2015 Region Tourneys

[DBA]

Region 7 is not "extremely overhyped" Beulah beat shilo, rugby, and new town. Trinity beat four winds. All four of those teams are in other region championship games. And Beulah didnt even make their own region semi finals. Beulah may have fallen short of their potential the second half of the year but region seven is deep.

[winner-within]

Region 1: Championship: D2-1 Oak Grove (20-4) vs. D2-2 Enderlin (14-10) *Enderlin has a nice post season going. It's not often too many 14-10 teams get to a regional final, let alone the state tournament. Original pick - Oak Grove. They win easy. They are the defending state champions.

Region 2: Championship: #1 Cavalier (18-5) vs. #2 May-Port-CG (17-6) *No surprises here. Original Pick - May Port CG. This will be close. Brock Robbins is a force BUT this isn't football. Cavalier stays home this year.

Region 3: Championship: D5-1 Oakes (19-5) vs. D5-2 LaMoure-LM (17-7) *Never though Linton would be beaten because of their coaching. Oakes is playing strong & hot offensively. LaMoure knows how to play basketball & are ONLY one year removed from playing at State B. Original Pick - Linton. No idea who wins but it will be a good one.

Region 4: Championship: D7-1 Four Winds-Minnewaukan (21-2) vs. D8-1 North Star (19-4) *It always comes down to these teams the past few years. Original Pick - Four Winds

Region 5: Championship: D9-1 Shiloh Christian (17-6) vs. D9-2 Solen (19-4) *Sure would be nice to see Solen get to state B. Multi-million dollar Shiloh...the casual fan really doesn't want to see the parochial's from the big cities playing. Original Pick - Shiloh (but I will be rootin' for Solen to step up & get it done).

Region 6: Championship: D12-1 Berthold (22-1) vs. D11-1 Rugby (21-2) "It's getting old seeing Rugby in the state B too. You know you have a good run going when people write things like that. Berthold was there not that long ago too. Good teams that both deserve to be in the state tournament. This will be a good game. Original Pick - Rugby

Region 7: Championship: #1 New England (21-2) vs. #3 Dickinson Trinity (16-7) *Extremely over hyped region here. They always are simply because of the number of big schools. I have seen all of these teams play. New England is the only legit state qualifier. Several other regions are better. I don't know the background on how New England team was constructed BUT it doesn't matter to me when it comes to playing yet another parochial school from a bigger city. New England has the size. Trinity will ONCE AGAIN have the home crowd & home cooking. So it will be tough for NE. Original Pick - New England. Definitely pulling for NE!

Region 8: Championship: D15-1 Parshall (16-7) vs. D15-2 New Town (17-6) *I know several people who are watching this tournament. They all say this is the weakest region 8 they have ever seen. With that being said, the two most talented teams are in the final. Parshall plays more like a team than New Town & plays harder. Way harder. Original Pick - Parshall Parshall might just win this one in a runaway to be honest...

Region Championship night is always special in ND class B towns. Good luck to all teams!

In reality good athletes can turn a 300 ft football field into a 94 ft Basketball court and keep producing..

[DBA]

Heart river probably beats trinity last night on a neutral floor. They beat them in south heart during the season

[scruffy]

It really comes down to mental toughness. Get out of the regionals and all teams have to play on a "bigger stage". Some teams find it hard to remember that the baskets are ten feet off the ground on every court!

[Howie]

Now please don't take this the wrong way. Trinity is a very very good team, no one is questioning that. Do you seriously not think it's an advantage to play on your home court every year in the Regional Tournament???

[Flying Wallenda]

Now please don't take this the wrong way. Trinity is a very very good team, no one is questioning that. Do you seriously not think it's an advantage to play on your home court every year in the Regional Tournament???

Huge advantage IMO.

[scruffy]

No. Totally different crowd. These teams also play on the floor for a holiday tournament and regular season games.. It's really an awesome atmosphere for all teams involved. Good "experience" for any team that comes out of this region.

[Howie]

No. Totally different crowd. These teams also play on the floor for a holiday tournament and regular season games.. It's really an awesome atmosphere for all teams involved. Good "experience" for any team that comes out of this region.

8 teams in the region get to play in this gym for the roughrider, there are 13 in the region total. Saying that it is not an advantage is one of the silliest comments I've heard in a while. Trinity gets to practice there 40+ times a year, not to mention summer open gyms and the sort. By the time they are seniors the Trinity kids have practiced/played in that gym 200 plus times. Lets take Beulah for example (they don't play in the roughrider) Their seniors this year played 3 games in regionals there during their freshman-junior years. 1 game as seniors in the regional tournament. Lets say they played 2 regular season games there and 1 year of the district tournament before super region (I'm not sure if that happened). That's 15 games total, 200>15. How many gyms in the region have stand alone baskets with nothing behind them for 15+ feet? That takes a lot of getting used to. To say it's not an advantage to play on your home floor is ridiculous.

[larrybird33]

It's an advantage. The question is, how much time is it worth spending on this advantage?

And I ask that question because there are two more questions that the home court advantage folks never seem to want to answer.

