What If…..Top 250 Expo ND vs SD
Today in “What If” our topic goes back to the Top 250 Expo where we had one idea we would have like to added in hindsight, the North Dakota vs South Dakota final run.
The event had some talent from Minnesota and Iowa too with Steele Senske and James King but this would have been a fun Dakotas game. What would of the rosters looked like? We likely would of grabbed eight or nine from each state, played the same 20 or 30 minutes of running time, and got after it.
Rosters? Here is what they would of likely looked like (there were several more South Dakota kids than there were North Dakota kids seeing as this was in Sioux Falls but the kids wouldn’t have cared):
North Dakota
Josh Kihle (Burke County 2018), C
Mitchell Larson (Fargo Davies 2019), Wing
Jagger Miller (Devils Lake 2017), PF
Jordan Polynice (GFRR 2018), Wing
Devan Praska (Thompson 2017), Wing
Cody Robertson (GFRR 2017), PG
Tyrell Setness (Fargo Davies), PF
Mark Toe (GFRR 2017), PG
Brayden Uses Arrow (Solen 2017), Wing
South Dakota
Dillon Barrow (SF Lincoln, 2018), PG
Alex Fiegen (SF Roosevelt, 2017), PG
Ethan Freidel (Tea, 2017), Wing
Noah Freidel (Tea, 2019), Wing
Diang Gatlauk (SF Lincoln, 2018), Wing
Wil Johnson (Harrisburg, 2017), PG
Carter Kosiak (SF O’Gorman, 2017), PF – INJURED AT EVENT
Trevor Olson (Sioux Valley, 2018), Wing
Teddy Taylor (Flandreau, 2017), PF
Emmanuel Akot (SF Washington, 2018), PF/C
PG. SD would have the better talent at the spot but they wouldn’t have the edge you would think they would on paper. Mark Toe may have had the best day of any North Dakota player there and Cody Robertson competes harder than any. Problem is Dillon Barrow’s attack would be so hard to stop, Alex Feigen was an MVP candidate, and Wil Johnson is likely the most heady. SD gets the edge but not by as much as you would think.
Wing. This is close to a complete stalemate. Jordan Polynice and Diang Gatlauk did many of the same things also Diang did more explosive finishing and Jordan was more versatile, Mitchell Larson and Trevor Olson were so similar I got them confused a couple times, and then you have the Freidels against Uses Arrow and Praska. The Freidels would be the better pair and that is why we think SD by small bit.
Bigs. Big Josh Kihle and Emmanuel Akot went at it a lot in the event and had some great battles. Josh was best in event in the halfcourt around the basket so he gets the edge at center. At the four spot Ty Setness and Teddy Taylor was outstanding as Setness had the edge in bounce but Taylor was the scrapper. North Dakota gets the edge with Josh’s experience, and they have both Setness and Miller.
End. Most likely a South Dakota win by a couple scores but considering the energy was outstanding all day, we can imagine the energy for this scrimmage would have been incredible.