ND-fan

Just another game for women's basketball where we get nothing out of guard's offensively. When anyone of their guards either outscored all of our guards or nearly did and they did not play a full game. The style of basketball were playing right now is so out touch with what everyone else is playing it hurts to just watch them play. If we had just one guard that could shoot from the outside we could be contending in this conference. Were wasting great efforts by our front line people of Klabo, Fleecs, and Leet and they would be so much more effective with somebody scoring from the outside. Out of all our players there has to be somebody that can hit outside shot from some where and when we find that design offensive scheme to feature that to just keep the defenses honest. I am getting tired of seeing Klabo trying to score with three people on her and no option reversing it going outside for the shot. This also goes for other post players. The sad part is that both the South Dakota schools have good guards from our recruiting area starting for them and I wonder how we lost the recruiting battle or if we just don't value the importance of quality guard play. If I was Brewster and want to keep my job I would be looking hard to find a couple of outstanding offensive guards for next year. At least at the minimum one good offensive guard. I look at next year where are we going to develop any offense with the players coming back. We have group of women with no one I would call above average offensively if anything I would say were below average.

The above figures show UND about average with other FCS schools on what they spend on sports . This is what I have been saying in other thread here is getting more people attending UND sports other than Hockey is critical to helping keep UND sports more competitive for the future. NDSU has more costly sports to cover than UND with SU having wrestling and baseball compared to UND other sports of tennis, golf, track for the men and on the women's side they are comparably the same. But getting back to getting attendance to the games is key to funding the sports programs for the school. If football could get place close to full would mean at least another couple thousand people or total of another 10000 people at $15.00 we would have another 150000 of revenue from football and I would guess it would even be more than that. same thing for Basketball programs extra 1000 in attendance would another 300,000. These improvements would add half million to the programs. Also football has gone to playing FCS program here again that can add up to million dollars to the program. These may not seem like big changes but revenue increases for the sports. I would think with added attendance other streams of revenue would also increase because of the exposure this provides for suppliers and advertisers for the sports programs. I would also think our traveling expenses for our sports programs should be coming down as we get transitioned to new conferences in next year or so. Where we are not paying for airline travel were back to traveling on buses. I also think the conferences should be working on combining of traveling expenses to reduce costs for all teams traveling and working system where they can get two dates done with one travel time. Because looking at other schools in conference they are experiencing same problems with budgets. I look at above figures it shows that anyone thinks smaller division I schools are going to compete with large division schools in sports on major sports is just fooling themselves. It is possible on lesser sports to compete because major colleges may just not invest time or money in those sports. But major universities are going invest big money in football, basketball, baseball, hockey, volleyball, Lacrosse, softball and maybe track the majority of sports we sponsor here in north Dakota.

What world are you been living no matter what coach we have its going to be under contract and to keep or get new coach to come here requires we pay the going rate. Until this last contract we had we were basically paying less than a lot of Division I schools were paying there assistants. The fact is that hockey and football eats up huge portion of this schools athletic budgets which has shown in other sports and also is reason were down Baseball, Men's and Women's swimming, and Women's hockey and switch conferences to defray some of our travel expenses. Also the thought was when we got in the summit some old rivalries would help in attendance. So far that has not happened and will take more success from programs to get this done. What Berry and his assistants get paid in one year would fund men's basketball coaches for more than 3 years. Und needs to look at getting more fans into the seats especially from the students here. This I believe would help improve basketball programs by attracting better players and again improve our chances of winning . At the same time they also need to get alumni and boosters involved improving facilities and other things with the program.

We are lucky to win this game. Another game of little production from our starting guards with only 3 threes from all the guards. The front line provided the other 2 threes of total of 5 threes for the game. If this club is to have any chance of winning a game in conference tournament they are going to need to get better offensive production from their guards. Morton and Strand are just not filling those roles now and it is just not enough to play hard and play defense. If Klabo, Fleecs, Leet, and Dooley are going to have any chance of winning the inside the guards have to score and put pressure on the defense to play them instead of taking away inside game. Today when we got couple of threes from our players inside game opened up we were able to come back and win this game. I think this has to be priority for this coaching staff down the stretch is find the offense from the guard position or least from the outside. If he can't find the offense from outside from the guards he may have to look at some of the front line people to also score from the outside. What I can't believe we had this weakness and they haven't found one real outside scoring player for this team.

