FargoBison

Lets be reasonable here, the WCHA has Big 10 teams in it, and the MVFC is one of the top mid-major conferences in the country. You don't just walk into those situations, you either build them or prove you belong and get an invite into them. Douple, who gets blasted here considerably, wants UND because he is trying to build. The Summit has long been a conference with no indentity and he is trying to build a footprint and the Dakota core is a big part of that. With the four Dakota school the Summit is a slam dunk over the Big Sky, it will be a mid-major conference on the rise.

UND will never be the greatest academic institution, but yet you still strive to be the best(at least I hope so). If you are going to compete at the highest level academically, why not do it athletically as well? Where are your peers? I can tell you right now they aren't in DII anymore.

Anyone remember Rocky Hager, didn't his DII team have some issues. Oh, but all DII kids are saints. This year NDSU had a MN kid named the academic all-american of the year in men's basketball, the basketball's team GPA is very high as well, what a terrible breed of student athletes they have been. I'm sure SDSU feels the same way about their women's team, they were what ranked in the top 25 for most of the year and had one of the highest team GPA's in the country. I could go on and on Walrus. Local kids have been performing great ever since NDSU went DI, people said it couldn't be done, but it is. You can sulk all you want because you wanted UND to be in DII forever, I get the big fish in the small pond thing, but you are walking down a slippery slope with the above comment.

The worst DI conference? I would love to see the logic behind that statement. Most indy schools are greatful to get into a conference, the reaction here to the Summit is borderline unbelievable.

The Summit will still be there in 2010 and likely still at 11 members. As long as UND stays within the timeframe of the NCAA settlement they should be fine. I don't think the league or member schools will hold anything against UND for finishing the nickname fight.

I do agree this is your decision and that is why I try to stay out of it and it's not like NDSU has anything to lose or gain because of what happens. I just hope you can get it resolved one way or the other. The Summit League will still be there in 2010 and will likely still have 11 members. You have fought it this long and you may as well let the process run its course. Good Luck. As for mplsbison, enjoy him. Glad he isn't polluting the other boards I visit anymore.

Some Bison fans do have an obession of bashing UND hockey, I'll agree with that and I can see how it could get annoying fast. I for one do not think going to the dance is harder to do than winning a national title in hockey, you have to win in order to be remembered. There is no doubt this season will live on forever in Bison history but the team needs to make a little noise in order for it to be a part of NCAA basketball history. If you win a national title you are always remembered and always a part of NCAA hockey history.

Actually the bottom two teams don't make the Summit Tourney. As for Sioux hockey you should be proud of what you are doing and have done and Bison fans should be proud of this. While NDSU may be just the Summit League champ, the team has had a very impressive season, basketball is highly competitive and it isn't easy getting to the point where NDSU is at.

Saul's recruits... 2008 Flowers(JUCO), Nagel(redshirting this year) 2009(all in high school) Aaberg, Felt, Zastrow Only one non-Miles recruit has played. I do agree Fargo is a football town and NDSU will not be a top team in the Summit next year, but after ORU and Oakland the league is wide open. NDSU could easily be 3rd or 4th.

I think the only way the game happens is if UND agrees to playing in Fargo in 2009 and 2010(With NDSU going up to GF in 2011 and after that it goes back to how it always was). Lets say NDSU even agrees to throw in the typical 60-100k garauntee for coming to Fargo twice. I know some won't like that, and I wouldn't like it if the roles were reversed but in my mind that is what it would take. That said, if it gets NDSU back on the schedules for all sports, maybe it is worth it.

The Presidents have all the power, I won't argue with that. But I think Douple might just be taking a proactive approach. The League missed out on SIU-Edwardsville and it seems like Douple is making sure that doesn't happen again. The Summit is not like the Big Ten, membership isn't stable, so a commissioner like Delany doesn't exactly have to plan for massive membership shifts. There is no doubt in my mind if a president had felt strongly about wanting to add UND he would have taken a different approach. In fact I think he should have taken a different approach from the get go, calling UND instead of talking in the press would have been a good start.

