bincitysioux

I guess it is pretty easy to see now why Douple became so uneasy when Dan Hammer pressed him on this issue during the interview.

This website indicates that Northwestern St. will be making a return trip to Grand Forks in 2010.

Kevin Fee blog That seems to be a sharp contrast to what Summit commish Douple said on the radio today. Perhaps that was why he was so squirmish when pressed on the issue. What schools have nickname controversies like UND? Every other school has either made a deal with their namesake tribes, or has changed their name? IMO, Taylor is losing credibility fast. I recieved an email from him today in reply to a question I asked, and he told me the exact opposite.

Insurance policy......... Just off the top of my head, here are some recent matchups that were agreed to, but never fulfilled, all within the last 5 years: Montana St. return game to NDSU Montana return game to SDSU McNeese St. return game to USD UND return game to Mesa St. Southeastern Louisiana return game to UND UND game against Cal Poly UND game against Weber St. ? 2 more games between UND and UNI ? Likely just covering a few bases in case some more attractive future deals fall through, because they can.

We have 4 home games confirmed now, including USF. 5 away. I assume the "final home game" means for a DII to give us 5 home games. Hopefully they get that one, and maybe a sixth away game. Still, I too think we may be lining up for yet another 10 game season. Schedule Wiki

I think he was just saying that specifically about St. Cloud. I believe he jokingly referred to it as a "Minnesota rule", eluding to UM and St. Cloud only, who have both had problems with nickname for some time. UND has played UM-Crookston, Bemidji St., and Southwest St. in basketball and volleyball already this season. They've even competed with U of M at a swimming & diving meet........and finished ahead of them.

All excellent points. One just has to look at all of the Southland teams that used to schedule often against Great West teams to see what an impact their league growing over the last few years has on us now. All 5 Great West schools including the 3 former members played southland teams alot. I think they only had 6 members when the GWC was formed, and will be up to 8 or 9 by 2010. Think of the teams that we had heard were verbally committed to play UND last year, and then either backed out or were forced to back out: McNeese St., San Diego, Cal Poly. Then think of just this offseason's droppings: Weber St., Iona (dropped football) Who knows, perhaps UND does have every intention of playing both games with USF. But with the way scheduling works in college athletics, at the very least, it could be viewed as taking out an insurance policy.

I believe Douple's direct ties to the Great West were over by the time UND was invited, although at the time the Great West was administered by Douple's Summit League office. The Great West commissioner was also associate commissioner of the Summit until the all sports version was formed. But still, I see what you are saying.

67 North Dakota 54 Houston Baptist 34 Turnovers for the Sioux

Sioux up 17, but have 25 turnovers.

Sioux lead 28-18 at the half in their first "pseudo-Great West" game against the Huskies of HBU.

UND gets Summit stub because of nickname, logo

Ughhh!! Scheduling must be going pretty poorly if we are signing multiple-year agreements with an NAIA school. I know USF is a high quality program, probably better than at least half of the NSIC, but this isn't real exciting to me. I would also think this means there is a good chance that their will be more than one sub-DI game in the Alerus this season. And I sure hope we are not ending up with yet another 10 game schedule.

Aggie men beat North Dakota in final tuneup

Excellent showing by the guys last night. Really the best performance they've had all season maybe. How could that be the same team that struggles so bad at home against DAC schools?

