North Dakota Preps

Run4Fun2009 wrote:HammerTime - quit with the 'eligible' comments. This is twice now that you have made that distinction on McKay and it is NOT needed here.

Not to stir a storm, but I had heard from a few coaches and AD's this year that he wasn't eligible as he had used up all of his HS eligibility. I guess I just took it as true, as I've heard it at least a half dozen separate times so far from people I would think are in the know about such things.
I guess I'm curious now. Is he playing this year?

My Top 15

Brad Heidlebaugh - Senior Athlete of the Year

Tanner Bernhardt
Wyatt Carr
Connor Entzi
Carter Kretchman
Christian Kvilvang
Austin Lee
Trayvon Mckay
Graham Hurlburt
Brody Nieuwsma
Hunter Pinke
Dalton Poitra
Dan Prince
Brock Robbins
Cody Springer

balla45 wrote:My Top 15

Brad Heidlebaugh - Senior Athlete of the Year

Tanner Bernhardt
Wyatt Carr
Connor Entzi
Carter Kretchman
Christian Kvilvang
Austin Lee
Trayvon Mckay
Graham Hurlburt
Brody Nieuwsma
Hunter Pinke
Dalton Poitra
Dan Prince
Brock Robbins
Cody Springer

Like the list. but not a fan of Pinke being top 15, not saying he isn't a good player, just think that there are a few better ones out there.

He had a pretty good summer. I think he will excel being his team's go to guy. A few other players did cross my mind.

balla45 wrote:My Top 15

Brad Heidlebaugh - Senior Athlete of the Year

Tanner Bernhardt
Wyatt Carr
Connor Entzi
Carter Kretchman
Christian Kvilvang
Austin Lee
Trayvon Mckay
Graham Hurlburt
Brody Nieuwsma
Hunter Pinke
Dalton Poitra
Dan Prince
Brock Robbins
Cody Springer

Good list, missing some pretty good players from R3. Olson, Purintun, Meehl, Aburrea and White come to mind. Not saying they all should be on but they certainly seem to be in the conversation with Pinke and Niewsma.

Olson and White would make my top 20.

I think Purintun and Meehl are better than Niewsma at this point in their careers.

I must respectfully disagree with you.

balla45 wrote:I must respectfully disagree with you.

I respect that. We all have our opinions.

I agree. All 3 athletes are quality players who have shown a penchant for helping their team's be successful.

balla45 wrote:My Top 15

Brad Heidlebaugh - Senior Athlete of the Year

Tanner Bernhardt
Wyatt Carr
Connor Entzi
Carter Kretchman
Christian Kvilvang
Austin Lee
Trayvon Mckay
Graham Hurlburt
Brody Nieuwsma
Hunter Pinke
Dalton Poitra
Dan Prince
Brock Robbins
Cody Springer

You think entzi is better than white and olson?

Yes. This is why he appears in my personal top 15 and they do not.

I think that it is important to remember that different people assess "top players" using different criteria. Some base it on what the player has actually done at the high school level in terms of performance on the court, others use how players project to the next level, still others are going to base their projections on kids they are more intimately familiar with and there are probably many other criteria that are employed. I subscribe to the first method but I don't think any is necessarily wrong or right, just different, which will, at times, result in lists that range greatly from each other. However, with all this said, I think, if we were all honest and left our biases aside, we could come up with a list of 10 to 15 players that we all agree are the Top Class B players heading into this year. What is troubling is when a players production to date is virtually ignored in these assessments. Not to mention how they have fared historically with others in consideration as a top player.

I don't think we would at any point come to a consensus opinion. Everyone, including myself, has bias in their opinions. My opinions are shaped, for the most part, on what I see. I am not going to pick apart specific reasons I like player A over player B, unless you really want me to. All individuals have things they do and do not like to see in players, as I have discussed with you. White has had a tremendous career to this point and is more likely to be All State than some players that I have mentioned, but it is my personal opinion that he would fall outside of my top 15, though would be in my top 20. This coming from me being aware that he could be a 25 and 12 guy this year.