It was made by the commissioner, he even said so on the radio. As for the commissioners, I believe the Big Sky comissioner once said that it was his job to show why NDSU is good fit for the Big Sky, and I bet Douple has similar feelings about potential new members. UND has an issue with the NCAA, it is perfectly fair for the Summit League to want that cleared up before the school could get admission. This is nothing more than a conference commissioner thinking ahead and deciding that the nickname issue could cause some problems if UND ever enters the stage of getting a site visit and being voted on for membership.

The conference commissioner selects schools, gathers information, and than presents why he thinks each school would be a good fit for the league. So no, NDSU didn't have anything to do with UND not getting selected, Douple even said not choosing UND was entirely his decision based on their current nickname situation. I think it needs to be understood that when a school is looked at for expansion the league puts a lot of time and effort into looking at each potential new member. I think there will be something like 177 meetings when USD gets their visit, Douple may like UND but he isn't going to waste his or anybody else's time on a school with a major issue hanging over its head. There is no league mandate to not schedule UND, the commissioner may suggest that they shouldn't be scheduled, but as you say it would take a league vote to institute a policy on not playing schools with nickname issues.

If anyone thinks Gene Taylor or Joe Chapman are keeping UND from the Summit League you need to have your head examined. These are smart people, NDSU didn't get to where it is by accident. If UND gets into the Summit it will be fully on the quality of the school, and the desire of the league to add them. Chances are that Douple is sending an early message to UND, get this resolved or knock on somebody else's door.

In 2004-05 Miles redshirted his 4 best players, Saul won't be doing that next year. Most likely only Aaberg will redshirt next year. That said, I think our attendance stablizes until the arena situation works out.

There is nothing in the recruiting? Saul just had a very good recruiting class, one or two of those players might have an impact right away. Tveidt also returns, and there is transfer from UNI that sounds promising. As for the Force, they have the new arena novelty and still have to give many tickets away in order to get people to the games.

What kills NDSU is nobody cares about these non-DI games, in the DI games the team has played the average attendance is 3489 which is solid considering only ORU has any name recognition. I hope a few local DI teams are added next year and a few lower division teams vanish. Saul is friends with Brian Jones and definitely wants the game to be played, so there is hope that may happen but he has no power until the admin lifts their ban on playing UND.

I only have one problem with what Davek says, and that is that he says NDSU isn't DI. The football team and the entire school are DI. I won't have a problem if people say NDSU is a mid-major in basketball. I don't have a problem with that because they realize that NDSU is indeed DI but they don't spend the millions on hoops like the Duke's of the world. FCS football is the same deal, DI schools playing on a more economic level.

Does this really matter? The names say what each subdivision is all about. One decides things with a bowl game while the other decides the culmination of their season with a tournament and true championship game. Both are DI because they are all made up of DI schools. Why people like Dave fight this is beyond me, sure the names aren't great but I doubt people will be confusing FCS programs with Ohio State anytime soon.

NDSU was 5-5 against UND in the 60s and 5-5 against UND in the 70s. I guess you can call that domination if you want. NDSU also won 3 national titles over that time period. You might want to look some facts up before you go spouting off. To get back on topic, I have come to the conclusion that this a good game for UND. You could get killed but it is just one game and one game does not make you a cupcake for hire. Ultimately, I think this game will bring some excitement to your program, provide a nice check, and give the players something extra to train for and look forward to. The only way you can lose in a game like is if you are expected to win but get killed and as of now that isn't the case.

We didn't have to talk Minnesota up with comments like this.... http://forum.siouxsports.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=166818

Nothing wrong with playing TT in transition, they might kill you but it doesn't matter anyway because you are building a program. Even as great as our transition was we still took some licks, Cal Poly absolutely thrashed us one year and that game gave Bohl and Co. a wake up call as to just what you need to be successful in DI. Also, I think it would have been interesting to see who Taylor would have scheduled if Minnesota didn't have the scheduling issues they had and didn't need games. We very well could have ended up playing a Texas Tech or Nebraska.

NDSU and UND are both state flagships and will be for the foreseeable future, end of story. I don't why it is so difficult for some people to admit we have two great schools in this state.

NDSU and UND are actually both state flagships, kind of like Michigan and Michigan State. According to Robert Berdahl, former University of California, Berkeley chancellor... http://cio.chance.berkeley.edu/chancellor/sp/flagship.htm http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/200...on-survey_x.htm