North Dakota Preps

A lot of you may disagree with this but if i am picking a basketball team from the kids from ND i would probably take hanstad first but its tough not to take esley thorton because the kid is just a flat out winner. he willed his team to a win tonight and he had nothing left in the tank either he left it all out there. One of the best all around athletes that we have seen in the state of north dakota.

Devin Coyle is a total stud. That was ridiculous what he did at the end of regulation and in overtime. I don't care if you tell me he played his best game of the year and normally doesn't do that good (not sure if thats true or not). But the composure for a sophmore to completely take over. First bring the ball down and stop at the NBA line because what the heck, why not? And just drain it. Then he owned the overtime. He and Esley put on a crazy show. That was just simply amazing. I guess ND class A basketball is where amazing happens, not the NBA.

King James wrote:A lot of you may disagree with this but if i am picking a basketball team from the kids from ND i would probably take hanstad first but its tough not to take esley thorton because the kid is just a flat out winner. he willed his team to a win tonight and he had nothing left in the tank either he left it all out there. One of the best all around athletes that we have seen in the state of north dakota.

I definately take Hanstad first. Thorton may be second though because of his leadership. This is if we are building a team. If you go by talent, he's maybe top 5. My picks in order would go:
1. Hanstad
2. Thorton
3.Kielpinski
4. Savageau
5. Don't know. Too many to choose from

I know it looks like a west bias but its not. Hanstad is just the best player in the state. And Thorton is by far the best leader so they go 1-2. So with those guys picked, they can handle bringing the ball up, but we need some size, so I go with Kielpinski. Then I take Savageau because he is the next best.

Wouldnt that be fun to watch.

Indy5 wrote:Devin Coyle is a total stud. That was ridiculous what he did at the end of regulation and in overtime. I don't care if you tell me he played his best game of the year and normally doesn't do that good (not sure if thats true or not). But the composure for a sophmore to completely take over. First bring the ball down and stop at the NBA line because what the heck, why not? And just drain it. Then he owned the overtime. He and Esley put on a crazy show. That was just simply amazing. I guess ND class A basketball is where amazing happens, not the NBA.

i gained a lot of respect for him tonight.. he carried the team the last 5 minutes and in OT. he is so good at using ball screens.. i believe he can carry the team the 2 next years, mandan is going to have a great backcourt for the future with him and erron collins. they might be weak inside though

King James wrote:

Indy5 wrote:Devin Coyle is a total stud. That was ridiculous what he did at the end of regulation and in overtime. I don't care if you tell me he played his best game of the year and normally doesn't do that good (not sure if thats true or not). But the composure for a sophmore to completely take over. First bring the ball down and stop at the NBA line because what the heck, why not? And just drain it. Then he owned the overtime. He and Esley put on a crazy show. That was just simply amazing. I guess ND class A basketball is where amazing happens, not the NBA.

i gained a lot of respect for him tonight.. he carried the team the last 5 minutes and in OT. he is so good at using ball screens.. i believe he can carry the team the 2 next years, mandan is going to have a great backcourt for the future with him and erron collins. they might be weak inside though

I've seen their junior high teams. In particular, their 8th graders. I saw them in a tournament in Mandan last year. They had 4 kids over 6 foot in the 7th grade! They were huge. I think at least one of them will develop into a good big guy. I believe that Jacob Hanson plays JV (he's an 8th grader).

roundem6 wrote:Wouldnt that be fun to watch.

2 summers ago when I played a tournament against Harrison Barnes, Royce White, etc., in a tournament in Minneapolis, this was the ECI Elite 16u team.

Joe Hanstad, Bryan Kielpinski, Nik Savageau, etc. Essentially, all 3 were on the same team.

Watching all 3 play at the same time is amazing. My parents taped a lot of Bryan's games and my games, so I will see if I can dig something up. They beat a Chicago area team with a player committed to Wisconsin at the time.

