Lets turn our Dakota debate to the sport of basketball, and get started with North Dakota.
North Dakota's claim to fame in the sport of basketball comes from a guy who played in the NBA for 12 seasons, but is definitely better known for his work as a coach. Phil Jackson wasn't born in North Dakota, but grew up and attended high school in Williston ND. Phil, aka. the "Zen Master" has won nine NBA titles throughout his coaching career and is known for his holistic approach to the game as well as for his use of the triangle offense. Phil Jackson is a well known basketball name from the State of North Dakota. A few other well known names from ND are Lute Olson, a well known coach from the University of Arizona, Dale Brown, a long time coach for LSU, and Jeff Boschee, the states first McDonalds All American player and point guard for the Kansas Jay-Hawks.
We turn our focus to South Dakota:
We get things started with Mike Miller from Mitchell South Dakota. Mike played his college ball at the University of Florida and played for a national title. He was drafted fifth overall by the Orlando Magic and was selected as the 2001 rookie of the year. Mike won the leagues sixth man of the year award in 2005-2006 season and currently plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Eric Piatkowski is the next player on the South Dakota list. Piatkowski his from Rapid City SD and played his college ball at the University of Nebraska. He was drafted in 1994 to the Indiana Pacers and played in the League until 2006. With this list, SD has something unique, Beckey Hammon from Rapid City SD who plays in the WNBA. Hammon was the WAC player of the year as a member of Colorado State. She joined the NY liberty in 1999 and his currently playing for San Antonio.
With this topics decision, which Dakota has a better representation in the sport of baskebtall, I give this one to SD. The reason for this is because they simply have more athletes who have actually played in the league. If we were giving out a coaching award, the nod may go to ND, but in this case I award SD as the winner of this topic. Also, having men and woman in the professional sport of basketball helps. Sd gets my vote.
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I have to totally disagree with you on this one. How can you go against two, maybe three hall of fame coaches. Combined they have won many championships with Jackson having 11 titles(1 as an NBA Player, 1 as a coach in the CBA, and 9 as an NBA Coach), and Lute Olson having won a National Championship with the Arizona Wildcats in 1997. In terms of the Final Four, Lute went to 5 Final Fours and Dale Brown went to 2, with him coaching the 11th seeded LSU Tigers to the 1986 Final Four (the George Mason of that time). To me, for a small state like North Dakota, thats much better representation in basketball than what South Dakota could ever have, with no disrespect to Mike Miller and Becky Hammon.
ReplyDeleteSouth Dakota may have the better players, but they certainly do not have the better representation, that distinction definitely belongs to North Dakota.