ND Playoff Central: Feb 24th, The Next Season
It may still be February but we are entering March Madness time as playoff basketball starts in North Dakota tonight! With the playoffs always comes Playoff Central!
North Dakota Playoff Central. District play starts this evening with ten different districts kicking off play in addition tonight’s WDA Tournament pigtail game between Turtle Mountain and Williston (8 vs 9 game). No starting slowly tonight, we have kicked things off in full swing!
The Big Stage. Tonight’s pigtail game between Turtle Mountain and Williston should be a double figure win if past games are an indicator. Turtle Mountain is not only at home, but they have beaten Williston by 14 and by 15 points this year. Expect a similar result with the winner joining the play at the Bismarck Civic Center.
Ten Districts start play this evening at the Jamestown Civic Center (District 5), Hazleton, Devils Lake High, Langdon, Mandan High, Washburn High, Rugby High, Minot Auditorium, Williston High, and in Crosby.
It’s not often you see a 4 vs 5 seed game of 5 win teams but that will happen tonight when LLM takes on Oakes in District 5. One of the best games of the night starts at 6 when Rolla and LEM tip off in a really good 4 vs 5 match-up between 11 win teams in District 8.
Our Redeemer is one of only a few one seeds playing tonight. They take on South Prairie in the Minot Auditorium. Des Lacs Burlington beat Surrey 98-27 the last time they played. Could be ugly tonight in District 12 which could have some excellent semi-finals.
In District 16 Burke County is having one of their best seasons in a long time at 10-9. They split the season series so I would expect this to be the game of the night. Ray comes in at 8-11 but if they can get Josh Kihle in foul trouble the Ray Jays could have the edge.
Name to Watch. Kaedyn Hanson. Stanley crushed Tioga 70-38 the first time around and tonight could be a massive game for Kaedyn who will have no opponent on the Pirates who can physically match-up with him.
Upset Watch. I would say watch for White Shield who was able to score on North Shore the last time they played. This is a 3-6 game that will likely go the way of the Wildcats but of North Shore has trouble scoring this could be the upset of the night.
Tip of the Hat to the Career. Most nights we will say good bye to a solid senior player who had his career ended but his school will likely never forget. Of course nobody has been eliminated yet so we say good luck to all.