Part of the problem for Mandan was they either forgot about BK or he quit posting up/ demanding the ball because bhs didn't have an answer for him. That is my biggest concern for him in college because he seems to play smaller than he actually is and disappears through out the course of a game for long stretches of time. He did play bettter defensively compared to how he played in the WDA championship game.

Makes me thing about the Koenig, Verdouw, Qvale , Moorman, and Brown players and how they were on a completely different level.

Perimeter players tend to take over games in postseason play. Look at the NCAA tourney every year its almost always a guard carrying them in the tournament. That wasn't the case last year as BK won the tourney mvp, but coyle just took the scoring load over last night. Esley just couldn't be stopped

King James wrote:Perimeter players tend to take over games in postseason play. Look at the NCAA tourney every year its almost always a guard carrying them in the tournament. That wasn't the case last year as BK won the tourney mvp, but coyle just took the scoring load over last night. Esley just couldn't be stopped

Yes Esley scored 29 points and made a rediculous shot right over the big K to give them the lead.

King James wrote:Perimeter players tend to take over games in postseason play. Look at the NCAA tourney every year its almost always a guard carrying them in the tournament. That wasn't the case last year as BK won the tourney mvp, but coyle just took the scoring load over last night. Esley just couldn't be stopped

Big men have more of an impact than guards do. You always see guards take over in the tournament because it is extremely difficult to find a great big man. That would be why the Memphis Grizzlies spent the 2nd overall pick in the draft on a kid they knew was a total project and would be no good his first 3 years. Greg Oden in his one year at Ohio State was an example that a great big man will lead you just a far or farther than a great guard.

Indy5 wrote:

King James wrote:Perimeter players tend to take over games in postseason play. Look at the NCAA tourney every year its almost always a guard carrying them in the tournament. That wasn't the case last year as BK won the tourney mvp, but coyle just took the scoring load over last night. Esley just couldn't be stopped

Big men have more of an impact than guards do. You always see guards take over in the tournament because it is extremely difficult to find a great big man. That would be why the Memphis Grizzlies spent the 2nd overall pick in the draft on a kid they knew was a total project and would be no good his first 3 years. Greg Oden in his one year at Ohio State was an example that a great big man will lead you just a far or farther than a great guard.

Ya you need a man that can take all the !@@#$#%#$ at the post you need a big man to win a lot of games. Take a look at Shaq almost every team he has been on they won a Championship (except Orlando) but without a good big man you wont go very far...,..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

balla45 wrote:

roundem6 wrote:Wouldnt that be fun to watch.

2 summers ago when I played a tournament against Harrison Barnes, Royce White, etc., in a tournament in Minneapolis, this was the ECI Elite 16u team.

Joe Hanstad, Bryan Kielpinski, Nik Savageau, etc. Essentially, all 3 were on the same team.

Watching all 3 play at the same time is amazing. My parents taped a lot of Bryan's games and my games, so I will see if I can dig something up. They beat a Chicago area team with a player committed to Wisconsin at the time.

REST OF TEAM WAS NICK NELSON TJ KLINE JESSE CROSBY AND MICHAEL WHITE THEY GOT IN SEMIFINALS AND LOST TO HOWARD PULLEY SAVAGEAU ONLY TRUE POINT GUARD ON TEAM SAT MAYBE SIX MINUTES TOTAL IN SIX GAMES HAD A GREAT TOURNEY HANSTAD DOMINATED AT TIMES AND BK WAS VERY GOOD THE REST ALSO PLAYED WELL KID WAS FROM MADISON WISC HIS NAME IS VANDER BLUE ORIGINALLY COMMITED TO WISCONSIN NOW COMMITED TO MARQUETTE

BK Sav and Joe carried the team in that tourney. Sav suffered a nasty fall in pulley game and later found out he had a concussion and eventually had his appendix removed after the fall jostled it out of place. That was before BK and Savs junior years which would have been joes soph. But this passed summer when Sav and BK reunited in the Pulley again BK absolutely tore it up. He was throwing down dunks on people defending and overall playin great ball. best ive ever seen him play. Sav also had a great tourney but was once again the only point who could handle the ball under the pressure of the D. Those two are gonna be one heck of a force at USF

I would be very hesitant to say that they are going to be a force at usf. Summer ball is an entirely different thing compared to D2 and bk hasn't played against anybody bigger than 6'5''. Everybody is going to be bigger, stronger, and more athletic than him. Every team has 4 6'9'' and up players. He is going to have more than his hands full because he won't be able to turn around and shoot over a smaller player like he does now.

