Top prospect picks U of Mary

Transcription

1 North Dakota NODAK NOTEBOOK *Playing for your hometown *Minot State starts strong * Kindred girls start fresh *It s now Great FIVE State Volume 2 Issue No. 1 December Top prospect picks U of Mary Prep Hoops top five seniors are Sipes, Polynice, Pistorius, Hanson and Ogbu By Bruce Strand Prep Hoops list of North Dakota s leading senior prospects is headed by Josh Sipes of Bismarck Century, who has committed to stay in his hometown and play for University of Mary. Preps Hoops also ranks Jordan Polynice, Joe Pistorius, Wyatt Hanson and Bartholomew Ogbu in its top five seniors. Following are capsules on each player. Tyus put on a show! Sipes, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard, averaged 13.6 points and 4.5 rebounds on a balanced Bismarck Century team that was state runner-up with a 22-5 record last year. He told Prep Hoops this summer that he s improved his three-point shooting (40 percent as a junior) and his perimeter defense. As the leader the Patriots this year, he added that he was sharpening his ballhandling skills as well. Sipes has a strong connection to the U of Mary, as his grandfather Josh Sipes, as pictured on University of Mary s web site when he signed with them. taught accounting there, and his father graduated from there. Marauders coach Joe Kittell said his team is very excited to add Sipes. The University Mary runs in his blood and we are honored that he wants to keep that tradition going by playing for our program. Josh is a proven winner. Jordan Polynice, ranked No. 2, is a 6-foot-5 wing at Grand Forks Red River who averaged 13.4 points, seven rebounds and 2.4 assists last season. His uncle is Olden Polynice, a 15-year NBA player who stands 6-foot- 11, and his father named him after Michael Jordan. The youngster told Prep Hoops that he played his uncle once recently and lost but only by one point when the old pro shot from outside and first but then started posting up and blocking his shots. Polynice grew up in California but moved to Grand Forks his freshman year. One highlight game his junior year was scoring 27 points in a win over West Fargo Sheyenne and blocking a three-pointer that would have tied the game with :04 left. West Fargo s Joe Pistorius, ranked No. 3, had a breakout junior year including a school-record 43-point burst in a win over Fargo Continued on Page 3

2 Pacesetter Newsletter North Dakota Basketball News December 1 Page 2 Pacesetter 2018 REGION - STATE - GREAT STATE Region Champion and Runner-up are invited to the North Dakota State Championship April in Jamestown. Top two teams at STATE advance to the Great Five-State Championship at the newly-renovated Target Center in Minneapolis. Thompson - 4th Grade Boys 2017 Great Four-State Champs ROAD TO TARGET CENTER! 5-state championship. Wisconsin joining in 2018! Kindred - Richland - 9th Grade Boys 2017 Great Four-State Champs Questions? Call Pacesetter at or info@pacesetternet.com Follow our Facebook page: Pacesetter Basketball REGION PLAYOFF SCHEDULE West Region: Mandan Schools Sunday, March 4 Girls Grades 4, 6 & 8 Boys Grades 4, 6 & 8 Registration deadline: February 19 Sunday, March 11 Girls Grades 5, 7 & 9 Boys Grades 5, 7 & 9 Registration Deadline: February 26 East Region: Fargo Davies High School Saturday, March 24 Girls Grades 5, 7 & 9 Boys Grades 4, 6 & 8 Sunday, March 25 Girls Grades 4, 6 & 8 Boys Grades 5, 7 & 9 Registration deadline: March 12 Wisconsin joining in 2018! MN - IA - ND - SD - WI Bismarck Energy - 4th Grade Girls Bismarck Intensity - 6th Grade Girls 2017 Great Four-State Champs 2017 Great Four-State Champs All grades refer to the school year. All players on a team must either be enrolled in the same school system or live in the same city, the same school district or the same tribal community. Smaller schools may combine to form one team if the combined enrollment of their high schools for grades 9-12 is 400 or fewer. Teams that combine must be from neighboring schools. Pacesetter Great State at Target Center Team Entry Form - NORTH DAKOTA Region Playoffs All players are from one school district. School district Combined team. List all school districts $150/team by Dec. 29 $160/team after Dec game guarantee (See back for details) Site Grade Circle: Boys or Girls Circle Rating: Strong - Good - Fair - Weak Team Contact Cell # Alt # Mailing Address address Team Color/Name Alternate Contact Cell # (needed if two teams from same school register) (Street) (City) (State) (Zip) ( address required - Confirmation will be sent via - Please write legibly) Send check with this entry form to: PACESETTER, PO BOX 222, PAYNESVILLE, MN Registration also available online at The North Dakota STATE champion and runner-up in each grade are invited to the Great Five-State Championship at the Target Center in Minneapolis. FREE Timberwolves Tickets ( season) All players will receive a free ticket offer!