Western Illinois shows the glaring deficiency we have in guard being apart of the Summit conference. I thought they would have come up with some scheme to offset this weakness on defense especially when we had whole weak to prepare for them. The results show we did nothing again we have problem here with women's program looks like were going to sink to eighth seed if this happens. AD got real problem here and does he continue to full term of Brewster contract or we make a change here when the season ends. Having lame duck season and I don't see where we have recruited enough talent to overcome this next year time may have come for a change. This is case of coach that was given very good program and has now not done the work to keep the program up. This is my analysis of where the Women's program is now if other people have differing opinions I would like to hear from them.

I agree with you the Betty can meet what UND needs to for seating and attendance and you could add more seating by just improving the bleachers on the end. But now when it comes recruiting battles first impression are important on young high school student coming to visit the program. A larger more big time arena would help and I also would think it may help getting more the und students to games too because psychology this is division I basketball. Also it would give UND better practice facilities like some of the other schools in the Summit. All of this may have been much easier to get done if we were on better standing with Engelstad family to start getting the donations to build a facility like this. I believe they would want to have facilities that reflect well with the institution and their family name. Also this was done right could become center for state and regional tournaments to bring in public from all over the state making it experience attending these functions. The other thing with betty becoming practice facility it also could become more multifunctional facility where you could also have tennis courts right on campus and etc.

The Fan 100 I don't think you have been to many games lately the SDSU game was very entertaining game where you got to different styles of basketball play against each other and it was close game yes we lost by few points but it was against the best in summit conference. Also in the SDSU game you could see we didn't get much for breaks being new to the conference and game did come down to couple of possessions. The Western Illinois game very entertaining and we did pull it out in the end. Omaha game very good game except for the last 1 and 47 where we made some poor decisions by few of the players. Now the last game at home I didn't make it because of weather and it appeared to me on tv it wasn't as fun a game to watch by way South Dakota dictated the tempo of the game. All these games lately though have been entertaining and if we had more people at game especially students that are usually more vocal than older people it would have helped our performances at the games. Also the Women games up to the last 2 years were very good games also and year they went to NCAA tournament and the conference tournament was here it was very good women's basketball. So again we have entertaining games and especially with men's game this year they have been close games what will it take to get more people interested. Hockey is still drawing good crowds even when there record is not that good and a lot of games we haven't been in it so why can't basketball do the same. The South Dakota schools are drawing huge crowds and if we want to be factor in this conference in basketball we are going to need to start drawing big crowds. When conference tournament comes we go to Sioux Falls basically home court for SDSU your going to see big crowds they draw similar to that of our hockey program. If we want to be big time program you need a large fan support from the community.

I have a question and that is why is it both Women's and Men's Basketball is so poorly attended by college students. I don't just mean now but even when they both were winning the show up is pretty poor. University of over 12,000 students can't get even get 500 to 1000 students to game on week night or even when they have weekend game. Do they need to promote more activities to get people to come to the game like promotions to just get students coming to the game. Could it be they need transportation from the dorms and other campus living area's for the game. I guess I don't get it when I was in college it was something to do during the week and didn't cost any money and got you out your domicile and time to get together with friends. Also another promotion I think they should be to give tickets to area high schools and athletic teams use it as promotion for the sports as well as the school and same time show case their programs and the schools. Am I way off base here but I just find it embarrassing for the UND not to be improving there attendance for their games. If they are doing this there results are not showing up at the games and I believe if they want to they can improve attendance. Its like anything you got to work hard at it because they are competing for entertainment time and money.

I know a lot of you out there are looking for blood but I believe he serves out his contract and wouldn't be surprised if he has like he had prior to end of his last contract where he has had excellent couple of seasons where he will have been in the post season with reaching NCAA again in two years. The question is does he stay or does he move on by his choice or UND's choice. I also see him getting another contract if the above results are obtained. I think Brewster is much more on the bubble than JOnes is because he will have had one disappointing season and two loosing seasons coming into his final year. Also look at the girls team rooster it real thin on talent and I don't believe he can recruit enough talent to get himself to winner especially in the Summit conference.