InsideMan wrote:I would be very hesitant to say that they are going to be a force at usf. Summer ball is an entirely different thing compared to D2 and bk hasn't played against anybody bigger than 6'5''. Everybody is going to be bigger, stronger, and more athletic than him. Every team has 4 6'9'' and up players. He is going to have more than his hands full because he won't be able to turn around and shoot over a smaller player like he does now.

After a redshirt season I find this highly unlikely. It will not be difficult for him to pack on 15-20 pounds over the next 18 months. If he does this he will be fine. I look at some of the post players that I have seen play at Mary, both Mary players and players from other teams and I think he can get to the level quickly.


He has also played a lot of people his height and over, just not in North Dakota basketball.

His college career will be determined only by how hard he works. There is no doubt in my mind that they can become a force, Nik will, and Bryan will if he gets motivated.

balla45 wrote:

InsideMan wrote:I would be very hesitant to say that they are going to be a force at usf. Summer ball is an entirely different thing compared to D2 and bk hasn't played against anybody bigger than 6'5''. Everybody is going to be bigger, stronger, and more athletic than him. Every team has 4 6'9'' and up players. He is going to have more than his hands full because he won't be able to turn around and shoot over a smaller player like he does now.

After a redshirt season I find this highly unlikely. It will not be difficult for him to pack on 15-20 pounds over the next 18 months. If he does this he will be fine. I look at some of the post players that I have seen play at Mary, both Mary players and players from other teams and I think he can get to the level quickly.


He has also played a lot of people his height and over, just not in North Dakota basketball.

His college career will be determined only by how hard he works. There is no doubt in my mind that they can become a force, Nik will, and Bryan will if he gets motivated.

The thing about BK is that he could be a great player but it doesn't seem like he wants to. He doesn't look very motivated. Obviously I don't know him that well but that is just what it seems like to me. Maybe he just needs to play against bigger people and get smacked around for a while to bring that out of him. Big athletic players are rare. Hopefully he can be coached up and bring out the competitor inside of him. I hope like heck things work out for him. Im just not totally convinced he is willing to do what it takes. There is a reason why everybody but minot and usf backed off of him.

In regards to the Mary posts you have watched - they were playing out of position - they need the big donkey in the middle to be able to move those guys to the power foward spot. Chalk it up to how rare big guys are and a lack of attention and effort in recruiting. I thought they did ok given the circumstance haha.

I think it will work out because Savageau is the type of teammate to push players to work hard. Kielpinski did not have a player like that as a senior and it showed.

There are multiple reasons everyone backed off, one being that he wouldn't return phone calls to a lot of coaches, among others. I don't think he ever truly considered any schools other than Minot and USF, and once I left Minot he signed at USF quickly.

I just don't get the feeling that he is a very mature kid and committing to excelling in college basketball takes a mature person because it is alot to handle. Having sav there is going to help but ultimately it is going to have to come from him which is what I am concerned about.

what are your plans now that you arent at minot anymore?

It concerns many people and I hope things work out for him.

I'm going to play at BSC and coach my traveling team. After that, if a school that I like wants me to play, I'll go there, or I'll take a year at Mary, for example, so I can watch Erron finish his senior year, then I will be on with my career.

There is nothing like playing college basketball - hold onto it as long as you can even if times are tough because they alternative, not playing and being washed up like myself, not cool haha.