82SiouxGuy

How many DI men's basketball players come from North Dakota, South Dakota and rural Minnesota? How many DI women's basketball players come from those same areas? I don't know the numbers, but I am 100% sure that there are more on the women's side than on the men's side, probably a lot more. That fact alone shows a major difference between men and women's college basketball. It isn't all about the coaching, player talent is a major factor. And as people keep claiming on the football forum, it is easier to recruit and keep good players locally than it is to bring them in from a distance. The women's team has an advantage because they have more local players that can contribute to the success of the team.

Each situation is completely different and only a fool would claim otherwise. Hakstol is the coach of a program that has been one of the top programs in the country for many years. They weren't looking for a conference that would take them, although they ended up leaving one of the top conferences to create another top conference. The nickname issue had little effect on hockey. Women's basketball also has a long history of success at UND. It is a program that can depend on recruiting the region for most of their players. Brewster had a losing season his first year and a great season his second. You claim he is more successful because they made "the dance". The difference between the men and women making the dance last year was a single game. Both played in their league championship games. The women won and the men lost. The men were also short handed, playing with only 3 of their top 6 players. That isn't a reason to fire a coach. Hardee is another case of being able to recruit most of his team from the region. That makes it easier to recruit. Hardee did a great job doing that. But 1st place in the conference is still only 1 place better than 2nd, which is what the men's basketball team finished last year. You don't get fired for finishing 2nd, especially when you work for a program that doesn't have a long history of success. Obviously you have no clue that there are a lot of factors that figure into the success or failure of a team and a coach. It is very rare when everything comes down to a single factor. The nickname issue was a factor in recruiting, but it affected different sports to a different degree. Dale Lennon publicly said that he saw it affecting football recruits. We know that it was a minor factor at best for hockey. There are 300+ men's basketball programs at the DI level, so anything that can negatively affect recruiting will be a problem because talented players have a lot of choices. Why is it so hard for you to accept that fact?

He had the players he had in part because of the nickname issue. As an example, last year's senior class had some good physical talent but also had its share of challenges (losing focus and not always playing a team game for instance). His teams had the success they did in part because of the quality of recruits, in part because of the coaching involved, in part because of the injuries, and because of several other factors that figured into the equation. It is very possible that he could have had even higher quality recruits without the nickname issue. He has been somewhat successful during the past several years, including the first 2 years of playing in the Big Sky. Getting even better recruits (or not having those recruits deal with major injuries) could have allowed for even more success. Coaches don't get fired when they finish in the top 3 during their first years of moving to a higher conference or when they miss the NCAA tournament by losing the championship game with 3 of their top 6 players missing the game because of injury.

It doesn't matter what would have or could have happened. The reality is that the nickname issue dragged on for several years. It is still going on. It affected UND's league membership, which affected recruiting. High school athletes aren't going to make their school decisions based on what should have happened, they make their decisions based on their impression of what is happening. UND didn't join the Summit. UND didn't find a home until after USD, and membership in the Big Sky was still somewhat a question mark until the name was dropped. Players made their school decisions based on their impressions on those facts, not on your stupid assertion that they should have had a place in the Summit at the same time as USD. That's how the nickname issue affected recruiting for Jones and for other coaches.

UND and Jones still had to deal with the nickname issue in the real world. Because of the nickname issue, UND didn't have a conference home until the Big Sky, and that was at least somewhat in doubt because of the nickname. Recruiters from other schools still used that against UND while recruiting athletes. Not having a real DI conference home especially hurt in basketball where the better players had 300+ other schools to look at. And whether USD had a home in the Summit or not had absolutely nothing to do with UND dealing with a nickname issue. Your point is meaningless.

Sorry, but I must have missed the press conference where UND was admitted to the Summit. I do seem to remember press reports of the Summit waiting to talk to UND until the nickname issue was settled. And I remember other press reports saying that the Big Sky had concerns about UND's membership because of nickname issues. But I don't have any memory of UND joining the Summit at the same time as USD.

Goaltenders get tips??? I didn't know they had pockets, either.

Negotiations took longer than planned. They have an architect and design firm in place. I think Mortenson is in charge of construction. The last plan I heard was to get construction started some time this spring and be finished in the fall of 2016.

Two weeks ago CC beat Omaha 4-3 on Friday and lost 4-1 on Saturday. Three weeks ago they were off, but the week before that CC lost in overtime 5-4 to Providence on Saturday and lost 5-3 on Sunday. Omaha is currently 4th in Pairwise and Providence 11th. It sounds like CC had a bad weekend after playing several pretty good teams in a row.

