ND-fan

I see that DJ Davis is committing to Moorhead State. It’s been quiet on replacement of assistant coach and few remaining roster spots. SDSU looks to be monster of team for next year and may be one of the best Summit conference has had. NDSU should be number two team but with loss of Heaven Hamling through graduation and Ellie Evan’s through the portal will need to have several girls step up to keep them in second place. ORU should improve but will need to play some defense. USD with Larkins will be in the top four. Rest of Summit conference will all battle to compete with top four. This going to be critical year for Mallory if she will have future at UND. The AD is going to have to be on top this program. I still believe if UND can start put together teams that can compete in Summit and be considered for NCAA tournaments this could become one of most successful sports. But it’s going to take improvement in coaching and AD developing this program. let’s face it Basketball is fan favorite if you have teams that compete look how popular women’s basketball with NCAA was this year.

I have been thinking about the transfer portal and how we could get some equity for small mid majors when they take risk to develop players out of high school. This would be for basketball for both men and women because of how basketball development of player is unusual. I think there needs to be contract between schools and player where if they commit to the school as high school graduate they are required to stay 3 years but here is where it gets interesting the first year would be considered red shirt year so in effect these players would get 5 years of eligibility. Like so many of the mid majors are all saying they would just want to keep player 3 years. Now for player who hates school in first year they can transfer but have to sit a year before they could play again. I think this could work because power schools would have players fully ready to play and still have two years for them on their schools. This gives players another year to develop their talents and would surely mean most would graduate with a degree and chance to receive NIL money for their years of playing college basketball. The thing about this would allow mid majors chance of having players to compete in NCAA tournament. We already have seen the fifth year of eligibility can work with the COVID 5th year and how that has brought up the level of play. The reason for sitting year if they transfer is because of getting extra year of eligibility it’s way to detour players transferring early and think it could stand up because it’s contract and they are getting something in exchange for it. The schools that could offered this would be schools coming from one bid conferences where schools from power conferences would be recruiting on present rules or they could also add option of red shirt season where players could play so many games to have similar amount of eligibility but in all likely hood not get playing time if went to mid major. I am sure I have missed a lot of problems in doing this but if we are going to be feeder to power schools we need to balance this out where we at least get year of development we invested in these players and we can stay competitive. I think this could be done down to division II level as well or we are going see same thing done to them by mid majors under present system.

I believe this could be a good fit for the team she tall and moves well and will provide person to play on inside and outside plus provide us with some rebounding. I think if we can find couple of more players like her ready to play and start it will be big help. This puts pressure on some of players on roster they are going to need to improve if they want to continue to play significant minutes. The sooner they can find right roster players for this team and find next assistant coach sooner they can start turning this team around. They need to work on getting established offense and also get this team to play good team defense this has to start very fundamentals with this team. Second, they need to work on shooting, and this has to be combined with type of offense they are going to run. They need players there for whole summer working on basketball and playing together. I hope our new athletic director of training can add some to team by helping them improving jumping, quickness and strength improving there performance on the court too.

That shows Dave Richmond had serious problems going on with his team last year in the locker room. I think his basketball style has been winning formula in the past, but problem is finding players who are going to buy into this style. It has helped in past when they were winning but last couple of years that hasn't been the case. I also think with the portal he is going to have hard time finding players that want to go through his style of basketball for four years. I also think he has been losing his fan base too because his style is not very fun type of basketball with low scoring and real physical games of defense. I wonder if he can adapt to the changes in college basketball with the portal and not having kids, he developed from high school leaving earlier for number of different reasons.

see another transfer from Summit Touko Tainamo from Denver is in the portal. The drain continues from the Summit in talent.

Long term in my eyes have changed because we have several major changes in Bubba tenure he took over the program when it was pretty low as it had been going back to the time of Pat Behrns tenure as head coach at UND. I look after that it took nearly 10 years to become power in Division II and after that another 5 years to win national championship. But Bubba turned program around to where they won Big Sky championship but then we had where whole athletic department had to be reorganized and there were cuts to programs not good time for UND athletics. Then UND switched conferences but football played conference schedule but not part of the conference. Then they played independent schedule for a year not good for team trying to recruit and retain players where there is no media presence for the program. Not lot of the coaches would have stayed under those circumstances especially two years. Then we come to entering the Missouri Valley Conference the toughest conference in FCS Football after two year period a team without conference home. Then add in Covid opening season in Missouri Valley and extra covid years for eligibility we have at least 3 to 4 lost seasons to build a program. Then look where we are at we have team that is top 10 to 15 in FCS football with chance to continue to move up to be one of the elite teams in FCS football. The problem is our two closest rivals have had more success and have won multiple championships we haven't and people are impatient they wanted it now. People forget it takes time and UND is finally putting together commitment in facilities and funding now to make that next jump and with that finding the talent to put on the field to win national championship. This is not to mention of era NIL, transfer portal, and getting funding to build a program. Take a look around how many of teams in FCS football that were good teams have gone way backwards that were powers in this division of football.