I would assume that if most of us were to make a top 50 list we would probably have 95 percent of the same kids on our lists, but in a different order. That is why making a top 15 list is such a task and I enjoyed looking at the list that Jordan posted.

balla45 wrote:I don't think we would at any point come to a consensus opinion. Everyone, including myself, has bias in their opinions. My opinions are shaped, for the most part, on what I see. I am not going to pick apart specific reasons I like player A over player B, unless you really want me to. All individuals have things they do and do not like to see in players, as I have discussed with you. White has had a tremendous career to this point and is more likely to be All State than some players that I have mentioned, but it is my personal opinion that he would fall outside of my top 15, though would be in my top 20. This coming from me being aware that he could be a 25 and 12 guy this year.

I really wasn't making this only about a player from Ellendale. Take White out of it and I think Olson is better than many on the lists above. I respect balla45's opinion on basketball as much as anyone's but we simply disagree on this point.

By the way, hopefully we don't see near those numbers from White this year as that would mean Ellendale isn't getting the production from others that I expect them to and that they need in order to succeed as a team.

Had I made this a top 20 and included the following, would you all have been fairly content?

Christian Adams
Anthony Olson
Jon Purintun
Hayden Sadowsky
Adam White

balla45 wrote:Had I made this a top 20 and included the following, would you all have been fairly content?

Christian Adams
Anthony Olson
Jon Purintun
Hayden Sadowsky
Adam White

Maybe Casey Walker should be in the mix, freaky athletic.

balla45 wrote:Had I made this a top 20 and included the following, would you all have been fairly content?

Christian Adams
Anthony Olson
Jon Purintun
Hayden Sadowsky
Adam White

Not really we just have a fundamental disagreement on the top 10-15.

My top 10

Brady Heildebaugh
Carter Kretchman
Christian Kvilvang
Brock Robbins
Trayvon Mckay
Christian Adams
Jon Purinton
Adam White
Anthony Olson
Cody Springer

My top 15 would look like: (no particular order)

Brad Heidlebaugh
Christian Adams
Wyatt Carr
Carter Kretchman
Austin Lee
Trayvon McKay
Adam White
Bryce Meehl
Anthony Olson
Brock Robbins
Graham Hurlburt
Hunter Pinke
Jon Purintun
Christian Kvilvang
Dalton Poitra

I love this discussion. I hope more posters are willing to contribute their opinions. Don't be afraid to put one out there. No one is bashing so this is fun.

I am not as familiar with the other parts of the state, so I will throw out some Region 7 players who will be very tough this year. I don't think a lot of you posters on here have the opportunity to see Region 7 teams play.

No Particular Order-

Casey Walcker (11th)- Beulah
Luke Blood (12th)- Beulah
Dan Prince (12th)- New England
Hayden Sadowsky (11th)- Hettinger-Scranton
Isaiah Kludt (9th)- Hettinger-Scranton
Wyatt Carr (10th)- Hazen
And Trinity has a couple kids you could put on this list as well

balla45 wrote:I love this discussion. I hope more posters are willing to contribute their opinions. Don't be afraid to put one out there. No one is bashing so this is fun.

You know me...mine will be there soon. Probably after FB season

The Schwab wrote:I am not as familiar with the other parts of the state, so I will throw out some Region 7 players who will be very tough this year. I don't think a lot of you posters on here have the opportunity to see Region 7 teams play.

No Particular Order-

Casey Walcker (11th)- Beulah
Luke Blood (12th)- Beulah
Dan Prince (12th)- New England
Hayden Sadowsky (11th)- Hettinger-Scranton
Isaiah Kludt (9th)- Hettinger-Scranton
Wyatt Carr (10th)- Hazen
And Trinity has a couple kids you could put on this list as well

Did not get to watch Trinity much this past season. How is that sophomore coming along? Was about 6'3" as a freshman.