bincitysioux

It still sucks, just like it always has, and probably always will.....

It is ridiculous to me that UND won't partner with KNOX as the flagship. It is the only station in town that is local all day long. I understand it is likely a monetary/bid/rights issue, but really, KNOX is the local station. They talk GF issues ad nauseum. They would talk up UND big if they were the flagship. Bit as of now that have no reason too. UND is missing the boat here. Less money perhaps, but way more exposure.......

He wheeled this link out the first time we played Valpo in 2013 too.

I don't live in GF. But I too was surprised at how close the vote was. I can't believe there are so many against a private company investing in the city.

Here is my dream conference: North Dakota Montana State Montana Eastern Washington Weber State Idaho Idaho St Northern Colorado Cal Poly UC Davis Sacramento State Portland State Northern Arizona Southern Utah

I'm not sure that it should be "all about the hockey atmosphere". Maybe it should be about a pleasant experience for all those attending. Like I said, in my group I'm really the only UND die hard that doesn't care where I watch them play, just so long as I get to watch them play. I don't go to the Twin Cities every year for it because of the venue, I go because my favorite team is playing. I also don't drive 100 miles to GF every weekend just to spend 3 hours in the REA because its a nice place. I do it to watch my favorite hockey team. Regarding the light rail, that's one of the reasons we really like the Target Center location. We stay at a hotel that has a light rail stop right out front, and its a nice 30 minute ride. Would be twice that time to ride it to the X as far as I can tell. And the one time I was at the Xcel (Frozen Four) parking wasn't a grand experience either. We'll go regardless of where it is at, but I'm not going to whine about the Target Center. I've been to plenty of crappy sports venues in my lifetime, but I've never bought a ticket to any event because of the venue. I always make my plans based on the teams playing at it.

I like the logistics of the Target Center. I'm part of a group of 4 that has gone every year, but I'm the only hard-core UND guy in the bunch, the others mostly go for the weekend in the Twin Cities. Despite the disparity in quality of the arena between Target and Xcel, I think the Target Center location has a lot of positives. Can't wait for the seats to be replaced though. I also hope they keep the 3rd place game. It's much easier paying for the tickets knowing I'll get to see the F'n Hawks play twice........................

Meh...... I've said this before but I'll say it again. I would really like to see UND partner with KNOX/Leighton. KNOX actually has local talk radio programing with local hosts for 12 hours a day. They rarely talk UND sports now because that would basically be advertising for their competition. If they were the flagship, we'd most likely actually hear some UND talk on the radio during the day. Hennessy's morning show is all we get now, and you can't hear that once you get past Northwood. KNOX reaches past Devils Lake, Jamestown, Wahpeton, Thief River, etc. during the day. Missing out on a lot of exposure here IMO. A 5 year deal is surprising to me too. Not sure how it will affect the GF stations, but iHeart will likely be filing for bankruptcy within a year.

I would really like some Big Sky Football Champions apparel.

Been really busy lately, so am a bit out of the loop. Have been catching up on this thread tonight. Apparently there are some schools that may potentially be looking at leaving the Summit League. Who could have ever guessed?

Count me in the camp that feels that the Sioux Center needs to be at capacity for a few seasons before moving to the REA. I'm not against the REA by any means, but I am against watching basketball in a cavernous building that may only be 1/3 full. REA is obviously a beautiful arena, but it was designed for hockey, not basketball. That's why it is awful for atmosphere for basketball unless there are 7,000+ in the building. The Sioux Center on the other hand can be a raucous environment with just a little over 2,000 people in it. And it is awesome when it is full IMO. I'd rather invest in upgrading the Sioux Center personally. The new video boards were a great start. An upgraded scorers table would be nice. At some point I'd like to see permanent chair back seating put in the North end. As far as the Hyslop, that place was a dump. I was so glad when we moved out of there.

I can see playing the NDSU game in the REA, and it would be even better if they could arrange it as a double header with the women's game. Previous NDSU games at REA drew between 7,000-9,000. Beyond that though, I think you need to be careful about putting too many basketball games in that venue. It's just too big. UND played all their NCC games there back in 2004 or 2005, and played the USD game there in 2010. Attendance was usually between 3,500-4,500. I've been to plenty of basketball games at REA, and it's generally just not a good environment IMO. 2,500-3,000 in the Sioux Center offers a much better fan and player experience as far as I am concerned. I wonder if some creative scheduling could be arranged though to showcase the building and entice a "name" school to come to Grand Forks. For instance, would a program like Minnesota (or any other regional Power 5 school) come to Grand Forks for a game in the REA if we signed a 2-for-1 deal with them and offered them half of the gate revenue from a game in the REA? I have no idea if something like this would be entertained by any other school, or even UND for that matter, but it could be a way to get a decent non-conference game at home every few years. With the move to the Summit, DI non-conference games are going to be even harder to get than they were before.