I think Reinke has room to grow but Brew has done very little to help develop her as player. I don't know the reason for this but I thought since end of last year she should be getting more playing time. I never have been great fan of Morton I think she plays out of control and has no outside scoring ability strictly drive and shoot player and most of time looks like she's forcing a shot. I also think she gets whole team playing that style of basketball but Brew sees something in her style of basketball play. I think they need to have assistant coach that works with the guards and outside game.

This South Dakota game is really showing our weakness as team that I saw all of last year we need some better shooting guards. We have nobody to take a three and make it and even from guard nobody even can hit 15 foot shot either. I wonder if they have even worked on their outside shooting this year because I don't see any offense that even set up the outside three spot where guard get a good look. Where I have not been as critical of men's team I am with women basketball we haven't gotten any better since the beginning of the season if any thing I think were slipping backwards. If anybody else see's a positive with this women's team I would glad to hear this but I haven't seen anything for at least last 4 games. Also to me were playing awful chippy game of clutching and grabbing and not clean game. I don't see much that can be done with this team. The coaches better be out on the recruiting trail trying to find some guards that can play in the Summit and this going to take couple years before were even think about competing with top teams in the conference.

I like to say a lot to the critics that want all our coaches fired here its not going to happen. Far as Jones goes he's been here long time but his record means very little first half of his tenure here because he took over the program when we were at bottom of North Central Conference in division II with team that the program had no talent on the team. Then when he was recruiting talent for division II we made the jump to division I where we had at best weak division II squad to compete. Then add in when we joined the Big Sky conference not conference to easily be apart of because traveling 3 time zones not recipe for getting best performance out your kids and second again joining a new conference where you get no breaks being new to the conference. Same thing were experiencing now with Summit conference. The next thing that has hurt him has been lack of money to spend on assistant coaches until this last contract he ceived hard to build good program when constantly loosing coaches because they can make more money elsewhere. Yes these may be excuses but they are also facts that have hurt the UND basketball. Another thing that has hurt mens basketball is hockey when it has consumed all the oxygen and fan support for winter sports in Grand Forks in last 15 years and you can't tell me it hasn't sucked money away from the basketball programs. I look at South Dakota schools basketball is there big winter sports and what is important to them at the schools and media and when they are recruiting it a big advantage because everyone wants to play in front a lot of fans night in night out. I look at other two schools in Summit conference where basketball has to compete hard with hockey in Omaha and Denver and they do have advantage over even us they are from large communities to draw fans. Mussman is referenced to his being let go there was big difference he was starting loosing kids as well as general public confidence in his handling of the program. Jones also has lost kids in last couple of years but it was because they were in demand from top tier schools something hard to fight. Crandall to Gonzga; Shanks to Loyola; and Bernsteinto Washington; what would these players added to our record if they had finished their careers here. Also when they leave after the season like they can now it means there your always year away from replacing them with top quality recruit because major recruits are long gone. The reason I have not been as critical of Jones is that I see teams that get better each year and they play hard for him. Yes I would like to have winner here every year but facts of the matter are way und sports are structured now with mens basketball I don't see it happening anytime soon. I don't believe coaching is the problem with why were not dominate program here if our current coach here had resources of some of the other universities he would have winning program.

Klabo is very good player but when brew put together this year with everything evolving around her was putting cap on this team. For the last 3 years we have seen this funk with his Teams but I think its because he lost the team and nobody believing in the system. I go back to last year when season ended we lost Freije with no explanation for her leaving but usually don't loose Junior that is your second leading scorer unless there are big problems internally. If Freije had been the problem we should have seen improvement in the team and team moral and we haven't so by process of elimination we still must have problem with team chemistry. We may never know what the problem is but for sure there's something wrong with the team chemistry. The one problem we have for sure we don't have player that can take out side shot and make it consistently. I should correct myself and say is we have no one willing to take that shot beside Strand and our two post players of Klabo and Leet. The big question is can some of these other girls shoot from outside I don't know but we also haven't seen them ever take the shot either and this is where I am wondering if maybe we do have players that could be better but restrictions they are playing under we never find out what we have for talent. The one thing for sure is next year we will have different team out on the floor with six senior graduating this year. I also thought that we would get a little of change in the system of the team with new assistant coaches hired this year. If anything its like we have doubled down on the system with star player to be go to player and everything has to go through her. I wonder if Brew is on double secret probation with Chaves this year but if I guess right nothing will be done until his contract comes up for renewal.

