Region 7 Tourney

[DBA]

I discount region 7 titles without Beulah in the region but I won't argue with state titles. How many title games have they played in under Grinnsteiner?

[gominers]

Before going Class A, Beulah (Hazen as well) was in Region 6. I'm not knocking Grinnsteinner. His record speaks for itself. I just don't think there's the huge coaching advantage for Trinity that you're advocating.

[Jenkman]

Discussion Starts Now...Predictions Anyone

G1: D14 #1 Beulah (#1; 21-0) vs. D13 #4 Hettinger-Scranton (8-13)
G2: D13 #2 Mott-Regent (14-7) vs. D14 #3 Hazen (14-8)
G3: D13 #1 Heart River (17-4) vs. D14 #4 Richardton-Taylor (12-10)
G4: D14 #2 Dickinson Trinity (#3; 19-2) vs. D13 #3 New England (11-11)

G5: Winner G1 vs. Winner G2
G6: Winner G3 vs. Winner G4

3rd Place: Loser G5 vs. Loser G6
Championship: Winner G5 vs. Winner G6

I'll take Beulah over HS- HS plays to inconsistent. Very young team. Give them a couple years.
MR over Hazen- This will be the best game of round one. MR beat Hazen in Hazen during the middle of the season. Havn't seen either team play this year. Heard great things about the Zentner brothers from MR. The senior has had a heck of a year, great guard. Then other side you got Carr, very athletic kid.
HR over RT- Pruitt will have his boys ready to go. HR big.
and DT over NE- no explaining here. DT by a lot

Beulah over MR- MR got wooped earlier this year against them. They are playing much better ball now. Can anyone confirm who's MR coach? Still Heckaman*sp?? I'm surprised they have had this good of a year. Congrats to the coach for doing what he has done this year! Beulah is just to good for MR.
DT over HR- This game is always intriguing. Same styles of offenses, but DT has a major advantage in size. Both teams have big game experience. DT is just to much.

MR over HR- Rematch of District 13 title. Go out on a limb and take MR for third.
DT over Beulah- Don't think you can beat DT this many times in a season.

[NorthDakota11]

Na, I'm not going to weigh in on Brandt vs Grinsteiner. Just saying dominating region 7 during the 2000's doesn't impress me. Homecourt advantage at every regional tournament, Hazen is a football town first, Beulah was out of the picture, Heart River didn't start their coop til recently. Mott-Regent was their only real competition during that time. And props to the Wildfire, I'm impressed with their consistent ability to put up competitive teams.

What's great about region 7 isn't that it has the same team consistently vying for the title but it seems like every year there are 3-4 teams that on any given night could play with the top teams in the state. That is what was amazing about Trinity's run in the 2000's.

Early on you had a Mr. Basketball finalist at Mott-Regent with Tyler Greff (would have probably won award had they not been upset by Trinity in the Regional Final) and the Meier kid who went and played football for the Beavers. The Marshall brothers in Hazen at different points during the 2000's. Bowman had a great run in the middle, the 2006 team could have beat anyone in the state. Killdeer with Dufault and Wheeling... Region 7 is consistently one of the most competitive regions in the state. It seems like when someone is rebuilding another team shows up to be a top dawg. All of these teams were absolutely fantastic and it is why Trinity's run during that period deserves so much more respect then you are giving it.

To discount things because they didn't do it against Beulah is in my opinion wrong they had a Class A enrollment so they were Class A... they would have been probably a great Region 7 team but at that time did not qualify to be one due to enrollment.

Don't get me wrong Beulah has made things even better in Region 7 as has the COOP of South Heart and Belfield (Heart River).

[Jenkman]

Na, I'm not going to weigh in on Brandt vs Grinsteiner. Just saying dominating region 7 during the 2000's doesn't impress me. Homecourt advantage at every regional tournament, Hazen is a football town first, Beulah was out of the picture, Heart River didn't start their coop til recently. Mott-Regent was their only real competition during that time. And props to the Wildfire, I'm impressed with their consistent ability to put up competitive teams.

What's great about region 7 isn't that it has the same team consistently vying for the title but it seems like every year there are 3-4 teams that on any given night could play with the top teams in the state. That is what was amazing about Trinity's run in the 2000's.

