5 things to Love or Hate for the upcoming season!
5 things to Love or Hate for the upcoming season! Location: We all know the history for the battle of where to host each class state championship. This year Class B is in Spearfish at Black Hills State University, Class…
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Continue Reading5 things to Love or Hate for the upcoming season!
- Location: We all know the history for the battle of where to host each class state championship. This year Class B is in Spearfish at Black Hills State University, Class A is at the Rushmore Center in Rapid City and Class AA will host their games at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls. Should we have all three @ one location? Make it the Granddaddy of them all type of accomplishment? Or does the separate locations give that ultimate basketball grind-it-out type of vibe?
- Opening game matchups: Seems like this year we have some great opening day matchups. An early test for some of these programs will be good. New faces in new places, youngsters with bigger roles and new coaching styles will be displayed early. Aberdeen Central @ Brookings storyline features Coach Dawn Seiler’s return from a brief retirement. The all-time leader in wins will lead a new look Golden Eagles team into Brookings to face one of the tallest teams in the state. RC Stevens @ Brandon Valley will be a great opening game. The storyline is how will the defending champs get back to the “Promised Land”. They have a new coach in Mike Zerr. But he’s been with the program for like a million years, so I expect the team to transition smoothly. RC Stevens Kyah Watson is the real deal. She has it all but the state basketball title still is vacant in her impressive accomplishments. Look for her to jump start her team into a successful season. Seems like the new coaching trend is prevalent. Sioux Falls Roosevelt also has a new leader in Dakota Berri. The Rough Riders visit O’Gorman in their first game. Could RHS be the “Dark Knight” and surprise OG or will RHS have a ROUGH start? Sioux Falls Washington’s first game will come against Brookings, who will be on their second game in a back to back. WHS new offense could spell trouble for the opposition. WHS could arguably have the state’s best player in Sydni Schetnan. The 6’5 forward comes into the season ready to be a leader and dominate at all levels of the game. Along with some uber athletic freshmen, and a junior class with tons of experience, look for WHS to shock a few people. Dell Rapids @ Sioux Falls Christian bring length, speed and high-level skill sets in this match up. Lexi Unruh has all that and more. I’m not too sure if we will see a total one on one matchup with her and Aspen Hansen of Dell Rapids, but if/when we do it will be one for the books. Other notable first game matchups: Garretson @ Tri-Valley, Mt Vernon @ West Central, Sioux Falls Christian @ Lennox and Ethan @ Hanson.
- New Players: When we say new players, we mean new names that weren’t on the radar or didn’t play as much last year or transferred to another school. Here’s a short list of some players you should get to know.
Sioux Falls Washington: Ndjakalenga MwenentandaJr. (Transfer from O’Gorman) Ellie Walker So., Brooklyn & Hannah Harpe Fr.
Sioux Falls Lincoln: Kaia Jensen Fr.
Brandon Valley: Sidney Thue So., Kylie Foss So., Hilary Behrens Fr.
Harrisburg: Sydney Hybertson So.
St. Thomas More: Mairin Duffy So.
Mt Vernon/Plankinton: Emilee Fox 8th.
Sioux Falls Christian: Kylah VanDonkersgoed So.
Langford Area: Mallory Miller Fr.
De Smet: Kennadi Buchholz So.
- New Head Coach at Brandon Valley (Defending champs): As stated before Mike Zerr has been with Brandon Valley as a longtime assistant. This year he will lead the pack of Lynx in hopes to defend their championship. It will be a new look team. BV graduated 8 seniors from last year. They accounted for nearly 85% of the teams scoring. It will be a huge hole to fill. However, with returning starter Hannah Behrens and veterans like Mara Schaap, Emma Jarovski and Sidney Thue, BV is up for another title run. Plus add super freshman Hilary Behrens, whose potential is through the roof, it shouldn’t be a problem for BV to return the chip back home.
- Anyone can make a run: There’s no clear-cut favorite in any class. All 3 state champions lost some key players but gained some up and coming prospects. Some players have made significant strides. While other are coming off not so impressive off-seasons. We call that parity. We think of the days of Sioux Falls Roosevelt (late 90’s) 100+ wins in a row or St. Thomas More (early 2010’s) 5 out of 6 championships are over. That simply means players are getting better from all over the state. No matter the size of your town or school, its about the size of your heart. More importantly how much extra effort/time you put in.