This year’s State B Boys’ Basketball Tournament will have a familiar feel. Six of the eight teams were in the event last year, and the other two are no strangers to the tournament.
Aberdeen Christian, Castlewood, Freeman, Lyman, Viborg-Hurley, and Wall were among the field last season, while De Smet and Sully Buttes each have state championships to their credit in the past eight seasons.
With all of the recent state tournament experience, both among players and coaches, the tourney appears to be wide open.
A prime example is the final Prep Media poll of the season where four different teams (Castlewood, De Smet, Freeman and Viborg-Hurley) all received at least one-first place vote.
Viborg-Hurley is the top seed, but Castlewood was the top-rated team in the final poll. Freeman has played as well as anyone down the stretch and the Flyers bring a 19-game winning streak into the tournament.
“We’ve been a little bit tougher on the boards, and we’ve taken care of the ball, just playing better together,” said Freeman coach Lance Friesen of his team’s play down the stretch.
Some of the members of the basketball team are coming off a state championship in football and that carried over to basketball.
“We had a fair amount of momentum coming back after last year’s state tournament run in basketball,” Friesen said. “I think all that did was maybe up the confidence of every kid. You go from contending to being a champion and you feel like a champion. You take that with you for the rest of your life and they brought that into the basketball season.”
Every coach in the tourney, when asked about a favorite to win the state championship, said the field is wide open and any of the eight teams could win it.
First-round pairings have eighth-seeded Lyman against top seeded Viborg-Hurley at 11 a.m, fifth-seeded Castlewood vs. fourth-seeded Aberdeen Christian at 12:45 p.m., seventh-seeded Sully Buttes vs. second-seeded Freeman at 5 p.m., and sixth-seeded Wall vs. third-seeded De Smet at 6:45 p.m.
Here is a capsule look at each of the eight teams in the tournament:
Lyman Raiders (17-6)
Head Coach: Cooper Garnos
Starters/Key Reserves: MJ Diehm, 5-11 Jr., Dawsen Volmer 6-4 Jr., Cole Kieffer 6-4 So., Chase Seaboy 6-4 Jr., and Conway Collins, 6-1 Sr. are the starters for the Raiders. Key reserves are Canyon Garnos 6-0 Jr. and Josiah Vaad 6-3 Jr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: Viborg-Hurley, Castlewood, Freeman. “It’s a very balanced field – many could win it,” coach Garnos said.
Assess your first-round matchup against Viborg-Hurley and the keys to winning that contest: “Viborg-Hurley is a great team with an outstanding coach,” Garnos said. “Keeping turnovers low, playing every possession, great defense, rebounding.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “Play great basketball,” Garnos said. “Keeping mistakes at a minimum, rebounding well, great defense, one game at a time.”
Viborg Hurley (20-3)
Head coach: Shane Warwick
Starters/Key Reserves: Main players for the Cougars are Brady Schroedermeier 6-2 Sr., Walker Warwick 6-3 Sr., Braydyn Morrison 6-2 Sr., Nolan Kolthoff 6-3 Sr., Brenner Gerdes 6-1 Sr., and Jake Austin 5-9 Sr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: “This is a loaded field this year in Class B,” coach Warwick said. “I think anyone 1-8 could win it.”
Assess your first-round matchup against Lyman and the keys to winning that contest: “Lyman is not a typical 8 seed,” Warwick said. “They are really well coached, and they have great guard play and post play. We will have to defend at a high level and control the pace of the game.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “Do the little things that we have done all year,” Warwick said. “Execute, rebound, defend and play with toughness.”
Aberdeen Christian (20-3)
Head Coach: Matt Rohrbach
Starters/Key Reserves: Jett Johnson 6-2 Sr., Dylan Hofer 5-8 Jr., Grady Jett 6-4 Sr., Luke Kaiser 6-4 Jr. and Brooks Jett 6-5 Sr. are the Christian starters. Key reserves are Loyall Smith-Wade 6-2 Fr., Charles Eichler 6-0 Fr., and Raymond Rodriguez-Martinez 5-8 Sr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: “I don’t think there is a favorite this year,” Rohrbach said. “I have a lot of respect for De Smet, Freeman, Castlewood and Viborg-Hurley. I believe we are right in the hunt with them.”
Assess your first-round matchup against Castlewood and the keys to winning that contest: “Castlewood is a really good team and very disciplined. We need to control the glass and make sure we limit their easy points,” Rohrbach said. “I expect this to be a defensive ball game and hopefully we execute late in the game to get it done.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “The name of the game is controlling nerves and making the right plays at the right time. It takes a complete team to win a state title and I feel we have what a team needs to get it done,” Rohrbach said. “We have some experience and we have some youth. Last season we were really young and it showed at times. This season we bring back a crew that has not only been here before, but is hungry for a better finish.”
Castlewood (20-3)
Head Coach: Paul Raasch
Starters/Key Reserves: Starters for the Wariors are Brody Bass 6-5 Sr., Will Aderhold 6-5 So, Leonard Wernke 6-6 Sr., Tyson Manley 6-2 Sr., and Kamden Keszler 6-3 Jr. Key reserves are Trevor Everson 5-9 So., and Kaden Nedved 6-1 Sr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: “The tournament is balanced and wide open,” Raasch said.
