North Dakota Playoff Central: March 1
All eyes of North Dakota basketball fans are on the Bismarck Civic Center this evening as the WDA Tournament quarterfinals take center stage.
The Big Stage. Bismarck Civic Center. The games are Minot vs Turtle Mountain, Dickinson vs Bismarck St. Mary’s, Bismarck Century vs Mandan, and Bismarck Legacy vs Bismarck. The 1/8 game (Minot and Turtle Mtn) starts at 3pm today and the games run in 90 minute intervals the rest of the evening
Upset Alert. I know Mandan beat Century earlier in the year but I’m looking closer at Legacy and Bismarck in that 4/5 game. Bismarck is the 4 because they’ve beaten Legacy twice this year but they won those games by a combined four points and six points. The teams played a tight game just last week. Anything could happen as beating a team three straight times is very tough.
Name to Watch. Trae Steckler. Century is the deeper team so Mandan will need more from Steckler than some of his talented counterparts will have to do for their team. And Trae has shown several times that he can give the Braves big performances.
Century Watch. Does Minot or Dickinson hit the century mark tonight? The Midgets scored 93 on St. Mary’s in January while Minot had 102 against Turtle Mountain in January. That said, but St. Mary’s and Turtle Mountain played Dickinson and Minot much closer in the February game.
Tuesday Surprises. Just about everything went according to plan on Tuesday although GFRR knocked of Devils Lake in the 4-5 game meaning it was a tiny upset. Devils Lake won the previous two games so that was important for GFRR. Now GFRR has Davies, Devils Lake gets South hoping to get their two wins that way.
Tip of the Cap to the Career. Michael Ueland was a nice player for Central Cass during his career. He scored a team high 17 in the loss to Maple Valley on Monday. Ueland had a nice year for the 9-12 Squirrels.