ND-fan

I can’t imagine people will cheer for Schiller from Grand Forks if they are UND fans but I expect she will be treated with sportsmanship when she is here. Schiller ended her relationship here at UND and for many here in Grand Forks going forth she knowingly chose to move onto NDSU. She knowingly did this to her former team and community of Grand Forks because she thought it would improve her college career and received monetary compensation but it was sticking her middle finger up to the people that supporter her and gave her opportunity to show her talent to market her skills else where. If she and her family needed change then she have moved on to another school that would have given her fresh start but not insult to her local community by letting there major rival put this in the face of community. It will be interesting how this plays out but I wouldn’t have done this there is enough pressure to succeed in college sports without putting added pressure from local community and now expectations of fans from Fargo her new school.

I like that Hutter has aggressively put together roster that appears to have talent and is young yet in that they have time to develop that talent here at North Dakota. He also has added couple of veteran players that should help leadership and knowing what it takes in playing full college season.. He also at same time got his coaching staff filled so they are already to start on developing this team. Two years ago it took Mallory until late summer to put her coaching staff together and then fired all them after the year. I agree this aggressive approach is also show with the players in that getting themselves ready by using this off-season time to develop their skills and work on their fundamentals. It appears to me there is going to be competition among players fighting for playing time and each of them getting better because each of them will be pushing each other to get more playing time. Now we will see how well he did in putting right pieces together to be able to compete in the Summit but this is optimistic I have been in over 10 years we are finally have mentality that we want to win now and believe we can compete win not in couple years but right now..

Women’s basketball has been 15 scholarships where men’s were 13 scholarship but now that has increased to 15. I seen looking past rules you could have 15 scholarships and 16 players which I believe were at right now.. Demers, VanderWal, Volmer, pienky, Aumer, mathern, Flechter are seven, then Hillisheim, Harris, Ohnstad, Ava Miller, Hanna Miller, Hughes, Harvey, and Klosterbuer would be 8 giving 15 scholarships and Reardon would be walk-on getting us to 16 players. If this is the rules and women’s basketball had 15 scholarships where men had 13 never understood why difference. I haven’t seen any final rules on rosters and scholarships have read number of proposals but thought they were soon have meeting finalize whether schools were in out ncaa court settlement. The problem believe if impose any rule probably go back to court who know if it would be upheld. After going doing the numbers looks like we’re at old limits for the roster limits.

I still haven't seen the final rules on roster limits with walk-ons we had two walk-ons with Mathern and new recruit from Grand Forks Reardon as walk-on. This could mean we could have scholarships left to be filled. This could be our last scholarship available but we could be carrying 16 players or possibility as high as 17 players if rules allow this to be done if they are adding 5 years to the playing time anything may be possible.

The Summit will have 3 new coaches next year with Hutter at UND, Anderson at ORU, and now Omaha. Then we have one and two year coaches at South Dakota and KC and then we have Collins and Woods with 5 plus seasons of coaching and finally deans of coaching Johnston and Sinn. The strength in the Su’s and St Thomas lies in these teams and they have strengthened themselves both in recruiting now through the portal. The question now remains for us with our new additions and our returning players have we put together team and rooster to finish strong enough to possibly finish third in the conference. The positive that I have liked about Hutter’s approach is he constructed roster quickly to get prepared for next season. I would like to see if he replaces his position on coaching staff quickly because like to see when program is place for the summer where preparations are being done by players and coaching staff. This where everyone works on the fundamentals also down to perfecting skills to system is going to be run this team. Also gives extra time for players to bond and also coaches to bond together with players as well as other coaches. I also wonder if we can have more than 15 players by adding couple Walk-on or two that can be part of the team or are we held to hard number 15.

I see SDSU has even gone to portal signing up Maggie Hartwig from Evansville 6’1” front court player with two years remaining and has started primarily for them past two seasons. Averages 16 pts. A game adding her to Brooklyn Myer now makes this team power house again with depth at front court position. The changes in player personnel and coaches for next year is going to be hard to figure who are contenders with exception of SUs returning most talent but even these two are not locks to win the conference as it has been last several years.