Assess your first-round matchup against Aberdeen Christian and the keys to winning that contest: “Aberdeen Christian is similar to us, a team with good overall size and solid guard play,” Raasch said. “They defend well. They have tourney experience from last year and have had a terrific year this season.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “We just try to keep things simple,” Raasch said, “approach each day and focus on that day’s opponent as they come, and block out all the other noise around it.”
Freeman (21-2)
Head Coach: Lance Friesen
Starters/Key Reserves: The Freeman starters are David Walter 6-5 So., Tate Sorensen 6-2 Sr., Luke Peters 5-11 Sr., Tayden Kerrigan 6-0 So., and Luke Miller 6-1 So. Key reserves for the Flyers are Oliver Waltner 6-4 Jr., Taylor Goodwin 5-9 Sr., Tannen Auch 6-1 Jr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: “This is a very balanced state tournament. I’d think those who have been there the past few years like Viborg-Hurley, Castlewood and De Smet might be slight favorites,” Friesen said. “But, Aberdeen Christian, Wall, Lyman and us were there last year, too. Obviously, Sully Buttes is talented as well.”
Assess your first-round matchup against Sully Buttes and the keys to winning that contest: “We play a really athletic, talented, and well-coached Sully Buttes team,” Friesen said. “They have a dynamic scorer in (Wesley) Wittler and a talented cast around him.” Friesen listed his keys to the contest: 1. No layups (Transition, especially Wittler), Sets (Backdoors), Offensive Putbacks; 2. Contest shots while staying down and in a stance; 3. Rebound the basketball; 4. Take care of the basketball while being aggressive offensively.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “Take care of the ball and rebound. It really is a simple game,” Friesen said. “We must take care of the ball better than we did last year.”
Sully Buttes (18-5)
Head Coach: Brian White
Starters/Key Reserves: Starters for the Chargers are Wesley Wittler 6-1 Sr., Gavin Colson 5-10 Sr., Jett Yackley 5-8 So., Easton Moore 6-3 Fr., and James Miles 6-2 Sr. Key reserves are Cooper Falkenhagen 6-3 Jr., Bretton Barber 5-8 Fr., and Karsen Miles 5-9 Fr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: “This is a loaded tournament. I think there are eight teams that could win this thing,” White said. “It’s all going to come down to who plays the best for three days in a row.”
Assess your first-round matchup against Freeman and the keys to winning that contest: “Freeman has some really good athletes who are pretty special,” White said. “We will have to play really well and try get them to difficult spots to score the ball.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “I say that there are always three things that lead to winning basketball: we will have to defend, rebound well, and take care of the basketball and limit turnovers.”
Wall (19-4)
Head Coach: Ryan Kjerstad
Starters/Key Reserves: Starters for the Eagles are Emmet Dinger 6-3 Sr., Dawson Handcock 6-4 Sr., Jace Mohr 6-0 Sr., Teelan Kjerstad 6-3 Jr., and Trevor Schulz 6-0 Sr. Key reserves are Younger Amiotte 6-1 Sr., Carter Sundall 6-1 Jr., and Austan Kjerstad 6-3 Sr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: “It’s wide open this year,” coach Kjerstad said.
Assess your first-round matchup against De Smet and the keys to winning that contest: “De Smet will be a fun matchup for us,” Kjerstad said. “They are a team unlike any we have played this year.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “We need to play our game,” Kjerstad said. “Pressure defense, create turnovers and play fast.”
De Smet (19-4)
Head Coach: Jeff Gruenhagen
Starters/Key Reserves: Starters for the Bulldogs are Grant Wilkinson 6-10 Sr., Slayten Wilkinson 6-2 Sr., Kolby Sinclair 5-9 Sr., Noah Luethmers 6-3 Jr., and Carter Wilkinson 6-6 Jr. The top reserve is Coy Van Regenmorter 6-1 Jr.
Is there a favorite to win the tournament: “I think the field is wide open this year again. Castlewood and Freeman seem to have the best balance across their stat lines and have a good physical lineup,” Gruenhagen said. “Viborg-Hurley has put together a lot of wins vs. the field so I think it will take great play to be at the top on Saturday. We have Grant Wilkinson who has just been a force for us all season and that alone gives us a chance to be in the mix.”
Assess your first-round matchup against Wall and the keys to winning that contest: “Wall is a unique team that can really put pressure on the ball. We need to be able move the ball and play inside – out style ball without turning it over for easy baskets in transition,” Gruenhagen said. “They really speed up the game and have so many good ballhandlers that solid team D will be important. They are long and very athletic pursuing offensive boards. We will have our hands full with their overall team speed.”
What will your team need to do to have a chance to win the championship: “I think we have a couple of keys to get us into the talk of state champs. We need to be able to take some of the pressure off Grant to score big numbers and hit some consistent perimeter shots to free up some space in the middle,” Gruenhagen said. “We will also need to rebound well and not allow a lot of second-chance points. Tracking down some long rebounds has gotten us into some problems this season allowing extra possessions some nights. As always, we need to play solid D and stop the ball from going right down the lane.”
