UNDFan2577

That GLVC conference is nasty. Bellarmine finished 5th their last year in d2 and is immediately winning championships in d1. Don’t be surprised when Southern Indiana is an immediate contender in the OVC next year after leaving that same conference. Especially with Murray St and Belmont departing.

I get that UMary is bad but I would venture a guess and say 30% of d2 players can play d1 ball without a doubt. The top 1/4 of d2 teams would come into the Betty and roll this years UND team. There are just so many good players out there and not enough d1 roster spots for all of them. I LOVE the idea of getting a couple 21-22 year old good D2 players in. Much more than HS or JUCO at this point.

I don’t think 100% of the blame is on Sather for guys leaving (some of it is though) but I do agree that Marlon going nuts in the conference tournament in his first year is the only thing keeping him here at this point.

I’m not saying you’re wrong here, but I am saying it’s a problem that you’re right. You get what you pay for.

Anyone else see the problem here? 100K more than what UND pays now would still be a middle of the road mid-major salary.

I don’t disagree that Sather is a good coach (although there’s been some real head scratchers X and O wise this year). The amount of talent in the program is a huge problem though. How many legitimate D1 players are on this roster? Maybe 2 or 3? The talent that Sather brought in that we all got so excited about are all pretty much all riding the bench elsewhere at other mid-majors. Some(not all) of the Jones guys are having success. The talent just isn’t there and hasn’t been there in his tenure. A good coach with minimal talent isn’t winning games.

I am genuinely curious as to why this is the accepted opinion for most on here. You can’t be 6-25 in year 3 with every year being worse than the previous as you get your own recruits into the program. The portal excuse is just that, an excuse. Can’t be losing at home to a transitioning school that was D3 last year. Don’t care what time of day the game is. I’ve said it before and I’ll stand by it, winning at Northern St. does not equate to winning at UND. One is an established powerhouse program that doesn’t need built. The other is not. This job can’t continue to be one of the lowest paying in D1. Can’t offer less money than almost everyone else and just expect to catch lightning in a bottle. Rant over, sorry.

You are correct, kind of. There are different ways to do it, you can double on the catch and rotate on the back side or double/dig on first dribble and recover and close out on the play side. Should always be able to at least close out and somewhat contest a 3. And I’ll take my chances on a 40% look missing rather than give up a 100% look repeatedly. When the team is that much more talented than you, you gotta live with them making jumpers.

I am not quite on the fire Sather immediately train but I don’t know if I want him getting another contract either. The team does play hard and he doesn’t seem to have lost the locker room. The talent just hasn’t been brought in. Plain and simple. That’s not arguable. The game last night was the first time I actually questioned coaching ability. Not doubling Wilson in the post with Brady and Ethan guarding him is flat out a terrible game plan. And re-watching the game today, it actually looked like that was the plan. It’s not like those guys got switched onto Wilson, they started the possessions guarding him. And got no help in the post. That’s poor coaching.

I refuse to believe that the game plan was for Ethan and Brady to guard Wilson in the post with no help. If that was actually the plan there needs to be changes.

Not throwing doubles at Wilson is coaching malpractice.

I don’t disagree that the schedule layout is poor and that there needs to be more promotions / fans in the seats. Unfortunately the only real way to start getting more fans/students in the building is to stop putting a terrible product on the floor. Which this staff hasn’t proved that they can. There isn’t a good excuse for having zero 3 point shooting now in year 3(or ever). It’s the most widely available skill that kids/recruits have in this day and age.

I was pretty pessimistic coming in to this year so the fact that there is a chance that this could be a decent team excites me. Vastly improved offensively for the most part. I believe one of the next steps this program has to take is consistently winning the games that they SHOULD win. There has been a tendency even before Sather was here to have a head scratching loss or two (UT Martin, Dixie St, Denver and WIU last year, and I remember a couple awful losses in the last year or two of Jones to Idaho at the Betty and Montana St.) Nitpicking a bit as I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the team this year.