Iramurphy what perfect statement this why we have coaches for and it’s not us putting a team together. Time will only tell how successful these choices on recruiting talent and I hope they are mote successful than failures on new recruits. Yes we’re moving on from our transfers but our former players are being recruited by other notable schools in division I showing we were not getting or developing this talent to play together become winning team. What impresses me is Hutter trying put together roster with enough talent size to compete for Summit to compete and win the conference with returning players. I may be optomistic but I look at the Summit the amount of turnover on most teams I think we’re going to see very even conference. SDSU will be favorite but they will not be dominate team they have been in past, NDSU has most returning but I think they will still be beatable a lot of questions on who will lead team loss of two seniors will put pressure on other players perform. St Thomas graduated quite bit but they seem find talent and are well coached. The rest of conference has big turnover so we will see who has put together competitive teams for next year. I am excited about Hutter his enthusiasm II. He has plan for this team, he cares about players on team that are committed, is constructing roster to play type of basketball he wants to play, and is communicating some of this to public create interest in women’s basketball. I think we have turned a corner but AD is going to need to step for women’s sports and Men’s basketball.i am so looking for next season.

Hughes eligibility has been used up with four completed seasons at Mayville State NAIA playing time for most part is same as NCAA plying time. We have fourteen players for the roster but questions are is Mathern on scholarship and Reardon was recruited it was reported she was walk on. This could mean.we could have up 3 scholarships available but what are rules on roster limitations can we go above the 15. We have opted out college settlement on new roster limitations and I have heard nothing if we have hard numbers on rosters or are exceptions like for Walton’s. It will be interesting on final roster positions who he fills these positions.

I was looking at Schillers stats which is impressive in playing time and her scoring average but if you look closely her shooting percentage was not outstanding or even her three point shooting outstanding. Second for her being point guard her assists were. Half of othertop point guards. I also think her size limits her both on offense and defense. Frost numbers were comparable if not even better percentage wise in offense. NDSU has another freshman guard they were raving about that practiced early with them year so I wonder if Schiller is going to be in shock her playing time maybe reduced and she will not be primary offensive weapon for NDSU offense. Like I say who ever wins out in this battle at SU there are going to be unhappy players with there roll on this team. Hutter looks to be old school where he wants kids that buy in and if not play some place else. I can see this principal in that everyone who is on team have committed to goal of winning together and you have treated everyone equal basis. Men’s basketball tried this with Ihenacho he did give us another year but then he left for money again something that was right for him but what about others team members they are left with broken roster and lack of trust buying into team concept. I don’t know why number of these girls left some I believe were thinking they needed to do this to get change in the program they had been putting effort in. Only Hutter and players know exact details but I am afraid number of these players have made poor decision and waited to long to correct this decision. The result may mean their colllege careers being paid for by basketball is over or they are playing somewhere they might have no other choice if they want to play.

We have 12 girls on roster and not sure of Mather if she is on scholarship and Reardon was listed as walk on so we could have 3 to 5 scholarships but not sure of the rules number rosters positions available with final rules since we opted out the college agreement and number proposals on roster limitations. I sure. Would like us get at least another post player and experienced number 3 to add depth to our young players. I like it he putting team together finding players that we need in our roster construction to compete.

This appears to be good recruit that has size and listed at guard should be able to play in 3 or 4 spot.Hutter is looking for talent that can step in play right away like it that he wants to compete right away. It will be interesting who he bring in next to round out this roster.

I can’t resist Forum guys(Izzo and Kolpack) already talking how they are going to be team that dethrones South Dakota State for next year with addition of Schiller and keeping of Koenen. They look like they could be greatly improved but my gut feeling is let’s see how this plays out. I still think team chemistry is going to play in this before next season there are some awfull big egos on this team and team Fargo is going to play up some these players see how this plays out with the rest of the team. If Jory can hold it together it may mean his break to move on to bigger program but it could get to be rocky if he can’t. They are still at least one or two players away from being dominant t they need big girl inside and three that can score in transition which you only get by developing player. Maybe I am just wishing but this past year and year before SU starts off looking strong but they fade as season goes along and I bet this happens this coming year again they become predictable and always look to their key players. If they make next step Jory going to need to get more creative with his teams.

We have seven players returning as of now for next year and I believe Mathern was walk on. This leaves us eight roster spots and possibly 9 scholarship spots for the coming year if Mathern remains walkon which is probably doubtful after her last year. If London Harris is committed we have guard to fill roster spot. Presently we have two guards on the roster Aumer number 2 guard and Volmer point guard but could play two position. We have 4 players that fill the forward positions Mathern, Piekny, Fletchne and Demers who can play 5 but is undersized. Then we have VanderWal post player but plays position in definite role scenarios. We had commitments from Kendal Harvey 5’10” guard from Byron MN, Lauren Hillesheim 5’10 guard from Hopkins Mn these two players were probably recruited for the 2 or 3 position, and finally we Lauren Reardon from Grand Forks to play guard position as perferred walk-on. Adding these players we have 11 roster position filled yet if I haven’t missed recruit. To me we need to find at least two more 5 position players especially one with experience. Second we could use remaining two to three scholarship positions to find experienced guard and best talent available to give us depth on the roster. We have Fricke point guard coming year after in next year and we will be graduating 3 seniors after next year. There is possibility we could still couple of transfers might return but I think the clock is running out on that scenario not often coach take back players fully committed to program when they are taking this long decide. I think several of these players may have finished their playing careers giving up chance to get education paid for.