Actually, not choosing a new nickname IS a way to encourage people to continue using the old one. People will use the old name until they have something new to use. The settlement agreement says that UND will transition to a new nickname. It doesn't allow UND to go without a nickname. Using a new nickname to encourage people to use that name is completely different from not allowing people to use the old nickname. Giving people the choice of something new to use is in no way the same as policing or preventing the use of the old. People would still be allowed to yell Sioux or wear Sioux clothing. No one uses North Dakota as a nickname, and no one uses Flickertails as a nickname since that hasn't been the school nickname since 1930. Everyone gets it, you won't let go of the Fighting Sioux nickname. That isn't going to prevent a lot of us from believing it is time to move on, time to choose a new name. And in my conversations with people, more and more are ready to move on.

The NCAA wants to eliminate as many references to Native American nicknames as possible in areas they control. If they believe that UND is encouraging the fans continued use of the Fighting Sioux name by not replacing the name, they could decide to force the issue. If UND doesn't choose a new name then most people will continue to use the old one because they don't have a lot of options. North Dakota is not a sports nickname, and no one is using it as such. If UND does choose a new nickname they are giving the fans an option, an option that some portion of the public will use. Not having a nickname is not living up to the legal requirements of the settlement agreement.

I'm pretty sure that most people not associated with UND and the nickname issue would disagree with you. No nickname is a lack of a nickname. To have a new nickname you would actually have to have a nickname.

Actually, according to the settlement agreement, if UND does not transition to a new nickname the NCAA can put the school back on the "naughty list". UND would not be able to host NCAA playoffs and any other sanctions would be back in place. The NCAA could treat UND as if they were still officially using the nickname. UND would have to try to go to court to have the sanctions lifted. The NCAA isn't going to court for breach of contract, their first course of action would be to penalize the University.

Not having a nickname runs afoul of the settlement agreement, where UND and the State of North Dakota agreed to transition to a new nickname. No nickname is not the same as a new nickname.

The agreement signed by officials from North Dakota states that the school would transition to a new nickname. No nickname = doesn't live up to agreement. That seems like a pretty simple equation. And North Dakota is not a sports nickname. It is the name of the state and shorthand for the name of the school, just like North Carolina is short hand for the University of North Carolina and Texas is short hand for the University of Texas along with many others.

The basic format is the name of the school, and then the nickname. If you want to claim that UND is using North Dakota as a nickname, that becomes the University of North Dakota North Dakota. Otherwise UND isn't using a nickname, which means it hasn't fulfilled the settlement agreement. Pretty simple really. Not sure how some people think that UND is rushing to find a nickname when it has been 2+ years without a nickname already. And it will be 6 months to 2 years before they use a new nickname even if they start now. That isn't rushing anything. That's just wasting time.

That's a real high bar to strive for. "We've made it work so far, so we can make it work in the future." Everyone complains when they think the athletes aren't striving for excellence but some people are willing to settle for "making it work" for a nickname.

Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? I can hear the announcer now, "Here come your University of North Dakota Nooorrrth Daaakoooooottttaaaaa!" Works great for cheers, too. "Here we go, North Dakota, here we go! {clap} {clap}" I'm sure that the cheerleaders can make that sound great.

The United States does the same thing as every other country does in international competition, they don't use a nickname. All are known only by their country name. In college and pro sports everyone does use a nickname. North Dakota is not a sports nickname. UND should follow the pattern and find a new nickname rather than going without.

I'm sure it's too late for that now. I wonder if they're going to have to put up a parking ramp eventually.

I've wondered about that. I went to a trade show there last spring. They were using the new space even though it wasn't finished. Parking was a real challenge. They are talking about putting a hotel west of the Civic also, which would further cut down on potential parking.

The Bismarck Civic Center has been putting an addition on the convention space over the past year plus.

A couple of posts later someone said that players who aren't dressed handle the Twitter account during the game. The coach isn't Tweeting and coaching at the same time.

Wyoming can only offer full rides. All FBS scholarships are full rides. They have 85 scholarships to give and I believe that they can have up to 20 walk ons on the roster. FCS splits a lot of their scholarships.

I believe that Preferred Walk On status guarantees a spot on the roster for the first year and allows them to start camp with the team. I believe that regular walk ons have to go through the tryout process after school starts.