ND-fan

I thought this year Bernhard has done much better recruiting longer and more athletic players in Horne, Pemberton, and Ibrahim all are long look to be athletic. This is much bigger team than we have had in long time. Beal may a little under six feet but her long arms and jumping ability matches her up with a lot of six plus players. Then we have Hurst strength and ability to score inside and Bass looks to be similar player. The question is can we play better defense in post area and I believe that will come. Wyoming experienced team took advantage of that in the post but was good game for us to learn from and get better. i am more concerned about our offense it was good see Kacie score but we need her to have less points from her and more from the rest of the team. To win we need scoring from the team and having only Kacie scoring is not recipe for winning.

I see Hurst isn’t dressed must be injured and unable to play. Beal is really showing some offensive moves tonight. Und is showing a lot of athletic talent tonight. We have ways to go on defense and to get them all on same page. This group needs to get some confidence now with playing together.

I agree that Hurst,Beal, and Aumer will determine how successful a season we have they have talent move us to another level in women’s basketball. The question will be if they earn extra playing time from experienced players ahead of them. I also expect junior college transfers be contributing by end of the season. The freshmen I hope they can contribute in spot playing time and hope couple of them do become major contributors this year but past experience is probably not going to happen until they prove themselves on the court. I expect we will start with Kacie, Hoskins, Hurst, Oberg, and DJ Davis to start the season and Beal and Aumer playing significant minutes and eventually move into starting roles if play up to their talent. Then I expect VanderWal Wall to alternate with Oberg. The taller freshmen girls I believe will get some playing time to get them ready for the conference season. I believe the separation between top team this year and top 5/6 teams will not be as big as has been last few seasons. SDSU has had terrible off season loosing to starters to injury for entire season cutting their depth and also taking away bunch of their length. USD will have injured players returning but this is still a team that is rebuilding and I believe still has way to go but still will be above average team in the Summit. NDSU has some very good players returning but they will be relying like we are some very young players replace players that have left from last season. I think they will be upper half of the Summit but my guess is they will be closer to the middle than top. ORU, Denver, Omaha, will be contending but like us on how their new players respond this year. KC and St. Thomas are still rebuilding and will be dangerous will probably have few upsets through season and will be dangerous at tournament time. This should be fun season ahead and I believe we should be playing some basketball after conference tournament. This is most athletic team will have since joining the Summit.

I think this game comes down to our defense and reason for this we need to stop them and give our offense opportunities to take apart this NDSU defense which I think that can be had. But if we let them control ball and keep our offense off the field NDSU defense will look much better than it is. I believe if our offense can jump on them and offen this could be game we have been wanting for long time. If this happens NDSU will take big risks to get back into the game opening them up to making big mistakes and opportunities to control the game. We need control tempo of this game and I believe it starts with the defense. This what SDSU did to us and reason we look so badly and reason is SDSU is FCS team with FBS offensive line and NDSU has had previous years but now they are very good offensive line but not of caliber like SDSU. I don’t get so many of you if you thought we were going to beat SDSU at home with team they were returning from last year that pretty much destroyed everyone last years playoffs. It’s like you all given up on our team and lost all hope we will never win any big game if that’s the case your perfect examples fair weather fans. I disagree with number posters here on how we get to winning championship but I also believe your entitled to your opinion but as fans it’s our opinion it still decided by administration and people they look to guidance. The bottom line I believe we have to remember this and when we’re in middle of season we’re committed with team and coaches for this year and if you want change start working aDministration convincing them a change is needed. But let’s get behind this team and I think difference now is they need to have confidence to play games their capable of.