3 Pacesetter Newsletter North Dakota Basketball News December 1 Page 3 Kindred a year later: keeping it going By Bruce Strand The Kindred Vikings, state Class B girls champions last season, plan to be heard from again come March even with their coach and several players gone. Dahl, Taylor Keller, Laura Biewer, and Victoria Braaten along with eighth-grader Abby Duchscherer, who helped deliver that state finals win last year with 13 points off the bench including her team s last nine. Absolutely, we have every intentions on finding a new identity, after losing five seniors, said new coach Sam Brandt, and defending that state title this year. We have a great group of girls that just love to play. Brandt was an assistant last year to Perry Piatz when Kindred captured its first state title, defeating North Star in a duel of unbeatens in the finals. Piatz retired from coaching and still serves as athletic director. The Vikings have four seniors starters Greta Duchscherer averaged nine points, three assists, three steals and four rebounds last year. Brazen averaged six points two assists and two steals. Otherwise all the varsity mainstays graduated. Also seeing action will be juniors Makayla Heinrich and Anne Rohrbeck and eighth-graders Kristina Freier and Terryn Johnson. Kindred opened with a win over Hillsboro-Central Valley on Nov. 28. Come tourneytime, they expect some strong competition in its region. Richland, Lisbon, Central Case are all on our radar, Brandt said. Bison women enjoy tourney trip to Naval Academy One of the perks of playing for the North Dakota State women s basketball team this year is a trip to the U.S. Naval Academy for a Thanksgiving tournament. The Bison lost to Navy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Nov. 25, and bounced back to defeat Maryland- Baltimore County for third place. Rylee Nudell scored 14 points, Reilly Jacobson 12 and Sarah Jacobson 11 in that win. Against Navy, the Bison got 11 points each from Taylor Thunstedt and Reilly Jacobson. Navy was led by Taylor Morgan with 17 points and Taylor Dunham with 16. NSDU (5-2) has five players scoring between nine and 11 points per game. Thunstedt (senior guard, New London-Spicer, MN) averages 11.4, Sarah Jacobson (sophomore guard, Fargo Shanley) 10.3, Nudell (freshman forward, Maple Valley) 10.3, Reilly Jacobson (sophomore forward, Waukee, IA) 9.2 and Michelle Gaislerova (freshman guard, Czech Republic) 9.0. Top five hoops prosects includes one opting for football Continued from Page 1 (24-6). He s also the state discus champ with Shanley. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 19.3 points. Pistorius was also a wide receiver and defensive back on West Fargo s state champion football team this fall. In the finals against Minot, he caught a touchdown pass and made an interception. Wyatt Hanson, who led Stanley to its first state tournament in 78 years last March, has signed with Minnesota State-Mankato. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard averaged 23.7 points, eight rebounds and four assists for Stanley At Mankato, he will join a former North Dakota Mr. Basketball, Tanner Kretchman, currently a junior. Bartholomew Ogbu is the No. 5 ranked basketball prospect but the 6-foot-6 power forward for Shiloh Christian has chosen to play college football. According to 24-7 Sports, he has committed to North Dakota State as a defensive end. Ogbu, who has a 6-foot-10 wing span, averaged 16 points as a junior. The 19-year-old is a refugee from war-torn Nigeria.

