North Dakota Preps

With the way district 4 is shaping up it's going to be another closely contested year. Grafton's the favorite, but anyone have any predictions?

My picks for the district tournament results in order from first to last.

PR
VE
Grafton
Cavalier
NB
MM

My thoughts:
Grafton
Park River-FL
Cavalier
Valley-Edinburg
Midway-Minto
North Border

Should be a good one tonight in Crystal.

DVE vs. Cav

Both teams need the district win.

dakotaman wrote:My picks for the district tournament results in order from first to last.

PR
VE
Grafton
Cavalier
NB
MM

just curious on who you have beating Grafton, PR or VE

wanderer have you seen all the teams in D4 play?

Grafton hasnt played them all yet but i have seen them play.

I've seen them all play and most of them atleast twice. Grafton is definetly beatable and it isn't just PRFL or DVE that could beat them.

thewanderer wrote:

dakotaman wrote:My picks for the district tournament results in order from first to last.

PR
VE
Grafton
Cavalier
NB
MM

just curious on who you have beating Grafton, PR or VE

packers21 wrote:I've seen them all play and most of them atleast twice. Grafton is definetly beatable and it isn't just PRFL or DVE that could beat them.

Agree, I think they run into just about any team thats really hitting on all cyclinders and they could be in trouble. I just think grafton gets beat, thats all.

thewanderer wrote:

dakotaman wrote:My picks for the district tournament results in order from first to last.

PR
VE
Grafton
Cavalier
NB
MM

just curious on who you have beating Grafton, PR or VE

I am still curious. who do you have beating Grafton in the district tourney. you have both PR and VE finishing 1st and 2nd and Grafton finishing 3rd. that must mean that one of them beats grafton. I agree to disagree and i am not trying to be a smartypants. just curious. JMHO

Grafton is beatable, but it's not gonna be by VE. sadly, they don't have the size to compete up front with them. Droog is a very good player, not to mention 6'3"

Bearcatsroll wrote:Grafton is beatable, but it's not gonna be by VE. sadly, they don't have the size to compete up front with them. Droog is a very good player, not to mention 6'3"

Yes Grafton is beaable as evidenced by their 9 point loss to NS. I am a Grafton fan. all i was curious about from dakotaman's posts was his opinions on the district 4 tourney. He has VE(cuuently winless in district 4) and PR(just loss to Grafton by 8 without Jake Hanson playing) finishing higher than Grafton. Everyone has the right to their opinion. Just curious how he rationizes his opinion? JMHO

It may mean he dislikes Grafton (Just a Guess)....I dealt with it the last 30 months with Cav.....The Diff being District 4 is Graftons to lose this season, there were definitely the years were it was real hard to decipher who would prevail.

VE is not the 2end best team, neither is PR, not come middle of Feb

Wow guys didn't know this was such a big deal. Just thought an underdog might get a big tourney win this year. Don't read into it so much.

which underdog??? no big deal, we're curious

Grafton @ Cavalier today what your thoughts winner and wanderer?

ndfan wrote:Grafton @ Cavalier today what your thoughts winner and wanderer?

It will be hard to Keep Spencer and Houdek outa foul trouble I think............
The style of reffing will play a big role in the post play (I hope they let them bang a bit) Guard the shooters for Grafton...J. Friedt has to get it going on he seems almont lost out there. I would love to see him put a few back in on the offensive Boards and hit a few short range jumpers so he could gain some confidense. I'm sure Jriska will be on Chrest and this could rattle Ryan a bit. Ratchenski has to put in about 10-12 to open things up, Cleem needs to score and defend and the Back Breaker for Grafton without Hanson could be young Robbins....should be a Barn Burner!!

winner-within wrote:

ndfan wrote:Grafton @ Cavalier today what your thoughts winner and wanderer?

It will be hard to Keep Spencer and Houdek outa foul trouble I think............
The style of reffing will play a big role in the post play (I hope they let them bang a bit) Guard the shooters for Grafton...J. Friedt has to get it going on he seems almont lost out there. I would love to see him put a few back in on the offensive Boards and hit a few short range jumpers so he could gain some confidense. I'm sure Jriska will be on Chrest and this could rattle Ryan a bit. Ratchenski has to put in about 10-12 to open things up, Cleem needs to score and defend and the Back Breaker for Grafton without Hanson could be young Robbins....should be a Barn Burner!!

grafton by 5 in a close one without jake playing

Grafton by 2 with Jake Playing....Nice Ballgame Tornadoes!!!

From what I saw Grafton is beatable until they get back to their "team" concept, but they are still the top dog in District for now. Looks like Coach Hanson is still experimenting, figuring out who works and who doesn't. They also seem to have some players that just won't pass the ball to certain players - no way you go far in the post-season with that happening. If the team is at 100% and gets back to basics, using their speed, and all 5 players all the time, they could be deadly. If they figure it out, they have as good a chance as anyone at not only Districts, but the Region tourney as well.