2008-09 ATTENDANCE FIGURES FOR "REGIONAL" SCHOOLS *Including Northern Colorado for comarative purposes and NCC history MEN Northern Iowa (8-6) : 3,416 Montana St. (4-1) : 2,837 NDSU (8-5) : 2,823 Montana (7-7) : 2,580 SDSU (6-10) : 1,853 Northern Colorado (5-10) : 1,097 USD (12-5) : 1,088 North Dakota (8-5) : 995 WOMEN Montana (12-3) : 3,351 SDSU (14-1) : 2,267 North Dakota (6-9) : 1,358 Montana St. (6-7) : 1,235 NDSU (4-7) : 1,118 Northern Iowa (3-9) : 958 Northern Colorado (7-7) : 905 USD (11-3) : 810 ATTENDANCE FIGURES FOR FORMER NCC SCHOOLS DURING FIRST TRANSTIONAL SEASON MEN NDSU: 1,654 SDSU: 1,617 Northern Colorado 729 USD: 1,088 North Dakota: 995 WOMEN NDSU: 1,593 SDSU: 1,473 North Dakota: 1,358 USD: 810 Northern Colorado: 326 ATTENDANCE FIGURES FOR FORMER NCC SCHOOLS DURING LAST YEAR OF DII MEN SDSU: 3,266 USD: 2,885 NDSU: 2,440 North Dakota: 1,866 Northern Colorado: 637 WOMEN NDSU: 2,512 SDSU: 2,484 USD: 2,092 North Dakota: 1,901 Northern Colorado: 419 NET CHANGE IN ATTENDANCE FROM LAST DII SEASON TO FIRST DI SEASON MEN USD: -62% SDSU: -50% North Dakota: -47% NDSU: -32% Northern Colorado: +14% WOMEN USD: -61% SDSU: -41% NDSU: -37% North Dakota: -29% Northern Colorado: -22% NET CHANGE IN ATTENDANCE FROM LAST DII SEASON TO FULL DI STATUS MEN Northern Colorado: +42% NDSU: +14% SDSU: -43% USD: ? ? ? North Dakota: ? ? ? WOMEN Northern Colorado: +54% SDSU: -9% NDSU: -55% USD: ? ? ? North Dakota: ? ? ? As we can see, everyone's (except UNC who never drew well at all) attendance drops like a rock as the transition begins. And as the transition ends, so far only NDSU and UNC have increased attendance from where they were at the end of their DII days. Regarding the seemingly current lack of interest in Sioux basketball, I think it will get better quickly. I expect attendance to rise as this season progresses. And then even moreso in the immediate future as fans become more familiar with Great West teams and their is title race to participate in. And hopefully we find a better conference home as the transition ends. Then interest should really rise. That is, if we are competetive.

Virg Foss column questioning UND's decision to move to Division I. [url=http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=99876]Was UND

I think we should leave hockey out of this as it is an entirely different beast. I'll stick to what I said earlier..........everyone loves a winner. Without checking, I'll guess that the UND women's team last year was something like 12-1 at this point last year. Attendance was ~2,200 per game. This year they are 6-8, and we drew around 1,000 for our last two home games. After beating UMKC, the men's team drew 1,800 for their first home game against an NSIC team. Since then (some big losses and some BAD close wins), around or under 1,000. Hammersmith, the NDSU men's team is doing great, and kudos to them for what they've done recently. Obviously, I would have loved to have had some of those players wearing green & white instead of green & yellow. But I think that your attendance expectations are rather lofty. Remember............everyone loves a winner. After Miles' exceptional recruiting class graduates at the end of this season, will the big wins continue? Time will tell of course. But these things seem to go in cycles. Which is why UND drew 4,000-5,000 in the early 90's and are drawing ~1,000 now. Because we aren't very good now, and we were great then. The NDSU teams of the last 2-3 years are probably the most talented the school has ever put on the floor. I also think you really underestimate the factor of the population of the F-M area in NDSU's attendance figures in all sports. Do you really think the Red Hawks would do so well if they were located in Minot, Bismarck, or even Grand Forks? I am also confident that a big factor in the disparity between attendance figures between UND and NDSU in the sports of football, basketball, and volleyball has alot to do with the marketing machine at NDSU. They do a great job, and at UND they do not. For every 10 NDSU basketball commercials I hear on the radio, I hear one for UND. I would even say I've heard NDSU volleyball coach Eric Hinterstocker on the radio more times over the last year than I've heard the UND football coach. Which is a good case in point about NDSU's volleyball team........everyone loves a winner. UND's volleyball team was also very good this year, 24-4 I think, and drew only about 1/3 of what NDSU did.

As of 1/1/09 MEN'S BASKETBALL South Dakota 11-5 Utah Valley 7-4 North Dakota 7-5 Chicago St. 7-7 Texas PanAm 4-8 Houston Baptist 1-14 New Jersey Tech 0-13 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL South Dakota 10-2 Texas PanAm 8-7 Chicago St. 7-7 North Dakota 6-8 Utah Valley 5-7 Houston Baptist 4-9 New Jersey Tech 2-8 Other Notes -Kiera Kimbrough is 17th in the Nation in scoring (19.7 ppg) -Kiera Kimbrough is 14th in the nation in FG % -Kiera Kimbrough is 8th in the nation in blocked shots -North Dakota (Women) is 23rd in the nation in FG% -South Dakota's Tyler Cain is 13th in the nation in rebounding (10.8 rpg) -Chicago St.'s David Holston is 2nd in the nation in scoring (26.9 ppg) -Utah Valley's Ryan Toolson is 4th in the nation in scoring (24.8 ppg) -Texas PanAm's Nick Weiermiller is 16th in the nation in assists (6.5 apg) -Travis Bledsoe is 4th in the nation in 3-Point FG% (.535)

