the corner. Teams are firing up practice this week and games will be starting in less than two weeks. With that in mind, here are some things I’m curious about heading into the season: Which…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingBasketball season is right around the corner. Teams are firing up practice this week and games will be starting in less than two weeks. With that in mind, here are some things I’m curious about heading into the season:
Which team is the fifth best in the state?
At this point, it seems like there’s a clear top-four teams in Class B: Hillsboro/Central Valley, Richland, Rugby and Four Winds/Minnewaukan. Those teams have practically everybody back from last year, where they were all top-10 teams that looked like state title contenders.
After that, it’s a bit muddled. Beulah returns two starters from a state tournament team, but graduated practically every other varsity player. New Rockford-Sheyenne is in a similar boat. Thompson returns a solid core of complementary players, but the horses from last year’s run are gone.
Kindred and Dickinson Trinity are the teams I think can stake the best claims to be ranked in that spot. The Vikings won 20 games last year and return three starters including a potential all-state forward in Gavin Keller. They play elite defense, return two solid perimeter pieces and Keller is a guy who could ascend into elite territory this winter.
Dickinson Trinity graduated a couple solid pieces from a team that reached the Region 7 final but returns four rotation players including Matthew Stafford and Cole Fitterer. The Titans were inconsistent at best offensively last year, but awesome defensively. If they can make marginal improvements offensively, it’s potentially elite.
How many state tournament teams are equipped to get back to state?
There was a fair amount of state tournament turnover last year from the previous season, with three teams reaching state in each of the last two years. Heading into this season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see even more turnover. Richland is the only state tournament team from last year ranked in the top-five and the Colts will have to contend with Kindred again in Region 1. Thompson won state but will likely have to go through Hillsboro/Central Valley, Cavalier and Hatton/Northwood in a loaded Region 2.
Ellendale came out of nowhere to win Region 3 last year.
New Rockford-Sheyenne upset Four Winds/Minnewaukan in the Region 4 final and with the Indians returning everybody, they look like a title contender.
Shiloh returns two starters from last year’s state runner-up team and looks like the best bet (aside from Richland) to come out of its region.
Bishop Ryan is lumped in with Rugby and Our Redeemers in Region 6.
Beulah and Dickinson Trinity face off basically every year in Region 7 and look like the two best teams there.
Region 8 looks wide open again with Powers Lake and White Shield figuring to be the two best teams again along with Stanley.
Who surprises?
Every year, players and teams seemingly come out of nowhere to surprise people. At the Class B level especially, young guys are pushed into varsity action earlier, creating a lot of unknown before the year starts. That means new people emerge as household names after great players leave to graduation, and teams take on entirely new identities on the fly. Which teams will enjoy that fruit?