Early on you had a Mr. Basketball finalist at Mott-Regent with Tyler Greff (would have probably won award had they not been upset by Trinity in the Regional Final) and the Meier kid who went and played football for the Beavers. The Marshall brothers in Hazen at different points during the 2000's. Bowman had a great run in the middle, the 2006 team could have beat anyone in the state. Killdeer with Dufault and Wheeling... Region 7 is consistently one of the most competitive regions in the state. It seems like when someone is rebuilding another team shows up to be a top dawg. All of these teams were absolutely fantastic and it is why Trinity's run during that period deserves so much more respect then you are giving it.

To discount things because they didn't do it against Beulah is in my opinion wrong they had a Class A enrollment so they were Class A... they would have been probably a great Region 7 team but at that time did not qualify to be one due to enrollment.

Don't get me wrong Beulah has made things even better in Region 7 as has the COOP of South Heart and Belfield (Heart River).

Man I remember Tyler Greff from MR. He was one of the most athletic basketball posts players I've seen in a long time. 6-4, big muscular frame, and very quick. He could jump out of the gym!! I could go for watching him play back in the day! They had a great run that year, remember that team? Them vs Trinity in Regional title. MR was up by 10 at half but Trinity came back to win. Both teams were incredibly talented.

Tivis from Bowman was a great basketball player.
Dufault as you said.
Jeff Smith from Hettinger.
Schweitzer from MR.
Pauley from Bowman
Voths from GU-H, had a couple good teams in there. Won the district one here I believe

[newkidontheblock]

Brandt and Grinsteinner are both excellent coaches- and no one is taking anything away from Brandt by praising Grinsteinner.

Even more impressive to me than Grinsteinner's 7 consecutive Regional Titles is his record at the state tournament. In those 7 consecutive trips, the Titans never lost more than 1 of their 3 games. The only time he lost two of the three games was 2011 when they finished 4th. To me, a state tournament record of 19 wins and 8 losses is phenomenal.

Beulah has developed a great program under Brandt who has made big time waves in Region 7 recently. However, anyone who discredits any Region Titles before Beulah was around is clearly a newbie to Region 7 and only basing that statement on the past couple years. While they may have slipped recently, Bowman (Tivus and Pauley) and Killdeer (Ross Walker and Boys- Dufault and the boys) had some powerhouse teams during Trinity's run, and Hazen (Sohrenson, Marshal, Erhardt), Glen Ullin (Voths), Richardton (Messer cousins), South Heart, and others all had some tremendous teams over the years. Even several who beat the Titans in District Championship games only to lose to them in the Regional.

One year, Region 7 had Trinity, Hazen, Killdeer, Richardton, Mott-Regent, and Bowman ALL in the top 10 poll at the same time at one point in the season. Tell me you're going to discredit that regional title.

[Jenkman]

Nothing to exciting last night at the region 7 tourney, everything went the way people thought. The MR-Hazen game was the only good one. Two very good teams. Stetson carr ended his fabulous career.
Taylor Zentner from MR is the real deal. Saw him play last night for the first time this season, that kid has improved. 34 points, 9 boards, and 5 assists. Something along that line. Then his twin?? or younger brother? Tyler, also had a great game for MR.
Beulah will have a great test from MR. Beulah wooped MR in the second game of the year by like 40. but i think this game will be much closer. I'll take Beulah 78-68.
Then DT over HR 61-52.

[The Schwab]

5 pretty sweet dunks during the 4 games yesterday

[Mike Ditka]

Games start at 5:30 or 6:00 tonight?! I heard I missed a great performance from the Zentner kid last night....but besides that not a ton?

[The Schwab]

6:00 start tonight, Zentner was a dude last night.

[Jenkman]

Yeah Zentner put on a show. Stetson Carr also played a whale of a game.
But this Zentner kid is really stepping it up in the big time. They way he handled the pressure last night, getting doubled team a lot of the time, was incredible. Paper says he's 6-2. I would say he is more like 5-10 or 5-11. Certainly not a tall kid, not a big build kid either. He's not fast, but extremely quick and smooth. Handles the ball so well. Dissapointed this was my first game I've seen him play. He is a very humble player. Doesn't show much emotions, shares the ball well. Everything you look for in a team player.
Carr is an extremely athletic player. Congrats to him on a great career. Best of luck to him on the next level!

