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How does D III Mcmurry get ranked above Tennesse, Ohio St., Purdue etc.? I know it is just a ranking, but something needs to be adjusted for SOS if a DIII school is ranked higer than Connecticut.

What that tells me is that you are watching T.V. in Grand Forks ND. Remember there are other places in the nation that have different channels. There are other people besides north dakotan's. Nice poll by the way. Why didn't you ask who the last D-I hockey champ was. I bet you get the same number of correct answers as that D-IAA champ. Oh wait, that great proof, people know where Denver is? I guess hockey is most popular. I mean thats why Denver is popular right? Hockey? Oh wait, most people have never even heard of the University of Denver, and just know where the city is. Why didn't you ask who the last hockey champion was? And where is this poll. I'm sure it is completly objective, coming from a Sioux Fan.

Wow, I thought for sure that there were around 40,000 people per game for the gophers football, around 10-15000 for basketball, and 5000-12000 for hockey. Check the U of M site, its not hard. I guess all of those people don't know that gophers hockey is the most popular sport on campus. In fact, out of the three hockey looks to be the least popular. I can't believe I found evidence refuting your post, especially considering you had the proof of saying "its fairly common knowledge". It's probably fairly common knowledge in North Dakota that the U of M's most popular sport is hockey, but people actually in Minneapolis have different ideas I guess. Nice try though.

I'm not really sure how you are managing to equate D-II football with D-IAA football? Average attendance? Number of T.V. games? Average attendance of schools and alumni from each division? National recognition? All of these catagories point to D-IAA being much more popular than D-II. How many D-II schools have 23,000 fans per game? If you want an easy comparison just look at the number of members on any given saturday vs. D-II football.com. There is no comparison. Sure thats not scientific research, but I think you can get the general idea from it. Maybe in the future when you make claims like DI-AA football is only as big as D-II football you could actually come up with some sort of evidence to back it up. Remember that just say "sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it's the truth" doesn't make it the truth. In fact before I even read the whole post, I knew that was a lie or incorrect because that sentence was in there. As for hockey's popularity, I think most UND fans are making an incorrect assumption. Everyone talks about being "D-I" and playing the big schools like minnesota etc., but when they say that they don't really talk about why that school is considered a big school. It's because of their D-IA football team, D-I basketball team, and Big 10 conference exposure. Those things are the reason you get excited about playing them, and being mentioned in the same breath as them. Think about it. Why are you more excited to play minnesota than Duluth in Hockey. A conference game maybe. More tradition maybe. But mostly because everyone has heard of minnesota, and nobody has really heard of Duluth. And why have people heard of michigan? Because of football, and basketball and Big 10 play. But Sioux Fans usually try and translate that popularity to hockey, which is incorrect. Hockey isn't a reason that minnesota has national notoriety, major sports are. Just because you play minnesota doesn't put you on the same level as them, although most schools are able to sell it off to their fans that way. Just because you play a big 10 school in hockey doesn't mean that hockey is popular around the country. I don't know how you could even come to the conclusion that hockey is more popular from the simple numbers. How many hockey schools are their in the country? 60 or 70? How many DI-AA football schools are in the country? Over 100. What geographical area is hockey located in? The north of the country. What geographical area is D-IAA football located in? The entire nation. From just fans of the universities, D-IAA should be more popular. If you are talking about casual fan interest than I think that both of you are wrong. There is hardly any interest from so called casual fans of either sport. If you go most places in the country and ask them who has a D-I hockey team, I bet you money they can't come with much, or know almost anything about hockey. Go to Kansas and ask a person if they know what "icing" is in hockey. They will have no idea. But you're telling me that their is this great interest in hockey? Sorry, but most of the country doesn't have any idea. Same with D-IAA football. Ask a casual fan what teams are in D-IAA football, and the look you're going to get is WTF is D-IAA football. Even most fans in the dakotas still have no idea what the difference is. Just look at Argus leader articles in SDSU's move up. They were still talking about DI-AA basketball in the move up after SDSU had moved. And these are sports editors. But thats casual fans. If you're talking about hardcore, fans that will actually follow hockey and D-IAA football, then D-IAA has got to win simply from having more schools and more alumni following the events. While I'm writing things that are going to get me ripped, can someone even tell me how hockey is considered a D-I sport? Correct me if I'm wrong, but their are more D-II schools than D-I schools in Hockey, aren't there? Shouldn't that mean that hockey is classified as D-II, and minnesota etc are playing down a level? I suppose that would never be allowed to happen by the bigger schools playing, but still, it doesn't seem right to me. It also seems rediculous that schools in the NSIC are capable of fielding a team in anything that is considered D-I. These schools aren't even able to fully fund D-II football, D-II basketball etc., but somehow they can be D-I in a sport? I'm sorry if it offends anyone, but Duluth and mankato are not on the same level as U of M, and shouldn't ever be considered in the same sentence. I understand that you have to have these schools to get a full division, but there has to be a better way. Maybe have more interdivisional games, and then keep teams in their respective divisions for championships. I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to me. P.S. In a response, some please quote the part that says "I don't know" and write thats right, you don't, as if its the most clever response ever. Why respond with in-for-mat-ion when you can just attack the messenger. So much easier right?