After watching the Milwaukee game, I’m a little more optimistic but I think middle of the pack is the ceiling. The talent(especially offensive talent) just isn’t there to do much better than that.

I don’t post here often, but the answer to this is simply not being able to string great seasons together and put together a winning culture. It’s the same reason WIU and Denver can’t get them. Location and climate are extremely overrated when talking about recruiting. “If you build it they will come.” I liked the Sather hire at first but it’s very obvious that he had no interest in almost all of the guys he didn’t recruit from day 1 and thought he could do better. Brought in a few guys that have zero business playing d1 ball and tried to band-aid that mistake through the portal with minimal success. He’s in over his head in my opinion. Winning at Northern State(an established successful program) is not the same thing as winning at UND(a program that needs building) and I’m 100% positive that Northern and any other top 20 ranked d2 team right now could come into GF and wipe the floor with UND right now. It’s tough to not be frustrated with the state of the entire athletic department at the moment. Very few things to cheer about.

I was pretty okay with the Sather hire at the time. The top 1/4 of D2 is every bit as good as the Summit and most mid-major ball. The amount of transfers in the last 2 years in concerning though. Especially when it’s his recruits that are jumping ship and not Jones guys like last year (although I have a feeling most of those guys were shown the door instead of entering the portal on their own).

Saw this and decided to check on how all the former players from last season are doing. Moody is averaging 6.5 ppg on 46% FG and 39% 3FG in about 16 minutes at Southern Utah. I believe he has missed several games as well. Neither Marko or Davids are seeing much playing time at Sioux Falls and Mary, respectively. Cant find anything on Saddler. Hazekamp is averaging 12 ppg and 6 rpg at Truman State (very good top 10 ranked d2 team) in 29 minutes. Shooting 56% FG and 50% (23-46) from 3. Also 19-20 from the line. And then Ramsey is going the JUCO route as mentioned above. I think that’s all of them, did I miss anyone?

Interesting strategy from Sather this year, booted all the shooters from the program that didn’t graduate and replaced them with guys who can’t shoot

Yes, most of those teams aren’t great this year but not sure I agree with this take. Cincy, NM and UNCG are usually solid. UAB is good this year. The majority of players at UND in the past 5-6 years have had UND as their only D1 offer, only a few guys have had multiple offers. So to get a guy like DAE who had a ton of solid offers coming in and still obviously has a ton of interest in the portal, he is above the normal level of talent that we can normally get to Grand Forks. Maybe it will be addition by subtraction but I have a hard time believing that. Best of luck to him.

Yeah, I though about that one as well. I think this one tops it just because last years team knew as long as Marlon was on the floor, they could play with anyone. This win might be the one that instills that belief for this team. Time will tell

That’s just a huge win, definitely a top 3 win of the Sather era so far with the NDSU game in GF last year and at Nebraska. This one might even be biggest as far as what it could do for the confidence of this team. No one gave them a chance to win one in Tulsa.

It’s definitely frustrating to see multiple players who left/were shown the door shooting almost 50% from 3 elsewhere while this team can’t throw it in the ocean. Currently 325th out of 338 D1 teams in scoring offense (and dropping)

I agree. Hard-working is such an overrated, over-used compliment. This is D1 ball, everyone works hard.

Hate to say it, but at this point any shot Brady takes outside of a layup is a bad shot. 28% career FG% and 23% from 3. There’s been some nice flashes like last year against Oregon St, but the sample size is pretty big now. I would love nothing more than to eat crow on this sometime down the road because the kid plays his butt off and has some pretty good instincts on the glass. But in today’s game you can’t give up that much on the offensive end. This team as a whole isn’t going to set the world on fire on offense. Sims has been the biggest bright spot.

Yeah, I have been trying to keep tabs on the transfers as I wish them nothing but the best, they were all very supportive and excited on the bench all year last year despite not playing. Will be following Marko and Davids when their seasons get started as well.