North Dakota Preps

STATE TOURNEY
@ Bismarck
March 14th, 15th & 16th

Thursday, March 14th
G1: E1 - West Fargo 42 vs. W4 - Bismarck 57
G2: W2 - Century 51 vs. E3 - GF Red River 49
G3: W1 - St. Mary's 95 vs. E4 - Fargo Shanley 100 F/OT
G4: E2 - Fargo Davies 75 vs. W3 - Mandan 47

Friday, March 15th
G5: E1 - West Fargo 62 vs. E3 - GF Red River 69
G6: W1 - St. Mary's 74 vs. W3 - Mandan 56
G7: W2 - Century 39 vs. W4 - Bismarck 40
G8: E2 - Fargo Davies 60 vs. E4 - Fargo Shanley 86

Saturday, March 16th
5th: W1 - St. Mary's 55 vs. E3 - GF Red River 66
3rd: W2 - Century 53 vs. E2 - Fargo Davies 74
Championshp: E4 - Fargo Shanley 73 vs. W4 - Bismarck 54

1st: Fargo Shanley (21-4)
2nd: Bismarck (16-9)
3rd: Fargo Davies (18-7)
4th: Century (17-8)
5th: GF Red River (22-3)
6th: St. Mary's (20-4)

Based on the rankings going into the regionals, there's basically 2 semi-final games in the first round between Cent/RR and St.M/Shan...should be a great tourney!

Anyone know how coverage works? If I remember correctly there's no TV coverage on Thursday, and then Friday just has 1 semifinal boys and 1 semifinal girls?

friday will have 4 semifinal games

Will all the games be archived online like last year? That was great. And if so, what is the link?

I could see a west sweep the first day. All 4 west teams will draw great support from their fans.

It should be 4 really good games! Going to be a fun tourney! I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the eight teams win in the first round.

Indeed, it should be a great Class A tourney this year, made even more interesting by the surprising results in the EDC regional, which put perhaps the EDC's most dangerous team, Fargo Shanley, at the #4 seed, and its most vulnerable team, West Fargo, at the #1 seed. No disrespect intended to the Packers, as their play in the EDC tourney was super clutch and intense, but Shanley, Davies and GF Red River are tougher to defend.

St. Mary's gets a tough break winning the West but drawing Shanley. Mandan also gets a tough draw with Davies. The afternoon games are tough to pick.

Tougher to defend does not really mean tougher to defeat. There is a reason West Fargo won the EDC tournament. In my opinion, them, along with Wahpeton, have consistently been the best defensive teams in the EDC this year. Davies, Red River, and Shanley all play an uptempo style, so if you can score with them, you will stay in the game. West Fargo looks to stop you from scoring, rather than simply outscoring you.

I would think Saint Mary's would be confident enterting the state tournament with an 11 game win steak and a 16 point win over Shanley already under their belts.

I see Red River - Century as a toss up. Rudolph is almost unguardable in the WDA, so it will be interesting to see if Hoplin's size will bother him.

Mandan - Davies should be interesting. I am curious to see what pace this game is played at. Possession basketball definitely favors Mandan, while uptempo basketball favors Davies. Curious to see if Davies is able to contain Collins at all.

West Fargo - Bismarck is a pure toss up in my opinion. Both of the teams have a very similar defense first style with a lot of good athletes.

St. Mary's is the best team in the WDA, and have beaten Shanley during the season. They should be good with the draw.

I don't see how St mary's should be okay with the draw they got. They play potentially the most explosive team in the state. Strom and Jacobson have both gone for 40+ and are elite scorers. Yes st mary's beat them earlier in the year but Sparks had a career game and Strom didnt have one of his better games. Shanley has gotten a lot better since then and im sure st mary's has too so that should be a very good and exciting game.

Why would they have a problem with it? Speaking from experience, if you plan on winning a state championship, you have to be able to beat every team. I assume the players and coaching staff at Saint Mary's plan on winning a state championship, so they would have to beat Shanley at some point. They also were able to beat a Shanley team in convincing fashion when Jacobson had 31, while Weisbeck only scored 1 point in the first half. One might think that Sparks had a career night because he was shooting uncontested shots for the majority of the game as well. One could also argue that Saint Mary's is potentially the most explosive team in the state by the way.

Both Strom and Jacobson do have 40 point games, however, I would say most of the people on the western side of the state were absolutely shocked that a player as good at shooting as Strom is was able to get off 18 good looks at the rim from behind the arch. In gameplanning for Shanley, I would think most teams just spot AJ 25+ points and look for ways to stop everyone else, because AJ will score, both effectively and efficiently.

I agree. If St. Mary's expects to win the State Championship, then the best time to take on Shanley is the 1st round. I am sure they didn't expect to see Shanley come out of the EDC as the 4th seed, but they should be confident going into that game.

I know that Thursday's games are not televised, but are they streamed on-line anywhere? NBC stream?

all non-televised games will be streamed here...

http://activities.bismarckschools.org/

So there's no way to watch if it isn't live?

We tried to stream the games tonight, but got only scores, and they weren't even right. Anyone else find that frustrating?

I streamed the video from the state tourney website all day. I watched about 6 games off and on and never had a problem. Good job to whoever is in charge of it.

What a day of basketball. Glad I was able to witness the St. Mary's / Shanley game. That one will be talked about for years to come. Great job to both teams. Too bad someone had to lose. Thoughts?

Really impressive individual and team performances from a lot of players. Some will call it a first round state championship. I personally won't, but that was one of the best state basketball games I have seen. Jacobson was incredibly impressive. I believe that he showed why he "should" win Mr. Basketball. Weisbeck also had a very impressive game. He's my Mr. Basketball next year. Both Strom and Sparks had key shots for their teams, obviously Sparks's was the shot to send it to overtime. Saint Mary's had a big lead but ultimately, Shanley (AJ) made a few more plays and that was the game.

I watched the games on the stream that ndbb2323 has listed above and it worked great. Thanks.

The Davies - Mandan game went out on my computer and even stopped stat casting at the 12:15 mark in the 2nd half.

Well, it was either, me, my computer or the server:) Glad today's games are televised! The highlights from the Shanley/St. Mary's game were impressive. Even with the not-so-accurate scores, you could tell how the game was swinging and it had me on the edge of my seat.

@FargoBigE: RT @DJDAN21: St. Mary's runs VALPO play to perfection.: http://t.co/aFRNIaWJY2

Baller wrote:@FargoBigE: RT @DJDAN21: St. Mary's runs VALPO play to perfection.: http://t.co/aFRNIaWJY2

Thanks for posting this - awesome play!

Was Davies' defense nasty last night or was it just me? Pretty sure Bismarck won't give the Deacons all those open looks, however there is a new Pope.