Red Cloud, White River selected 1-2 for boys, Pine Ridge, Red Cloud 1-2 for girls

RAPID CITY - Last year's basketball season wrapped up with the state tournaments in mid March, then there was spring ball and then summer ball and now after resting August and September its time to look ahead to the 2008/09 basketball season. The Lakota nation did just that on Saturday, Oct. 4 when coaches and school administrators gathered in Rapid City at the civic center to seed the upcoming 32nd annual Lakota Nation tourney set for December 17-20.

Red Cloud was overwhelmingly selected the number one seed for the boys tournament, White River who lost in the championship game last year was named number two. Pine Ridge, the two time defending girls champion, was selected the number one seed for the girls with last year's runner up, Red Cloud chosen the number two seed.

After a short discussion, the gathered coaches and school representatives voted unanimously to have every game for both girls and boys use a 35 second shot clock and play 18 minute halves. Research shows that 18 minute halves actually will shorten the time a game takes and partnered with a shot clock actually has been found to be a more entertaining game for the fans.

The bracket for the boys includes: game one-Red Cloud (1) vs. Takini (16) at 10 a.m., game two-White River (2) vs. Crazy Horse (15) at 11:30 a.m., game three-Little Wound(3) vs. Flandreau Indian(14), game four-Pine Ridge(4) vs. Lower Brule(13) at 2:30 p.m., game five Cheyenne Eagle Butte(5) vs. Crow Creek(12) 4 p.m., game six Standing Rock(6) vs. St. Francis(11) 5:30 p.m., game seven Omaha Nation (7) vs. Hill City (10) 7 p.m. and game eight Custer (8) vs. Todd County (9) at 8:30 p.m..

"Some people will be surprised that Red Cloud is number one and White River is number two," said Chuck Wilson, athletic director at Todd County, "but both those schools have built a program Red Cloud lost seven seniors, five of them starters but Matt Rama's program has a number of talented, taller and experienced young men to fill the gap left by five seniors who have gone on to play college ball and Eldon Marshall at White River lost the most prolific scorer the state has ever seen in Louie Krogman but he too has a program that has developed a number of players and will have another strong team."

Pine Ridge girls played all spring and summer and return Lacey Weston, Saadia Tasso, Christian and Alliey Janis and head coach Dusty LeBeau while Red Cloud graduated two seniors that went to Bismarck State to play ball they return Marque Lunderman, an all state player who led the Lady Crusaders to the last two State A tournaments and a solid supporting cast including Kristy Boltz, Desirae Blacksmith, Josie Johnson and Saige Pourier.

The bracket for the girls includes: game one-Pine Ridge(1) vs. Crazy Horse (16) 10 a.m., game two-Red Cloud (2) vs. Flandreau Indian (15) 11:30 a.m., game three-Little Wound (3) vs. Lower Brule (14) 1 p.m., game four-St. Francis (13) vs. Cheyenne Eagle Butte (4) 2:30 p.m., game five-Standing Rock (5) vs. Omaha Nation(12) 4 p.m., game six- Todd County (6) vs. Takini (11) 5:30 p.m., game seven- Crow Creek (10) vs. Custer.(7) 7 p.m. and game eight-White River (8) vs. Hill City (9) 8:30 p.m..

This year the Lakota Nation will have the use of the new second arena which is scheduled to be completed on Dec. 1. All games except for a couple on Friday because of the grand entry and a couple on Saturday morning will be played under the civic center roof. There will be two reunions on Friday of the tournament, Dec. 19; there will be a reunion of players who played for Dave Strain at Rapid City Central and a reunion for players and coaches who participated in the state Catholic tournaments from 1937 to 1964.

Heart of the Earth/Oh Day Aki is gone and replaced by Omaha Nation (Macy, Neb.), one of the first teams participating in the original All Indian tournaments.

The dress code was reviewed by the gathering and teams will be encouraged to follow the code throughout the entire tournament, even after the last game on Saturday. All teams participating, no matter what the event, are encouraged to follow the dress code.