3-class system - here we go again.

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Re: 3-class system - here we go again.

Postby ClassBEast » Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:57 am

January 6, 2010
Time to stop pushing for a 3-class system
By: Jason Miller, INFORUM

Class, does anyone have a new idea for a three-class system in North Dakota?

Class? Anyone? Beulah? Beulah?

In the latest effort to add more teams to North Dakota high school state tournaments, Beulah activities director Mitch Lunde is part of an effort to add a third (middle-division) state tournament for basketball and volleyball.

A group of athletic directors and administrators from schools with enrollment from 200-500 students as well as private schools will get together Tuesday in Carrington to talk about the latest idea to change the landscape of North Dakota prep sports.

It’s a plan that has plenty of holes and likely won’t happen. I can’t imagine the North Dakota High School Activities Association’s members getting behind this even if it moves forward after Tuesday’s meeting. Plus, these three-class proposals have routinely been voted down by member schools.

There’s too much love for the Class B boys basketball tournament. And that’s a good thing.

Whether this idea gains steam or not, these efforts should stop. Hasn’t North Dakota learned anything from its neighbor Minnesota?

Minnesota basketball used to be set up perfectly. Two classes. Lots of schools competing for a few berths at state. The beauty of two classes is that it really meant something when your team moved on to the Twin Cities.

Now, with 12 classes, or whatever they have in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, everything is watered down. Going to state isn’t the accomplishment it once was.

Good teams often didn’t make it to the state tournament. But people understood that fact because of the high level of competition. Some very solid teams would lose in region title games and miss out on that state tournament experience. But those seasons were still viewed as major successes.

The atmosphere at region basketball tournaments in Minnesota was always top-notch. Now, with so many classes, the value of a run to state is often diminished.

Don’t go down that same road, North Dakota. Please. For the love of Scott Guldseth.

Keep things the way they are. Every kid doesn’t need a medal. Or a state tournament experience. It isn’t always meant to be. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Adding classes, or some strange mid-level state tournament, would only harm what now works just fine.

Readers can reach Forum Sports Editor Jason Miller at (701) 451-5651or jmiller@forumcomm.com
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Re: 3-class system - here we go again.

Postby Sportsrube » Wed Jan 06, 2010 10:47 am

How about we just make VB & BB like wrestling (individual) - if you finish in the top 4 of the region you get to go to state! That way we can have a whole bunch of teams (individuals) at state and everyone can feel good about themselves and parents can brag about how their kid was in state every year!!!!
Track is almost as bad - 1st or 2nd at region (Class B) get in, no matter how slow the time or how short the throw! But hey, we get hundreds of kids participating at the State Meet!!!! That way the NDHSAA can get excited about how much $ they bring to the communities who host these events and kids can achieve without putting in a whole lot of work/effort!

Keep the 2 class system and quit trying to find easier ways for some schools/kids to achieve!
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Re: 3-class system - here we go again.

Postby digger » Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:46 am

I just read the new proposal (It is on the in-forum website if you want to take a quick look). Pretty simple, straightforward. I have to temper my remarks because I wasn't at the meetings and don't know what was discussed. As ideas were being tossed around, this may have sounded like a reasonable proposal. From the outside looking in, not so much. I can imagine the discussion, phrases like: "Let's think outside the box", "School A, B, C doesn't fit with school X, Y, Z", "We all want what is equitable/fair", "There is considerable interest in a 3-class system", "If we aren't moving forward we're moving backward", etc.
Sitting around a table sipping coffee and Mountain Dew, people can conjure up all sorts of grand ideas. I've been a part of meetings like this (business not sports). Oftentimes when these ideas are brought into the light of day, (sometimes just after a good nights sleep) they are seen for what they are; what last night seemed like thinking outside the box is now just,...well...goofy; the great movement forward may actually be just,...well...a u-turn heading in the other direction.
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Re: 3-class system - here we go again.

Postby Mighty-Mouse » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:24 pm

Digger can you give us the website... Thanks!
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Re: 3-class system - here we go again.

Postby ClassBEast » Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:50 pm

Mighty-Mouse wrote:Digger can you give us the website... Thanks!


http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id ... up/sports/
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Re: 3-class system - here we go again.

Postby wildcatfan » Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:45 pm

I am a fan of the 3 class system. In Jason Miller's article from the Forum, he states that we should learn something from our neighbor (minnesota), well how about our neighbor to the south. They have three classes and they work out very well. They play all three classes on the same week-end, boys and girls on different week-ends. The class B dominates in attendance, followed by class A and then class AA. Two years ago their was 8,000 fans per night at NSU's Barnett Center for class B tourney. I think that the three classes would generate more money for the NDHSAA because the two lower classes would still be very well attended by their home based fans, and I don't think that it would ruin the class B mystique, the fans will still be there. I also beleive that the three classes would slow down the alphabet co-ops from happening so quickly (District 5 = LMM, PBK, BCN, C-P, E-K) I know that some of these have been around awile, this was just an example.
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Re: 3-class system - here we go again.

Postby Bisonguy06 » Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:25 am

I think your choice of words was correct - a 3 class system would "slow down" alphabet co-ops, but it would not reverse the trend. A lot of people talk as if co-ops would actually dissolve if only we'd move to 3 classes in basketball or 6 man football or whatever, and I don't see that happening. Once you give up your athletic programs to a co-op, there's almost no turning back.
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