Herald reported that Pemberton just committed to Baylor in the Big 12 I would like to congraduale her on her new team I guess I under estimated the level of play she was at this validates we had talent on this team be more successful than we were. Mallory just couldn’t coach the players and develop them is any wonder we lost players to the portal. Chaves was on top of things we would have had new coach or at minimum replaced through the season when you already hired associate head coach. The expectations need to be lifted in athletic department and now needs to be some follow through from President on performance of the AD and people under him.

What has happened it doesn’t matter to us anymore she chose to leave this program and we need to move on from here now. It’s interesting all this analysis of her and what kind of teammate she was here. I suspect this will come out over time by players over period of time and if this true it will probably move on to her new team and they will have to deal with it. I am excited about our team and we also recruited another point guard last year that showed promise but got hurt early and didn’t get a lot of playing time with minutes Schiller played but I do remember game where she was put in because of her defense ability to help shut down opponent that Schiller couldn’t handle. We may find we pretty good point guard to build around and we have Minot recruit coming in year. I just think we’re going to see improvement in our recruits now with change in coaching. We need to find more players with length and quickness to go along with our remaining players. The turnover in Summit in players we can still be competitive if we can find right players that will fit into our system and buy into playing as team. I feel more confident now than last year with Mallory gone I think we can have productive off season where we work on fundamentals and players being taught smart basketball and to play as team.

I thought it was time to start new topic we’re in beginning of new season. We have new coach definitely looks like we will be putting new roster together with number of transfers. I think it’s time to start looking to next season help this new staff be able recruit players to come here become successful to become winning program. The things that have happened in last few months we need to move on figure out plan to have competitive team for next year and something we can build on for the future.

Where do we stand now with recruits coming in and who is on scholarship now how many scholarships are still open to start filling in the roster. Also is there chance that we might have return of couple players but longer it goes less chance of that happening. I have to believe several of these girls that went into portal ended their college careers and chance to get college education payed for.

That eight roster spots included Curtiss twins and Ouse but not Wyler or Smith they show committed but not there status of scholarship or preferred walk on yet. We have several roster spots shown as walk on. If this is correct we should have at least 5 spots if above two are given scholarships to fill if we go to 15 max. I haven’t seen anything formal one way or another on this but I would assume that we will use maximum if needed. According to verbal commits King, Thomas, Erkison, Doppler, Natsvishili, Curtis.twins, and Ouse are on scholarship.

I was going through verbal commits site for UND we have 8 players under scholarship and if that is correct we should still have 7 scholarships left now for next year. The number of scholars ships went up to 15 this year. That with players left we could still add full rotation of player that could start for us next year. We are not alone on this number of teams are looking at mass turnover in players. The favorite for next year is going to be St. Thomas so far they are most stable of all the teams. We won’t know how conference shapes up until we’re in playing conference games next year. The only way to stabilize this is going to have to multi year contracts signed with younger players that have penalties and buyout clauses to help fund Nil money for the small midmajors to help keep players longer.

It will be interesting to see how this affects NDSU team in that they have highly recruited freshman point guard Frost already on the team. Does she stay or does she move on and even if she stays what does it do to team chemistry. Powers in Fargo think this to be great move but what looks good on paper may not be as good as it looks. Jory had problems with team chemistry his first years at FARGo and now with next years team who will be leader of this team they loosing Draper and Schulte seniors that were leaders. Schiller will play to begin with but what happens if Frost is better than her next year and like you say Jory goes with Frost and Schiller gets less playing time. I will tell you Schiller was fortunate that Mal was coaching this year because there were times she needed to sit because her not running the offense correctly or she was getting beat defensively. Yes she had very good year but now she going have competition at point. Fargo is tough place to play if do well they love you but if doing poorly there’s no loyalty and somebody is doing better your forgotten quickly. I think she thinks she is going to play on contender right away but fact is if they loose Koenen this coming year which they might because she will be looking for Nil money greater than Schiller and who know what she might be already hearing Money she can make at much higher level because she has talent and size to play in big time. Just loss of her would make NDSU very average team in the Summit. I also think we’re going to be much better team next year already because we’re going to see better coaching than we have not seen since Roebuck retired.

