Class A State Tournament Takeaways
It’s a weird time. A month that is usually jam-packed with hoops is suddenly barren with normalcy seemingly forever away. The Class A State Tournament was cut a day short, meaning we didn’t get to see a state champion crowned.…
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Continue ReadingIt’s a weird time. A month that is usually jam-packed with hoops is suddenly barren with normalcy seemingly forever away.
The Class A State Tournament was cut a day short, meaning we didn’t get to see a state champion crowned. That sucks, but rather be sad that it is over (assuming it is indeed canceled and not postponed), we’ll focus on the good that happened.
Here are some of my takeaways from the day-and-a-half of state tournament action we got to experience:
The EDC Represented Well
Last year, the WDA dominated in the state tournament. Bismarck Century won the whole thing. Bismarck Legacy finished third and Mandan finished fifth. The only EDC team to win multiple games was Devils Lake.
This year was a much different story.
With the seedings being out of whack due to some unexpected results in the EDC Tournament, the two best teams, Fargo Shanley and Devils Lake got matched up with the two best teams in the WDA. And it went in favor of the EDC.
Fargo Shanley gutted out a win over Bismarck Legacy – avenging a loss from last year’s first round matchup. And Devils Lake beat Bismarck Century – avenging a loss from last year’s state title game.
Fargo Davies beat Bismarck St. Mary’s in the first round to advance to the semifinals. Mandan was the only WDA team to win its first round matchup.
Then in the semifinals, it was Fargo Shanley beating Mandan in dominant fashion.
If there is one big takeaway from this state tournament, it’s that the EDC evened things out after a couple of years of WDA dominance.
The Field As a Whole Was As Good As It Could’ve Been
This seems odd to say, but the state tournament field was about as good as it could’ve been. That’s rarely the case, as teams that are proven to be better over the course of months, have a difficult handful of days and get upset a couple of times in the league tournament. That didn’t happen this year.
The four best teams in the EDC all season were without question Devils Lake, Fargo Shanley, Fargo Davies and Grand Forks Red River. The two best teams in the WDA all year were easily Bismarck Legacy and Bismarck Century. Mandan started the season slow but was easily a top team by the halfway point of the year and while Bismarck St. Mary’s was in a similar tier with Bismarck, the Saints had a terrific group of seniors with state tournament equity.
Looking Ahead…
There wasn’t much state tournament turnover from last year to this year, as six teams were in the field both seasons. It wouldn’t be surprising to see that number go down to maybe three or four next year.
Bismarck Century is set up to be extremely formidable again with Logan Nissley likely taking a big step forward as a sophomore and the juniors like Julia Fitterer and Ashton Kinnebrew back in the fold. Fargo Davies won the EDC Tournament Title and reached the state semis before losing, and the Eagles return one of the best duos in the state in Ryleigh Wacha and Taylor Fey.
Bismarck St. Mary’s loses four terrific seniors and will have to rebuild things back up. Mandan graduates Lakyn Darras and while the Braves do return several other starters including Sydney Gustavsson, they’ll need a lot of internal development to stay towards the top. Bismarck Legacy returns a handful of excellent players like Arianna Berryhill and Jaiden Baker but graduates five key seniors. Fargo Shanley will have a big rebuild ahead as the Deacons lose Reile Payne, Hadley Huber and a significant core of what made the team one of the best in the state over the last few years. Devils Lake graduates one of the best players in the league in Jes Mertens plus a handful of terrific players in Abby Johnson and Maya Barendt. The Firebirds are going to be good again, but they’ll look a lot different.
Meanwhile, teams that didn’t make the tournament like West Fargo, West Fargo Sheyenne, Bismarck and Jamestown all return talented players and should be improved.