pirate

I do not see Clear Channel, as the owners of broacast rights for UND sports, as the problem. I agree with BinCity, the ancillary programs that highlight or inform us about UND Athletics, as being deficient. This morning, the boys, Tim and Swyg, gave an almost obligatory mention of the hiring of the head basketball coach. Then, they went off on the usuall dialogue about Golf and weekend household projects. I, like BinCity, enjoy the WDAY sports program Prime Time Sports, and seem to get as much information about UND athletics from their programs as I get from Clear Channel. Pathetic, to say the least. Clear Channel used to have Derek Hanson do some sports talk programming, but, that would usually end up "Vikings Talk" all day every day. There used to be a Monday night show, when Bruce Telleman(sp) was alive, that was enlightening and provacative. I beleive a guy like Greg Lotys could handle that type of program very well. And it wouldn't have to be all hockey as well. Currently, the Wednesday night coaches show is pretty "fluffy", with alot of adoration and softball questions. In other words. alot like the Bison coaches show. I know I would like to hear a decent call in program on Clear Channell.

Aeros.

From what I understand, Jordan Muro is not enrolled for this spring semester. This may be a concern regarding this years rotation at nose guard as well as next years depth. Two players(Ducscher and the oft-injured Ross Brennan) are seniors,and the other Wolffe, are the only returninees. I wonder if Enger will see time at nose or perhaps Richter(if fuuly recovered) will get reps at that position.

According to Stacey Anderson,on Prime time Sports, 'DAZ has put in a bid to televise the UND/Pitt State game this Saturday. I would guess the rest is up to the NCAA and Pitt. State to accept their bid. The game would be shown on WDAZ, Mid-Com and FSSN.

According to (of all places) Prime time sports last night, Hallstrom indicated Forum Com. will put in a "bid" in order to televise the game this weekend. Will know tonight.

I see the 'O-line' as being the critical element in this game. Last week they faced a very disciplined and talented Defensive front in Augustana. It was a good test for the line against Augie's talent and game plan. That coupled with the fact that UND was being called for everything(you do not get any breaks on the road), led to alot of tentative play on their part. UND must be disciplined and smart on offense. They do not have to be spectacular. As someone mentioned, maintain field position, maximize possesions, use the running attack to eat up the clock and have an efficient passing game. This puts a huge burden on the 'O line' but Coach Mussman almost always has them prepared. Simple enough? I see it as a relatively low scoring game. I say UND-17, SCSU-10.

This is the second week in a row that this crew of officials was involved in an "inadvertant" whistle call. Not a good sign when the officials become a part of the play and its outcome, rather than the players doing so. According to the broadcast crew, the officials missed a holding call by an Augie d-back on Weber,and subsequent interception to kill a Sioux drive. I know it's tough to get a call on the road,(especially in Sioux Falls and at Augie), however, We did win the game and I hope We put this behind us.

The 18 month notification "rule", has a buyout stipulation. A significant amount of money, but not insurmountable.

Bisonguy, Whatever Georgetown or Gonzaga are or have been in regard to a D-I classification, D-I has more subclassifications for eligibility to the "Big Dance" and that is what is currently driving most D-I members. If I were a Bison fan, I would be a little p. o.ed at watching a school like Gonzaga, Georgetown or SDSU for that matter, getting into D-I with little or no investment into there f.b. programs while NDSU, it's fans and community, have spent so much in the past. The only sense I can see for a school like UND, is for the NCAA to create a D-IAA in all sports, the old big college/little college, of 30 years ago. By the way, my understanding of the D-IAAA classification is that the school is D-I in all sports but does not have football in any form.

Bisonguy, The issue wasn't Georgetown, who up untill 10 years ago WAS division I-AAA.(and i'm sure has spent those past 10 years ramping up scholarships, etc. to D-IAA standards to play games in 2,500 seat Harbin Stadium.) The issue for me, was that the NCAA does have subclasifications for sports, other than Hockey. As you stated, an institution can be D-I without having football ala Georgetown 10 years ago. An institution can have football without giving scholarships, ala Valporaiso. Who knows, the NCAA may decide to make another menu item to include DI-AA only.