[newkidontheblock]

Tonight I'm picking Beulah over Mott-Regent by 25 and Heart River over Trinity by 15.

Mott plays too similar of a style of basketball to Beulah to be able to keep pace. Rather than a battle of styles- What Mott does best will turn itself into a disadvantage because Beulah does it much better.

I have to pick Heart River in the upset because after watching Trinity play last night I think they are expecting to walk through the semi-final straight to Beulah, and they will get bitten doing it. Trinity is a great team that didn't play great against New England last night, and they already showed their vulnerability in the Districts. That vulnerability being upset in a semifinal because they don't take it seriously enough as Hazen was within a couple freethrows of knocking off Trinity before they even made it to play Beulah.

Heart River lost a heart-breaker to Trinity and then lost by a lot a week later. Most people on this thread have indicated they are picking Trinity over Beulah because it's hard to beat a great team 3 times. I agree, but rather than that working to Trinity's advantage, it works to their disadvantage as they overlook a Heart River team who is peaking at the perfect time.

[NorthDakota11]

you are the "newkidontheblock" to Region 7 if you think Trinity will loose by 15!

It's possible they loose tonight. Heart River looked good last night, but not a chance they bet Trinity by double digits.

They barely lost to a VERY vanilla Trinity at the Rough Rider Tourney. I don't think Grinsteinner will be vanilla tonight. You also don't take into account that Pruitt coached a lot of these kids when they were younger so they might think they've still got something to prove to him.

Heart River and Trinity is a rivalry that's only getting started this thing is only going to get bigger and better in the years to come!

[newkidontheblock]

I don't think 15 is all that unrealistic. Here's why. The Heart River I saw last night was hungry and motivated. The Trinity I saw seemed to lack energy. If they both come out of the gate the same way they came out last night... Heart River will gain an early lead and the emotion of the potential "big upset" will only fuel their fire... the game will get easier and easier. At the same time Trinity will pick their energy up but start to play frustrated and only dig themselves a deeper hole. By the time Trinity is fouling at the end of the game and Heart River makes their freethrows it is a 15 point win.

This is by definition a trap game. A trap that Trinity came very close to falling in at the districts already. They've proven they are vulnerable to this trap.

[bison football73]

Yeah Zentner put on a show. Stetson Carr also played a whale of a game.
But this Zentner kid is really stepping it up in the big time. They way he handled the pressure last night, getting doubled team a lot of the time, was incredible. Paper says he's 6-2. I would say he is more like 5-10 or 5-11. Certainly not a tall kid, not a big build kid either. He's not fast, but extremely quick and smooth. Handles the ball so well. Dissapointed this was my first game I've seen him play. He is a very humble player. Doesn't show much emotions, shares the ball well. Everything you look for in a team player.
Carr is an extremely athletic player. Congrats to him on a great career. Best of luck to him on the next level!

Zentner was not double teamed very much, if any. He went 7 for 10 from three which is absolutely ridiculous most of those shots with a hand in his face. Very impressive game for him. Cieslak took awhile to heat up and that may have been the difference. Also did not help that Carr fouled out at the end of the game when they really needed him.

[westriver bison]

Beulah by 23 after 3. MR losing players to fouls already, could get ugly. Beulah by 17 in the championship, doesn't matter who they play.

[gominers]

Beulah handles Mott/Regent 79-41. Mott/Regent ran out of gas and players. Trinity's up 20 in the 4th. Should be a great championship game.

[Jenkman]

Great game by Beulah, they are just so talented with a deep team. So athletic and quick. MR and Beulah play sort of the same game, which plays into perfection for Beulah.
Hazen probably would have matched up better across the board, but that's not who was there. MR really didn't have to great of a chance. If they play ten times, Beulah wins all ten times.
Zacher had a great game, along with Hettich. Both are use there length so well. This team has a great chance of going back-to-back.
As for the wildfire, well all starts and ends with Taylor Zentner. He didn't get much help tonight, if any. scored 25 of the 41 team points.
The game was close after 1st quarter, but Beulah was just way to much for MR.

