FargoBison

The Flagship school I agree about the football program angle, it is hard to sell the other sports when they play screwed up schedules and don't have a conference. In fact it has taken a few years just to get the basketball program to the point where it is worth promoting.

NDSU was 71-30-1 in the 70s and 5-5 against UND, I wouldn't call that domination.

NDSU vs UND belongs in North Dakota, I am all for restarting the games but not at the expense of taking the game out of state.

I wouldn't be so sure about saying UCD has greatly improved or is near the top of the FCS and they have have dumped a ton of money into their program(new stadium and they went from around 20 scholarships to 63). Here is a breakdown of their last 10 years.... FCS DII 5-6 9-3 6-5 10-3 6-5 12-1 6-4 10-2 6-4 10-2 29-24 52-11 UCD by the way made the playoffs in DII every one of those five years. I think they have found that the FCS offers much stiffer competition. I'm not saying UND will go the way of UCD, UNC, or NDSU just that the transition is hardly a sure bet.

Where did you get we are buying SHSU from? MplsBison is not a reliable source by the way. As for Austin Peay and CCSU, it is called getting 6 home games and quite a few FCS team will schedule DII teams in order to get 6. With 5 ranked teams and an FBS on the schedule there is no reason to go overboard and schedule a game at App St or Montana. I'll disagree about the FBS game because there are more then a few people expecting NDSU to be right in there with Wyoming. Going 3-1 against FBS teams will raise expectations a bit.

Didn't GT schedule Wyoming for non-conference play? Pretty sure he has Iowa State lined for next year, a game at Sam Houston State a few years from now, and a home game with Georgia Southern in 2011. That kind of scheduling doesn't sound too much like a gutless wonder.

NDSU beat a playoff team in Northwestern State and played both UC Davis(NDSU won 25-7) and Cal Poly(lost 10-13) who were good teams.

UTPA is not going to the Summit, members are having enough troubles with travel the way it is. Whoever gets added will need to help ease travel and be within the conference's footprint.

I'd love for the Summit to kick Centenary out and add Denver, UND, and USD. It would make for a much better conference and in my mind it would put the league in a better long term position. West NDSU-UND SDSU-USD SUU-Denver East ORU-UMKC IPFW-WIU IUPUI-Oakland

I am with you on Mertens, out of the three that went to UND he was the one I wanted to walk-on. He could have redshirted and may have had an impact after the big three graduated.

Just remember Moormann was a good player in ND. He lead his team to a state title, averaged 20 and 13, and was Mr. Basketball. Success in ND doesn't exactly translate to the DI level. All three of them have a lot to prove.

Luckily for Moorman you can't teach height. I also wouldn't compare EDC players with a guy playing DI ball. How good these players will be remains to be seen, they could be the next Woodside or the next Nevin Lubarski, who knows until they play the game.

I'll just keep it simple, I'm not convinced Mertens could beat out either Tviedt or Carlson for playing time. Both players have a lot of potential, Tviedt went for 10-8 against Florida in his first game ever. He played well as a freshman and he will only get better. Saul is also very high on Eric Carlson, from what I have seen he is going to be a player. Throwing a wrench further into things is Saul bringing in a athletic 6-8 JUCO into the mix and all of sudden this team has a 4 again. I don't know what to think about regarding May. I'm not really high on Pennick so I'd say Vaughan has the most potential because of what he has done. He is a good shooter and a decent point guard, he did improve his game over the course of last season and I think that will continue. That said, Vaughan and Pennick would be seniors when May is a redshirt freshman so I don't really get why we are even comparing these players.

Dan did have a point and that is May is from Fargo and thus he gets more coverage. Mertens went to high school in Devils Lake and also played JUCO ball there, Devils Lake High and the JUCO school up there just don't get a lot of coverage in Fargo. I don't think this has much to do with somebody in the BSA being pissed about the May coverage but instead Mertens just isn't a big deal. He would have gotten a blurb for walking on at NDSU but nothing too extensive. I also think Mertens was smart for going to UND, he would have faced a lot of competition at the small forward position and might not have gotten a lot of playing time.

They have a fairly active messageboard.... http://www.sycamorehoops.com/

I'm with you on the NDSU/UND games, after this upcoming year I don't think NDSU has any reason not to play UND. Besides a high major, there isn't a non-conference team that can sell tickets like UND could. I actually think Saul would be for the game but the admin might have a different idea. With the lineup we have right now I think we are a top 4 team in the Summit next year and probably the favorite with the right JUCO power forward. I'm really interested in seeing what Eric Carlson brings to the lineup, so far I have been impressed with what I have seen but you can't really tell until he gets on the floor in a real game. The game vs the Gophers scares me, Tubby got a lot out of the guys that did nothing under Monson and now is bringing in legit high major talent. Saul needs to find a decent JUCO power forward if he wants to avoid a repeat of last season. NDSU doesn't need much a low post game to compete in the Summit but it is a must against the high majors.

A couple of things, Moorman and Sussenguth are stiffs. Neither provide any consistent offense, they both improved defensively but are still not anything special. The Gopher game was our rock bottom, at that time we had no bench and were still trying to figure things out. After that game, we did build a bench and some players really seemed to get it together. I really don't think coaching dropped off at all, many of the problems the team had to start the year were the same problems they had under Miles. A harder schedule and Andre Smith graduating just made those problems more apparent. Over the course of the year Saul had a handle and most of it. I also like what he is doing on the recruiting trail, landing that Iowa kid was nice but he also got a really good pg out of Wisconsin and has what could be a diamond in the rough in that 6'10 kid from Rothsay. As for UND, I don't know a lot about your team but year one is going to be a struggle. You guys do have a leg up in that you have a few transitional DI's on your schedule but when going up against DI's even the middle of the pack ones are a lot better then the best of the NCC.

What has NDSU done? I think NDSU had done about as good as DII school can when making the transition. The top Summit teams are way better then many think. I will say the team's win over a top 50 RPI ORU team is pretty good and there was a ton of improvement from November to March.

Your away schedule is about the same as NDSU's was, home schedule is worse but NDSU had some help since the GWFC was still in its infancy. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter, your building for 2012. What you do in year one is pretty much irrelevant. UNC was 9-3 or something like that and just look at them now.

I don't think anybody ever called Montana Tech a world beater. Valpo was a great piece of marketing by NDSU, UND would be foolish to not schedule a Valpo and hype the heck out of the game.

I don't know if you guys know this or not but Cal Poly missed the playoffs in 2004 because they played both NDSU and SDSU. They have a great team coming back next year, I don't think you can blame them from not wanting to play both schools.

Yep, your right UND is a great school. I didn't have to read your post to figure that one out. Of course I do believe in this crazy concept that the state of ND is big enough to have two great schools within its borders. I know it is a crazy idea but it is something I believe to be true and even take pride in. This state is lucky and it is a shame that instead of seeing that some just keep on trying to tear each other down.

UND's offense is much better based on what? You do realize NDSU is putting up about 40 points and 450 yards a game, against DI teams? Not Humboldt State or Augie.

I think NDSU is banking on basketball being its major revenue producer and that is why the university will continue to plug more and more money into the sport. A successful basketball program can open way more doors then a hockey program ever will(potential conference move ups). Hockey is on the back burner for now.

Kolpack said that because it is a rivalry game......