Wrong bisonguy. Georgetown, is able to play division I basketball, while being division III in all other sports. I believe their classification is d-I aaa. The truth is the NCAA currently has a big menu of classifications, mainly to accomidate the basketball tournament, i.e. t.v. monies.

I am thinking the name "23", is being used as that was Ralph Engelstad's uniform number when He was a UND goaltender.

Anybody else notice there are only two players listed as fullbacks? Whistoff and Christensen.

fightinsu, I wasn't saying that freshmen being 1's or 2's was a bad thing. Like I said I am impressed. I like the trend.

I remember this rumor surfacing several years ago, when Noel Olson was about to retire as NCC commish. RT was rumored to be in line for consideration for the job. As we know Marcil got the job, and now that there is an opening RT's name again pops up. I think partly because of RT's past connections in Sioux Falls (He was an assistant coach at Augustana) and I believe his wife is from that area. That and because He is a great adminisrator.

I would say the Herald's depth chart from sunday's paper is something that comes from Spring Practices and will see many changes come the season opener. There were a handfull of players who did not participate in the spring and subsequently are not listed on the chart. I suspect the chart changes weekly, and I would not put too much stock in the Herald's list, at least not at this time. Even during the season the chart changes from week-to-week, so at this time it can only be looked at as a piece of conversation. I would say the biggest surprises for me, would be how close to number 1's some of the redshirt freshmen are. Examples; Braegelman, Alexander and Cadwell. They must be impressive.

With players scheduled to officially report tomorrow, it has been a pretty productive spring and summer for the football team. Around 70 players stayed in Grand Forks this summer which shows alot of committment by players to the upcoming years team. I hear many of the players continue to improve on strength and conditioning numbers. I have heard of only three players not returning. Eric Ahlstrom(converted tight end to interior line), Preston Stewart(red shirt fullback) probably going to Mary U., and Eric Habbenhorst(walk on fulback) from Montana.

I did not see Dressler's name listed on the Shrine game west roster. Anybody know why not?

I, also, feel the '99 team had the opportunity to be something very special. They, however, had one bad game where they lost at SDSU. Ranek went 'nuts' for something like 200 yards rushing which opened up the passing game for SDSU. Beran had a career day in recieving. Following that loss, UND went from being rated No. 1 in the region to being no. 4. UNC became the no. 1 after that. In the first round of the playoffs, UND had a first half lead, the rushimg game was working, and the defense was stellar. In the second half, Perk got hurt. The defense played good enough to hold the lead, the problem was NWMSU's special teams took over. Their kick coverage teams kept us in poor field position the entire 2nd half, Their coverages blew up our returns and I don't think we started a 2nd half drive beyond our own 15 yard line. Getting anything going, especially against their defense, was nearly impossible. Tony Miles, their return specialist wide reciever, completely took over the game. Getting into overtime,We still had a shot, but, it wasn't meant to be. Their coach, said UND's defense was the best they had faced that year.

I would add that the Kenora Thistles are a past Stanley Cup winner.

I believe it would be a "sucker's bet" for North Dakota to look at Division One now or anytime soon. With the addition of women's Div. 1 hockey, we have committed to Title IX compliance per the men's hockey program. With that, we added not only expense but also opportunity. I do not see how we could afford additional expenses with 27 more scholarships for football alone,as well as the added title IX costs. (Certainly not by including women's equestrien.) I believe we have the best of all worlds, with the great facilities, traditions, coaches and fans we now have.

Ben Murphy. He is a very wise man.

Congratulations on securing the football conference. I will be pulling for you folks, especially against sdsu and UNC. Just remember UC-Davis is UND's bi-yotch, so keep it going for the state of North Dakota against them.

Thank you Tony for that information. The current status of scholarship funding in D-2, as you point out, could be apocryphal for fully funded programs. That being a further lowering of maximum levels. How the 40 odd fully funded schools respond, will be interesting, if D-2 does reduce scholarships. In regard to the early days of D-2, when there were 60 scholarships, how many of those schools were fully funded? For the sake of argument, I will speculate that fully funded schools were proportionately the same as today.

My question would be, how many D-2 teams are fully funded with 36 scholarships? I believe the conferences that allow a full compliment of scholarships include the NCC, the GLIAC, the SAC, the Gulf South, the MIAA and the LSC. Are there any others?