It maybe unscientific but with that many responding basically from the region it does show there is majority of people that support and appreciate what Bubba has done for UND football. I think majority understand that UND rebuild is long term because of funding support and for us to gain reputation of being top FCS program to gain in recruiting battles to come to get top talent to compete. This has been shown by alumni and fans in recent and current facilities improvements to help in this goal of getting more top recruits. The next step is funding program that players are equal in support and enmities that other programs they’re competing against. I think people trust Bubba on these things because he is invested In North Dakota and not for his own personal gain to just move on with short term success but build legacy here at North Dakota. I know many here don’t understand this but this is how many things have been built here in North Dakota.

I think balance UND has between high school and transfer is about right we should be looking to have one or two high school kids a year trying to find talent because power 5 schools are just going to be made up of transfers and very high-end high school seniors that need a year or two before declaring for the draft. This should leave a lot very talented high school players that can give you a year or two before they move on. Getty back to Und they will probably be looking for four on average transfers a year that will play right away and along with high school kids that we develop could put teams together that compete in the conference. The next reason for not getting to many transfers you're going to have dissention because of playing time with to many transfers. I would wait reserve my judgement on freshman on this team we have not seen them play any minutes of division I basketball, but they have whole season playing against some pretty good division I talent that was on this team. Look at the kids jumping from division II to division I basketball many of these kids were thought not to be talented to play up level but have developed to where they are becoming very good players. The same may happen with these kids and if they don't many will leave to play at level where they can play significant minutes. I also think day of scholarship number for teams is by gone requirement and maybe where the small mid-major can us NIL money to pay for extra players above scholarship levels set by NCAA. NCAA is losing control of college sports as the courts have ruled against them it's going to come down to colleges or big conferences putting forth rules that NCAA will then enforce. The way college sports were structured I believe will pretty much only exist at Division III level where there is little money and anyone school that does have money to do what happening in Division I and II will be forced to move up like ST. Thomas did with the Summit conference. I also think number of schools that are division I will soon decide they can't compete and have money to stay at that level. I hate to say it that could mean UND with a lot of schools in the Summit Conference especially when you look at the amount of money it's going to require to stay at that level and because of geographic reasons because population to draw television and fan support. Second finding the money from businesses and donors to fund NIL to compete with large institutions. The next few years are going to be very interesting.

Let's look at coming season where we are at now in the Summit conference and compared to other teams in the conference. The Summit conference as it stands now with transfer out the conference were looking at conference with all the teams in major rebuild mold and for the most part will be filled with either high grads or transfers. I look at SDSU they have only 6,7,8, people of the bench and group of redshirt freshmen coming in so far and coach that could leave not good positions to be in for next season. Kc has Jamar Brown and number of other players returning so far and coach Menzies looks like he thrives by putting players together from portal by far now strongest team in the Summit. Und retains Eaglestaff, King, and Kuljuhovic and Mayar from past season but will need to fill in loss of Omot, Ihenacho, and Brooks off the team. If they can find talent to fill in, they could battle with KC. St. Thomas I think they will be respectable, but the loss of graduating talent will be interesting see what they have for talent and what they are bringing in for talent. NDSU losing the number of players they have I think has to be Richman sort of nightmare where he wants to build program with his type of players and play their careers at NDSU. He is going to have to look to portal fill immediate needs and wonder how all the chemistry going forth for the team and second if he can get performance he demands from his players. I think they struggle next season and how he puts a team together in this new age of basketball. Denver has as it now stands 5 top seven returning, and number younger players should be ready to step up. The question will they be able to make up for the loss of Brunner and Brenchley both players provided a lot of leadership and scoring. I would put them probably at preseason number 2. Omaha is pretty much in total rebuild. Finally South Dakota I think they have fair nucleolus to build around but will need to find another big post player or two compete but probably tied with UND sitting now in the third preseason position in the conference. I think definitely we will see somebody new winning the conference this year.

I wonder if Hendo is going to stay at SDSU or will be looking to move on. They have Kyle III moving on then if Zeke Mayo leaves they have only Garry, Barnhart, and Mors returning with experience number of redshirt freshman returning not the experienced teams he has coached since taking over. I see he is one of the top 5 being reported to be considered for the Drake job and it would be move up and keeps in the same recruiting area and place basically to raise a family.

