EternalOptimist

Good summary - I think we will see some lineup changes. Not only for the reason you mentioned, but per "sources" (GoodGood should love that), stomach illness has affected several. Not sure who will come out of it in time, or who might yet come down with it, but it's a bummer for sure.

I think Tsotne Tsartsidze plays somewhere in Europe

That's a great summary, and spot on. The frontcourt is a question. From what I've seen - and it's just my opinion. Jones is the biggest body we have. He can bang around in the paint, but lacks shooting ability, and is quite slow on his feet. Guga, is a tweener - he doesn't really shoot very well, and had ok size and strength. I haven't really seen him post up with authority yet. Both Jones and Guga seem to struggle with fouls. Bothun doesn't have the size to bang with other solid bigs (he is listed at 220 lbs). In the limited time he has gotten, it seems like he has decent footwork and can put the ball on the floor if needed. He also hit a few threes last year, and one in a previous game - the word is he is a decent shooter. Erickson is closer to Jones in my opinion, other than Erickson is a little better shooter - not great, but better than Jones. My guess is we will see a revolving door of frontcourt guys for a while. Again - only my opinion, but this team seems to have a makeup to drive and shoot. Greyson, the Curtis Twins, A3, Anderson, and King all seem to be most comfortable trying to get the the basket. Kraft is a shooter (others shoot as well). I guess I'd like to see us play to that and use a frontcourt that has the ability to drag the opposing big out of the paint. We don't seem to have anyone that is going to dominate the paint, so try and get a big who can hit a 3 here and there, and make a pass from the perimeter to drag that opposing big out to open the lane for others to drive. If the help comes - kick to a shooter. Again - just my opinion

This is a neat idea... Predictions on # of attendees?

Being bumped completely from the radio for the football game when they use different radio stations often during the basketball season is a bummer for many who can't make the games. It also screams, we are not willing to give basketball a priority. (Don't get me wrong, football should be on the radio and it is football season, but this is D1 - we can use a different station). Then to not have the stats posted, just confirms the pecking order. Even at the game, no hype video, which I get its the 1st exhibition game, but nothing at all? Should have at least had a "get to know your 25/26 Hawks". I talked to a friend who was at the NDSU vs Gopher game last Thursday, and he said they had the band playing like it was mid-season. We don't even have the digital basketball program working on the UND app yet. There is room for improvement

1) We Looked nervous to begin - better in the 2nd 2) Defense has changed and has potential, but still TBD 3) Freshmen & newbies played pretty well, but will have some freshman mistakes 4) We will not win a lot of games.

I was at the game. It was fun to get back into basketball at the Betty, and even though I believe the wins are going to be tough to come by this year, I enjoy watching and taking it all in. A couple of takes from my perspective. In general, I thought we looked a bit nervous in the 1st half. In addition to that, Jamestown shot pretty well in the 1st half. The second half, it appeared we looked a bit more at ease with the game. (Note: I'm not saying this because I think it was a half-time speech or adjustments, I say it because we have several on the team who haven't seen a lot of minutes at the D1 level and it seemed to take a bit to settle). As far as the positives go, we didn't chuck up a bunch of contested 3s. The 3s we shot, were decent looks. I also think we moved the ball pretty well. It didn't seem to get sticky, nor were we looking for 1 or 2 guys specifically to score. Much more balance that way in my opinion. The defense has a new look, with more ball pressure and some trapping. This looked a little disjointed at times in the 1st half, but looked much better in the 2nd half. Still TBD to see how this plays out vs better opponents. As for the negatives, the defense, if broken, will be prone to the open look, which might cause problems vs good shooting teams. In addition, often times our big is doing the trapping on the perimeter (due to the offensive big setting the high pick). If the defense works, it causes a lot of chaos - which we saw some nice steals and dunks from it. If the pass gets through the trap, it leaves us with less rebounding abilities - which we may see rebounding as an issue. Also, this defense needs to have mobile bigs in order to set traps and get back if they didn't work. I think the freshmen will contribute, but I also think we will see some freshman tendencies that might get hard to stomach from time to time. They will also provide some highlights. All in all, it was fun to see. I wins may be a challenge, but there are some bright spots and a lot of potential bright spots. It's only 1 game though. The Gophers and Alabama will bring a different level of physicality and length. It may get ugly - but, it's better than playing some D3 college.

All teams deal with minor injuries, you just don't normally hear about it unless it's major - UND isn't any different. These guys are practicing and lifting every day, minor strains and twists are bound to happen. Often players play through it during the season, but sometimes they miss a practice or a lift to rest it.

Knee issue - he will be fine.

Like someone has already mentioned, I don't think much stock should be taken from who starts this 1st exhibition game, there will most likely be changes along the way. I would be surprised if we see King even play - it's really not worth it to push recovery. There are a couple others that are nursing injuries as well. No need to risk anything further.

Agreed! And if I were forced to put money on it, I'd bet he may be our leading scorer this year (if he stays healthy).

Time will tell. I'm not sure if I would have used the word stronger quite yet, but I do know they will be implementing some different defensive styles. More trapping in certain types of situations and pressuring the ball. I am also hearing they are putting more emphasis on defense than they maybe did in the past. Again, time will tell

The bar isn't high...

I'm not as familiar with her, but it sounds like she was very good in HS, but went to Alabama to play softball for 3/4 years, and now is going to switch back to basketball? Is that correct? If so, it will be interesting to see what many years of not playing does to her. Hope it works out for the best.