Now that the season is over for the major sports that are not played on ice, how does everyone feel the teams performed in their first year of DI?
Here's my take:
Football
C+
For me, it was a bit of a disappointing season for my favorite football squad. Despite a winning record and the fact that they competed extremely well in virtually every game, I was rubbed the wrong way quite bit by the home loss to SUU, a team that we destroyed on the road the previous season. And although they are certainly a quality team, I felt we should have won against Southeastern Louisiana. I was also a little peeved by the fact that we let the score get so close against Idaho St. after handling them so easily for the first 35 minutes of that game. On the positive side, I was thoroughly impressed by Josh Murray, he is definately a DI running back. The OT win down in South Dakota was one of the most impressive clutch performances I have seen. All in all I feel it was successful season, winning the games we were "supposed" to win and notching 2 DI victories. I just felt they let a couple games slip away that were well within reach.
Men's Basketball
B-
I have to say that I was dreading this season. I hoped/expected alot, but realistically I didn't think this team would do nearly as well as it did. Finishing 16-12, the guys had their first winning season since 2004-05. Despite some head-scratching struggles early on, Coach Jones (for the second straight season) had his team playing its best basketball at the end of the year. We took DI wins from Missouri-Kansas City, South Dakota, Seattle, and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.....and had respectable showings against more DI squads like Northern Colorado, Wichita St., and Texas A&M. Obviously I didn't like the struggles against the DAC schools, or the blowouts against Wisconsin-Green Bay, Montan, or Northern Iowa. But the bottom line is, that this team won the games that it was expected to, and even snuck out a few extra wins that were considered surprises.
Women's Basketball
B+
I think the women had a great season. They by far and away played the toughest schedule of any of our newbie DI programs, and they handled it pretty well. They went undefeated at home. They racked up 11 wins against DI schools (established and transitional) and nearly pulled off a couple more against Ball St. and Big 10 school Northwestern. They did suffer two really lop-sided losses, but they were to very good teams in Iowa St. and Wisconsin-Green Bay. I either watched or listened to almost all of their games, and I can confidently say that Keira Kimbrough was the best basketball player on the floor in each of the games we played. I think the future is bright for women's basketball at UND.