Sorry PCM, I don't know how I could be so rediculous. Is there going to be a meeting soon about how this defamation money is going to be spent? My idea is to use it to use it lure Phil Jackson away from the Lakers, then use UND's basketball success to join either the Big 10 or Big 12. We can decide between the two by seeing which one wants to give UND the most money for the honor of joining their conference. I heard from a reliable source that the big 12 has already agreed to give UND all of the basketball tournament revenues for the next 10 years, and half the BCS bid money that comes into the school. And to think that awhile ago people were woried about keeping our mascot. What a bunch of idiots. I mean it was so blatantly obvious that we would win a defamation suit against the NCAA over that. Just look at all of the newspaper articles discussing how the defamation suits would play out in court. Apparently some people in "the main stream" have never heard of such a law suit and think that we probably are going to lose alumni dollars based on what happens with our naming issues, but here in fighting sioux land we know that we are going to make millions off of this. I credit the foward thinking of the new AD for this move, obviously planned ahead of time to get us into the Big 12. HAPPY?

You guys haven't even beat the name issue yet, and you're already discussing uses for $100 million worth of projects that are going to be funded by the NCAA. Incredible. You would NEVER win an antitrust / liable suit against the NCAA, unless you know something that the Marquette law students / teachers along with the other scores of teams that have changed their names couldn't figure out, but I guess I shouldn't intrude with reality for you guys. My advice: Work on winning the name issue. If UND can get out of that unscathed they should thank their lucky stars.

What? Why are you comparing a league of schools to three individual schools? What comparison is there to make? This has to be the most idiotic post I've read in a long time. If you want to say the other schools are doing bad, just come out and say, don't try to incorporate it into some retarded question. Hey rank these in order by how their doing... University of Sioux Falls, The NFL, The chicago Bulls, and the U.S. olympic basketball team.

No offense guys, but the general feeling I get from this board is that everyone wants a new president because they feel that the President would take UND to D-I athletics. Looking at UND's current financial situation that I know of: 1. Revenue sounds pretty maxed out 2. Running a deficit 3. Using tuition waivers instead of actual scholarships at D-II levels How is it possible for UND to go D-I in the next 10 years. Do you think this president is going to show up with a truckload of money to pour into D-I athletics? I think its more likely that he's going to show up, look at whats going on with your athletic programs and make USD like cuts to get the athletic program budgeted, and then work on eliminating tuition waivers for all programs. I would pray that a president doesn't show up and just go full steam ahead into D-I athletics, and I'm sure the ND board of regents (or your equivalent) wouldn't appreciate the new president immediately running UND into a million dollar deficit in athletics, to be paid for by the academic side of the university. More likely they will attempt to compete like USD has, by raising standards academically, except UND will have an advantage, already being the largest University in the state. Just my thoughts, please don't reply with a bunch of garbage about NDSU (that I don't even care about).

I'm sure that women's hockey is fine, I was just wondering if that was fully funded yet? Last I heard it wasn't. If thats true you guys have to admit you have a Sh*t load of financial problems to solve if your going to be D-I. Also, dakotaboy, if your representitive of sioux fans about the funding issue for D-I (Saying that you think its your major hurdle) it sure is funny how the thread for financial info. on the move is one page, and the thread on conferences and how UND would compete is 11 pages. To an outside of observer it looks alot like you guys aren't worried about the financial part, despite not having a Carr report, or anyway that I can think of to increase your revenue.

HAHA, funny how nobody wants to address this question. I would also ask about how funding womens hockey is going. Don't worry Sioux Fans, just keep going on other forums and saying how you are more prepared for the transition though. If you say it enough maybe it will come true.

Man, with quotes like that I'm sure the big sky presidents are calling around trying to make sure that UND is in the sky. Whats your president thinking saying stuff like that in an NCAA magazine that I'm sure the big sky presidents all read?

We must be on a UND site to read that. You lost to Mary by 30 last season. SDSU has an arena almost double your size, newly remodled inside, 4th most appearances all time post season, the most NCC championships of any school, the only national championship, and thats just for the men. Not that any of that matters. Do you really think the big sky is going to pick schools based on this season, or the past 5, or past 10? No, there going to pick according to the financial ability of the schools to compete, how the school fits in academically with the other schools, and the geography (Amazing how those are the three criteria they already laid out). I didn't ever hear them say the criteria were 1. # football national championships 2. Basketball Championships 3. Overall conference football record last 10 seasons, yet some of you think that those are the criteria. What advantage does UND have over SDSU that would make the big sky throw SDSU, a school already commited to D-I away, and go after UND, a D-II school? UND is screwed for funding with womens hockey, plus adding other sports to sponsor all big sky sports, plus adding scholarships. Thats why they didn't go D-I with SDSU and NDSU, and thats why the big sky isn't "recruiting" UND. And Starcity, Davis and Poly have already been offered a big sky invite, and both turned it down. That isn't going to change any time soon. The four schools that will/ might be added are UNC, SDSU, NDSU, SUU. UND isn't in there no matter how many times you guys say it is on this board.