Yes he does have big job ahead of him. First of all when they waved white flag two years ago I think it was straw that broke the camels back. Also this current president of university hasn't helped one bit and then we had Ed Schafer's short term presidency that what he couldn't get done as governor he did when he was interim president for the university. The political correct crowd at the university may have won the press and some of the public over but they never thought about what alumni and boosters thought and wanted. This group is different group that have way different attitudes and beliefs the what political correct culture has in academic world. When this group concerns and wishes were ignored they in turn just lost interest in supporting the university at level it had in the past. Then we had interim president mandating huge budget cuts to the university with athletic department dropping Baseball, Mens and Womens swimming and women's hockey. This is after university had just got done improving facilities for these sports or had state of art facilities for these programs. Then to top it off we have president that is running fight with family of one largest donors to university to point this family is not speaking to him and have limited their contact with University. Then we have on going fight with another of long term donors over golf course that was also was closed and sold off. These are things I know of that are public knowledge to average person. Then we get into former alumni from Womens hockey program that were at Olympics that won gold medals and bronze for their countries that expressed their opinion on what UND had done. If you were trying to wreck alumni and booster moral you couldn't do much better job of doing so. The leadership has served UND poorly in last 3 years in that instead of just getting out the ax cutting to make the books look good for the short term they needed to look to long term for the school. They needed to talk to alumni and boosters about how they could get additional help from them and how they were going to improve bottom line for the sports program. Second they needed to look to corporate sponsors to help fund their sports more too which I see in summit conference. Now this AD will need to evaluate the sports programs and determine if he see's were going in right direction long term or are we need of changes to make us competitive again. I also see us getting hurt by being in new conference we get no respect which is BS but were almost through this until we get to football in two seasons which I hope he gets on top of it so we don't have to go through this again. The problem we have at president of Universtiy is going to make it hard for this AD to help improve things with Alumni and boosters for the short term. The positives we have is we have good facilities and overall we still have good fan participation to watch remaining sports. I also think they should start thinking about how they could start bringing back some dropped programs to get Alumni and Booster involved on something positive.

UND womens basketball is need of serious fixing if going to compete in the Summit conference. I look at where we are now and where we were 4 to 5 years ago we have gone backwards on talent we put on the floor. We do have talent on the front line but in the back court we do not have once we had. I look at when UND went to the NCAA tournament we had talent in the back court to win but most of that talent was recruited by Roebuck. I look back then we had Madi Buck shooting guard and quick enough bigger guard to guard people like SDSU had last night. We also had Szabla, Dyer, Burck, and Knox where we had girls that could hit the open shot as well as play good defense and were quick enough to stay with people. I look at this year team we have nobody in the guard position that you could look to take a outside shot from three on consistent basis and offensively we are weak from the guard position. Second overall guard speed is not what it should be and I don't know if we could use different schemes of defense to cover up some of these weaknesses. Also it seems that some players are not getting more playing time that have more upside potential than who's on the court. To fix this problem we need to be looking for quicker and stronger guards to play defense but also that can provide offense from the outside. Also we have offense that is so center around klabo that we get nothing out of other people. I look at SDSU tonight they were getting offense from several people much harder to defend and also makes for much more team orientated offense. Brewster is going to have too adapt if he wants to win this conference and also he needs to get where you see his players are having more fun on the court. I just don't see it much and I truly believe you need that chemistry of players where they look like they are having fun and have confidence that even if make a mistake there not in dog house and removed from the game. I see us finishing probably around 4 in the conference at year end and we will not get very far in the conference tournament just don's see how we make a run with this team. I not sure what we all have recruited for next year but they better be looking for outstanding guard that can make impact right away next year.