I see other schools are talking to transfers are we doing that now or are we interviewing coaching candidates. It seems to me with number of things that needs to be fixed we need to higher some coaches and hit the roads, telephones, and what other means to find some immediate help on roster construction. They have to know what they need to find to improve this team. They need couple of 6' to 6'2" guard/forwards that shoot and handle to ball well and then play some defense. Then they could use experienced point guard that can play right now because they have to be expecting Schiller becoming future for this team long term to play point guard. Then we need to start working with Pemberton, Horne, and Beal developing their talents on offense and defense. The sad thing about this is Mallory is starting her fourth year and I think were farther away from developing the program since she was hired. It was like she took the year off last year forgot about roster construction, teaching youth how to run offense and play defense. I would say she left that all to Kacie to teach as player and then expect to her to carry all the scoring for the team. This is her season now to prove she deserves to be in charge of this program, and I don't know if she is capable of doing all that in one year.

If SDSU has Zeke Mayo and William Kyle III transfer which there have been talk of pretty much drains the Summit of their talent since the Summit League tournament. The only schools left returning bulk of players for next season would be KC and South Dakota. SDSU would be left with 3 players they had coming off the bench and young group of redshirt freshmen and whoever they recruited coming in. NDSU will have Jacari White, Wheeler Thomas, and Fedderson returning but big whole to fill out remaining spots in line up and reserve rolls for the team. UND is similar in King, Eaglestaff, and Kuljuhovic but needing people to fill out the roster and supporting roles. Omaha will be building almost from scratch with the portal hits they have had. St. Thomas lost through graduation and still building for when they can play for tournament trip. Denver has several pieces coming back, but they will need to find talent to compete. I don't see how conferences like Summit become relevant in post season play way portal is structured and amount P-5 schools can generate for NIL money to acquire players and stockpile talent every year. The mid majors would be better off getting multiple entries into NIT and let P-5 schools playing in the NCAA tournament that are in NIT tournament. Gone are the days when Mid Major could recruit build a team that could make run for couple years in the NCAA tournament. The talent is not going to be here at this level long enough to win anything, but it would be NIT tournament.

Has anyone heard what Mallory is looking for in assistant coaches since she let her two new coaches go right after the season. There has to be some scuttle but around the program that media must know something. Second so far, I have been surprised we haven't seen more players in the portal but maybe some are waiting around to see who will be coming in before they make a decision. Chaves has been quite on all fronts for the athletic department with exception of extending Bubba in football.

Elijah Brooks going in the portal anyone hear where he thinks he is heading for. I thought his best move would have been to play here next year because his playing time would have gone up and he would have gain some recognition. I don't see him catching better ride in division I basketball. His other choice would be going to division II school and gaining playing time and making a big enough splash moving up his senior year. The truth being known he should have done that this year where he could have played two years and having that final year up.

If she hasn't change her field of study UND does have courses and degrees she has on her bio at USD. Plus, we have medical school if she decides to go further in her area of study. I would think that there has to be limited number of schools that her area of study and would have openings on their basketball team.

www.thenexthoops.com/fearures/2023-24-transfer-portal-tracker-ncaa-womens-basketball/#Summit is the site I was looking at now it was just updated today. I initially found it on the USD forum site today with there discussion on her and another girl transferring. I think we are going to see more transfers in next few days from number of teams in the Summit and neighboring conferences. I don’t think it will be bad for us it may give us chance to reconstruct this roster and get talent more ready to play.

So far I see on the portal sites that Cottingham and Davis are in the transfer portal . I was guessing this for Cottingham when she didn’t dress for summit tournament. Davis I also thought was possibility her level of play had declined and her shooting was not there this year. These two openings are necessary for coming year if Mallory is going to improve this team immediately. We need to see proven talent brought in ready to play. I see that Walker Demers is in the portal I don’t know if she would be what we’re looking for but she does fit in with experience and has ability to play four or five position and be able to rebound. Her ability to score in these positions has struggled with but she has two years of eligibility left.

