3 Class Bball system in ND?

[Rowdie]

Yep this is an issue nobody thinks about, much more travel for the lower classes as you will have fewer teams near you. The middle class would likely be traveling all over the state during regular season.

They should put ALL the private schools in the same Region. LOL

 

[Twitch]

I’m guessing there’s no fix to appease all parties. Ban all sports and concentrate on winning by making your students the smartest and most aptly able to handle life. Win win win win

 

[Davey Crockett]

I wish there were more individual sports for kids in small towns/rural areas. They wouldn't even have to be school sanctioned. Our grandkids play both team and individual sports (all club) and they have excelled where they don't have anyone else to rely on other than themselves to do the "work". It's also awesome to see shooting sports in school programs , that could be a club sport with regionals/state but it would take a lot of volunteer work.

 

[wjschmaltz]

Class B State Tournament stand outs
Town /Appearances at state

Beulah/16
Bishop Ryan /17
Shiloh Christian /16
Carrington/8
Dickinson Trinity/13
Oak Grove / 12
4 Winds /8
Hillsboro/17
Kindred/8
Lisbon/9
Mayville PCG/12
Rugby 15
Standing Rock/12
Kenmare/16
Linton/20.........* no parochial school in region*
New Town / 12

https://ndhsaanow.com/champions/basketball-boys

Hey now, I needed a trigger warning with that Asterix! Shiloh was in Region 3 until the early 2000s. Linton still put Shiloh (and Trinity) on their schedule every year after they left the region and would regularly take care of em. Other than probably kenmare, they got at least half the size enrollment as the other schools on the list.

 

[Rowdie]

What do most all those schools have in common? Bigger communities!! Even Linton isn't one of the smaller Class B schools. Plus they draw off the 3 letters of their FB co-op (Linton HMB) Not sure how they're co-oped in BBall? But they draw on that whole area. Probably because their coach had/has such a successful program. Back to that list. Those are all some of the larger "B" schools. Not sure what the enrollment is of some of the private schools, but they have a HUGE population base to draw on.

 

[Colt45]

Saint Marys in Bismarck has a 9-12 grade enrollment of 341 according to their web site, and that seems right

 

[Bullsnake]

That would be a step in the right direction, agreed, but I think it falls short a bit.
What about the recruitment of reservation schools?

LOL, i get there is alot of movement on rez schools but not all is recruiting, lot of these kids bounce around due to broken families, some is just for the sake of bball though. but recruiting is everywhere. BHS is bragging about their 2 new ball players and nobody even questions that transfer. the new kids are not incoming freshmen/sophomores and parents still both live and work in SD. coming in hot on their half-brothers coat tail

 

[Concerned]

Didnt Shiloh recruit the Bearstail boy from back in the day and also a Parshall kid?, Is that Quam girl not from Wilton? Also rumor has it they are after that really good freshman from last year on Wiltons Boys team. It will be interesting to see if he goes there but Shiloh does recruit.

The Quam girl is from Bismarck. Her parents moved her to Wilton because of basketball and then moved back home. Which Bearstail do you think was recruited? Daryl Bearstail coached the girls team.

 

[zoops]

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/prep/ndhsaa-approves-revised-three-class-basketball-plan

Only 15-20 years overdue...

 

[Colt45]

So Wilton recruited Quam?

Nice, now we get 3 classes, everyone gets to be a winner!

 

[Concerned]

I think one thing that is missing is the fact that some of the most interesting games in a state tournament occur when a "David" faces a "Goliath". Hoosiers got mentioned here earlier. If that game had featured two small schools no one would remember it. If you lose Thompson, Shiloh, Rugby and some of the other "Goliaths" from the tournament you might find you also lose that statewide passion and interest.

Sometimes we can shrink something way down so everyone can have a chance to win it and end up with something not really exciting to win.

 

[Concerned]

So Wilton recruited Quam?

Nice, now we get 3 classes, everyone gets to be a winner!

I'm sure Wilton parents recruited her. Just like parents do on every AAU team and AAA team in every sport. That doesn't make it wrong. Parents should want to brag about where they live. They should encourage others to move there. If we live in a place we think is bad for our kids, we should move. If you don't want to brag about the place you live/the school your kids go to, you might want to think about making a change.

 

[lunkerslayer]

It's only going to get more interesting not just in north dakota but through out the country, with the scotus decision last year given parents the option to take their public school vouchers and use them in private schools. I don't know if that includes out of states use though

 

[Rowdie]

So Wilton recruited Quam?

Nice, now we get 3 classes, everyone gets to be a winner!

I think we should have 4 classes. Everyone should get to go to state!

 

[jdinny]

I didn’t read the full 5 pages but those In support do realize that every non district kid enrolled in your school counts as 2 correct??? I get it that makes the private schools play up a level but what about south prairie for instance south of minot? The pure disdain for private schools on unreal. How many of you would still send your kids to public school if for instance the voters got to choose where there tax dollars went much like AZ….. you realize that push will be next if they keep doing this right?

 

[zoops]

I think one thing that is missing is the fact that some of the most interesting games in a state tournament occur when a "David" faces a "Goliath". Hoosiers got mentioned here earlier. If that game had featured two small schools no one would remember it. If you lose Thompson, Shiloh, Rugby and some of the other "Goliaths" from the tournament you might find you also lose that statewide passion and interest.