Mcfeely on Izzo said that SDSU is the class of FCS, and he feels only team in FCS has chance to compete with them is maybe Montana State and there are probably no other teams in FCS in nation at their level. He said Und is quality program but were tier under SDSU and this how FCS has been usually three top teams in the conversation that have chance to win championship but this year it may even be just one or two. I believe were in that class now with NDSU now, SIU, Norther Iowa, Weber State, Sac state, Montana, Idaho, and maybe some from other conferences top teams and these teams need to be at home to win a game in the playoffs. The power in FCS is in the Missouri Valley and Big Sky most recently. FCS football championship has been going for 44 years and schools from Missouri Valley have 15 championships of current members, Big Sky have 5 championships with current members, rest of current members have 7 championships and other championships won are by schools that have moved up FBS. Montana has two championships and Montana State has 1 championship and Youngtown has 4 championships but for current members FCS with the exception of NDSU only have one or two championships over this 44-year period. This gets me back we are in final tier before you we reach that one to three teams usually have chance to win championship even then winning multiple championship are rarity not common like NDSU did. I also believe that NDSU repeating this is highly unlikely in that it occurred when they moved to division I they were not competing like they are now recruiting. SDSU was not the program it is now, or did they have facilities or resources they have now, UND was division II and when they went to division I they also went to Big SKY harder to get kids out Minnesota to sign up because of not playing close rivals like NDSU and SDSU. Also, UM was down as FBS program and went through coaching changes so they were missing on a lot good talent that could have been developed. This Idea we change coaches and couple of years later were going to play for national championship is just a dream and after we have done this regressed I like to see some of poster's opinion will be then and I know answer just need another new coach that knows how to build program. Let this year finish out I still think we're going to finish much better than some of the people are pushing on here. Everything is achievable for record or predicted is still on the table we all knew SDSU was going to be monster of team with almost everything returning and depth they had.

I think this is becoming norm here on the site we have several people bitching all the time it’s never anything positive but complaints. I don’t think people realize how fortunate we have quality football program here I look at some other schools who go for broke and they have little bit of success then fall flat and end up with years of loosing. We have quality program with quality student athletes and we’re close to moving to the top of the division but I believe reason it hasn’t been good enough because of success of our chief rival and success they have had. They reason all difference is coaching but it’s more than that it resources, location like city for attracting athletes, gaining a reputation of success, media coverage locally and nationally, and finally getting one or two players that pushes you over the top to have that winning season. So far we have been moving forward on some of those fronts but regionally we’re known as hockey school and not a football school. This is not the case with our regional rivals their known as football schools until we have long term success at football any move we make needs to be made with understanding if we have regression just puts us back to beginning of winning fans over and be also as football school.

I get tired of this throw the coaches out everytime we loose dam football game when rest of the world knows that we have good football team. yes we have struggled in Division I football to get to elite level of teams but that was facing us when we moved to division I. The resources haven't been here to make that jump happened and we were told that from the beginning. Also to get here we have had to sacrifice number of other sports from UND to stay in budget. Second we were next NDSU where football is king and at UND its second this has had big effect on recruiting and our location media attention to attract players. The move back to Missouri Valley has helped in recruiting and recent up grades to facilities for football is help. Second our pay structure is that we have hard time to retain coaches here look we have coaches at NDSU and SDSU who have left here went to them. I also wonder some here are so against past coaches that have led up to Bubba i wonder if there is more to the critiism from past history with UND and these coaches. I would love to see some postive posting and things we could improve this years results.

I may be minority but all this talk of blowing up this program and starting new is just dreams of arm chair quarterbacks. I look at our opponent yesterday they went through same things we have been experiencing like us for over 10 years with up and downs but never able to beat top teams. Then all that has come together where they are at the top of the division. Second, COVID extra year I believe has helped them get to this point if you look at there lines they have a lot of seniors and number six year players which moved depth above normal what FCS program usually have. I believe Und is top 10 team in FCS but right now Sdsu is at another level and probably only Montana state is in that level right now. I believe NDSU has come back to the pack because new transfer rules and because UND, SDSU, and number of other programs have made in roads on recruiting. This important fact it takes years build recruiting network and then also recruiting top talent and what is expected with university in having high expectations in gpa from our student athletes in small division I programs makes it quite a challenge. I can remember now where we had coaching changes that program fell back so far it has taken years to get it back to where it was top program. Und has up graded their offense line this past several years and now they need to up grade their size at defense line and if they stay 3-4 also size and quickness at linebacker. This season now is for Und to win games that are suppose to win. Continue to build resume to make the playoffs and get better as season goes along. Because end of season who knows where everyone is at the end of season with couple key injuries some teams may come back to the pack. The team we played yesterday is very good team and they were playing at home in perfect conditions wanting to make a statement to FCS they are in league of their own.