4 Pacesetter Newsletter North Dakota Basketball News December 1 Page 4 Basketball buzz at Minot State Men, women are combined 11-1; fun continues through scoreboard shutdown By Bruce Strand Basketball fans are excited in Minot. The Minot State men have started the season 7-0 for the first time in 72 years, the Minot Daily News reports. The Minot women are a surprising 4-1 after a upset of University of Mary to open conference play. Adding to the intrigue of this early season at Minot was a strange interlude when both shot clocks in the MSU Dome shutting off for several minutes, and the refs figuring out how to handle it, during the Beavers win over University of Mary in their Northern Sun Intercollegiate opener. That was a women s/men s doubleheader, as most of their games are. Coach Matt Murken told the Minot Daily News: It was an intense win with a lot of energy after that big victory our women had. We came out of the gates hot and all of a sudden the power goes out. We had a little delay, but to the officials credit, they put a game plan together pretty quick and figure out a way to keep the game going because it was a strange situation. Tyler Rudolph leads Minot with 23.9 points per game. The Beavers led before the scoreboard went out and were still up when they got it working again. Tyler Rudolph, 6-foot-6 senior forward from Bismarck Century, led with 28 points and 14 rebounds. The Beavers shot 10-for-17 from three-point range with Russ Davis (senior guard, Chandler, Ariz.) going 5-for-7 for 15 points. Luis Ricci Maia (senior guard from Brazil) added 14 points. Rudolph is averaging 23.9 points, Davis 11.1, David Akibo (junior forward, London, England) 10.7 and Nathaniel Moore (senior guard, Milwaukee) Minot is a team boasting considerable international flavor with not only Maia and Akibo but also Damjan Jovikj (junior guard, Macedonia), Max Cody (freshman guard, Australia) and Eduardo Gomez Del Casal (junior forward, Spain) coming from overseas. The Minot women had four wins all of last season and equaled that in five games. Picked for last in the NSIC, they were elated to win their conference opener, led by Krystal Flowers with 18 points and 21 rebounds, against U of Mary. Employees at the scorer s table shouted when there was 10 seconds left on the shot clock, the local paper reported. One fan gave his entire section score updates during timeouts by following the live stats on his phone. The shot clock buzzer went off in random spurts as MSU officials frantically tried to restore power. The players didn t know what the score was. We just told our guys, Hey, this is just like when you re a kid and you re just playing hoops because you love it, Murken said. Flowers, who s been NSIC Northern Division player of the week twice, praised the new coaching staff headed by Mark Graupe. We re so confident this year, said the senior forward from Collins, Miss, who s averaging 13.5 points and 11.5 rebounds. This new coaching staff has been great and there s just a lot of energy that everyone brings together. Holly Johnson, senior forward from Minot, is hitting 14.5 ppg to lead the Beavers, who now face the NSIC s preseason top four picks in the next four games.

5 Pacesetter Newsletter North Dakota Basketball News December 1 Page 5

6 Pacesetter Newsletter North Dakota Basketball News December 1 Page 6 Playing for home town still best way to go By Jeff McCarron Pacesetter Sports director Each year high school basketball teams, especially the girls teams, are losing players to burnout, injury, and specialization in one sport. Is chasing the dream a fantasy causing boys and girls to miss out on the real dream of playing for their high school? Let s start with the girls. Many volleyball players who used to play basketball are opting out to play club volleyball, which seemingly has no set season. Many choose to specialize in volleyball because they feel they have a better chance for a college scholarship. Some feel pressure from parents to take this route. Some prefer a sport with less fatigue and chance for injury. Some enjoy the club s travel experiences with families, and playing with like-minded girls dedicated full-time to one sport. For most, it is some combination of all those reasons. Jeff McCarron Metro areas, with school districts bordering each other and having less identity as hometowns than outstate schools, are moving rapidly toward a club mentality in which parents and players specialize in one sport through individualized training and club team participation in off-season competition. The club system is common in Europe and much of the world. The USA s system of high school competition is rare in the rest of the word and in danger of shrinking here. With much influence from media promoting the pros and D-1 athletes on television, some starry-eyed parents and players set their dreams accordingly. The dream of winning high school championships is falling victim to that of playing for a major college and then the NBA/ WNBA, the result of the regular brainwashing we receive from TV, web pages, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The lure of big money causes many top male college players to enter the NBA draft early. With players sold on these fantasies, traveling to an AAU tournament in Las Vegas trumps high school competition as the best path to being recruited for that higher level. Surprise, surprise. Many players who specialize are finding they are more prone to injuries since they are passing up the crosstraining exercise from playing a variety of sports. Also, studies have shown that players in multiple sports become BETTER at each than had they specialized in one. Many learn that specialization can burn them out sooner and they quit before making varsity or college level. Some who reach the pros are also finding that the life is not as glorious as they had expected and pine for the college experience they can never recapture. What price can be placed on missing out on college, playing for your school, your community and your collective teammates and families? When you play for Thompsonn, for example, you play for the people of the towns and farmlands in the district who wear green to show their pride in you. You compete with teammates who are neighbors. With the Minnesota Gophers, you may play for the university and the state, but your teammates could now be from Florida, New Mexico, or Montana. With the Timberwolves, you again play for the state, but your teammates could be from Bulgaria, Russia, or Australia. The connection thins out as the competition heightens. While players and parents may seek more money, fame, and travel, there is still no place like home when it comes to the quintessential experience of playing for your high school and community with friends and neighbors. The current team should never be undervalued. Why give up playing for your school basketball team in order to play in JO volleyball tournaments hoping it will help you get a college scholarship? Why leave your school teammates to play in an AAU tournament with non-teammates out of state? College coaches are experts at finding the best players -- wherever they play. College coaches and pro scouts -- and employers -- are also experts at recognizing character. Were you loyal to your school and your teammates? Through Pacesetter Sports, we seek to do our part by supporting Hometown Team culture school teams with multiple-sport athletes by providing off-season instruction and competition within a seasonal timeframe. We offer our youth team basketball 5-state playoff system as a big-time experience for hometown teams at the Target Center in Minneapolis to counter the allure of playing in AAU tournaments in distant cities. A Hometown Team culture is what we believe, in the end, is the best path for players, teams, families, schools, and communities.