Sometimes we can shrink something way down so everyone can have a chance to win it and end up with something not really exciting to win.

I don't disagree that those matchups (upsets) are the best - I went to a very small school so I know the feeling. Just seems like there are so few of those anymore. It's Minot, Bismarck, Fargo in the big school class (Jamestown had a good boys run a few years ago). How many small (like <100 students) B schools have made a run recently? I think Ellendale and whoever they're cooped with made it to the boys title game a couple years ago and Grant County (Elgin/Carson) won the girls 4-5 years ago. Can't think of too many others, although I don't pay super close attention.

Saw a quote the other day in one of the articles on the topic, believe it was from the Pembina co-op coach, saying last year was an up year for us and Grafton still won the region on a down year.

 

[Bfishn]

I didn’t read the full 5 pages but those In support do realize that every non district kid enrolled in your school counts as 2 correct??? I get it that makes the private schools play up a level but what about south prairie for instance south of minot? The pure disdain for private schools on unreal. How many of you would still send your kids to public school if for instance the voters got to choose where there tax dollars went much like AZ….. you realize that push will be next if they keep doing this right?

I think they nixed the counting as two thing. I think instead they simply said if you were a class B school in a AA town you will be bumped to A.

"Instead of having students who do not attend school in their home district counting double, the new approach has schools with between 100 and 399 kids, located in a city with a Double-A basketball team, playing in Class-A. Schools with over 400 in a Double-A town will be Double-A as well.

This means schools like Trinity, Shiloh and Oak Grove will be in the middle class, and towns like Beulah, Watford City, Hazen and Killdeer will join them in Class-A."

 

[db-2]

I was oppose to co-op since day one as if you cannot field an athletic team i am not sure the school can field an academic team. The school cannot save the town only parents having more kids so i thought that was the way to go. Why the wife had 5.

Maybe some of this has to do in my days as the school was close down (1960), went to the bigger school with the bigger school's name and colors and that's the way it was. No new joint name and new colors.

Town is still there minus a schoolhouse but same population of about 50. We had play day every spring which was well attended. No band, basketball for boys and cheerleading for girls and a prom, carnival and recess. No bus, high school kids drove to school and drank beer at noon hour in the cars. (so many memories)

Have my letter and banner from that small school hanging in my man cave but not one from the bigger school. Did not get one as i could not make the team. (Maybe another stupid reason)

For us, five kids in every sport and no state playoff. It was so unfair has to be the reason. But they are all grown up with kids and the wife and i are older with great memories of the kid's school days. They also have those memories. db

And then life went on.

 

[SLE]

Yep this is an issue nobody thinks about, much more travel for the lower classes as you will have fewer teams near you. The middle class would likely be traveling all over the state during regular season.

This is going to be a real issue for many of those teams forced into the middle class. Right now many of those teams stay within about 60 miles of there home school. They will now be traveling 2-3 hours one way several times throughout the season to play another team in there division. Sports are already a gigantic cost to schools, this will only compound the situation with a significant increase in travel & coaching costs. Add in that kids will need earlier dismissals to get to games further away, won't get home until midnight at times, and may still have actual school work still to do when they get home. If you think they do it on the bus, think again. Hell, I've tried to dig out my laptop and work in the car in the passenger seat on a long trip, it's about 1/10 as productive as sitting at a table or desk. Utimately there will be many more saturday games scheduled due to those travel issues. Also, we are now forcing more people out on the road during the winter months in ND when our weather is at its best!

This is also going to cause less interaction with the fan base and parents able to watch there own kids, as many will not be able to leave there jobs early enough to get to those away games. Fan and student attendance at games will definitely drop simply based on the travel being unrealistic for a 1 hour varsity BB game. and although minor, it will equate to less revenue in gate and concessions money, so a double wammy of higher costs and less revenue

This will additionally cause some of those co-ops to disband. Instead of a neighboring District welcoming a school district that is struggling for enrollment, or to put together a program, or have enough players to make a team; They may not find a dance partner as the co-op may force that partner school into the next division where they don't want to be. So what about those kids, now they have no program to be part of or one that struggled as it was.

It's really pretty asinine when most have ample competition within their local region. The multiplier idea is ridiculous and a direct shot at the private schools as it effectively doubled their enrollment. At the end of the day, no matter where you draw the line, there is going to be teams at the bottom and top of those enrollment lines. All we are doing here is shift those lines pandering to those vocal Districts in order to hand out more trophies, and yet listen to them sell it as a way to increase student participation in sports instead of regoconizing the bigger issues of those declining sports program enrollments. I have kids in high school and junior high sports as we speak and can tell you for a fact that club and travel sports are the reason, and both my kids participate heavily in those outside of the school season. alright, my rant is over on this subject, carry on..........

 

[Vollmer]

I thought they stated that the total travel, on average, would be roughly equal to what it was before.

I have seen people state that this does nothing. It simply moves the line. No. No, it doesn't. It moves the lines, plus adds a whole new line. In my opinion, three classes, instead of two, will foster better competition. That seems obvious.

Also, how is having 3 state champions, instead of 2, an "everyone is a winner" scenario?
Give me a break.