bincitysioux

I'm just curious as to why you think they are sure to "fall and stay down year after year"? After this Saturday, they will have won 11 national championships in the last 50 years. I get more excited about the prospects of North Dakota becoming better, than I do blissfully hoping that NDSU somehow gets bad. To each their own I guess.

Huff is what he is, and that is a great scorer. And he's been pretty efficient at it. He's among the nation's leaders in scoring and shooting 49% overall and over 70% from the line. Among the conference leaders in rebounding as a guard. Wish he'd take less 3 pointers because he's not shooting from the arc as good as he did last year. Grade: A Anderson is off to a slow start. Struggling uncharacteristically from the FT line. Among the nation's leaders in 3 point shooting. With his diminutive stature, he's more apt to really struggle in the non-conference season against bigger stronger teams. Hopefully he gets going in Big Sky play. Grade: C Webb is a great passer and a great defender. Not a great shooter, but is pretty good at finishing when he gets around the rim. Has knack for scoring in key situations. Continues to be a rotten FT shooter as he has his entire career. Grade: B Agree on Nash. Terrible FT shooter. Grade B Hooker seems to have lots of talent there, and will only get better with time. Has a nice frame, strong kid. Not shooting well. Grade: C Schuler is the smartest player on the team. Not shooting the ball well at all. Hampered by injuries. He needs to start knocking down jump shots. Grade: C I think Calcaterra has been a nice addition. He is great without the basketball. He knows his role, does what's asked of him, and doesn't try to do too much. Shown the ability to knock down the 12 footers. Grade: B Trayler is probably the biggest disappointment to me. Last year he showed decent offensive low post skills. So far he hasn't been able to finish, is a terrible FT shooter, and a questionable defender. Grade: D With the injury, I haven't seen enough of Salmonson. Seems like a depth guy. Grade: D I haven't noticed that Stefan is a good shooter. Depth guy. Grade: D Lenny likes to chuckthepigskin. He is what he is. Grade: C Benton is a gritty blue collar player. Decent defender and strong kid. I kind of cringe when he drives to the basket. He does what's asked of him pretty well. Grade: B Overall, I give this team's performance thus far a D. Several things need to change if they are realistically going to be a factor in the Big Sky tourney.

Good to get a win, no matter how underwhelming it was.

We sure so miss a lot of lay ups too......

At this point I'm not sure Jones cares about ball movement. His philosophy seems to be to get the best athletes possible and hope for the best. Going on 4 years of this........

Do good teams normally trail SUU at halftime at home?

Tough deal for Lennon. I can't recall a time when a program lost all 3 coordinators but not the head coach in the same off season. QB coach too. Lennon should be recruiting players not coaches right now......

I just can't pick this team to win this game right now.

I agree that the defense played better in 2013 under Kotelnicki. I'm thinking that a big problem he had was the talent that he worked with. Is the talent going to be any better for Schmidt in a year's time? I also agree that the 2013 senior class wasn't the best we've ever seen. But it did include probably our two best defensive players in Goodman and Bennett. What LB's on the roster will be better in 2014 than they were in 2013? Serious question, and you geaux_sioux, are probably the guy that can answer it for me. Throw in the loss of Kuksa and Edwards, and it looks to me like the 4 of the best defensive players on our team won't be here in 2014.

As Tom Miller pointed out: Just wondering what people realistically are expecting from next year's defense? With Schmidt coming into the fold, that makes our last 3 DC's former players of Bubba. We know it will be a 3-4, and I can't imagine there will be much change in scheme, if at all will there? What will make the defense more effective under Schmidt than it was under Kotelnicki? Why did the defense regress so much from 2011 to 2012 under Mannausau? Discuss..............

Shoot, I'm thinking Big Sky title in 5 years. Playoffs in 2016, Year 3 of Project Bubba.

I've always found that odd too, but from what I understand it was always Ryan Moody that made substitutions when he was here as well.

Can't really have it both ways folks. If people don't like Jheria's "smack", this thread hardly seems appropriate anymore......

The stench of mediocrity is strong with this team right now.

Wow. This team really is capable of playing terrible basketball. Being out rebounded 15-6. What a joke these guys are turning out to be.....

Get it back on topic.

Well one fan base's team is something like 35-2 over the last three years so I can see why they want some continuity. I think a lot of UND fans just felt that a total reboot of the program would be best. Hopefully Bubba proves to those fans right quick that he can get the job done. I think he will.

I'd say they are somewhat similar with some key differences. Age difference being one. Both have lots of experience as Defensive Coordinator. Bubba has a few years as a HC under his belt. Both have a ring as a defensive coordinator. Big difference there though is that Schwiegert helped build the team and defense that got him his ring. Kliemen really just took over a defense that was already on cruise control and went along for the ride. Both have spent time at more than one traditionally good football programs. Both are familiar with the same recruiting areas.

I think the Big Sky is a much deeper conference. It has more dogs too, like ISU, UNC, and sadly North Dakota right now. I guess both cases are to be expected since it has more teams.

I'm saying I don't think it is likely that North Dakota would rent the Fargodome and bus the team there for practice if the Alerus was previously booked for those dates. They'd maybe make that effort for hockey, but not for football IMO. FU treats football like we treat hockey.

In a couple years, I'll feel the same way. I never thought playoffs were a realistic possibility in 2013. We lost a lot of skill from a just a 5 win team in 2012. Never expected just 3 wins either though..............

I'll take Freund at this point...................

Simmer.................... Agree.

Tony Landry, the postgame radio guy?

Missouri St. is a pretty good team. It will be a tough game, but I fully expect North Dakota squeak that one out on the road. Playing the 2nd place MVFC team is a far cry from playing the 2nd place Big Sky team. We nearly beat Portland St. on the road last year. I feel we sould win by 10 at the Alerus. With newly found enthusiasm with the hiring of Coach Schweigert, I'm thinking minimum 4 wins, best case 6 wins. I think Robert Morris, Portland St., Weber, and UNC are all wins. Missouri St., Southern Utah, and Stony Brook are all very winnable. We could very well take 2 out of 3 from those games. Given where we are at, 4 wins would be progress. IMO 6 wins would be a smashing success, and honestly it's not out of the realm of possibilities. Regardless of the W-L record, I expect a fundamentally sound, better disciplined, less schizophrenic team, in 2014.