I think quality of our talent was better than we played at this past year. It’s hard to know what we have in talent when we played no team defense and if anything it deteriorated as the season went along. The team didn’t have anything for team offense with exception Kacie figuring a way to be able to score. Then we had Hurst going one on one or taking a deep three. Then we finally had Pemberton rebounding scoring off the rebound or her running the floor in fast break scoring. How many times did we run set offensive play where we got good look or shot we wanted. The latter happed very rarely and most times ending in turnover. Mallories offense is running forcing drive for theshot and then rebounding the miss for easy put back not any set offense. this team can’t get better until we learn to play some better defense. I think Mallory talks about playing defense but from what I see she can’t teach this to the players. She needs to bring in assistant coach that can get this done with the team. Same goes for the offense she needs like football offensive coordinator to run type of play she wants to play. Then we will have handle on player talent but even best talent needs system that brings out that talent .

Both of these hires took for ever last year and I believe this set plate f or the year we had. I was looking back at last year’s comments Sw Sioux said there was nothing to worry about and was confident we would be top of the conference. Many on here thought Bledsoe was a good hire and now he was let go right after the season. I thought he might give us avenue back into recruiting in the Twin Cities. Then Wimberley was hired in August and here again is being let go very short time and I don’t what her responsibilities were for the team. The bottom line they serve at pleasure of Mallory but I am not sure if replacing them is going to make as big a change people are looking for. The offense and defense we play still has to come from Mallory. I think possibility for new coach for the program is Chole Lamb from University of Mary and played on South Dakota women’s team two years ago. She was very good player and was very intelligent in her play there. Second she played under Dawn Plitzuweit who was known for her team’s playing good team defense something she could bring to this team since she played most of her college career under that system. We need fresh start on teaching new system here because what ever we have been doing is not working. Malory needs to find coaches that can help her to getting to better offense and defense in place for next year or her tenure I feel will be over here. I have to believe this is her last chance here that she has to build this program to top Summit team and the door is closing fast.

I am sorry I am wrong Doppler is on scholarship got mixed up with Bothum. Hong and Nicholson are also walk ons

I don’t see why all worry about him he is walk on the team. So is Kraft a walk on we have all benefits off evaluating them and have no long term commitment to them unless we decide we want them long term.

Mallory said we have couple commits then we have at least one more leaving the team because I think we only had 3 in the last year eligibility and then we had Jardine transfer for the fourth opening and we already have 3 signed leaving one. It will be interesting who they will be signing and if they will all be high school recruits. If that is the case we will be going traditional route women’s basketball but on the men’s side we will be going more the judo or transfer portal route based on Sather response if your going compete in conference takes experienced players to win. This is what he saw in the Summit tournament. Is there that much difference in winning programs mens and women’s basketball.

I agree with your assessment of the team and what is needed to get better. The question is what you do with Hurst she has some offense talent but if she doesn't improve on defense I don't see where you can play her because whatever positives she has on offense is given back on defense. The other question I have Cottingham didn't dress for the last game was their reason for not dressing. also, your comment on attendance is worth mentioning we were still fourth in Summit in attendance but how long can we go and not erode that attendance. Finally, I see on the men's side Coyote fan called UND'S presence of not having band and cheering squad not up to standards show lack of support from UND Administration. I was not there but maybe people who attended if there are any grounds to this comment. I have my own personal feelings on UND administration over years and how various sports have been handled and supported but I choose to not go there.

The first correction I think they need is to fix roster construction for the team. They need to lay down a plan on type of player they are looking for to play the type of game they want to play. This means even if they find talented player a lot of athletic abilities that may develop into good player if that player will not fit into type of play and have talent and physical skill to play that game then they need to pass. The present roster seems a mess in that they have recruited players on athletic ability only and not if they would fit into roster play certain role and if they are willing to be coached developed into that role. The second correction what type of game are they going to play and then develop offense and defense that can be successful with that style of play. Then if we have above players who are expected to play that game is to get players as team playing and executing fundamentals to be successful and to win with this plan. We have played too much of couple star players we build our offense around instead of offensive strategy where we play as team and take what the opposition will give us in our team format, but this doesn't mean we won't have star players, but we are going to win with team concept.

The Season has ended in big step backwards from last year. The team dropped from 19 wins to 9 wins and ending season with 6 place finish. We were last in so many statistics for the Summit in following scoring margin,3pt. percentage, last turnover margin, assist / turnover margin, and last in assists. In most of stats for the conference we were 6 or worse. The only positive we were better in totals for rebounding but again margin of rebounds to opponents were 6th. Then we are losing Kacie Borowicz who accounted for 29% of our scoring and Sammiyah Hoskins who was solid player that provided us rebounding. The question for coming year who will step-up and provide leadership for this team. We have Pemberton and Hurst our next leading scorers who will be returning. We have 3 recruits coming in Schiller, Mathern, and Volmer with one scholarship yet to fill. We will need to develop our young players and improve on our fundamentals to turn this ship around for the coming year.