1) Who voted to put this tournament at Trinity in the first place? Answer: your school's AD did.
2) Where else should we play this tournament, if not Trinity?

The "best" alternatives include:
A - Dickinson High, and approximately 800 spectators are turned away at the door
B - Dickinson State, and approximately 1200 spectators are turned away
C - Bismarck (facility to-be-determined)
D - Glendive, Montana
E - Hazen (if you're completely fine with a different school having home court advantage)
F - The Dickinson Rec Center hockey arena, which has never been converted into a basketball facility before.

I've also never heard of another school (Heart River, for example) saying "some of the wins on our schedule (Trinity, for example) aren't legit because we had a home court advantage when we beat them." A little consistency here would seem reasonable.

[scruffy]

If I recall Trinity has won the regional tournament at least two or three times when the Regional was NOT at Trinity.... and lost several regional tournament games when they WERE played at Trinity! Comes down to bringing your "A" game in the clutch and mental toughness....May the best team win!

[Howie]

It's an advantage. The question is, how much time is it worth spending on this advantage?

And I ask that question because there are two more questions that the home court advantage folks never seem to want to answer.

1) Who voted to put this tournament at Trinity in the first place? Answer: your school's AD did.
2) Where else should we play this tournament, if not Trinity?

The "best" alternatives include:
A - Dickinson High, and approximately 800 spectators are turned away at the door
B - Dickinson State, and approximately 1200 spectators are turned away
C - Bismarck (facility to-be-determined)
D - Glendive, Montana
E - Hazen (if you're completely fine with a different school having home court advantage)
F - The Dickinson Rec Center hockey arena, which has never been converted into a basketball facility before.

I've also never heard of another school (Heart River, for example) saying "some of the wins on our schedule (Trinity, for example) aren't legit because we had a home court advantage when we beat them." A little consistency here would seem reasonable.

I will gladly answer your 2 questions.

1. Yes school AD's vote for it, but even if they did vote to move it. It would still have to be approved by the NDHSAA who probably would say no because the loss in Revenue.

2. Dickinson State- no problem with them turning people away. If you want a seat get there early. If you're worried about people not being able to see the game, simple fix. Talk to Consolidated, get them to pay the 1500 to televise the tournament (they can sell ads to pay for that in no time). That way everyone in the region 7 area that wants to see the tournament can, it's played on a neutral floor, and the NDHSAA gets extra revenue from the TV.

[Sniper]

Region 7 is definitely not extremely overhyped. Deepest region in the state by far.

[larrybird33]

Howie, with all due respect...

Your solution is to play the Regional championship game at a gym that (reconfigured with new bleachers) seats under 1200 spectators? Honestly, of the six very flawed options, I think you chose the worst one.

"Get there early" seems to favor Trinity... And who are the poor souls that have to police that line for tickets?

Do schools pre-sell a limited number of tickets to these games? How do they determine who gets one, and what do they say to the folks that get turned away? Do you think roughly 1200 people in tonight's crowd would be content to watch on TV? These are people's grandpas, uncles, siblings, spouses, ect. Have you thought of any of these things?

[larrybird33]

I again say this with all due respect... but I hear some of the most foolish, uninformed answers when I ask "Region 7 guy" these two questions: 1) who voted to put the tournament at Trinity? and 2) where should the tournament be played instead?

We are going on fifteen years of play in the SW corner of our state where "Region 7 guy" talks all year long about home court advantage, but can't come up with a solution. (If there was a better plan, we'd already be using it.)

[THEGODFATHER]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe Beulah ever won it on their home court, only at Trinity and I think Trinity has won it in Beulah?

[Howie]

Larry,

I have thought of every one of these things, I agree with you that keeping the tournament in Dickinson based on the available venues is the least idea, BUT IMO it will be the only thing that the AD's (actually superintendents) will support. They want travel to be the least it possibly has to be. Honestly the best place for it would be Bismarck at the Event center. They'd never have to turn people away because of seating space. You'd get the casual basketball fans from the Bismarck, because Region 7 is the deepest in the state. You could even play the region 5 and 7 titles in the same venue. That would be quite the atmosphere. And people from your small towns or schools in the title game would go to Fargo if they had need to, just to support their teams to the end.

[larrybird33]

Howie,
I will buy that as the best alternative to Trinity.

Your two main problems now:
1) Roughly every other year, the Events Center will be occupied by the Super A tourney on this date.
2) You have to sell this to the schools (Bowman, Beach, Hettinger-Scranton, Mandaree) that would have to travel the farthest to get there.

[scruffy]

When they tried it in Beulah southern schools howled about the distance... When they tried it in Bowman the northern schools howled about the distance. Dickinson is centrally located and has the best viable option. Common sense is leaving it in Dickinson. Is it a perfect situation?? No, but it is the best one that makes the most sense. Ten years ago when Trinity didn't compete well in the region nobody cared. Recently when Trinity quit winning the region year after year the argument has pretty much died. Now everyone seems pretty content.

[newkidontheblock]

Heart river probably beats trinity last night on a neutral floor. They beat them in south heart during the season

Now please don't take this the wrong way. Trinity is a very very good team, no one is questioning that. Do you seriously not think it's an advantage to play on your home court every year in the Regional Tournament???

