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Midco Sports Net basketball analyst Brad Newitt and I decided to go old school and choose up teams on the playground. Any grade, any class, we had the freedom to pick our top five players in the state, but we had to alternate picks. We'll show you the process on Varsity Sports Now tonight at 7pm so set your DVRs. Now that we've chosen up sides we need your input. We obviously considered dozens of other players who didn't make our list. It's your job to let us know what you think of our teams.

We'll start with South Dakota Boys.

Brad got first pick and went with the athletic and smooth, Skyler Flatten, then added three more small school players to his roster before picking up Ben Schultz from Brandon with his last pick.

Skyler Flatten – Clark/Willow Lake

Wyatt Krogman – White River

(6-1 Sr. G) Skye Warwick – St. Thomas More

Shayne Gottlob – McCook Central 17.7ppg  11.6 rpg

(6-3 Sr. G) Ben Schultz – Brandon Valley 18.5 ppg

Jason went after the injured but dominant big man, junior Zach Hanson. He then went with four back court players all from Class AA.

#40 (6-9 Jr. F/c) Zach Hanson - Pierre 15.5 ppg, 9.1 rpg
#24 (6-0 Jr. G) Tanner Heiser - Watertown Set a school record with 44 pts 2/9/12
#5 (5-8 Sr. PG) Joey Habtemeriam - Washington 14p.1 ppg 4.6 apg
#4 (6-0 Sr. G) Connor Schaefbauer – O’Gorman 16.6 ppg
#25 (6-5 Jr. G/F) Lane Severyn – Pierre 12 ppg, 6 rpg

North Dakota Boys

Brad's team started off with the best post player in the state, Dexter Werner. Then he chose high flyer Mack Arvidson before finishing his roster off with guards Jacob Hagler, Andrew Kozlowski and Nate Mertens.

Dexter Werner – Bismarck (6-5 Sr. PF) 20.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg both lead WDA; Gatorade POY 2010-11 and going to NDSU
Mack Arvidson – Red River  (6-2 Sr. G) 20.0 ppg 43 3’s made Led Red River to #1 ranking, great dunker and 3-shooter
Jacob Hagler – North Star (6-2 Jr. G) 28.9 ppg  6.6 rpg, 6.3 apg, 3.7 spg 45 3’s
Andrew Kozlowski – (6-0 So. G) Fargo Davies 19.5 ppg  4.3 apg, 6.2 rpg / two-time Varsity Sports Now player of the week.
Nate Mertens – Devils Lake 21.1 ppg, 5.9 apg 2.6 spg
Jason chose A.J. Jacobson as his cornerstone then added two big-time shooters with Devin Coyle and Melvin Langstaff. He finished off the roster with Mike Paulson and junior David Olson.

A.J. Jacobson – Shanley (6-5 Jr. G) 24.7 ppg, 11.1 rpg leads, 3.3 bpg all lead EDC; 4.4 apg, 2.4 spg
Devin Coyle – Mandan (6-0 Sr. G) 19.6 ppg     46 3’s leads conf
Melvin Langstaff – (5-10 Sr. G) Warwick. 40 ppg (1,781 career points)
Mike Paulson – Hatton –Northwood (6-5 Sr. G) 23.4 ppg 8.3 rpg, 3.6 apg 2.2 spg 55% FG
David Olson – GF Central 20.8 ppg 10.7 rpg