I was at the game last night UND was in couple of possession of winning this game. Daum was difference in the game but sure can tell that he gets treated differently than most of the other players in the league. He played whole 40 minutes of the game and never received one foul but I can assure you if he was freshman like Rebraca there would have been several calls that he would have received a foul. The first one was when he hits Avants with the shoulder not only it was none call but he gets the call the other way I can tell you if that is any other than premier player in the league the call goes other way especially when that player is on the road. Also if you watch a lot of his put backs he gets way with pushing the other player enough under the basket where his long reach become advantage. These calls like this makes a huge difference in game like this just couple of calls other way changes outcome of the game. South Dakota is very good team and showed why they are class of the league but if they make NCAA tournament Daum doesn't get these call it will turn around other way where he will be player that doesn't get benefit of the doubt. That's the way it is in college basketball and to me that is wrong with major sports in this country everyone wants the star treated differently but I maintain if everyone would be treated equally we would always have the cinderella story in sports. The problem with that it hurts tv they want there stars and promote games on the stars to draw the audiences and ratings. I think the opposite people like to watch underdog and two it would mean top teams would need to bring A game all the time or else they could loose. UND I think learned the formula to win this league if they can continue to get good shooting from their guards. South Dakota state is very good basketball team but they are beatable and now what everyone was talking about this club 20 points better than anyone else is not the case.. They very well could be on their home court 20 better but opposing court or even neutral court my guess is they 5 to 10 point favorite. Also if Daum got hurt I don't think they would be favorite with most of teams in Summit conference. Last night they went with pretty much iron man squad with only one other player getting playing time. I hope we can put a few more wins on the book it would be nice if we could end up finishing like 5 in league but I am afraid we may have missed that chance with ORU and Omaha losses games we could have won. I think if we could get high enough seed we could have nice finish to the season in conference tournament getting to semifinal game.

I thought we didn't make many changes during the game defensively and for sure we were getting beat in the man to man defense we had today we couldn't match up to them defensively. I though we should have tried some form of zone defense just to see if we could stop them from scoring at will. There two guards were quicker than our guards but I thought if we would have played either box and chaser or even better a triangle and two where our guards could put maximum of pressure on the outside and force there smaller guards to come inside to where they had shoot over our bigger posts we may have cut down on easy layups. In the first half when there guards had to come in shoot over our posts they didn't score at will. Also being in triangle zone like that we would be position to standing in front not chasing with our slower post players. I noticed when Leet was in the first half her height alone made Western Illinois players change there shots. I just thought we needed to make some changes because when you're giving up 90 spot were not getting many stops and we don't have offense that could keep up with that kind of scoring. Second thing I noticed is from Omaha game even though western a different team is that when we had Klabo back the rest of the team seems to just stand around and expect her to carry offensive load. When she wasn't there at Omaha all the girls were looking for there shot and offense seemed to just click with the threat coming from all five. I also think it reflects in the coaching too because it seems Brewster takes a girl out if she show some initiative in scoring and she not one of the stars for the team. I think he believes in always going to his stars first and that may be high percentage most of the time but it also makes you very predictable defend and limit your scoring chances. Also it takes fun out the game for other players on your team and also puts extra pressure on these girls to know that if take a shot it may mean playing time and especially if you miss a shot. Also I have noticed our girls never seem to be having fun on the court even when there winning big on the court. This is something I have noticed since the Roebuck era his players played with much more emotion and seemed more together as a team at least that's way I remember it.

I was disappointed that he didn't finish his career hear in North Dakota but in the end he had do what was best for him. If coach Jones wants him on his staff and thinks he can contribute to the team I am all for it. I think he can offer his experience and knowledge he has learned in college career can be nothing more than gain for UND. His playing in three different programs in my mind should give him extra knowledge he can pass on to this young team especially in the big department. I wish him nothing but best here and again his previous time here was nothing but positive for the team and community why wouldn't want somebody like that here.

I was at the game UND played very good game until the last 2 minutes of the game. They lost the game at the free throw line if they would have even hit 50% at the free throw line in last minute and half they would have won the game. I kind of think you can expect this with this team very young team with exception of Avants and Seales . Also can tell that Stewart is behind in play because not being able to play first semester. I get tired of criticism of Jones as coach of this team they have improved as the season gone along they play good defense with few exceptions and some that is because they young players and play good team basketball. I expected games like this with this young team and growing pains but I think they are going to be pretty good team at the end of the season. Are they going to win whole thing for the conference I don't think so but they will be better team and will be stronger team next year if these players return and with few additions could be a very good team next year. After the game group of us were discussing the game only thing I could have faulted on coaching decisions were that maybe he should have pulled Moody for short period of time because they were shutting him down. But also he may have keep them honest defense to let Avants and Seales drive and work in the middle. The way these refs called the game it was difficult for UND to shut down there big man inside with not letting body up to him or let them push deny the pass on defense because once he got ball he created such mismatch where we needed more than one person on him allowing him dish it off for scoring. Also the way game was called in second half we had bonus with almost nine minutes to go in the half. This allowed them to shoot free throws to catch up down the stretch. I will very much like to see them again play some mistakes and nerves they had for this game will be eliminated and were going to see where they start beating some these better teams in league.