Here's some food for thought regarding home court advantage using some Region 7 teams alone:
Heart River lost to Killdeer on a neutral floor in the Roughrider. A handful of days later Heart River beat Killdeer badly... In Killdeer.
Hazen went to Richardton early in the season and lost. For the opening round of the super tournament Hazen returned to Richardton and won.
Glen Ullin/Hebron lost to Mott Regent AT HOME, but then traveled to Mott and beat the Wildfire in the opening round of the tournament.
New England lost to Trinity at Trinity in the Roughrider, then played them again at Trinity in the regular season and won.

Yes- home court advantage exists, it is undeniable, unquestionable, an accepted fact in sports world wide. However, evidence like above also exists world-wide. I think we need to consider that the advantage is not nearly as significant as we like to make it out to be. I think we like to blow it far out of proportion, and I think we like to blow it especially far out of proportion when it comes to the Region 7 Tournament. It certainly hasn’t meant that much to the Beulah Boys or Beach girls in the last 5 years.

Let's not continue to harp on home court advantage which distracts from the accomplishments of BOTH teams. A major part of high school athletics is learning appropriate ways to cope with disappointment. The Heart River team worked way too hard, played way too hard, was too much fun to watch, and above all else kept way too great of attitudes for you to rob them of that learning opportunity by making a lame excuse like home court advantage.

They had a tremendous season, and yes, unfortunately that season will end tonight, but they lost to a team they split with in the regular season, a team with the second longest win streak in B Boys including a win over the #1 ranked team, a team receiving votes in the final state poll, and a team with a significantly higher RPI. None of that means anything during the game, but after the game it means there should be no shame in that loss.

Even more important, Heart River did not lose because of home court advantage. To say that is to ignore the fact that Heart River was the team that came out of the locker room and couldn’t miss to start the game. They had the hot hand, the early momentum, and the early lead. They didn’t struggle shooting early while trying to adjust to “magical floating baskets.” Trinity, as always, had a strong in-town crowd presence, but Heart River, just a short drive down the interstate, had a very strong crowd and student section as well as all of the New England and Hettinger-Scranton fans cheering for them (or against Trinity).

Heart River lost for several reasons. Probably the most significant is the 3rd quarter. They came out cold and only scored 4 points and ended the quarter down 8. They scored 15 pts in the 1st quarter, 14 in the 2nd, and 12 in the 4th, but only 4 in the 3rd. That has nothing to do with the court or the baskets or the crowd which were the same all 4 quarters. Another factor in the loss was lack of depth. Only the 5 starters scored for Heart River and 4 of those starters combined for 53 of their 55 points. Trinity had 8 players contribute to their 60 points including 13 points from the bench. In my mind, the third significant factor in the loss was post play. Heart River doesn’t start a post player- they have two they run off the bench. Trinity has a good presence in the paint both in their starting line-up and off the bench. Those posts combined for 25 points plus Trinity out rebounded Heart River. Give their coach credit for playing the hand he was dealt and using their speed and quickness and hustle as an advantage in the full court to try to minimize the disadvantage of their lack of size- in my opinion he should be the region’s coach of the year, but come tournament time it just wasn’t enough.

Like I said, Heart River played their heart out and left it all out of the floor, but for the above three reasons it just wasn’t enough. Now, don’t take away from their ability to learn to deal with their disappointments in a constructive manner by pointing fingers at home court advantage.

Whenever this gets brought up it always gets too emotional for my taste. IMO it usually gets emotional because many of the people discussing it are still cut deeply by that one loss to Trinity (either as a player or fan) when they were "oh-so-close," and as human nature is to pass blame, the easiest thing to pass blame to is home court advantage.

I’m expecting an awesome championship game tonight. These teams split in the regular season and in my mind are the two best teams in the region. Both lost some games early and now have the two longest win streaks in the state. I’m expecting a classic and the team that plays the best for the full 32 minutes will win. I’m glad New England has proven they can win on Trinity’s floor this year so it can be a non-issue for this game. If New England wins, they deserve it. If Trinity wins, they deserve it.

[nolan4]

To add to NewKid, the other fault is it is the 'refs' fault, that is usually what people blame.

[DBA]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe Beulah ever won it on their home court, only at Trinity and I think Trinity has won it in Beulah?

I believe Beulah was class A the year or two that they hosted the regional tournament

[thundarsdaddy]

Region 6 in Minot...Rugby 12-Berthold 9 in a back'n'forth first quarter.

[4mrnative]

Region 4 in Devils Lake...4 Winds and the Spirit Nation (pretty much all of it at the Sports Center) 34, NS 22 at the half. Unrelenting pressure from 4 Winds. According to Mr. Beighley, Sears from NS is fighting the flu. Doesn't bode well for NS...cold from the field.

[thundarsdaddy]

Region 6 in Minot...Rugby 12-Berthold 9 in a back'n'forth first quarter.

halftime...Rugby 25-16 ahead of Berthold

[4mrnative]

End of 3 in Region 4: FW 50 / NS 46...NS 0 for 9 on 3's in the first half has heated up a bit.