North Dakota Preps

Thunder wrote:Just curious who everyone thinks who will be the stronger teams in both the east and the west region?

Out West, Century should be good, Williston returns alot of height (no kidding) and Minot and Bismarck Central are always in there.  In other words, the usual suspects.

I would like to know how the WDA sophomore and JV teams did this year.  Anyone with any info?

 

Dickinson will be the best if they're players stay out of trouble.  BHS will be really talented.  I like Williston cause of their height.  Belcourt will be pretty good they have 4 starters back. And Minot will be good.  Century won't be that great they will lack depth again and won't have much expierence, but their starting lineup looks solid.

BHS' sophomore team won the tourney, but you have look at Minot they had 3 sophomores who played varsity them being elgie, hornecker and heidtkamp

Minot also has a pretty good senior class coming up next year to.

Devils Lake and Fargo South won the JV standings this year so expect Devils Lake and Fargo South to be in the spoylight alot in the East

I am from Devils Lake and my brother will be a senior next year on the team... so i have followed the these players since they were 4th graders and i know alot about them....they play very well as a team and have played together in state competions since a very young age and know how to play in very intense situations..they have won many youth state titles around the state and dont be surprised if they make a run this coming year because they play awesome team ball...for instance like this years Minot(someone explained that they had played together since they were little and knew alot about what each other can do)

One thing that the team will benefit from this year is having BJ MERTENS on the team...he started varsity and didnt play much JV so i expect a really solid team next year 

I hear that Jamestown had quite a few underclassman getting playing time this year, hence the poor record.  I don't expect them to win their conference next season, but it would be nice to see them get back into the thick of things(it's been awhile since J-town has had a good basketball team).  A lot of this will depend on how hard they work this offseason.

Saas25 wrote: Minot they had 3 sophomores who played varsity them being elgie, hornecker and heidtkamp

Elgie- a sophomore!!!!! what? that kid cant be a sophmore i never realized that! he played like he had everything to lose (like a senior) and wow if that kid is a sophmore i think he will be awesome senior year...... future Mr.basketball??

 
Qvale (brent) is a freshmen from williston and i think he has a lot coming for him in future years also, he played well with the team and on the night that they took 3rd he turned 15 so as 14 year old doing that good of job i think he will do good later!

Well, I see it like this.  The east is losing alot.  North has 3 or 4 returning players.  Central is banished.  South is starting on a nearly clean slate.  Red River has alot back. West Fargo has a couple.  Valley should be back rearing to go being their seniors weren't helping them, and they had a good JV squad, and Shanley has Miko and Bergerson back.  Wahpeton should be alright.  I do not know a whole lot about the West, except Jamestown on the transfer there.  I believe they have about 6 Juniors who got some solid time this year coming back, including their leading scorer and rebounder.  Dickinson has their stud coming back, along with Bismarck, and Bismarck has quite the crew coming back to support Wilhelm, too.  Century and St. Marys are bare. Minot has about three coming back.  I don't know about Belcourt.  Williston has both Qvales back.  Does anyone have anymore input?

For the west heres how I see it. 
Dickinson will have the top team in West maybe even the state.  With 3 starters back and their whole bench back they should be a force.

BHS- They will also be one of the top teams in the state with Wilhelm, Hendrickson, Gunderson, Senger, Feser, Peterson, and some pretty good juniors for next year.

Belcourt- They should have one of their better teams in recent years with 4 starters back and a lot of bench players returning also.

Williston-  They don't have much expierience back but they do have the height with both Qvales, if they struggle so will everyone else.

Mandan- they dont have much expierience back, but they do have their stud coming back.  I see Mandan in the upper half of the wda.

Minot- has only one starter back and a few other players , they had a pretty good JV team so they wont really be rebuilding.

St. Mary's- they do have some expierience back and 3 starters back.  Their JV really struggled this year.  Its just a matter of which seniors for next year will be playing or not.  Also their upcoming juniors have more expierience then most of the upcoming seniors.

Century- Don't have much expierience back, but their starting line up wil be solid.  But their depth will be a problem.

Jamestown- They have some expierience back but I still see them finishing in the lower half of the wda.  They will have some pretty strong posts.