I did not say they should just rush to fill the coaching vacancy but i am concerned about it getting late in the off season to have this big turnover of personnel. I understand we will have turnover but to have major turnover in one year when we are in process of building this program to next level is my concern. We had very good news today with transfer of Minnesota center of Oberg looks to be very good fill with our last roster spot and should fill weakness on the roster of giving us another big in the middle of the front court and she has experience at high level play. Mallory must be working her behind off with all that's going on with program recruiting players and building coaching staff. I still believe they need to find personnel in next few weeks and then it's going to take a lot of extra work to get everyone caught up and ready for the beginning of the season. I am excited to see this team play and develop this coming season because i think they have great deal of talent that could develop into something special because of how athletic their players are and now they have filled in some of the holes with transfers and new recruits.

I wish I had your outlook, but I don't, and you have said they knew who their replacement coaches were long time ago and you may have more inside knowledge than the rest of us. My memory of past teams and schools when things weren't settled early in the offseason this carried over into the season and before long whole season became disappointment. We are now sitting again two coaches short and were just few days away from August. August means schools starts in three weeks or less and following other schools this when things get ramped up with practices and start putting together the team and how they are going to play technically. Now we have to hire at least one coach and assuming we have other already picked out still have to announce his hire and get him on campus. Then after they get here get on same page as Mallory and get to know the players and build some relationship in short period of time. This lack of time working with players means to me come end of next season we have possibility of losing number of players to transfer portal. This is why i am nervous at what's happening, to build a program you need stability and getting players and coaches buying into that system they are trying to build. Look at SDSU they have achieved this and if were to catch them we need to do the same thing. The loss of three coaches something is going on and my guess is that were not competing on salary basis. I may be totally wrong on this but to have all the assistants leave in one year is not good sign for the program and will be used against in recruiting and sure has effect on our players we have recruited in the past two years. I would like to hear point on this because you seem to have inside information most of do not have and very little from Mallory or Chaves on this. I look at school from the South their coach I have seen just recently updating what was going on in his program Dom Izzo show and I think he was on earlier in the summer too.

Are they still looking for another assistant women's basketball coach or are they go with present staff. I was thinking they might have idea of going with one less and using that money to improve pay scale on the existing coaches and fill in with graduate assistant to fill fourth coach or i am blowing smoke with this idea. It would probably would hurt us most in recruiting new players and to have extra time of coach working with players to help develop them.

Does this fill out our scholarships or do we still have one available? I have lost track of where we stand on recruits and since we lost McCarthy this summer I thought we might have one free scholarship available. We will be very young team with exceptions of Kacie and Hoskins as super seniors and Davis as senior. The rest of the team will be made up of freshmen and sophomores for the coming year. If we do have scholarship left could they still be looking for experienced transfer player with a year left. This will be challenging season for Bernhard if she has to play with number of younger players who are bound to make mistakes as they are learning in the past she has shown does not have alot of patience with younger players but this year she does not have experienced players to fall back on. I expect this season will start slow and we will get better as the season goes on.

My reason for concern is this is not last years team with a ton of experience coming back and we’re looking to develop our young talent to play high level as team. I believe a lot of that happens in the off season. Second now we’re down two scholarship players and we’re still under sized to the other top teams in the conference. Coach Bernard is good coach but I also believe she needs assistants to help develop this team as well recruit new players. We have some great athletes on this team but I also believe if we’re going to make the next level women’s basketball we need to also to be getting longer like SDSU has developed their team. I may be over reacting but most teams are pretty much set for this up coming season and they figuring out final things to be worked on but we need to get two coaches in place here hired and moved here. Also are we going to be down two scholarship players for year and hope we have no major injuries that might effect us in season. These are my concerns and reasons I have gut feelings we could step backwards but again I may be over reacting and totally wrong.

