bincitysioux

CWU is 4-6 on the season. They're a high scoring team averaging about 84 pts/game, but they give up about 82 points per game. They also turn the ball over about 18 times a game. They're leading scorers are F Lance Den Boer (Sr., 6-6, 215) and G Tyler Monk (Jr., 6-0, 190). Den Boer is scoring 18 pts/game and leads the team in rebounding with 5 per game. Monk is averaging 13 pts/game. CWU seems to be more of a outside shooting team. UND should have the edge as far as physical play goes. CWU doesn't really seem to have a huge inside scoring threat. If UND can take care of the ball, they should be able to come out on top. They led the entire game last night until about 3 minutes left, then gave it away. UND is now 3-5 away from the Sioux Center.

Awesome, found it! THANKYOU ICEBERG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Western Oregon is 3-6 on the year. However, 2 of their losses are against Brigham Young and Oregon St and they've only played one home game all season. Not counting their game against BYU, they've won 2 of their last 3 and the loss was a quadruple overtime game. Last year, they finished with a 9-18 overall record. Their two best players appear to be F/C Jacob Mitchell (Sr., 6-7, 235) and F Ryan Schmidt (Jr., 6-7, 210). Mitchell is averaging 19 pts and 6 reb and Schmidt is averaging 15 pts and 6 reb. Should be a very winnable game for UND and I expect them to win. They've hung with a couple of the better NSIC teams this year and they've been playing well of late, but to be fair, their last 5 games have been twice against a very crummy Bemidji St. squad, two NAIA teams, and a loss to a transitioning DII team (Mary).

GeauxSioux and Bobiwachuifan, You both make excellent points. The problem is that, right or wrong, athletics are often the face of a university. This move to DI is about more than athletics, actually it is mostly about academics, good business, and prosperity for the university. The issue with this recent revelation by Minnesota is the fact that in this region of the Upper Midwest, UMTC is UND's biggest competitor both academically and athletically. They already have a huge advantage due to being in a metro area of 3+ million people and having upwards of 40,000 students. Minnesota is the closest major DI school to UND, and the next two closest are Iowa and Wisconsin. Apparently, none of the three of them want anything to do with us athletically due to an issue that they know absolutely nothing about. I think it is a major blow to know that none of these schools have no interest in competing against UND, and yes Minnesota was the big one. Sure, football and basketball can certainly find games to play against other major opponenst. But what about soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, T & F, etc.? Those areas is where UND will be hurt most by these maniacal policies. It may pay to send the football team to the Southeast or Southwest part of the country once a year, but what about all these other sports teams, multiple times per year? My fear is that this just the beginning. We have these three. Then there is Dartmouth. The New England area (BC, BU, Harvard, UMASS, New Hampshire) is another area of the U.S. that I think UND would be relying upon for future scheduling, due to hockey ties, that with the predominant liberal views of that region could be the next to boycott UND. I firmly believe that there is far greater support for the nickname than against, including the Native American community. The problem is that those few that are against it are making much more noise about it than the vast majority that think it is a non-issue.

Yet another reason why the Big Sky is such an attractive potential conference home for North Dakota athletics (crossing fingers). For a mid-major/FCS conference, they have excellent television coverage. They also have a deal with Altitude, and then there is Big Sky TV, and nearly all Montana/Montana St. football games are on TV. The Big Sky is definately a conference that is aware of the importance of TV markets. I wonder if they are aware of a certain sports channel that reaches three states in which they currently have no presence in, in the FSSN?

You make a good point about the Gutter and Koenig. But, on the flip side, against alot of teams, isn't the 4 man guarding Gutter or Koenig down low going to also be in big trouble? I think that the NCC has alot of #4 position players who should probably be playing the #3 spot. If Gutter and Koenig could get healthy, I think they could present some match-up problems offensively in leauge play. But you're right, the two of them could be liabilities defensively against smaller forwards. I just think big guys inside is the best way to win games. UND has three of the biggest post players in the NCC with Gutter, Koenig, and Lenhertz.

Hey, I'm a football guy and the off-season drives me nuts. So who do we all think are the best to play for the Sioux. Sorry if I left anyone off the list. QB- I'll take Klosterman because he took us to the promised-land. In my book he gets a slight edge over Bowenkamp because he won the big game. Personally, I think Bowenkamp was the best "pure passer" to wear a Sioux uniform, but Klosterman was a better football player. RB- Phillip Moore, hands down. Fastest, shiftiest guy I ever saw. Reciever- The passing game has really grown in the last decade and a half, so most of the recievers with all of the statistical records have come fairly recently. I think Dressler will go down as the most prolific reciever in North Dakota history. He's already UND's all-time leading receiver with a year still left to play. But it is pretty hard to argue with what Ron Gustafson did, against the cometition that he did it against (pre-DII). I'll go with Dressler, because I get to see him play. I know, I'm picking all pretty recent guys, that I have personally followed, but these players also coincide with UND's rise to prominence as a national power in the last 15 years or so. I'd like to hear from those who saw guys like Dave Osborn, Ron Gustafson, Corey Colehour, etc, etc, and how they compare to the players we've had in the last 10-15 years.

Six Sioux earn D2Football.com all-region honors Congrats guys!