Regarding the Men, if this year's attendance so far is ~1,000-ish, I'd say that is not a new trend. Anyone who has regularly attended basketball games in the past knows that the 2,000-ish numbers of the last few season prior to this one was in most cases heavily inflated by the double-header format. Over the past few seasons, that crowd of 2,000 quickly dwindled to 1,000 or so midway throught the 1st half of the men's game. Fan apathy toward the men's program started 4-5 years ago, not this season. As for the Women, their attendance decline is a little tougher to explain. So far, the women's home schedule has been pretty much the same this 1st half of the season as it has been in past seasons. In fact, when you consider the opener against DI Eastern Michigan, it is maybe even better. Seattle Pacific was probably as good a DII non-conference regular season opponent that has played in the Sioux Center since it opened, ranked #18 in the country when they were here. Yet only 718 fans showed up for it. By comparison, around 1,600 came to last years non-conference game against #13 Glenville St. My theory is that everyone loves a winner. The men's team hasn't really been relevent in anything since the very early part of this decade. Perhaps when the core of the basketball fan base reads in the paper that the women ar 6-9 and got blown out by Wyoming or Iowa St., they figure the team is not as good as in the past, so don't feel the desire to go to home games against NAIA's or unfamiliar DII's like Seattle Pacific. I think attendance will creep up for the women's game as the season progresses. The toughest part of their schedule is behind them. When they rack up some wins, people will become interested again..............hopefully. As far as facilities, I disagree that the Betty is the root of the attendance conundrum. The two years played in the Ralph, yes probably got a few more people out just to go experience the building, but the atmosphere in there was horrible, and in the configuration they used, did not provide the most optimal basketball viewing experience. I believe too that attendance numbers were also inflated because I think that suite owners tickets, and club seat ticket holders were counted in the "paid attendance" figures. The Sioux Center is a wonderful basketball facility with excellent sight-lines and amenities, and when full or close to full, the atmosphere is exceptional. The Ralph was awesome when 12,000 came for Kansas, and even when nearly 8,000 came for the final NDSU game, but was a dead vacuum all other times. The Sioux Center almost always provides an enjoyable atmosphere. Whether the smaller size of the Betty, compared to Hyslop, is an issue is certainly debateable. Although I think a 4,000 seat arena would have been ideal, my opinion is that it is not an issue. Since moving into the Sioux Center, I think it has only been sold out 2 or 3 times. A quick glance at the attendance figures for various regional conferences that are membership targets for North Dakota would indicate the same. Last year, average attendance for Men's games in the Summit League was 2,072. In the Big Sky it was 2,308. So far this year, Great West schools are drawing anywhere from 300 to 2,200 with an average of about 1,000. Of course history tells us that the potential is there for UND to attract 4,000-5,000 fans on average (the general consensus for the turn-out at games during the early '90's ). But I think it is probably unlikey we will see that type of consistent interest ever again. With the REA attached, and the Alerus just several blocks away, any game that is expected to draw extraordinarily high could be scheduled in one of those places. However the only games I could see that happening for would be for one with NDSU. Or perhaps a women's game with SDSU if we were to ever join the Summit and both programs were excelling. Or Minnesota if they ever 1) agreed to play UND period, and 2) agreed to ever play UND outside of the state of MN (except for hockey ) . The Sioux Center could be somewhat reasonably modified to accomodate around ~3,600 fans by simply installing larger portable bleachers behind the baskets. If games are ever consistently sold out, there are benefits to that too, ya know. Higher ticket prices and televised games. Marketing for UND's sports has been a problem across the board. I don't know if there isn't the money, or simply the idea that since hockey sells itself, there is no reason to focus on the other sports. It should be the opposite. And it has bee disappointing to see no band at the games, even prior to the semester break.

Seems like a valid discussion, so I thought it warranted its own thread so as not to get lost as the season progresses.

We had 705 for the Men's game tonight.......

They currently have 1 loss this season and are ranked #21 in the nation. Can't think of their signature wins off hand, but there have been many since they moved up.

Well, it is my opinion that this year's Sioux team is not as good as the 2005-06, 2006-07, or 2007-08 versions. But I'm pretty darned pleased with how the Women's team has performed thus far, considering the demanding schedule that they've played. They've beaten the teams they're supposed to (DII/NAIA), nabbed some nice wins against some established DI competition including last night's victory against a solid Lamar team, and came very close to knocking off a Big 10 opponent a week ago. Despite not being able to participate in the post-season for a few years, and quite frankly, not having the team capable of doing so this year if they were eligible, I do not long for the days of making it to the NCAA North Central Regional and putting 30 point drubbings on other "elite" DII programs such as MSU-Moorhead and Nebraska Kearney.

46 UND 76 ISU Final