...I personally dont like the season starting early like it does now...i think it takes away from potential continuity and early season quality of ball.
But away from that and back to gelling, the Tornadoes are far from gelled (they have a new coach and lost 8 seniors), so is VE.

Grafton is coming off of a State runner up season, they should be hitting on all 8, unless of course the State runner up story and the state football championship have settled to far in and the hunger has been sufficed. I personally see a huge Loss in Dravland being out of the picture.

the Cav vs Grafton game could have easily went in Cav's favor. The Cav boys team is athletic and they came to play. More game experience and confidence will have them very competative by tourny time.The Grafton boys seem like a team still trying to find it's mojo. Returning four starters from the 2nd place/state last year would lead you to believe that they should be rolling. Some injuries as well as the loss of Draveland, (who was a great team leader and "defender of the paint") have grafton looking a litte our of sorts. They will need to focus on basketball fundamentats, Defense, Team building, and discipline to hone their game by tourny time. They can do it but they really all need to get on the same page. JMHO.

thewanderer wrote:the Cav vs Grafton game could have easily went in Cav's favor. The Cav boys team is athletic and they came to play. More game experience and confidence will have them very competative by tourny time.The Grafton boys seem like a team still trying to find it's mojo. Returning four starters from the 2nd place/state last year would lead you to believe that they should be rolling. Some injuries as well as the loss of Draveland, (who was a great team leader and "defender of the paint") have grafton looking a litte our of sorts. They will need to focus on basketball fundamentats, Defense, Team building, and discipline to hone their game by tourny time. They can do it but they really all need to get on the same page. JMHO.

Would you agree with me , wanderer, when I say that so far I'm just not seeing much heart from the Grafton squad? I don't know what's wrong. Too many seniors? No definite leadership? Something....? I'm seeing more drive from the underclassmen than anybody right now.

Not taking anything away from Cavalier, PR or any of the other district teams, but Grafton just isn't at it's potential. I am starting to wonder if they are going to get there or not.

Old #63 you have brought up a good point. After watching a few games there is not a good answer to what is happening. It all takes time to get back in place but if they are tring a new offense who knows. They are playing well if you think about it Grafton didnt have a high avg score last year and made it to the big dance. Ive tried to pin point it and cant come up with a good answer yet and there really isnt one yet but i know coach hansen will put something together when it counts he always does. Cavalier went through this when they had the BIG BULLSEYE on their back.

I do know they will have some close games and have not saw any plays made for their GO TO players yet when it will be needed. Winner posted on another subject there is plays set up for hagler with simple double screens that gave him a strong 2 options when he went to the basket. Grafton will need a few plays for at least 3 players. With that said Draveland was more of a loss than we really give credit for in all areas of the game. I do know that we will see better tourney games this year than many of us expected..

old#63 wrote:

thewanderer wrote:the Cav vs Grafton game could have easily went in Cav's favor. The Cav boys team is athletic and they came to play. More game experience and confidence will have them very competative by tourny time.The Grafton boys seem like a team still trying to find it's mojo. Returning four starters from the 2nd place/state last year would lead you to believe that they should be rolling. Some injuries as well as the loss of Draveland, (who was a great team leader and "defender of the paint") have grafton looking a litte our of sorts. They will need to focus on basketball fundamentats, Defense, Team building, and discipline to hone their game by tourny time. They can do it but they really all need to get on the same page. JMHO.

Would you agree with me , wanderer, when I say that so far I'm just not seeing much heart from the Grafton squad? I don't know what's wrong. Too many seniors? No definite leadership? Something....? I'm seeing more drive from the underclassmen than anybody right now.

Not taking anything away from Cavalier, PR or any of the other district teams, but Grafton just isn't at it's potential. I am starting to wonder if they are going to get there or not.

Kids are funny. If anyone has had a chance to experince High School sports as a competitor, you will get what i am saying. You would think that with a runner-up finish last year as well as a state FB championship we would be just chomping at the bit to finish this season with a bang. To alll of us sideline qb's it doesnt appear that Grafton has the blood in the water killer instict. Tho if you asked the kids, they feel they are playing their hearts out. Focus, execution, and the "TEAM" mentality need to happen. Good thing is these 3 things can be implemented but not easily with the personalities on this team. Having been at every game this season and last, there is one thing that hasnt been said. Grafton was struggling with these same identity issues most of the season last year as well. They went on a great run at Tourny time. Would i have loved for that same team to show up ready to go this year? Yes. Am i completely suprised that they didnt? No. They are kids. Kids who can make the same type of run this year if they gel, or, kids who will play out this season with a 15-4 record and pray for luck. JMHO

ps They did have some good moments vs EGF on monday night. They looked more like their late season squad of last year.