North Dakota Class B Boys Basketball - Ain't That Special

For most of my adult life I have been in a profession that usually has had some relationship with news, weather and/or sports in the upper Midwest.  Add to that fact that I have lived in the barren wasteland for my entire life (40+ years).  There has always been one annual occurrence in this state that was once hyped as the greatest sporting event in the state, rivaling the once annual UND-NDSU football game (which is no more).  It was the North Dakota State High School Class B Boy's Basketball tournament.

Yes, at one time the Class B Boy's bb tourney was a fun little tournament ... and not because you would get to see some up and coming basketball stars, but because it was full of dreams, Cinderella stories and an entire town's pride.  You see, prior to the mid-1980's the class b tourney was made up of small towns that dotted North Dakota.  Braddock, Linton, Beach, Belcourt, Rugby, Wilton, etc. and these schools would have a basketball team that often times wouldn't be more then 6 or 7 boys.  These small schools, especially during tournament time, all seemed to be equal and every game was a thriller, coming down to the last second.  The tournament site would be packed for every game, from 5th place to first place and why?  Because the entire town that these schools were from would come to watch their school play and when I say I mean the entire town, I mean the entire town would close, pack up and go to the tournament site.  It was once a boon for whatever city would host the Class B tournament ... not so much so anymore.  When living in Bismarck, a popular Class B site, in the early '80's the city would be crawling with people from these small towns and with the basketball site within a block of the largest shopping center in the town, the Class B folks were in heaven and the stores were loving it as well.

But it was about the late 80's, as I was going through high school, that the "luster" of the Class B that was incessantly preached to me was beginning to wear on me.  I began to tire of local sports fans that would, with great bravado, declare that the ND Class B Boys tournament is WAAAAAAYYYYY better than the Class A Boys or any other ND high school tournament in general.  It was far superior to any other high school event in this state.  I began to make note of their declarations and am ready to say that the Class B Boys tournament is no better and no worse than the Class A tournament or any other tournament for that matter.  Yes, at one time the ND Class B was probably the premiere high school event in the state but that is so far from the truth today.

First, I began to notice that the Class B boys bb games were pretty boring and very sloppy...certainly not these exciting nail-biters that once happened on a regular occurrence in the past.  It was also during this time that schools begin to combine to save money.  No longer is there just one small community school but a multi-community school, some schools made up of 5 or more smaller towns.  This essentially striped each school of its own identity.  So now none of the residents go to the tournament unless they have a friend or family member on the team.

And now we fast forward to the 21st century.  North Dakota high schools have gone through a myriad of reclassifying schools and changes still continue to be talked about so change is likely to continue...but what has happened is many of the "smaller schools" in the largest cites that are classified as a Class B school now dominate the scene.  Schools that once were Class A schools in larger cities as well as private schools in the larger cities are now all dominate in the basketball tournament... teams from Fargo, Minot, Bismarck, Dickinson and so on, make up much of the bracket these days.

You factor in both those elements, the multicommunity school and the large city schools that have had a strong presence in Class B basketball and you will be able to see why the Class B Boys BB Tournament is no longer the jewel of ND High School Sports, but what frustrates me the most is that many people and media outlets still try and present the Class B Boys tourney as if it were and the Class B hasn't been relevant in probably 20+ years and those that continue to trumpet its awesomeness are nothing more than morons that don't know any better.