I was corrected earlier by another on trannsfers for women’s basketball of UND transfer we have only three transfers that have moved on to another division I in last 7 or 8 years. The majority of players that have moved on went to division II level or never played again. I have theory on this majority of our players are at lowest level of division I level unless you have demonstrated above level skills other division I teams are reluctant to take risk on giving scholarship or money to these players. The three I know of that moved on two had above average performance and were both had length demonstrated they could play inside. The other was freshman player that had three years and maybe four depending on exception and it was program struggling at present time . The question now comes for our current crop of transfers we have three players that have now demonstrated above average skills that could be attractive to other division I teams but at what level. If my guess the one with highest level division I maybe Ibrahim but she is still diamond in the rough and can she continue improve but I have doubts she needs playing time something teams investing money in player don’t want to have to do they want performance now. Second Pemberton will she be able perform her offense ability at next level she may not be one or two option can she play that kind of rolll. My guess she would be looked at top small midmajor or next level conference like Missouri Valley. Then comes Schiller still very young and put up very good numbers but if I would be skeptical if top division I schools would sign her to be their top point guard because of her size and other physical attributes, can she translate to next level. Some may offer but she would not be guaranteed playing time. I think she will move laterally or maybe to just next level up in midmajors. The other girls transferring I believe will end up in division II or not find a spot on team. The only one that may get division I offer would be Horne or she end up in Canada playing at top level their. I probably catch lot of flack for my thoughts on this group of transfers but I look at number of transfers in system everyone thinks there endless possibilities but fact is transfer only very few will see positive outcome from transferring.

South Dakota State has big advantage in recruiting process for girls in surrounding their campus in that they have had success and Summit tournament being played in Sioux Falls it’s close for the families and friends to drive to the tournament. Plus it pretty much becomes home game for them in front of their fans who either live Sioux Falls or from Brookings for students and fans less than hour drive. It creates for full arena but for most part and generates revenue for Summit it does very little to promote other non South Dakota schools it is not neutral court to play on when playing the two South Dakota Schools. this has to change if Summit is to grow and if not promotes number of schools in conference looking to move to another conference and I expect this to happen as soon as some neighboring conferences need teams to grow or replace lost members. There is need to develop rotation of sites to host the tournament and yes it probably reduce revenue for conference but this is not healthy for longterm for the Summit conference. Also restricts the conference on getting better players if only these two teams that continue to dominate the conference. it also becomes problem in attracting better coaches because it not something coaches trying to advance want to have to overcome to get recognized elsewhere.

If this is true that Haleigh Timer is leaving SDSU this is big loss for them for next year. They are loosing Page Myer, Mesa Byom, Kallie Theisen, andMadysen Valasiun to graduation this is big loss of talent and experience from this team. They will have Brooklyn Myer,Madison Mathiowetz, Emily Fox, Ellie colbeck, and Katie vaseska still talented group of players but will be relying on number younger players and new recruits to round out this team. Timmer is hard match up because she can play both inside and out such valuable player because of her offense but also her defense ability. The loss to graduation now couple transfers this will not be as deep and experienced team where they can just where you down over 40 minutes. Also Brooklyn Myer will be easier to defend with loss players tograduation and will not have Timmer to dish back to create that inside outside threat. This beginning even for AJ dealing with loss of talent and experience loss of any other of their remaining core could change this team dramatically.

I don’t think anyone model just works now for small midmajor programs if go high school can these kids develop enough now in two years or would they be better served at DII. If you go to portal then your committed to kids that you believe can make jump to next level or it takes them half season to adjust but you get so buried standings you don’t have chance to advance to any post season play. I also think what we saw this year with number of teams in Summit that got hit with young players or DIi players can they stand up to full season DI basketball or are they going to where down and get injured. Also with this teams at small midmajors are not as deep as they were 5 to 10 years ago because of how roster construction has to be done to get portal players to come to your program. I just don’t think small midmajor DI is sustainable, the deck is stacked against them in DI, they are like team played against globe totters never going to see much success other than in conference tournament but at DIi level they have that but also viable chance to play for something national scale. This is still important when your playing as player. DI midmajor is in now similar position of junior college player and I will not be surprised fans loose interest and players will be left playing in front of small crowds with very little interest in their level of basketball.

The recruiting of Canada has been positive too number of these recruits were as close as twin Cities in distance. It fits in our geographic foot print of recruiting when we’re less than 100 miles from the border we can offer educational opportunities to these recruits they might be looking for. If we can find players meeting our needs and our geographical area it should be pursued Manitoba, eastern Saskatchewan, Western Ontario have population bases as large or greater than North Dakota, or South Dakota have climate similar to us helping recruiting of coming to more wintery place to live. We need to recruit our area and also need to work on kids here to stay play here in state presently we’re loosing to out state schools but this is upon us to get program back to being top program.