What is reason for Klabo, Daily sisters, and Nicholson not dressing for the game.

The Bison to me hit crescendo this past Saturday and they will be very good football team again next year but not like they have been last several years. The reasons I have for this change in coaching and huge graduating class that filled a lot of skilled positions. The next reason is this is first year in over 9 years they don't have experienced quarterback to start the next season. They have some good young players that have potential to be good quarterbacks but they have hardly played so they are going to have large learning curve for the coming season. I could very well expect by end of the season they could be contenders but I believe they will have lost a few games getting through the season. I could see where UND playing them early could have very good chance upsetting them and especially when both teams are healthy. NDSU even this year was the best team in Fcs but a lot of it had to do with Stick where they had best quarterback in FCS. I look at rest of FCS the top teams were fairly close in level of play and a lot on who won was based where they were playing. Now this coming year I don't see where NDSU has that dominance at quarterback so I see team that will be much closer than in past to rest of FCS. Now UND is returning a lot of talent and with right offensive coaches and little more depth they will be knocking to get into that higher level of FCS which is possibility. Also SU has been very lucky in not having one of those seasons where you have multiple injuries at key skilled positions to where you have to shake up whole team to get those positions filled. Yes they have had injuries but where you have starter injured and his replacement injured and then having his replacement injured until where your moving player from different position in to start that position. This happens to teams and whole season is lost because of this.

Wentz has great ability but his career will not last long if he is not protected more no quarterback survives in the NFL if they are subject to many hits. Philadelphia is coming to decision point on Wentz next year are they going to sign him up for big money or go with Foles or acquire a new quarterback for the future. I could see where Eagles may let him leave and my guess then he would be perfect candidate for the NEW England in a year. I Think Brady is coming to end of his career and another year of regression is really going to show up. Wentz would fit perfectly in New England where they take a player turn his career around by putting that player in perfect situation to perform.

This was nice win on the road but real test for us will come when we play the Two South Dakota schools to see where we are in this conference. Also Western Illinois looks like they are going to be in the mix of the conference. I think if we play up to potential we could be fighting for the 3 spot in the conference when all dust settles after we get into the conference season.

I watched game on the tv today but I thought UND looked very good at times and then didn't look very good but I think this has to do with young team. Fort Wayne is experienced team and you could see them exploiting our young players. I thought second half we played much better and much better defense. What cost us the game is way to many turnovers. To be fair today Seales being sick sure didn't help for us playing defense and rebounding. I think this team by end of year could become factor and could pull off upset in the tournament. Also I like how this team played hard for whole game.

NDSU / UND rivalry is not what it was once since SU decided to go division 1 first and UND remained at division 2. The reasons for not playing each other has been documented over the years but the bottom line has been SU and Fargo has marketed itself with all its recent success at football to have surpassed UND is ahead of them in Division 1 sports. This has worked quite well with UND in the Big Sky Conference and SU in the Missouri valley conference and Summit conference where they were not required to play each other on yearly basis. This has gone on so long now we have generation of people who never experienced the rivalry the way us older generation had experienced it and even when we played the game recently it was for pride not like it was in the past where it usually determined who would win the conference and who would get playoff birth. Yes back in the day it was division 2 but I can tell you it meant just as much as it would be today. If you would do your history on this large number of the teams that are in FCS today were mix for the Division 2 titles until they created Division 1 aa which today is the FCS. Now today with UND changing conferences and joining SU and the South Dakota schools over next several years were going to see these old rivalries start to heat up again. I think it will be good for both schools and when UND does beat NDSU we will then talk about how big rivalry it is because that day will come and trust me it won't just be in football but other sports as well. The sad part is UND has lost several of the sports over the years that they competed with against SU and South Dakota schools in the past like Baseball, Wrestling, and swimming not something to be proud of . This 15 year period of schools going in different directions and now coming back together will be looked like dark period for both schools because playing each other again regularly and sparking up rivalry will improve both schools programs but also will benefit them financially to keep their sports programs healthy. It will be win for all of North Dakota and South Dakota.