mksioux

I'm not necessarily saying the home game must come in 2007, although that would be nice if it could be pulled off. I guess I'm just saying I'd rather see a schedule that looks forward to DI rather than the status quo of scheduling a school like Bemidji just to make it easier to make the DII playoffs one more time. If UND needs an ideal schedule just to make the DII playoffs, they probably won't go all the way anyway. And in my view, making the DII playoffs and losing in the second round, just doesn't excite me as much as planning for the future.

Didn't NDSU have a home game scheduled with Maine in 2001, which was cancelled because of 9/11? How did they snag that game? Rather than concetrating on building an ideal schedule for making the DII playoffs again, I'd like to see UND use the 2007 non-conference schedule to help make the 2008 schedule a little easier (in addition to building public interest in DI). Everyone says Year 2 (if you count the exporatory year as Year 1) is the most difficult for scheduling. Off the top of my head, would it be possible to schedule a home-and-home series (road in 2007, home in 2008) with a I-AA school that UND has a relationship with, such as Maine? I think a home game with a school like Maine in 2008 would be something the public could get excited for. It wouldn't have to be Maine, but something along those lines... Just a thought.

I was disappointed with these excerpts:

SCSU to seek membership in the NSIC. LINK It appears DI is officially out for SCSU. And from this story, it appears that Mankato is holding a town hall meeting on the issue this afternoon. I know there are a lot of Mankato fans that are pushing for the school to go DI rather than apply to the NSIC. I'm not sure how much traction the DI movement has in Mankato though.

I'd much rather see San Diego on the schedule than Bemidji, especially with the San Diego/Great West rumors.

I didn't know UND was going back to an 11-game schedule. Take my pro-DI biased opinion for what it's worth. I'm looking forward, not backward, and I have no interest in seeing UND play Mary, Bemidji, or anyone in the NSIC for that matter. Would it be possible to play two DI-AA games? If we have to have an "easy" game, I'd rather see a non or low scholly DI team with some name recognition to get people excited for the move up.

Count me as one of those who say neither Bemidji nor Mary would be a popular choice. The mere mention of UND playing Mary made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I understand the playoff implication reasoning behind playing Bemidji, but is that really how we want to drum up interest in UND football at a time when interest in the program is going to be essential? If UND were staying in DII indefinitely, then I suppose it would be okay to schedule teams just for the sake of making the playoffs. But let's look to the future and concentrate on building our program for DI-AA, not simply making the DII playoffs one last time. For non-conference games, I'd like to see UND schedule a DI-AA opponent and maybe a top-tier MIAA or GLIAC team. If UND is not good enough to make the playoffs with that schedule, then so be it. It would probably mean they weren't good enough to make a serious run at the title anyway.

Don't get me wrong, the Canad Inns will be great for the Al, but the Al will still very much need UND football. Every major facility like that needs an anchor tenant that has consistent scheduling it can rely upon. Having said that, I still think UND should be thinking long term about a new on-campus football facility.

Funny, we went through three years of Colby and a half-year of Chay before anyone said anything. Kind of like Justin Morneau I guess...

Why is Sweeney pronouncing Genoway's name with a hard G?

Under the proposal, the tuition waiver would not be limited to the University of Minnesota. It could be used to any public college in Minnesota. Here's more info on the proposal

I believe this has been talked about in a different thread, but I couldn't find it. It appears that Dr. K has commented on the proposal in Minnesota that would allow free tuition to top Minnesota students at Minnesota universities. http://www.startribune.com/1592/story/857517.html I'm not sure how likely this idea will be passed into law, but now that the Dems control both Houses in Minnesota and I believe this was Pawlenty's idea in the first place, I think the chances are greater than before. The impact on UND would be devastating.

I'll check my hockey bag. I haven't used it since that memorable day last March.

The McLeod Center looks like a very nice facility. Not to quibble, but according to this site, total cost was $26 million and it was originally projected to be quite a bit less than that. They exceeded their fundraising goals and put a lot of extras into it. I'm sure you could build a 6,500 seat facility for less than $30 million if you wanted. But obviously UND is not going to spend $10, let alone millions, to build a new basketball facility when they already have a brand new one. I think the Betty was $7 million plus or something like that. But my point was that if money was the reason they didn't make the Betty bigger, they could have invested the money used to build it instead of immediately building an undersized facility. At that point, the fundraising drive to get the remaining funds necessary to build a new 6,500 seat facility would not have been insurmountable. But it's too late now. I'm not even a basketball fan, but the only reason I continue to harp on this issue is because -- on the surface -- it appears to represent an obvious lack of vision by UND officials. Actually, I'm kind of hoping someone will articulate why I'm wrong and say why the Betty is the right size. Maybe I'm missing something.

