If you know anything about high school basketball in South Dakota, then you definitely know about the State B boys’ basketball tournament held at Wachs Arena.

Well for me, being from California and not even knowing that Aberdeen was a city, the State Bs were completely foreign to me. I remember my first year at Northern in the fall of ‘21, spring of ‘22, we were on Spring Break while the State B tournament took place on campus.

I just remember seeing clips on social media of the atmosphere and I was just in shock seeing that many people show up for high school basketball. And every year after, State Bs were on our Spring Break, until this year.

I remember seeing the posts every year about how State Bs in Aberdeen is the best, and I always wanted to experience it, just never had the chance to. Well, this year turned out perfect. Not only was I in town for State Bs, but I got to cover it.

Growing up in California, I was always around elite high school basketball. The Ball brothers played at a high school half an hour from me, Bronny James was about an hour the other way, so there was always hype around these high school games. But the State Bs just had a different feeling about it.

It was the week of the State Bs and I slowly saw the Barnett Center changing. Wednesday came around and I went over to the Barnett Center after class to help Dave Vilhauer with some interviews at the shoot-around. I talked to a couple players and coaches, and could just tell that the way they talked about State Bs, they were something special.

I even noticed that there were media tables set out running the length of the court, which I have never seen at any Northern events. Thursday rolled around and we got a text from Coach Neer, our strength and conditioning coach.

“Fellas, today and tomorrow please go around to the front of the staircase when you come up to lift. The balcony will be closed due to the state basketball tournament.”

That’s when I knew that State Bs were going to be everything people said they were going to be. I pulled into the parking lot for the first game on Thursday at noon, Castlewood vs. Lyman. And the parking lot was packed already. I was thinking it’s noon on a Thursday, and I’ve never had to park this far away.

I parked all the way down by the stadium and walked into the Barnett Center that way and coming into the doors, you could just feel the energy. I even started to get nervous and I wasn’t even playing.

The crowd and student sections were already juiced up, at noon, on Thursday. I could only imagine what they’d be like later on in the tournament. On day two, I had to go tutor at 9 a.m., so I made sure I got myself a parking spot, because if the parking lot was packed on Thursday, it was going to be even more so on Friday. And I was right.

The energy Friday was even bigger than it was Thursday. I looked at the crowd at noon on Friday and thought to myself, “I think this is the most people I have ever seen in Wachs Arena.” And it wasn’t even Saturday night, yet.

I got to our team lift on Friday right after the noon game, and I had guys asking me, “How did the game end?” And these guys are not even from South Dakota, and they were interested in the consolation semifinals game. If these guys were interested, I couldn’t wait for how many people were going to be interested on Saturday.

And sure enough, Saturday came and there were even more people in Wachs Arena for the seventh-place game of Aberdeen Christian vs. Lyman. Both student sections were packed and chanting the entire game which fed into the atmosphere. But that wasn’t even the best it was going to be.

One of my teammates from Chicago asked me when the championship game started, and I told him 7:45, but get there about 6 because there’s not going to be any parking. I ended up getting there at 5:15, and had to park all the way down at Koehler Hall of Fame Field, past Dacotah Bank Stadium.

There were more people walking into the Barnett Center than I had ever seen. I covered the third-place game between Dell Rapids St. Mary and Wessington Springs, and it was insanely packed, insanely loud, and insanely fun.

Following that game, I stuck around for the championship game between Castlewood and Viborg-Hurley, and there were absolutely no seats open. I have been at Northern for four years now, and I have never seen Wachs Arena so packed. Good thing I had a seat at the media table.

I even took a video in the middle of the game (which I posted to Twitter), during a timeout, when the PA speaker played “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, and I’m sure Ipswich heard the singing. It was so loud, and the fans were so engaged, which made it that much better.

Long story short, State Bs lived up to the hype and did not sell me short one bit. Aberdeen is a great community for a tournament like this, and the support from every school is way better than I have ever seen. I think every game should be like State Bs.