7 Pacesetter Newsletter North Dakota Basketball News December 1 Page Pacesetter Youth Basketball Great Five-State Championships Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin teams to vie for titles at Target Center Boys and girls teams from five states, in grades 4-9, will play in the 2018 Pacesetter Youth Basketball Great Five-State Championships, which will be returning to newly-renovated Target Center in Minneapolis after playing in the Xcel Energy Center last summer. Pacesetter Sports, which began in 1980, has now invited Wisconsin youth teams in grades 4-9 to join teams from Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota in the Pacesetter Great 5-State Championships for Over 1,000 teams are expected to play in Pacesetter state playoffs. The champion, and possibly the runner-up, from each state will advance to play in the Pacesetter Great Five-State Championships in Minneapolis at the Target Center, which has just undergone a $145 million renovation. This youth basketball playoff system supports school and community-based teams and is sponsored by the Minnesota Lynx and Timberwolves. The Pacesetter Great State games are scheduled to coincide with Lynx home games, so all players and families can attend a game. The Timberwolves support the Pacesetter playoff system by providing a free ticket offer to every participating player for the following season. In 2018 Minnesota teams will compete in an 8-region playoff system in Rochester/Stewartville, Mankato, Redwood Falls, Moose Lake/Willow River, Paynesville, Moorhead, Grand Rapids/Hibbing, and Bemidji. Iowa will hold regional playoffs in Cedar Falls/Waterloo and Pella. North Dakota will hold regional playoffs Thompson (green) beat Grand Forks in an all-north Dakota 4th grade final at the 2017 Great Four State. in Fargo and Mandan. South Dakota will hold a state championship in Yankton, and Wisconsin, in its first year in Pacesetter, will hold a state championship in Ripon. All teams that qualify for the Great State games at the Target Center will play three games in an 8-team bracket, using three courts, with all teams guaranteed at least one game on the main Target Center floor. The champions of last year s Great State games included the following teams: 4th grade girls Bismarck Energy (ND) 5th grade girls Detroit Lakes (MN) 6th grade girls Bismarck Intensity (ND) 7th grade girls Lake City (MN) 8th grade girls New London-Spicer (MN) 9th grade girls Sauk Centre (MN) 4th grade boys Thompson (ND) 5th grade boys Moose Lake-Willow River (MN) 6th grade boys Sioux Falls (SD) Hurricanes 7th grade boys Cedar Rapids Jefferson (IA) 8th grade boys Cedar Falls Outlaws (IA) 9th grade boys Kindred-Richland (ND) All playoff sites are limited to 16 teams in each gender/ grade group. Teams may get further information and register online at

8 Pacesetter Newsletter North Dakota Basketball News December 1 Page PACESETTER YOUTH BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT 4th-5th-6th-7th-8th Grade Boys & Girls WINTER CLASSIC Sat & Sun, March 3 & 4 Sat. - Girls Grades 5, 7 & Boys Grades 4, 6, 8 Sun. - Girls Grades 4, 6, 8 & Boys Grades 5, 7 College of St. Benedict - St. Joseph, MN Limit 16 teams per grade/gender Registration Deadline: Feb. 19 Register Early! $10 off thru Dec. 29th The Winter Classic will be held at The College of St. Benedict on Saturday & Sunday, March 3 & 4. This tournament is open to all boys and girls teams in grades All players must either be enrolled in the same school system or live or attend school in the same city, the same school district or tribal community. A maximum of 48 teams can be accepted each day due to court space. Each tournament is a ONE-day tournament. All teams will play 3-4 games. Championship teams will receive a team plaque, and top finishers will receive individual medals with neck ribbons. Registration is also available at Follow our Facebook Page: Pacesetter Basketball 2018 Winter Classic Circle gender: Boys or Girls Circle grade: Team Entry Form Questions? info@pacesetternet.com Team rating: (confidential) Strong Good Fair Weak School Team Color/Name (needed if two teams from same school enter) Team Contact Address (required - confirmation will be sent via ) Cell # Alternate # Mailing Address (Street) (City) (State) (Zip) Alternate Contact Cell # Mail check payable to Pacesetter & send with form to Pacesetter, PO Box 222, Paynesville, MN Up to Dec. 29 $150/team After Dec. 29 $160/team Registration also available online at