I think DL will be fairly good next but are lacking varsity playing time execpt for BJ Mertens but other than that they could be pretty good a lot of the guys have played together since 3rd or 4th grade...When the sophomores are seniors i think DL will be a very good team because they have a lot of guys that have played together on traveling teams since think 3rd grade and will have a good nucleus to build around which would be BJ mertens

Not so sure about the East, but out West

1. Dickinson - ton of talent, Tate Kick, probable Mr. Basketball candidate.

2. Williston - If they can find any guards that can play a lick, they will be the team to beat. Brent Qvale, Brian Qvale, Schmitz all good inside players. The problem is they had no good guards this year and all the kids that played on the perimeter graduated.

3. Bismarck - Jordan Wilhelm is a flat-out stud. Rest of the team is solid, but he will carry them.

The rest of the pack will be wrassling for the final spot IMO. Minot will have a strong junior class, but few seniors. Century lost their two top scorers, Beulah lost a lot and are going to Class B anyway, Mandan- not sure, Belcourt should be solid, St. Mary's - no clue.

West Fargo will be really good in the upcoming years. Their Junior class not cool but the sophmore class is AMAZING

 

i would have to say that west fargo will have a very good team when the sophmores this year are seniors along with devils lake.  Those two teams work extremly hard from watching them this year and hopefully both will continue. i think it is a long ways a way and a mot can happen but i thinking that is the one two punch out of the east that year goin either way. i bet the will beat each other during the season then a tose up during edc.

even though devils lake does not have a lot of experience on the court next year a lot of the players are playing other sports on that team at varsity levels.

beau snyder - varsity football

bj mertens -varsity basketball-varsity baseball-sophmore

jason burdick- varsity football-varsity baseball-sophmore

calby beckstarnd- varsity football-sophmore

i know that west fargo has a lot of that type of experience to . at least i think so

I think that Jamestown will come out very strong next season, led by Luke Heck, and will turn alot of heads out west.  The transition to the west might be the biggest downfall for that team.

1. Dickinson

2. Bismarck High

3. Belcourt

4. Williston

5. Mandan

6. St. Mary's

7. Century

8. Minot

9. Jamestown

Seriously? this is my WDA

1.) Bismarck

2.) Dickinson

3.) Williston

4.) Jamestown

5.) Minot

6.) Mandan

7.) Belcourt

8.) Century

9.) St. Marys

1. Dickinson
2. BHS
3. Minot
4. Belcourt
5. Mandan
6. Williston
7. Century
8. St. Mary's
9. Jamestown

Ming01 wrote:Minot also has a pretty good senior class coming up next year to.

Minots incoming seniors, are all pretty good athletes, but none are allstars all will be basically role players , as none played varsity this yr. Next yrs jr class is a pretty stud class, especially if they could add the same class from bishop ryan, especially with the Vetter kid, and the other starter for them.

My predictions are like this

Dickinson is gonna dominate everybody with Kick Fridley and Bruschwein
Bismarck is gonna come in after them with Wilhelm leading the pack
I think Williston will be after them with Qvale having a breakout season
Belcourt I can see Belcourt being very solid with a lot of returning players
Mandan is going to be a good team led my Behlavek and Maurer
Minot will be ok and Elgie is going to have a great year
Jamestown will start the year off slow but get on a roll toward the end of the season
St Marys is not going to have a good team for a while
I can not see Century beating any of the other teams in the WDA more than once

To say that Dickinson is going to dominate is a pretty bold statement.  Yes they'll be one of the top teams, but they will not dominate.  And to say that they will is pretty ridiculous.

I concur with the statements for the most part though. 

ndbb wrote:I concur with the statements for the most part though. 

i also agree very well put on most of the teams but I think Dickinson and Bismarck will be close just because Bismarck is always there in the end.

cdub1 wrote:My predictions are like this

Dickinson is gonna dominate everybody with Kick Jahner and Bruschwein
Bismarck is gonna come in after them with Wilhelm leading the pack
I think Williston will be after them with Qvale having a breakout season
Belcourt I can see Belcourt being very solid with a lot of returning players
Mandan is going to be a good team led my Behlavek and Maurer
Minot will be ok and Elgie is going to have a great year
Jamestown will start the year off slow but get on a roll toward the end of the season
St Marys is not going to have a good team for a while
I can not see Century beating any of the other teams in the WDA more than once

How can any of you say Dickinson wont dominate they are led by about a 6 8 guard if he grows at all so he will be more unguardable than he is now plus jahner is one of the top 5 shooters in class a

Everybody is forgetting about Dickinson's point guard that got kicked off the team last year, with him they will be unstoppable, they killed everybody in the holiday tourney last year and all he does is compliment kick very well and improve kick's game.  They won like 7 or 8 games in a row, they will definately dominate next year.