I don't have any problem with Kolpack (Even though hes an idiot) and the forum, beucase the quote was refered to under "Rumors flying around the northern plains". I have no problem admitting that it is a rumor, as you can read on this forum. I do have a problem when people start refering to this rumor as a fact as several people have on this forum. This whole rumor was started by someone in North Dakota, maybe Kolpack himself, that wants desperately to see the UND/NDSU rivalry reinstated, and doesn't have any problem coming up with an number illogical ways that it could occur.

So, what your saying is that SDSU isn't going to get into the big sky because they aren't financially ready, but UND, who is less prepared because of lack of planning, women's hockey etc. is going to get in? Genius. I can't believe the crap I read on this site.

The only thing that the big sky cares about for cities is population in a proximity to the area, so they know that there will be a decent population base, and business base, so that there is the ability of the school to sell tickets. I think that Sioux Falls more than provides this to SDSU. If you don't believe me, look at last weeks argus leader where they are using SDSU bringing bball games to sioux falls as a reason they need a new convention center. To say that "SDSU is in brookings, and thats not as good as X, so they won't get into the big sky" is stupid.

What? SDSU and NDSU are practically the same school, as they are the "State" universities, and so they have similar majors. The only difference between the two is that SDSU was Tier 3 with UND in the report you guys like to cite, and NDSU was Tier 4 (Not that the ratings matter much).

Are you guys actually saying that the school that didn't originally want to go D-I (UND) is better off financially to make a move than the school that wanted to immediately jump to D-I (SDSU). Thats an interesting theory. So you know, SDSU already has a plan to be at 63 in 2009. The scholarships are going to go up much faster after this year, because this year they used money to make sure they were title 9 complient. If heard that the scholarships are probably going to go up faster than originally anticipated also, because the endowment is already half finished. What makes you guys think that UND has the money to make 60 scholarshps in 3 years? If they did, why didn't they move with NDSU? Second, should you be comparing UND grand forks, and SDSU brookings, or SDSU Sioux Falls. Its forty minutes away, guys, I'm a student at SDSU and I go there at least once a week. I think everyone here already knows that sioux falls makes grand forks look like a dump. Besides that, Brookings definetly wouldn't be the worst in the big sky as cities go... Just so you know, the inside of frost was remodeled this summer, the wood "highschool" bleaches are gone now. Go to the website and take a look.

Not smack here, I'm really curious. I haven't seen any updates on the UND athletic site about new recruits this year. Have you guys signed anybody yet? I read the above post and I was curious as to who the JUCO guard is.

If both of these leave, you have to take SDSU/NDSU or fb will be screwed up.

I hate to be the one that tells you, but the Eastern south/north dakota media markets, huge as the are , aren't that hard to break into. The company is already broadcasting in western south dakota, its not that hard to go over the missouri. If I was using your logic I would have posted a thread that said that SDSU is in the sky for sure, because theres a broadcast deal for south dakota. As for broadcasting in colorado, I don't understand why you think thats such a big deal. Where do you think all of the graduates of big sky schools work when they graduate? Podunk, Montana, or Denver, Colorado. I don't have proof, but I would think that most college graduates in the denver area have graduated from the big sky schools. Anyway, I doubt that a network is hoping that its going to produce enough ratings by broadcasting bball games from a school that averages around 1000 fans per game in a major media market. How about you reply to this list star city, and than i'll believe you about denver: 1. Why is the big sky going to allow a school that doesn't sponsor football, track, cross country etc. into its all sports conference? 2. Why would denver show interest in a conference that doesn't sponsor its swimming events, which already have a home. 3. Why would UNC have a change of heart about its baseball teams getting into the midcon, when the midcon is discussing expansion. After the last meeting of the midcon, I think that UNC is less likely than ever to go to the big sky. 4. The big sky is worried about portland and sacstate leaving. If denvers in the conference there going to be in a mess if these two leave (dropping to 7 for fball). Why wouldn't they just take SDSU, NDSU, and call it good, since they'll be safe if both schools leave then. I have several more reasons, but I'm tired of typing, and this message is getting too long, so I'll post more later.

From the grand forks paper: "The lack of home games won't be as big of a problem in two seasons. Manhattan, Butler, Denver, Missouri-Kansas City, Tennessee State, Southeast Missouri State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee will play SDSU in Brookings in the 2005-06 season." Thats 7 home games, I'd be willing to be that SDSU could find an additional 4 or 5 away D-I games over the next two years to give it an RPI rating. This may already be what Nagy is planning.

I was under the impression that after the 04-05 season SDSU and NDSU would count for RPI just like any other school. I have read comments from Coach Nagy that SDSU would be eligible for the NIT the season after this (doubtful that they would be invited though). I think that the only punishment a school has after the first year is that it can't go to the NCAA's. After next season they should count just like any other D-I basketball school for the RPI.