If UND's goal is to move up to DI the proverbial "right way", then using the lower bowl of the hockey arena for the basketball team fails the test. Basketball needs its own home with an appropriate seating capacity. Perhaps someone can educate me on seating capacities for successful mid majors, but I'm pretty sure it's more than 3,500 and less than 13,000.

A DI basketball program should have a facility designed for basketball. The Alerus is a football stadium with a makeshift basketball court. The atmosphere would be horrible. Even with a healthy increase in interest in UND basketball, the Ralph is still much too big. And the split-schedule idea is ridiculous. Simply put, the Betty was built too small. It was built for "today" as a very good DII facility, but it leaves no room for any growth in interest as the program moves up to DI. At the time it was built, UND hadn't yet declared a move to DI, but most people even slightly aware of what was going on knew that division classification was still an unsettled issue and that UND would almost certainly move up to DI in a matter of time. Either a DI facility should have been built, or no facility should have been built at that time. You only get a few opportunities to build brand new facilities. You should be looking out 30 to 40 years when you do. To build a DII facility under the circumstances was inexcusable IMO. UND will not be in a position to build a new basketball facility for decades and will be stuck with an undersized venue. If money was an issue, they should have waited until they could afford a bigger facility. With the money it took to build the Betty, they would been 2/3 of the way there before the fundraising drive even started.

FSSN is a great asset, but UND can't rest on its laurels. It needs to expand FSSN, both in terms of events it airs, but also in terms of coverage. Making it a 24/7 channel and breaking into the DirecTV/Dish Network market would be huge. And breaking into the Twin Cities market would also be huge. I realize that it would never be part of a basic package in a place like the Twin Cities, but I think it's a realistic goal to make it a part of an expanded package option, or at least a pay option.

So, hockey anyone?

I've had a question about the Great West for a while and this seems like as good of place as any to ask it. If NDSU and SDSU are still in the Great West in '08, UND and USD will probably not get into the conference in their first year because it will be the first year of playoff eligibility for NDSU and SDSU and it would hurt them to play a school in its first year of transition. However, if the 'SU's move to the Gateway, which is likely, the Great West will be down to three schools. It seems the Great West would have to invite UND and USD into their conference in the first year under those circumstances. Is my understanding correct?

I'll assume this was sarcastic and your forgot to include your winking emoticon. If Lennon were to leave, there is no way Bunning would replace him with Roger Thomas.

I'm sure Roger is a very nice guy and maybe some Bison fans don't have the best of intentions when criticizing him, but I do think his vision - or lack thereof - is fair game in this forum. I know there are a lot of Sioux fans who think less of his vision than any Bison fan ever could. At the same time, there is some merit to the argument that what's done is done and let's concentrate on the future.

From a practical standpoint, how would the Sons of Confederate Veterans even have standing to bring a lawsuit agains the NCAA? It would be much more appropriate for one the member schools and/or the State of South Carolina to bring suit.

Keep in mind that the NCAA policy prohibits post-season play in the entire state of South Carolina because the STATE flies the confederate flag at the STATE CAPITOL (I think they recently moved the flag from the Capitol Dome to a monument on Capitol grounds, but that was not good enough for the NCAA, which wants it removed entirely). The NCAA policy has nothing to do with member schools in South Carolina. For example, the University of South Carolina can't host any playoffs even though the school doesn't even fly the flag on campus or at the proposed sporting venue. Therefore, the NCAA's own member schools are being punished for a policy beyond their control. I don't know how anyone can defend this rediculous policy regardless of how they feel about the confederate flag issue. This is pure social engineering that has absolutely NO relation to athletics. Let's not get sucked into the debate about whether the State of South Carolina should fly the confederate flag. That's exactly what the NCAA wants people to do. We should focus on the fact that the Executive Committee exceeded its authority. Personally, I think the issue has nothing to do with the NCAA or college athletics and the NCAA should butt-out. But if they insist on their social engineering quest, they should at least have to have approval and formal legislation from full membership before they enact such a policy.

I have no idea how feasible it would be to try to get FSSN on DirecTV/Dish Network. I'd be interested to hear someone with knowledge in that area pontificate about it. And you can always purchase a FTA dish and pick up FSSN that way. It's a relatively cheap, one-time expense. Regarding the game this Saturday, I feel your pain, but you still have the option to go to a restaurant/bar and catch the game. Call ahead and make sure the game will be on tv. Heck, maybe there will even be a designated gathering place in Fargo and other cities for UND fans to get together and watch it.

I can't think of any legal theory for action against a school who does not want to schedule non-conference games against UND based on its nickname. I think that would be up to each school and there would be nothing UND could do about it. There are conference and NCAA championship rules that would force the school to forfeit the game if they refuse to play. That is why the schools that have enacted these policies have carved out conference and playoff exceptions. But there would be nothing to stop any school from refusing to schedule UND in a normal non-conference game.