North Dakota Preps

How do the teams match up? Who are your picks?

I think the west will dominate state. Mandan, Century and Bismarck High all have a good chance. I do think South and Central could make some noise at state this year. It all matters to who stays healthy. If they do though, I find it hard to pick against the west.

I agree, but I would also include Jamestown but I would pick Century over them. Who does Central have?

They only graduated one girl last year. She didn't have much of an impact from what I've read in the papers. They looked very good at times last year and since I can assume everyone except that one senior is back, they should be towards the top of the state. Don't get me wrong though, the road to the EDC title certainly goes through Fargo South.

My under dog's are Dickinson and Devils Lake.

If we're picking underdogs, I'm picking Jamestown and Red River.

Jmst maybe......Ramlo severely injured her ankle in a vb match; if she has difficulties recovering she may not be as effective for Jmst and that spells trouble, plus Jmst doesn't have any real strong guards

Her ankle will probably be healed by basketball season. I don't see it as a huge problem for Jamestown. I don't see Jamestown as an underdog because they are returning 2 all-staters. I would consider them a contendor.

I think another underdog could be Belcourt. Their coach last year did a great job with the girls and they were very young. They may upset some teams, especially at home.

Eminence wrote:My under dog's are Dickinson and Devils Lake.

Devils Lake will not be an underdog. They did not lose a single person that played off last years team. If I remember right, they went to state last year.

Anyone picking Devils Lake as top 4 from the East?

Right now I wouldn't pick Devils Lake. However they would be my 4A team. I would have to go with South, Central, Shanley, Red River. However I can certainly see Devils Lake finish higher than Shanley or Red River.

I was thinking the same thing about Dickinson. They are not in the top 4 which are Mandan, Century, BHS or Jamestown but I could certainly see them causing an upset.
Still my underdogs are Dickinson and Devils Lake. Belcourt may surprise some teams also.

East: South, Central, Devils Lake, Red River...write it down...one possible upset - Fargo North squeeking into the 4 spot
West: Mandan, Bismarck, Century, Jamestown

round 1: south over jamestown, century over central, bismarck over devils lake, mandan over red river

round 2: south over bismarck, mandan over century

round 3: ???

check back in 5 months

Wouldn't round 2 in your scenerio be
South over Century and Mandan over Bismarck?

South vrs Century would be a good matchup. Very similar teams.

in the East, I think that West Fargo will be the surprise team! they were very good at the Soph- JV level last year and looked good this summer. So I will go with South, Central Devils Lake and West Fargo to make it to State.

Eminence wrote:Wouldn't round 2 in your scenerio be
South over Century and Mandan over Bismarck?

South vrs Century would be a good matchup. Very similar teams.

nah, 1 and 2 from each region are in opposite brackets so south and central would be opposite.

Century, not Central....

I think guru has it right. 1,3 from one region are in the same bracke as 2,4 from the other.

So if Mandan is 1 and Century is 3, that'd put them in the same bracket and Bismarck at @ would put them in with 1,3 from the east.

This could be a crazy year in the west. I see Mandan, Bismarck, Century and Jamestown as being the top 4 but I just can't seem to get a good hold on the order yet.

Mandan has the talent and the coach but no inside presence.

Bismarck has talent but a first year coach with not much coaching experience. It'll be interesting to see how that works out. Especially with BHS' pressure cooker of an environment.

Century has loads of talent in their junior class and a good young coach. Will they have matured enough after last year's cinderella run to the state tournament?

Jamestown has the most dominant inside game in the west. Ramlo and Dale make for a formidable inside presence. It'll be tough to score inside and rebound against the Jays. But I don't know if they have a guards to step up for Schuchard and Horning or the depth. Scoring from the perimeter may be a problem for them this year. Dale can shoot from out there but do you take her outside?

I think GURU was saying that Century would be #2 from the West. That would put Round 2: Sourth vrs CENTURY.

Round 1:#1 South vrs #4 Jamestown - South wins and #3 Central vrs #2 Century - Century wins
Round 2:#1 South vrs #2 Century - which I think is an interesting matchup!

EastGuruWannabe wrote:East: South, Central, Devils Lake, Red River...write it down...one possible upset - Fargo North squeeking into the 4 spot
West: Mandan, Bismarck, Century, Jamestown

round 1: south over jamestown, century over central, bismarck over devils lake, mandan over red river

round 2: south over bismarck, mandan over century

round 3: ???

check back in 5 months

shouldve been more clear in my predictions:
round 1: #1E Fargo South vs #4W Jamestown, bracketed with #2W Bismarck vs #3E Devils Lake and in then the opposite bracket #1W Mandan vs #4E Red River, bracketed with #2E Central vs #3W Century

making R2 like i had it above.

and none of this matters even a tiny little bit as the season hasn't even started yet, nor is it even close to starting yet, let alone be making predictions on the tournament brackets. However, it is fun to do!

No matter how it all plays out, it seems as though the west has better teams then the east again, although i think the east will overall be better than it was last year, with the exception maybe of shanley, who lost a lot of important seniors. every other team should be better, and there are a lot of new coaches in place, so who knows how all that is going to play out - look at north's football team afte they got a new coach - its not that the old coaches were bad or anything, sometimes the kids just need a new feel/attitude in practice. can south go undefeated in the league again?

I see South as head and shoulders above the rest of the east. I don't think they will be undefeated again this year. I think the rest of the league caught up a little bit closer to them as compared to last year. I could see Central, Devils Lake or Red River upsetting them once this year. I would be absolutely shocked if they lost more than 2 games in the EDC. They're that good. Of course like you said, this is on paper, 2 months before the first game.

How do you think Shanley will match up this year in the EDC??

On paper they don't look like they are towards the top half of the EDC anymore. They lost a lot to graduation. However with Jacobson and Plecity there running that program, any success they have this year wouldn't surprise me.

Who did they lose and who do they have left?

Opening night in class A basketball

Fargo South 75 Bismarck Century 48

Fargo North 56 Bismarck High 51

Do these scores surprise anybody?