I agree that there is potential there, and especially with Gutter. My worry is that I believe that upper body injury was a broken rib. That can linger for a long long time. Very uncomfortable. I'd like to see a starting line-up of Gutter, Koenig, Boyce, Little, and Youmans; with Kruse, Dryburgh, Doyle, and Lenhertz seeing alot of time.

UND outrebounded Bemidji 37-27. The Sioux did have 18 turnovers, which is way too many against a poor team like BSU. Scoring Leaders: Youmens: 19 Boyce: 14 Little: 11 I agree, I think it was good win on the road. Doyle is obviously missed, and I think Gutter is probably more important. UND needs an inside presence. Gutter has provided that when he's played, but he's missed some time due to injury and currently for personal reasons (death in the family). I think if Gutter stays healthy and contributes after the new year, Koenig is productive, and the big guy Lenhertz gets in the mix, those 3 guys could give UND an inside presence that they need, combined with the play of their guard/sm forwards, the Sioux could make a little bit of noise in the NCC this year.

I'd like to see Lenhertz get some more playing time. I know he is young and inexperienced, but he is a big body. Not just tall, but he is thick as well. UND has had some tall guys the last few years like Lindahl and Rypkema, now Dryburgh, but these are all skinny guys, not real physical. Lenhertz at the very least can take up some space, get a few rebounds, and maybe block some shots as well. Koenig is obviously not 100%, and probably won't be at all this season, and Gutter has missed alot of time as well due to injury and personal reasons. UND is going to need an inside presence when the conference season starts.

Sioux WIN! 79-56 Final Score

Sioux Lead 76-52 2 min left Big Ben Lenhertz is busting out with 8 points!

UND 66 BSU 36 8 minutes left

Sioux 58 Beavers 32 12 minutes left in game Youmens has 16 Game is sloppy, though.

At least he is smart enough to realize that U of M fans and alumni would want to see games against UND. I give him some credit for that.

The appeal of playing Minnesota in all sports are: 1) Tons of alumni in the TC (like you said; possibly benefits fundraising), 2) huge payout for football approaching $300,000 for a game DI UND could be competetive in, 3) Recruiting (we recruit the TC heavily), 4) TV games (football, basketball, and hockey would all likely be on FSN North), 5) Proximity--not only would we be paid for each FB/BB game played at UMTC, it is a close drive to get there, 6) UofM is considered the top teir school in our region of the Upper Midwest, if we want to elevate our position in the region, it would help to be able to do it on stage head-to-head with our region's big dog. I've sent my check to the Nickname litigation fund, and I'm a huge supporter of keeping it. But I am also a huge supporter of this DI move, and if the nickname is going to prevent us playing the 3 most geographically friendly major DI programs in our region (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa), perhaps it must go. I don't know if there are any other DI programs that UND fb/bb fans would get more excited about playing than the regional/hockey foes of Minnesota and Wisconsin. FWIW, if in the end we can no longer offically be known as the Fighting Sioux, I'd prefer to go with no official nickname at all. Sell the rights to the name and the logo to a newly formed apparel subsidiary of REA Inc. and they can make and sell as many shirts, jerseys, and sweaters with the Logo and Name as they want, just without reference to UND.

Sioux 37 Beavers 20 Halftime Really ugly first half

Sioux 20 Beavers 16 7 left in 1st half Sioux playing sloppy, being foiled by the vaunted 1-3-1 trap

Sioux 13 Beavers 4 14 minutes left in 1st half

Quote from UMTC A.D. Maturi:

I'm aware of Wisconsin's inane policy of not playing schools with Native American mascots, but I didn't know that Minnesota also did such a thing . I don't see UND playing Florida St. anytime soon, but Illinois is just the type of I-A program that could be willing to pay a school UND to come to Champaign for a guarantee game.

Got them. Thanks for the offers...

I don't know if it is really a case of "football or basketball are DII so I don't care to go to those games". I think it is more a case of UND hockey fans used to playing UMTC, UW, Maine, BC, etc., etc. Those are big time schools that interest even just the casual sports fan (which since the new REA was built there are alot of "casual" sports fans that go to hockey games. Then these same fans see that the football team is playing Winona or the basketball team is playing Wayne St. and they probably think, "who the fork is that?". The bigger pool of competition that DI will offer in like-opponents to UND will create more fan interest. Remember, the biggest crowd to ever show up for a basketball game in ND was for a Sioux basketball game (Kansas, ~13,000) and the last Sioux-Bison basketball game in GF drew over 7,000. In the last six years Sioux football has drawn between 10-13,000 for games against UC-Davis, NDSU, SDSU, UNO and others. The fans are here, they just don't like the competition lately. When the Sioux move up and are competing successfully against schools like Montana, Montana St., Northern Iowa, Minnesota, etc., etc., more of the non-diehards are going to take notice. The trick is going to be to get notable DI schools to come to GF on a regular basis. And if UND really wants those that reside in the "hockey-only" fan section to get interested in other sports, it would be wise to get other DI hockey-playing schools that they identify with on the schedule for other sports. I'm very confident that there will be a sharp increase in attendance starting with the 2008 season.

And, yet another addition to the blog revolution--Wayne's World. and....Fee Throws