Voices of the Dakotas: Baller Q/A

There's no better way to understand the season than hearing directly from the players living it. For this feature, Prep Hoops Dakotas sat down with six ballers—three from North Dakota and three from South Dakota—who have been making noise and proving they're the real deal on the court.   Each player answered the same set of questions, offering insight into their mindset, development, and the grind of the season. These are talented hoopers with games to match, and their perspectives give a deeper look at what it takes to compete at a high level in the Dakotas.   Keep it rolling and Best Swishes!   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/QA.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/QA.jpg?w=865" alt="" class="wp-image-2508303" style="width:422px;height:auto" /></a></figure>    What has been the biggest focus for you personally this season?   "Being a leader and help my team in any way I can."   What's one area of your game you've seen the most improvement in?   "I think I have improved on getting to my spots on offense."   What does your team do well when you're playing your best basketball?   "I think we share well and run the floor, especially when we are getting stops."   Who's a teammate that deserves more recognition?   "[player_tooltip player_id='1863062' first='Najeh' last='Boyd'], he has stepped up in big moments when we are down players or need a big play made."   How do you stay locked in during the grind of the season—especially on tough weeks?   "Knowing that we have to stay focused and take it one day at a time."   What's something your coaches emphasize that really shows up on game nights?   "Playing a full 36 minutes and sharing the ball."   What's the biggest lesson basketball has taught you?   "To control what I can control."   What has been your favorite moment of the season so far?   "Hitting a full-court shot before halftime."   Favorite gym to play in (besides home)?   "Minot, it is a shooters gym."   What are you hoping to accomplish before postseason play begins?   "To keep getting better day by day as a team."     What has been the biggest focus for you personally this season?   "To improve in every aspect of the game. To become a better playmaker, rebounder, and to get stronger"   What's one area of your game you've seen the most improvement in?   "Defense, my coach has me guarding the other team's best player and I take pride in that."   What does your team do well when you're playing your best basketball?   "Making big stops defensively."   Who's a teammate that deserves more recognition?   "[player_tooltip player_id='1651920' first='Owen' last='Terras'], he does so much little stuff and plays the game right. He's always working hard on offense and defense."   How do you stay locked in during the grind of the season—especially on tough weeks?   "Don't worry about the past or last game, a new page turns, get ready for the next game, get good sleep, good practices, get my shots up, and focus."   What's something your coaches emphasize that really shows up on game nights?   "They really emphasize energy and intensity."   What's the biggest lesson basketball has taught you?   "Basketball has taught me the value of hard work. I think hard work will get me far in every aspect of life."   What has been your favorite moment of the season so far?   "Winning at Sheyenne! Huge crowd, great team win!"   Favorite gym to play in (besides home)?   "West Fargo Packers, they have the most negative fans (students and adults) and it gets me fired up."   What are you hoping to accomplish before postseason play begins?   "Win EDC and have 20 regular-season wins!"     What has been the biggest focus for you personally this season?   "I've been really focusing on being more controlled and patient when driving to the rim."   What's one area of your game you've seen the most improvement in?   "One area I've seen the most improvement in is rebounding and handling the ball under pressure."   What does your team do well when you're playing your best basketball?   "We move the ball very well and hunt for great shots and shut teams down with our defense."   Who's a teammate that deserves more recognition?   "I think [player_tooltip player_id='2708783' first='Karsen' last='Seyer'] deserves more recognition simply because when he's in the game, he is very dominant on the glass and is also a great scoring threat. He's good at executing offense and limiting mistakes. He also has a lot of mental maturity and strength."   How do you stay locked in during the grind of the season—especially on tough weeks?   "I stay locked in by focusing on the end goal, which is making it to the State Tournament and that always reminds me that we have to keep working and stay hungry for wins."   What's something your coaches emphasize that really shows up on game nights?   "Our coaches emphasize having toughness in the paint and controlled finishes around the rim and in game it shows how our players are willing to take contact and finish around defenders."   What's the biggest lesson basketball has taught you?   "The biggest lesson basketball has taught me is to always push through adversity and to keep your head up no matter what challenges you face."   What has been your favorite moment of the season so far?   "My favorite moment of the season so far was beating Mahpiya Luta because we were both undefeated teams at the time and the atmosphere was very fun to play in."   Favorite gym to play in (besides home)?   "My favorite gym to play in is Sturgis because it's a rivalry game and the atmosphere is always electric and it's always a good game."   What are you hoping to accomplish before postseason play begins?   "I'm hoping to accomplish a 3pt percentage of 40% throughout the regular season and also average at least 6 rebounds a game."     What has been the biggest focus for you personally this season?   "Have fun and finish on a high note. As well as make up for a lost season."   What's one area of your game you've seen the most improvement in?   "My post-game has been better, still not where I want it."   What does your team do well when you're playing your best basketball?   ""They defend hard. Constantly hold teams to 20-30% FG."   Who's a teammate that deserves more recognition?   "Tied between two in Ethen Zimmerman and Brody Magnuson. Brody has improved a ton offensively and is always trying to make the smart play. Ethen Zimmerman has improved so much overall as a basketball player and he's constantly guarding the best player on the other team."   How do you stay locked in during the grind of the season—especially on tough weeks?   "I make sure to keep myself reminded of who I do it for and how short the time I have left in my high school career."   What's something your coaches emphasize that really shows up on game nights?   "Defense and rebounding. We are constantly winning the rebounding battle."   What's the biggest lesson basketball has taught you?   "There's gonna be ups and downs throughout anything and you have to be willing to push through with what you have. As well as you can't do everything yourself, accept help from those around you."   What has been your favorite moment of the season so far?   "Winning a close game versus Velva while winning the rebounding battle by 30."   Favorite gym to play in (besides home)?   "Our Redeemers' gym because of the atmosphere and the super nice floor."   What are you hoping to accomplish before postseason play begins?   "I want to get each of the starters on my team a 15+ point game."     What has been the biggest focus for you personally this season?   "The biggest focus for me this season is confidence. It's everything to me and it's the one thing that can ruin your mindset. So I try to get my confidence at an all-time high to ensure the best of my abilities."   What's one area of your game you've seen the most improvement in?   "I have seen the most improvement from my game come in the paint. I feel like I'm pretty hard to guard going downhill and playing off of two feet in the paint. To piggy back off of that, playing off of two feet is the most underrated thing ever."   What does your team do well when you're playing your best basketball?   "Our team plays best when the ball is clicking and touching everyone's hands to make the defense move. When we each share the ball and get the best shot, that's when we are most dangerous."   Who's a teammate that deserves more recognition?   "Every one of my teammates deserves more recognition. I have total confidence in all of my teammates to make that next big play. We have so many talented shooters on our team and on any given night, it could be any of our nights. My teammates make the game really enjoyable for me."   How do you stay locked in during the grind of the season—especially on tough weeks?   "We as a team stay focused every week on our next game. We are a one game at a time team and every game we are looking to go 1-0. Coming off a tough loss against a good Warner team will help us get a reality check. We will need to focus on the smaller things every practice to win those close games. Basketball season is a very long season and there is a lot of time left to make something special happen."   What's something your coaches emphasize that really shows up on game nights?   "Defense is what we preach in practice and in games. Really good teams play tough defense and that has been an emphasis every game that our coaches talk about. Our 4 losses have all been poorly defensive games for us and making sure we stick to our system will help us moving forward."   What's the biggest lesson basketball has taught you?   "Basketball has taught me many things in life, but close basketball games show who you are as a person outside of sports. Down by a few points with a 2-3 minutes left. Will you fold to pressure or focus during the game? This shows the small battles you'll encounter in life and how you respond as a man."   What has been your favorite moment of the season so far?   "My favorite moment this year so far was watching my team win without me. We played Miller and I watched on the bench due to injury, but the excitement to watch the boys have fun without me and win in a thriller fashion was awesome. [player_tooltip player_id='2708717' first='Jett' last='Yackley'] had an outstanding night playing like a big time player he is. [player_tooltip player_id='2566561' first='Gavin' last='Colson'] hit a bucket to go up with very little time left. And Bretton Barber picked a kids pocket right in front of me and I jumped out of my chair in excitement."   Favorite gym to play in (besides home)?   "Gettysburg gym is my favorite away gym to play in. It's a big house that provides a lot of energy to feed from. I've seen that gym packed more than 3 times and it's a loud gym when it's packed. It's a tough gym to shoot in but I love the thrill of walking into that gym."   What are you hoping to accomplish before postseason play begins?   "Before post season. I'm hoping to win out the rest of our games and give us a chance in Regions to advance to the SoDak 16. We have a lot of time left to play our best ball, but before playoffs hit, I'm excited to keep playing for a chance to prove to ourselves that we are a really good team."     What has been the biggest focus for you personally this season?   "My biggest focus has been on how I can positively affect our team's success and what I need to do to make us the best we can be."   What's one area of your game you've seen the most improvement in?   "Probably being strong with the ball and not giving it away as much."   What does your team do well when you're playing your best basketball?   "Move the ball and get high-quality shots and second chances."   Who's a teammate that deserves more recognition?   "[player_tooltip player_id='2433394' first='Trevor' last='Everson'] because he is a great defender and he isn't selfish with the ball and scores when he needs to."   How do you stay locked in during the grind of the season—especially on tough weeks?   "I just try to block out the noise and focus on one game at a time."   What's something your coaches emphasize that really shows up on game nights?   "Just blocking out the noise and trusting his plan and focusing on playing our game and at our pace."   What's the biggest lesson basketball has taught you?   "How to work with others and deal with adversity."   What has been your favorite moment of the season so far?   "Probably just showing up to practice every day and everyone is positive and ready to work."   Favorite gym to play in (besides home)?   "Northern States' because the floors are really nice and are very bouncy, and the atmosphere is crazy."   What are you hoping to accomplish before postseason play begins?   "I'm hoping to help the team find its stride so we can be playing our best basketball come postseason."    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/NDSD.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/NDSD.jpg?w=865" alt="" class="wp-image-2950876" /></a></figure>

There's no better way to understand the season than hearing directly from the players living it. For this feature, Prep Hoops Dakotas sat down with six ballers—three from North Dakota and three from South Dakota—who have been making noise and proving they're the real deal on the court.