Mandan girl's BB

[baseball4]

As seen in professional sports, having the best players does not mean you automatically win.  New York Yankees for example, they get to the playoffs every year, but recently have failed to win....even after acquiring who many believe to be the best in the game, Alex Rodriguez.  You can also say the same thing about the Los Angeles Lakers.  Honus makes a good point by saying if you were a parent and your kid cared about succeeding in athletics, wouldn't you want to go to a school that is successful.  If you're good at basketball and are planning to move to the Bismarck Mandan area, there is no choice where people are gonna want to go... somewhere that actually has a reputation for a good team.  Of course there are gonne be more and more girls wanting to come to Mandan, every high school athletes goal is to win a state championship, and by going to Mandan they know that goal is very reachable.  But the real point here is that the part that makes Mandan so good is that Amundson is the best coach in the state and there is no need for him to recruit.  He doesn't have to recruit to make a good team.  He works his girls harder than any other coach in the state and knows what it takes to win.  Can you name another coach that would take his team to San Diego and Hawaii just to play basketball against tougher competition to make them better.  Those girls buy into his demanding summer program and are gone all summer, and it just makes them better.  I believe that everyone is just trying to find some excuse to why they cannot beat Amundson year after year. 

[Ming01]

This is just my opinion but school isn't about sports.  Its about education.  When I have kids of my own I'm not gonna send them to a certain school because they have the best sports program.  Unfortunately this isn't the mind-set of many parents.

[NATURAL TALENT]

EXACTLY! I was going to post this earlier but figured I would wait and see if somebody brought it up. Bonus points to Ming01.

High School is about Education, not about goals of a state championship. College is all about recruiting great athletes, High School is about building great athletes to get to that level.

[cdub1]

You cant say that mandan recruits because the girls play with each other in AAU and stuff like that.  Some of the mandan girls told me that Marlee was on there team when they went to wisconsin.

[ndfan]

So are you guys trying to say you can't get a good education in Mandan?

[NATURAL TALENT]

wWhere did I say that you couldnt get an education at Mandan? I was basically replying to baseball4's post when he said, "Honus makes a good point by saying if you were a parent and you're kid cared about succeeding in athletics, wouldn't you want to go to a school that is successful." Why are succeeding in athletics all that a parent should care about. You can get a good education anywhere else in the state, you might not be on a state championship sports team but your getting an education and thats what High School is about. 

[Honus355]

High School is about Education, not about goals of a state championship. College is all about recruiting great athletes, High School is about building great athletes to get to that level.

Why do we have high school athletics? Do not tell me it is just so people can participate. Because the goal of every high school athlete is to win a state championship. You cannot tell me that a player in a mediocre school in either class A or B is going to get the exposure equal to a player that plays for Mandan. Coaches love having MHS girls basketball players because they know what it takes to win. Finley decided that she wanted to be a part of the tradition and did what she needed to do (move there) to participate with the Braves. How are we to question her motives. In essence she is going to be on a very competitive team, with more exposure for college, and essentially a better opportunity for her to go where she wants to college.

[NATURAL TALENT]

Whats to say that any of these athletes get the playing time that they want and deserve in a program like Mandan? Then how are they supposed to get exposure. Competing at a class B level and the class A level are different.  Some of these playes may not start, some may not even be # 2 off the bench. 

[BBall dominator]

Regardless the belcourt girl is tough and single handedly keeps them from being a walk over every time.  They still lost about 90% of their games but now teams had to play a little defense and won't take a shot around her because she'd block them.  With Finly also the adjustment from A to B for her will be easy considering she is an extremely good basketball player.  And honestly mandan would be a much better academic choice than either of the schools they are at right now.

[nativegolfer]

SCS, you assume the education system in our community is subpar?  For your'e information 4 Winds has graduated alot of people who  have attained 4 year degrees or better, myself included.  I graduated from UND with a BSEd and Montana State with an MEd.  I'll put our top students up against any HS's students any day. 

[baseball4]

Natural Talent if you would have read my quote correctly, I said that "if you were a parent and your kid cared about succeeding in athletics, wouldn't you want to go to a school that is successful."  emphasis on "your kid cared about succeeding".  I did not state that the parent cared about succeding in athletics.  Of course a parent is gonna choose education as top choice.  but if they care about their kids goal, they will help them in there athletic goals and send them to the school with the better team. 

[Ming01]

Thats not what it should be about.  Parents shouldn't even let their kids pick where they want to go to school.  If they want to succeed in athletics then good for them, but its all about the education.  Not many kids here in North Dakota are gonna make it far in athletics which is why it should be about education.  If I were one of those parents I would be far more worried about my kids own future then them winning a state championship.

