Getting the number one seed often means that being the favorite coming into the State B Boys’ Basketball Tournament, but Viborg-Hurley coach Shane Warwick isn’t sure that’s the case this year.

“Typically, you could say (the one seed) is an advantage, but this year I think the whole field is wide open,” Warwick said.

At the end of the season, four different teams received first-place votes in the final poll, showing just how deep the field is this season.

Viborg-Hurley will open the tournament as the top seed against eighth-seeded Lyman, but according to Warwick, it’s not the typical one versus eight matchup.

“It’s not really a one-eight game and I think everybody feels that way,” Warwick said. “There are people picking Lyman to win and it’s a little bit unusual just because it’s such a balanced field.”

The Cougars were just one game away from winning a state championship, losing to Castlewood in last year’s state final. But even after coming so close, Warwick says that the deep run last year doesn’t really give his team any extra edge over the competition.

“It’s a whole new team, whole new setup,” Warwick said. “Our point guard from a year ago is now the center, so our size is gone and it’s a completely new setup.”

While Viborg-Hurley features some state tourney experience, so does just about everybody else.

“Six teams are back in the State B Tournament from last year,” Warwick said. “So, do I think experience at the state tournament helps? Absolutely, but you could look at a lot of these teams and they’re the same teams coming back and that’s not the case for us.”

Warwick’s also not delivering a specific message to his team during this run; he just wants his guys to be themselves.

“We don’t want to change what we’ve done,” Warwick said. “It’s been a resilient group all year long and we’ve won a lot of close games, overtime games, come from behind games. It’s just kind of been a group that hasn’t quit. So that’s one thing that will serve them well, not only in the basketball season, but in life.”

Cordell Vitense

TRYING TO WIN ANOTHER STATE TITLE

It’s always been a memorable year for a few members of the Freeman basketball team. Some of them were part of a state championship for the Freeman-Marion-Freeman Academy football team last fall.

While the quest may be the same, the expectation level was a bit different for football as the squad rolled through its schedule undefeated on the way to the state title.

“Football we were for sure the favorites. … Basketball is definitely up in the air. I feel like state Bs this year could be anyone’s honestly,” said junior Tate Sorensen. “We have the best record in B right now … but when it comes to state, every single one of us eight teams here are here for a reason. You’ve got to go into every game thinking we’re the eighth seed, they’re the one seed. We gotta take ’em down. That’s what we did with football, too, thinking we are the worst team here, they are way better than us.”

Sorensen, who played tight end and on the defensive line in football, is a bit undersized as a post player, but it is evident he has bulked up by lifting weights.

“I’ve been in love with the weight room since my freshman year,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot bigger obviously, that’s just a blessing in itself, but carrying over to basketball I honestly like being in the post. I’m 6-2, I’m always going against someone taller than me.”

Footwork is also a key on the gridiron and Sorensen uses that skill to help him in the lane as well.

“With the big boys I’m going to face, I’m going to have to use that to my advantage,” he said.

Teammate Luke Peters was also a big part of the football team from his running back and linebacker spots. He said football and basketball are different, because football is just one bus ride and one game, compared to extended nights in a hotel with three games in basketball.

“It’s kind of a different mentality, kind of a different preparation for it,” Peters said, “but same goal.”

He said basketball coach Lance Friesen sometimes uses football terms to help the basketball team.

“Friesen sometimes likes to say, when the shot goes up it’s like (snapping the ball), saying hut,” Peters said. “The play starts then almost, so you don’t want to give up on it. Just working hard and being aggressive.”

Like Sorensen, Peters knows how special it is to be able to compete in a state tournament, especially as he prepares to close out his senior season.

“I’m grateful to be back here … I maxed out the amount of games I have my senior year,” he said, “so that’s pretty sweet.”

Dave Vilhauer

FIVE SEED IN NAME ONLY

State sporting events are seeded with traditionally the team with the best record being the top seed and working its way in numerical order down to the lower seeds.

This year’s seeding has a unique twist to it. Castlewood finished the season as the top-rated team in the final poll. The Warriors are also defending state champions, and yet they enter this year’s tournament as the fifth seed.

“I don’t really know how it worked out that way, because we went 20-3,” said Castlewood coach Paul Raasch. “Last year we were 20-2 and one seed. A lot of teams had great years, and had great schedules.”

Raasch said being a five seed does not give his players any extra motivation heading into today’s state tournament.

“You don’t need anything to get motivated for a state tournament,” Raasch said. “We’re happy to be here and we’re in the hunt, and just the draw ended up the way it did and we’ve got to go play it.”

Raasch said being the defending state champion provides his players with confidence, but also puts a target on their backs.

“I think it brings a confidence to us. We know we’ve done it before and most of these guys were a part of it on the team last year and a couple of them were starters,” Raasch said. “We’re going to lean on that experience, but we also understand that everybody’s out to get us, too, have been all year long though, so it’s no different in this tournament.”

Being the fifth seed may mean that the Warriors will be considered underdogs in most games throughout the tournament, but Raasch doesn’t pay attention to that.

“We don’t look at underdogs or favorites or anything. We just look at opponents and try to go 1-0 that day like everybody else,” said Raasch, who’s team faces Aberdeen Christian in the opening round at 12:45 this afternoon. “We have a strong opponent in front of us the first round and we know that. I think it’s a really good matchup on paper. Both teams have size and pretty good guard play, and so it should be a fun one.”

Dave Vilhauer

TWO STATE TITLES IN HAND, CHASING A THIRD

Even though Wall senior forward Trevor Schulz hasn’t won a State B basketball title yet, he has plenty of experience at winning state championships.

Schulz is a two-time state champion, with the first championship coming last May in golf, followed by a championship in football just over six months later in November.

“(A state basketball championship) would just be a really big thing to add,” said Schulz. “It would be pretty special to have three things, basically like a Grand Slam.”

Schulz thinks that being in those other championship situations will help him going into this year’s State B Tournament, because he knows what it’s like winning a state title, having already done so in other sports.

“(The championship experience) has helped me a lot, actually. I just lose all the pressure off my shoulders,” Schulz said, “because I’m just used to being in the moment while having pressure on my shoulders.”

Even with golf and basketball being polar opposite sports, Schulz says there is still a link between the two that he can use to help improve.

“Golf is really mental and the same thing with basketball. … Just having confidence in yourself,” Schulz said. “Then once you get that confidence, it just keeps rolling and then you feel like no one can stop you.”

When asked what Wall needs to do in the tournament, Schulz responded, “Work as a team and everyone do your job. And we know what we can do when everyone shoots well and plays well. I think we have a really good chance of winning.”

Gavin Colson of Sully Buttes is also trying to add a third state championship to his resume. The senior finished second to Schulz at last spring’s State B golf tourney after winning the state title the year before, and also played on a state championship football team for the Chargers in 2004.

Tannen Auch of Freeman tied for eighth at last year’s state golf tournament.

Cordell Vitense