This off season is not what I was looking to for this coming season we have lost two coaches and so far not replaced them. Especially with loss of Motherwell who was involved in number of our recruits these past couple of years. Now we have late off season loss of McCarthy who I thought was probably figured into next season rotation. Now we’re looking for two more players fill out our roster for the coming season. Has anyone heard if they are close to filling coaching positions. I see they have been busy with basketball camps but I got to believe it’s going to be hard tofind of coaches they have expressed as it getting late and another area of concern if they are putting financial commitment to getting what they are looking for. this is going reflect on this coming season I sure don’t want us to take step backwards but my gut feeling this is what’s going to happen as we stand today.

The Summit conference to me is looking wide open on the men's side of basketball for the coming year. NDSU looks to be the leader coming into conference this coming year but with loss of Nelson probably for the coming season are they not set to dominate Summit conference for next year. What they have is most coming back and proven coach gets his team ready by end of the season. SDSU is nearly tie with NDSU but i believe the loss of several players and they looking to freshman or new talent to fill in for coming year puts them behind a little for coming year. I believe there coaching staff are going to be challenged more this year because this first in many years they do not have proven depth and questions at several positions, but their guard play will be real strength. ORU has lost bunch of talent and will have new coaching not recipe for success. KC is unknown and could get better quick with the portal and experienced coach. Omaha could become one of the leaders we won't know until were in the season. Denver is again in transition I don't expect them to be contender next year. South Dakota is going through whole rebuild this coming year and their coach is still new because of last year's accident. WIU new coach and another rebuild there. St. Thomas will be equal or better even with loss of their star player they are building but can't play postseason basketball. UND looks like to finally starting to put the pieces together and if talent they have put together live up to their potential, they could be challenging for the top of the conference, but still very young team so there will be growing pains. Should be exciting year for UND Basketball.

I didn’t mean tradition but transition above message. Sorry should have proof read.

SWSiouxMN you say she is up grade and I was wondering on that comment I believe Bernhard believes she can play at this level but I have to believe she is going have tradition period and it always takes time. I have to believe after watching last year Aumer that she is probably in-line to get major playing time. Davis has her role in guard position of playing defense and providing offense in spots. I believe Owens Is going to be used to fill in minutes Danninger was logging that the other guards mentioned plus Beal may not be able to fill and if she is as good as thought will gain more minutes. It also lets freshmen guard develop without pressure of playing right away. I still interested in with our last scholarship, if they are going to bring more of true post with experience for next year because we’re going need player of that description to match up against SDSU and others in the conference. I hear others believe we can with quickness and athleticism can overcome this but I believe differently.

The men basketball had quite week with signings and i am wondering if Womens basketball getting close to having big week also to wrap up their signings for 23 for the 24 season. I am excited for Womens basketball at UND I believe if get right couple of players to fill out their roster that they can start to make a run to be one of the top teams in Summit Conference. SDSU is going to be hard to catch but with right players i believe we could close that gap some this coming year and i believe we will be able to play with NDSU and USD next year we have talent to win against both of these schools. But getting back to recruiting these next couple of players to be recruited i believe will determine where we will stand at end of next season.

To get more casual fan of UND and people of North Dakota to take notice of the football program is for UND to beat NDSU when that happens the perception of UND football will change across the region. I have lived my life in North Dakota when UND can compete and win against NDSU it changes the public mindset and is not looked like inferior program. Und had achieved that before NDSU jumped to Division I leaving UND behind to play Division II football which they had pretty much dominated NDSU in late 90's and early 2000's. Like everyone knows we have hard time catching up again at division I level for number of reasons like nickname problem which hurt in funding from donors to support UND. Not to mention dropping of sports and financial support needed to maintain quality programs and big changes happening in college sports like portal and NIL money. I think maybe were finally starting to turn the corner, but we have long way to go but here were needing improvement at administration level to achieve the goals of better funding programs and improving whole of the athletic department.

Nevaeh Horne looks like both good fit and need for next year hopefully she can come up to speed quickly especially not coming in until august. Do we have any offers out there now for our remaining scholarships or are they keeping quite on possible new recruits?