[DBA]

Tonight I'm picking Beulah over Mott-Regent by 25 and Heart River over Trinity by 15.

Mott plays too similar of a style of basketball to Beulah to be able to keep pace. Rather than a battle of styles- What Mott does best will turn itself into a disadvantage because Beulah does it much better.

I have to pick Heart River in the upset because after watching Trinity play last night I think they are expecting to walk through the semi-final straight to Beulah, and they will get bitten doing it. Trinity is a great team that didn't play great against New England last night, and they already showed their vulnerability in the Districts. That vulnerability being upset in a semifinal because they don't take it seriously enough as Hazen was within a couple freethrows of knocking off Trinity before they even made it to play Beulah.

Heart River lost a heart-breaker to Trinity and then lost by a lot a week later. Most people on this thread have indicated they are picking Trinity over Beulah because it's hard to beat a great team 3 times. I agree, but rather than that working to Trinity's advantage, it works to their disadvantage as they overlook a Heart River team who is peaking at the perfect time.

I was rooting for an upset too but it just wasn't happening tonight. The cougars played hard but came out tight to start and couldn't recover. Nice night for Marschner. Had all three of the big guns: Binstock, Kubic, and Volk on him at different times of the night. Beulah had better rebound the ball against this big Trinity team if they're going to stay undefeated. Should be another night of good basketball on Thursday. Hopefully HR vs Mott-Regent is as entertaining as the district 13 championship. And of course Beulah/Trinity's marquee matchup.

[NorthDakota11]

Beulah by 23 after 3. MR losing players to fouls already, could get ugly. Beulah by 17 in the championship, doesn't matter who they play.

Beulah looked great last night, but are you forgetting these two teams have played already? Beulah won both by a combined 7 points.

Thursday night will be a game for the ages.

[The Schwab]

Thursdays game will be a great one! I know Beulah is the number 1 team in state, undefeated and defending state champs, but these two teams being so close talent wise I am going with Trinity at home for the title, it is a shame that both of these teams can't go to the state tournament.

[Ditka JR]

After last night I'm going to say that Taylor Zentner is up there with Zacher and Volk, the kid is good. But, ill take Beulah tomorrow in OT, 61-58. I really would love to see a repeat from this team!

[newkidontheblock]

Since I was so wrong on my one prediction. I'll brag about my first. Not that picking Beulah to blow out Mott-Regent took any kind of genius, but I was dead on about the pace of the game. Mott was holding very strong against the number one team in the state but couldn't resist getting themselves into a run the floor game. Once they fell into that trap, it was over and over fast.

I really thought Heart River had all the momentum to pull off the upset. That would have been great to see but didn't even come close to happening. Trinity impressed me so much more than they did Monday night and didn't overlook the Cougars like I thought they would.

I know I'll catch heck from some Cougar faithful for this, but I was particular impressed that Trinity was able to run away with the game despite some terribly inconsistent officiating. I've never seen a Regional game called so poorly. It's not that any one call was really terrible- it just seemed blatantly inconsistent. The number of fouls looked the same on the scoreboard , but I think that was the problem. Either Trinity should have had way more fouls than Heart River, or Heart River should have had way more fouls than Trinity. Instead, the officials tried to keep it the same on the scoreboard and what was a charge on one team was a block on the other team. It was like they were reffing two different games on each half of the floor.

Sadly, what I saw last night makes me think this awesome regional championship match-up will be determined by the refs Thursday night. Two different crews worked the two semi-finals, but I though Beulah got away with murder- particular after (not on) the rebound and whenever going for steals- and that the refs protected Zacher and Hettich to make sure they didn't put them on the bench. Then in the second game it was like the refs couldn't get Volk, Binstock, and Kubik off the floor fast enough. I don't think the officials meant to favor one team or the other, they were just inconsistent in how they'd call the exact same play and Beulah came out ahead of Mott thanks to the inconsistencies and Trinity ended up behind Heart River thanks to the inconsistencies. In these games it didn't impact the outcome, but if the officials don't figure it out before tomorrow it will impact the championship game.

[balla45]

Just a thought, but two different crews may have a completely different style of officiating with how much contact they will or will not let go.

[The Schwab]

They could have the crews split up, because I believe each title game coach gets to pick one, and the other is assigned by the tournament director.