Coaches agree final N.D. Class B boys tournament before move to 3 classes holds special significance

FARGO — When a North Dakota Class B boys basketball state champion is topped Saturday night time on the Bismarck Occasion Heart that, in some methods, will mark the top of an period.

The winner goes to be the ultimate Class B winner beneath a conventional two-class system that has been in place for many years with the state transferring to a few basketball lessons subsequent season.

“It marks a significant change in North Dakota basketball,” stated Hillsboro athletic director Dave Nelson, who beneath the two-class mannequin has been a part of a mixed 5 Class B boys state championships — one as a participant, two as a coach and two as an administrator.

Central Cass, Bismarck Shiloh Christian, Beulah, Thompson, Des Lacs-Burlington, Warwick, Powers Lake-Burke Central and Medina-Pingree-Buchanan are the eight groups vying to make historical past. 5 of these groups will transfer to Class A subsequent season (the center division of three), whereas Warwick, Powers Lake-Burke Central and Medina-Pingree-Buchanan will stay in Class B.

“Any time you get to be the bookend to one thing that’s had such a storied historical past, I believe it’s even that rather more particular,” stated Central Cass head coach Matt Norman, whose staff is the No. 1 seed.

No. 4-seeded Thompson is making its second Class B look in program historical past. The Tommies gained the 2019 Class B crown of their first state match look.

“Figuring out that it’s going to be the final one as we all know it, that makes it slightly extra particular and it’s one thing that we’ve talked about,” stated Tommies head coach Brandy George. “We’re excited. It ought to be a enjoyable expertise.”

George — from Halfway, N.D. — stated he’s been a “Class B man” his entire life and remembers watching gamers like Munich’s Marty McDonald, Watford Metropolis’s Fred Fridley and Carrington’s Jim Kleinsasser, who all accomplished their highschool careers within the early-to-mid Nineteen Nineties and starred on the Class B match stage.

“I keep in mind watching a few of these large battles again within the day,” George stated. “There’s simply numerous particular recollections with this match and this weekend. … Once I was a sixth- and seventh-grader, that was your trip, that was your time without work, your spring break.”

Medina-Pingree-Buchanan is making its first Class B match as a co-op that has been round for a decade. Medina made it to state in 1981, whereas Pingree-Buchanan made the state match in 2006 when it was in a co-op with Kensal.

“To me it’s large as a result of I believe each basketball participant in North Dakota that was from a smaller city, you develop up if you’re enjoying basketball you wish to play the state B,” stated Thunder head coach Bob Younger, who graduated from Dakota Prairie in 1997. “It’s your dream whenever you’re slightly child. … For our staff to get there this yr and play within the state B and understanding it is the final one of many authentic state B match, it’s fairly particular.”

Nelson performed in some of the memorable Class B state championships with Hillsboro. The

Burros held on for a 56-52 victory towards Epping

within the 1977 championship recreation on the Bismarck Civic Heart. Hillsboro was a perennial energy, whereas Epping had 24 youngsters in its highschool.

The upstart Eagles had been the match darling and many of the 7,400 followers had been cheering for Epping within the championship recreation.

“That’s nonetheless a recreation everybody refers to after they speak about Class B basketball and large college versus the small college and all of the hoopla that went together with it,” Nelson stated. “That was an enormous occasion. At the moment, we did not understand how massive an occasion it was. I don’t suppose you’ll see that ever once more.”

Nelson stated within the Seventies and the Eighties the match was in its heyday and most followers that traveled to the match watched each recreation within the occasion even when its staff wasn’t concerned. Nelson stated he thinks that’s modified in latest historical past. Hillsboro-Central Valley, which misplaced within the Area 2 semifinals final week, is transferring to Class A subsequent season.

“Again once we performed within the 70s and even into the 80s, a lot of folks went to the video games and so they went to the entire video games and watched,” Nelson stated. “Now you see much more folks go watch the staff they wish to watch after which they depart. I believe that’s been an enormous change.”

Nelson stated he is to see how the state’s basketball panorama evolves with three lessons.

“You’ve obtained to offer it just a few years for folks to regulate and get acclimated to the brand new arrange after which take it from there,” he stated. “Now we’re going to be transferring on to one thing completely different.”

Nonetheless, there may be yet another match of one thing acquainted, full of nostalgia.

Norman, George and Younger agree successful the state championship this season would maintain additional significance as a result of transfer to the three-class system subsequent season.

“I believe each staff that’s going there thinks they’ve a shot and they need to,” Younger stated. “To me it might imply absolutely the world to me and one thing that you’d take with you endlessly and it might all the time be a part of your legacy as a staff. That might simply be superb.”

Central Cass is in search of its second Class B basketball title of this winter season because the Squirrels gained the Class B women championship earlier this month.

“It could be actually particular,” Norman stated if the boys staff may be a part of the women program as state champions. “It could be particular for any staff that wins it.”

George plans to soak on this Class B match expertise earlier than the transfer to the three-class system.

“Whether or not you agree or disagree with going to a few lessons, that is going to be a particular weekend for folks simply understanding it’s going to be very completely different subsequent yr,” George stated. “It’s going to have a really completely different look. The state B match is sort of the mecca of highschool sports activities in my thoughts in North Dakota and that’s taking nothing away from all the opposite sports activities and state tournaments. It’s only a completely different really feel. It’s the final main match of the winter season and it’s fairly particular.”

Nelson added the staff that emerges because the Class B champions Saturday night time may probably change into the reply to a trivia query.

“If this three-class (system) stays in place for a lot of, a few years, that’s one of many issues that might be remembered is who was the final staff to win the two-class state B match?” stated Nelson, who was the boys head basketball coach at Could-Port-CG for 9 seasons previous to changing into the AD at Hillsboro. “That might be one other reminiscence and one thing to placed on the books.”

Peterson covers faculty athletics for The Discussion board, together with Concordia Faculty and Minnesota State Moorhead. He additionally covers the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks impartial baseball staff and helps out with North Dakota State soccer protection. Peterson has been working on the newspaper since 1996.