13,280

Tough situation for the current student athletes and staff, but no question that long term this is the best move for the university.

Just to sum up future non conference games....... 2017 @ Utah, Aug 31 Missouri St., Sept 9 @ South Dakota, Sept 16 2018 @ Washington, Sept 8 @ Sam Houston, Sept 15 2019 Drake, Aug 31 @ NDSU, Sept 7 Sam Houston, Sept 14 2020 @ Kansas State, Sept 12 2024 @ Iowa St, Aug 31 Future schedules are updated in the football wiki

Hard to compare Huff to Hooker as they played different positions and each had different skill sets. I'm a big fan of Huff, he's top 5 all time in scoring and steals, and top 10 in rebounds. Hooker is probably one of the two greatest players ever to step foot on campus, but Huff is probably top 5 as well.

So let me guess. In the remote chance that NDSU moved to the MVC, I assume the new group-think here would be that the Summit would not be a good fit for UND anymore right?

Women's hockey.....

It'll be tough to beat Rhombus' Iconic Blonde Ale. I'm willing to give it a try though. Over and over if neccessary.........................

I just updated the attendance wiki. This year had the highest attendance since 2006-07. Most everyone here knows that I am a big backer of being in the Big Sky Conference. So it would seem justified (from my perspective) to point out that we had two Big Sky teams out-draw our "sacred-rival" NDSU at home this season. Point is, it really doesn't matter who you play. Everyone loves a winner and will come out to see them play!

11 years is enough to tell me that there is a good chance that this season is an anomaly.

To me, that's the problem. UND shouldn't allow the Men's Basketball program to go 20+ years between conference championships. They wouldn't let the football program go that long, and they CERTAINLY wouldn't let the hockey program go that long. Rich Glas wasn't fired, but he was "encouraged" to take another opportunity when it was presented. And that was because the program had gone stale under his watch. Jones was brought in to revitalize the program after the later Glas years. He never did that. If this year is the "revitalization", it shouldn't have taken 10+ years. Based on the results of this season, I expect Jones to be retained and extended for multiple seasons. Honestly, though that is kind of weird to me, because I am confident there isn't a DI school in the country that would offer him a head coaching position. In fact, I'm not sure that there is an NSIC team that would hire him as a head coach.

Congratulations to Coach Jones. It is a well deserved reward, for what has been a surprisingly remarkable season. Jones often has his team playing its best ball near the end of the year during his tenure here, and I am glad to see that is the case this year. Winning the conference title outright is no small achievement and deserves praise. To add to that, I believe UND hasn't won a regular season conference title since 1996 or thereabouts so that makes it all that more impressive. I doubt many, if any here, saw this result coming back when the season tipped off in November. Given the results of this season, I have no doubt that he will receive a multi year contract extension going forward. Now to be "fair and balanced", I also feel compelled to point out his ascension up the ladders of the UND record book. This season, Coach Jones surpassed the legendary Dave Gunther to take sole possession of second place all time in the loss column in the history of the University's basketball program. No small feat, when you consider that Jones was able to lose more games in just 11 seasons than Gunther lost in 18 seasons. It took Rich Glas 16 seasons to lose as many games as Jones has in 11 years. My point is unfortunately, that he loses more often than he wins. And he is not a new, 3rd year coach that the jury is still out on. He's been here for over a decade, in my opinion we know what we have with him, and this season is the exception rather than the norm.

I think he's locked himself up a new 3 year deal. Whether or not that is good for the program long term is up for debate....

Ha, you've been banking that quote for awhile huh? Honestly nobody is happier than me that you got to use it though. Congrats to the players, Coach Jones, and the entire staff. Truly a remarkable season so far (at least the conference portion of it) and hopefully will last for a while yet. Fact is though, that my position on the leadership of the program hasn't changed. This isn't Jones' third season, it is his 11th. Based on his body of work here, this season is an anomaly unfortunately.