I just looking at the list of NIL money for Women's Basketball for the NCAA and the gap between the power 5 schools and small mid-major schools is only going to widen and ability to recruit and retain top talent is going to nearly be impossible if this allowed to continue for the major sports like basketball and football. Here is the top listing of players and what they are receiving, and this is only going to grow. (www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/college/womens-basketball/) I was amazed Angel Reese was making over million dollars a year. If this is the case, going forward there will be teams receiving more money NIL money collectively than most NCAA teams are operating their basketball programs on financially. Second this is going to create elite level of teams and lower level of teams i don't know how you expect to sell this general public and maintain quality of competition within college sports. Plus, how this going to lead to corruption in the game making the past abuses look like minor infractions. Here at UND how are we going to be able to compete being in small market town and state to generate any significant amount of money for our sports going forward to draw and retain talent. The way NIL money is being developed i have to believe were miles behind the competition and do we have large enough base donors and supporters to provide money for all of the sports we have here at UND. I would like to hear some thoughts on this and what are people are thinking about how UND start developing a plan for the future.

I think we should see some movement on recruits in this week or two. All the tournaments are over for college and high school and Easter has passed I got to believe players have to be looking to find home before school ends. Second even coaches must want to finalize there rosters and set schedules to get there new players here during the summer to get them familiarized with team and working on team’s offense and defense plus conditioning to play full season. Has anyone heard if they have movement on any players?

I don't know in outs of what UND does in contact but what has been mentioned above is important to keeping the support UND has now but i was referring to was new ways of contact of people who may never come to UND game but do follow the teams on tv or other means of communication like radio or in the press. By this they should have people at large state functions and have booths their just out communicating with the public and listening to what common people have to say and say asking them to join various things to support the athletic program. Examples would be state tournaments for football, basketball, volleyball, or even music events and even farther would be big trade shows to have booth with people that can engage and talk to people about what's happening have sign up for a free give away of tickets to UND sports. Second, they should have Commnication with the public schools setting up visits for schools or few going out with either just coaches or teams to get UND out in the communities. I don't know all the rules and so forth, but Athletic department needs to sell itself to the public. I also got to believe there're ways to do this also on social media. This is going to take extra people and administration following the progress of this sort of endeavor, but you won't see immediate progress but should start to see some improvement over several year period. Then they will need to get in contact with North Dakota people in other states and this will require alot of research and networking to get in contact with these people. I think i have one way of contacting the older generation in winter what we call snowbirds they have picnics to get together i believe that could be place to get in contact with that generation of people. The bottom line here is UND needs to invest way more in fund raising and communications with the public it's going to take more people to do this job and it also has to coordinate with each of sports to promote united approach in achieving support financially and participation from the community. I may be all wrong here but if not i believe we are going to slip to second tier program.

Thank you, Und Fan, very much appreciated. I agree with points on recruiting and funding for all of UND Athletics. I am not as knowledgeable as you are about the ins and outs of the Athletic program with UND but i have posted numerous times Athletic Administration i believe is not performing or doing enough to raise and promote the UND athletics. If i have criticism of Athletic department it is to focused on just Grand Forks market and has forgotten as I remember when UND projected, it represented state of North Dakota as well as Northwestern Minnesota not to mention we had name out into Canada. Second criticism I have is public relations and media department does not promote UND Athletics nearly enough to build any interest in sports at UND. I hear more facts and positives here than i do on any media sources locally. I know they are social media sites, but traditional sites are also needed because for majority especially older generations this is still primary source of information. I believe if UND athletic department would get out statewide, regionally, and nationwide with alumni or former North Dakota residents there are sources for funding UND, but it takes building relationships and listening and informing people to get them invest in UND. Athletic department needs to step up and this comes from the top to set philosophy and goals to achieve improvement in the program. I like your comments on Bubba and i am in the opinion that majority of the coaches we have here been working their buts off if given more support would we winning conference championships. This is not going to be easy fix but people like UND Fan who do have ear of people in charge need to get UND President and Athletic Director they need to step up their efforts if they want UND to become truly great Universities across the United States.

I see Darion White from Montana State is in the transfer portal with year of eligibility left. Not that were in great need of point guard right now, but she has been one of the point guards we have played against. Curious where she ends up landing. Has there been movement on the remaining scholarships we have left with signing of new players for next year.