The Sicatoka

Some interesting reading leading into today's SBC press conference. http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sportslink/2016/jan/14/idaho-ad-rob-spear-discusses-upcoming-sun-belt-vote/

Done some snooping on the interwebs about this. I've seen the whole gamut: - Idaho's gone, NMSU stays - Idaho and NMSU gone - Idaho and NMSU both stay - SBC commish retiring - scheduling alliance (because today was the day they were supposed to release future conference schedules -- that's been moved back) - conference championship game (under recently changed rules, which would also affect conf scheduling) What is consistent is that all the normal sources (leaks) have nothing but speculation. That's interesting.

The bit of sand that's been in this oyster for a long time is UND's "bridge to nowhere". https://www.google.com/maps/@47.9206956,-97.0662554,3a,73.1y,29.69h,97.48t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDU7MXhXohp72lFMoYXBqww!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DDU7MXhXohp72lFMoYXBqww%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D97.025948%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656 The very right edge of that image is old Memorial and the new HPC. Strangely enough, that "bridge to nowhere" connects to a new ramp and football facility in the images (Gopher fan) GFG references.

As will all scholarship athletes at UND, or did you miss that memo?

C'mon jdub, it is just a one line change and NDSU proved recently they're skilled at only dealing with one line at a time.

I thought "you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning" was your personal credo.

Oh no! Oh no! I never considered tha... No. Wait. If things are done in proportionality Title IX is met. As far as salaries, I stand by my prior statements. Paying more does not guarantee results. I'd like to see the pay earned by performance.

Given UND sponsors 21 sports at the Division I level, I guess I'd have no issue with going to 16 like the low point in the region (NDSU). As far as coaching salaries, I see multiple applicants for positions when they open and people taking the jobs.

Mentioning TE, seems #14 is listed as one ...

Good question. The only game we've seen him was the U-18 exhibition game. An exhibition. Does that count as an official appearance in the eyes of the NCAA? If not, he hasn't appeared in a game this season and thus hasn't burned a year of eligibility.

< churning butter, making own clothes >

She's probably talking post-season conference tournament seeding.

Hypothesis: a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. Theory: a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena If we test out his hypothesis to be correct, it becomes theory. (Yes, those are the science definitions. That's how my mind works.) And yes, his question is more hypothesis than theory at this time.

I'll take a point, solid performances from the team, a rest game for Cam, and no injuries.

If you'd have told me on the morning of Friday, February 26 that come Sunday, February 28: - one NCHC team has 53 points and locked up no worse than a share of a regular season title - that same team is one point from an outright title - there's a tie with 47 points for second place in the NCHC I'd have expected that SCSU swept UMD and UND had a bad weekend in Omaha. Whups.

Conferences have assigned their auto-bid to the post-season conference tournament winner to keep hope alive to the end of the season for teams that haven't done the work to make the NCAA's already. In the past some BB conferences that didn't do a post-season tourney gave the auto-bid to the regular season champ. In a hockey with PWR world (in a solid conference) that's redundant (save for the year CC won the WCHA and stayed home).

I'm saying game day scheduling. Fri at ... Noon(?) for WCHA Semi #1; 3 pm B1G Semi #1; 6 pm WCHA Semi #2; 9 pm B1G Semi #2 ... You could try a Thu/Sat (B1G) and Fri/Sun (WCHA) format, but do folks want to hang around to Sunday?

I'd say not to read anything more into that than Starman got a free weekend for him and the wife in Phoenix in February.

So Don is recruiting the Thai phenom Shu Ting Puk?

... and a scheduling and logistics nightmare.

It won't be "out east" (Worcester, Albany). It'll be Cincinnati.

Wet Blanket Alert: PWR only matters if you don't win your autobid. What matters is getting into the NCAA tournament and winning four games ( see: recent 'last teams in' winning it all ).

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