Class A State Tournament Takeaways
It’s a weird time. A month that is usually jam-packed with hoops is suddenly barren with normalcy seemingly forever away. The Class A State Tournament was cut a day short, meaning we didn’t get to see a state champion crowned.…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIt’s a weird time. A month that is usually jam-packed with hoops is suddenly barren with normalcy seemingly forever away.
The Class A State Tournament was cut a day short, meaning we didn’t get to see a state champion crowned. That sucks, but rather be sad that it is over (assuming it is indeed canceled and not postponed), we’ll focus on the good that happened.
Here are some of my takeaways from the day-and-a-half of state tournament action we got to experience:
The Best Four Teams Were Still Playing
This isn’t always the case, so while it sounds weird to say the best four teams were in the mix to win a state title, I tend to think it’s actually more common to see a top team get upset in the first round or a top team get knocked out in its league tournament. That didn’t happen Thursday as Fargo Davies, Jamestown, West Fargo Sheyenne and Bismarck all advanced.
That’s part of what makes it such a bummer that we don’t get to see what, in my estimation, would’ve been three terrific games. Jamestown and Bismarck played three entertaining and competitive games. Fargo Davies and West Fargo Sheyenne exchanged blowout wins and the Eagles beat the Mustangs in an overtime thriller two weeks ago. And the matchups in the semifinals were set up to be highly compelling.
All four teams could legitimately claim they had a shot to win a state title. That’s not always the case. Usually there’s a team that gets into that mix that, while fun, doesn’t belong. This wasn’t that. These four teams have proven over the course of the last three-plus months that they are the cream of the Class A crop.
Think about all the top players that would’ve been playing in those games. Cam Van Dam is an all-state forward and one of the best two-way players in Class A. Grayson Haman, Cole Hage and Ty Satter formed one of the best perimeter trios in the state. It would’ve been fascinating to see them go up against a Bismarck team with high-end athletes like Gunner Swanson, Treysen Eaglestaff and company in an up-and-down, fast-paced contest.
West Fargo Sheyenne, like Fargo Davies, had a golden opportunity and were seizing it. A senior-heavy team with a terrific perimeter trio in Blake Berg, Tyler Terhark and Zion Dettman had a legitimate shot to win a championship after being one of the best teams not in the field a year ago. They were going against a team in Jamestown, that despite not having its best player, is as good as anybody and good enough to win a title. The team people would’ve seen from Thursday through Saturday, led by Carson Lamp, Brooks Carroll and Jacob Hilgemann is the one that will be ranked No. 1 in “Way-Too-Early Rankings” coming out in the coming weeks.
Teams Ending Seasons/Seniors Ending Careers on High Notes
While those four teams were the only ones that were still gunning for a state title, the other four teams that reached the state tournament all did so after experiencing some form of doubt that they’d get a chance to get there.
Devils Lake and Fargo Shanley were clear notches below Fargo Davies and West Fargo Sheyenne in the EDC. Do the math and when there’s only two spots for nine other teams, the chances for both – even if they were among the handful of reasonable contenders – felt slim. I don’t think either team probably went into the season with ‘state tournament or bust’ expectations.
For Devils Lake, Grant Nelson went supernova all season and seemingly willed the Firebirds to the state tournament. He’s got a chance to be a player at NDSU, so it certainly isn’t the last North Dakotans will have heard from him.
Fargo Shanley was perhaps the biggest surprise state tournament entrant and the Deacons have a solid core of guys who will be back next year, but they’ve got a couple seniors that will be sorely missed. Talon Hoffer was leaned on heavily as a shot-creator, scorer and facilitator while senior big man Roman Srejma emerged as an anchor on both ends of the floor.
Mandan was a team that went into the season with high expectations, but got off to a slow start. Jaxton Wiest was injured and the Braves weren’t playing well early in the year. Then by about midseason, the Braves looked formidable and they were. They were ultimately maybe a player away from getting into that mix to compete for a state title, but the senior duo of Wiest and Elijah Klein will be one that made a big impact on Mandan athletics. Klein was a three-year starter and one of the elite players in the state over the last three years. Mandan might not have a player like him come through for a long time. Wiest has been a steady, high-quality player for the last three years and blossomed into one of the finer point guards in Class A.
Dickinson has been down for years and this year represented a chance for that team to rise up and really compete. A senior-heavy group but also a talented group with guys who are capable of playing at the next level. The Midgets won’t have a team like this again for a while in all likelihood. Jaiden Wright and Kobe Krenz formed the most lethal guard duo in the state and while they both struggled in the loss to the Mustangs, they were most responsible for what was an awesome winter in Dickinson.
Looking Ahead
There will be a deeper dive in the future on what next year looks like in Class A North Dakota, but on the surface, this was a really good senior class of players. Fargo Davies, West Fargo Sheyenne, Fargo Shanley, Devils Lake, Mandan and Dickinson all relied heavily on seniors. The EDC as a whole was senior-heavy.
Jamestown and Bismarck will head into next year as the top two teams in the state and by a fairly wide margin. Fargo Davies will return Owen Hekner and has a steady stream of talent coming down the pipe. But it’s unproven talent. West Fargo Sheyenne has Jacksen Moni, Barika Kpeenu and Jah’Heem Leake who all had good moments as juniors, plus an established talent pipeline that means they’ll stay good. Both teams will be good. But they might take steps back.
There was a lot of turnover from last year to this year, with only three teams reaching the state tournament both seasons. There could be similar unfamiliarity this time next year – which creates a lot of excitement.