[NATURAL TALENT]

Baseball4, If my kid "cared about succeeding in athletics," he/she would be working harder, not transferring to a different school. Ming is right on that there are not a lot of ND kids who are going to make it far in sports.  Success comes from hard work and dedication, not transferring to a school who has a rich tradition in state tourney appearances. You get out of it what you put into it, plain and simple. Success shouldnt need to be put in front of you.

[baseball4]

I agree with you in that education comes first and foremost.  I was just trying to prove a point that I did not say the parents caring about their kids succeeding.  You're are a student before you are an athlete.

[NATURAL TALENT]

That my friend is the point I am trying to get across.  Eduction comes first. Make yourself into an athlete and success will come, dont make success come to you.

[Honus355]

To take nothing away from any other school or anything, but if your a college scout who would you want more? Someone who wins all the time at Class A? Someone who came through the program that wins alot? Because (I am not saying that they couldn't get whereever they want before they moved) but they have a pretty good chance of getting to a top notch college if they get more exposure. The exposure is the key here, that the more exposure you get the better your chances of getting 'noticed' are. In this sense, yes academics are important but athletics are equal because they could end up going to a top notch college institution wihth the extra exposure.

[ndplayer]

Reverting a little bit back to the idea of making a transfer student sit out one full academic year after the transfer. 

Simply put, that is a terrible year.  What about those who have no choice but to move (i.e. parent job, parent death, natural disaster).  We don't want to pidgeon-hole these kids from doing what they love just because some coaches are jealous of Mandan's success.  What if it's that athelete's senior season and they are forced to move?  That may very well be their ride to college.

True, education should come first, definately.  But I firmly believe that if someone tries hard in the North Dakota School system, they will get a good education.  But for those who try hard in school but don't get the grades to make it to college, these sports are what are helping them make it to the next level.  So if education is #1, sometimes these kids need those HS athletics to further that education.

[sioux75]

Good point NDplayer!  Don't punish the students.  It is not always the team with the most talented players that wins.  Mandan has won titles without stars particulary in in 2003 when they beat a Fargo North team who had 3 Miss Basketball finalists. 

Lets not forget that school and athletics are for the students not the parents.  Athletes are rewarded for the effort and their improvement due to hard work, rather than a state title.  That is the life lesson the student atheletes learn.  Mandan girls basketball team wins because the girls work harder in the off season then any other team, and they work as hard or harder than any team during the season and during games.  Because of that hard work the team is are never dependant on any one girl to win or lose.  A good example was at state where they could have won any of their games without any one or maybe any two players.  If they work as hard in the offseason this year they will have similar success next year regardless of whether they get any new students.

[Wild Wolves]

Moving is generally not fun for HS kids.  They leave behind friends and activities.  Having your parents find a job out of town requires alot of changes for the entire family and not just the kids.  Sometimes finding a trade off with the kids can make the move easier.  

Knowing that kids aren't going to focus on education and also knowing that most if not all ND schools provide a quality education the choice can come down to extra curricular act. 

[BBall dominator]

Regardless Mandan is getting stronger next year so if your a parent of a class A girl tell her to get out there and practice because finley(FW girls) and Knife(Belcourt girl) are no joke as players if they choose to move

[carolina-bb]

amundson is a really good coach but some people just dont realize what goes on in mandan...for girls bball everyone is so intimiadted to go out beacause they arent "good" enough...thats why the numbers coming up are so low..it seems like if basketball isnt your life they really dont want you to play..also its like they already pick your spots when you are younger and if your not as good as they want you to be at a certain age they dont even want to try to make you better...i dont know thats just some of my opinion on it

[Wild Wolves]

I was visiting former Tiger Great, Jim Jeske, and watched several games.  One of the things I remember about the games I was watching(There were like six games that night) was tha Mandan's junior varsity had a ton of 9-10th graders playing and the 9th grade team was nearly half 8th graders.  Is that typical of Mandan teams?  The Manda V lost that night but the other games were ugly blowouts in favor of Mandan.

[cdub1]

amundson always put a lot of eighth graders on his freshman teams and a bunch of freshman on jv

[sioux75]

The Mandan girls have the opportunity to get better if they want to put the time in and work at it during the offseason.   What happens sometimes is that if a younger girl gets moved up to an "A team" or as a starter ahead of an older girl, the older girl sometimes decides that it isn't worth it to continue to put in the effort, or decides that they might not be starting when they are a Senior so they drop out of the program.  Of course there are others who stick it through and end up starting or playing a fair amount as a senior.

Only 5 can start, but with the fast pace of play, Mandan uses its deep bench of 7-10 girls more than most teams.   

[#50mandan]

will they go for a five peat next year?