UND Fan

I agree that the five freshmen we have playing are contributing well already and I am sure pleased that we have them. However, I think they will need a lot of help for us to be fully competitive in the Big Sky and at the DI level in general. We need some size (both height and mass) to compete with many of these teams. As we saw earlier in the year, we have a tough time competing against "size" - when you combine that with a lot of outside quickness, we will have problems. Don't take the above comments as negative. I really like our new kids and I think we will compete pretty well in the Great West but we better not feel that we are ready for the Big Sky just because we finish the season strong. I realize we have one more year to prepare for the Big Sky.

UND wins 90-72 - a nice win! I see that Kuehl was dimissed from the team late last week. I thought she was going to be good when she came in but the injury last year sure didn't help her development. As it didn't appear that she was going to be a contributor, this is good. It opens up another scholarship.

Mathiason walked on. The coaches were going to be happy if he contributed some decent minutes by the time he was a junior/senior. and hoped that he might be a pleasant surprise. They welcomed him to join the team as "you can't teach size". I do no know if he is getting any $ now - I would guess he is getting a little help but not much. He was not highly recruited at all.

Well said!

Do you honestly think that Faison didn't do everything he could to end up with a much better schedule than this? I dislike it as much as anyone but I bet you Faison dislikes more than any of us! The good news, as has been expressed often, is that scheduling will be much easier going forward.

I know at the end of the November signing period, we had one scholarship available. I didn't realize that was because Benton was walking on - that isn't a good sign it that he must not have gotten much interest from other schools. It will be interesting if everyone comes back next year. I would guess there may be a couple wanting more playing time. Unless one of them isn't working as hard on the court or in the classroom as the coaching staff would like, I don't think we would cut any of them loose.

We outscored Mines by 9-10 over the last 3-4 minutes to win by 9. Mines looked like a pretty decent team - they led the vast majority of the game. We shot the "3" very well in the 2nd half.

I am watching tonight's game. Right now we are down by 5 with 4 minutes to go in the first half. It is interesting how much more crisply Mines works their offense than UND. Their offense creates shots (good shots) - it certainly does not appear to me that our offense does this often at all. One other observation (I will break my own rule of not commenting about individual players). I am certain that Benter has missed more shots within 4 feet of the basket than anyone in UND's men's BB history. I don't say that in jest - I have watched UND BB for many, many years and there is no one who has missed more inside shots. He actually moves pretty well under the bucket but he just can't finish it off by making the shot! We are down by four at half - we may be talking about another inexcusable loss here tomorrow.

I would certainly think (and hope) that another 3-8 seaon would mean we are looking for a new coach. We would need to get the best coach/recruiter available - whether or not he has ties to UND.

We have discussed UND's play on the SU and Mayville threads. I think we should move it back to the 2010-2011 thread. Please see my question there about our offense.

We have discussed UND's play on the SU and Mayville threads. I think we should move it back to the 2010-2011 thread. Please see my question there about our offense.

I played a lot of basketball growing up and have watched intently for many years. Bottom line - I think I have a pretty good knowledge of the game. I am pleased that we are no longer running the Princeton offense and I'm glad that we are running more than the last couple of years. However, I am really curious if someone explain how UND's offense is supposed to work. It appears that it starts about 30 feet from the basket. There are many soft screens at the perimeter with the defender easily able to get through the screen or the defenders can switch quite easily . The ballhandler utilizes the screen and gets a little closer to the basket but he is picked up immediately so he passes to someone who is back 28-30 feet from the basket. The ball movement isn't too bad but it doesn't seem be designed to attack the basket or even set up a good 3 point opportunity. What usually happens is one of the freshmen makes a solo move to the basket (I like their aggressiveness) or someone puts up a 25 footer when the clock is about to expire. Can someone explain to me how this offense is supposed to work? This question isn't necessarily meant to be negative.

2013 - Are you a student? If so, what do you think we can do to get more student interest in and attendance at BB games?

Well said!

If we were shooting even an average %, we would be up by 12!

I usre hope I am wrong: SU 78 UND 57

Aye

I wonder why Benton has not been announced - maybe he has yet to qualifiy. Even if Benton does sign, we still have one scholarship remaining. I don't know how the scholarships are currently allotted but I do know that there is one scholarship available during the spring signing period.

I don't disagree with you - that is why I prefaced my comment by saying we have a long way to go! My primary point was that Wisconsin is damn good based upon how bad they kicked NC St.

Although our team has a long way to go, Wisconsin beating NC State by 39 last night doesn't make our loss to the Badgers look as bad!.

Very good news! Please continue to keep us posted!

I appreciate your comments. As a former player and avid follower of Sioux football, there is no question that you that have much better insight into the actual situation than I do. I do feel better about the state of the program based on your observations. That being said, it appears that you and I are about the same age. I have followed all UND sports very closely through all these years. I have seen the great times in Sioux football (I was in Florence when we won it all) and I have seen the not-so-great times but I am not an "insider" so I certainly do not know the real situation. My comments are based on my observation over the last 40 years - especially the last 15 or 20. It does not appear to me that our players are as disciplined or focused nor are our game plans as well-designed as those under the previous two coaches. Plus I don't sense the same level of confidence and control from this coaching staff. *That is probably not a fair statement as I really don't know about the other staff members. This is what I sense from the leader of the team. I hope I am wrong! Regarding what coaches should or should not say in post-game interviews - I did prefice my comments by acknowledging that emotions at the end of a game make these interviews very difficult for coaches. I would likely be quite lousy if I were the one with a microphone in my face after a tough loss! That being said, it sure seemed to me like we heard too many excuses rather than "I'm proud of the way the kids played tonight" or "I was disappoionted that we weren't ready to play tonight for some reason - that will be addressed this week during practice and we will do our best to make sure it doesn't happen again." Talking about referreeing or bad bounces when your team has played very poorly and has been beaten soundly just doesn't seem like something you would hear from a true leader of a football team. Granted, I might be overly critical of Mussman in this area. As mentioned, my No. 1 concern is that if UND is not competitive (we sure don't need to be great - yet!) in the major sports as we move into the BSC, attendance and apathy will become a much bigger problem. Regarding fundraising, most people are willing to write decent-sized checks to the program when things are going well but not so interested in doing so when their teams aren't very good. Again, I am not in that category. I will continue to write the largest check I can afford for the support of UND athletics for as long as I am around. Once again, I really appreciate your thoughts. I do feel better about the FB situation based on your comments. I absolutely hope that Muss and his staff take us to many very successful years in the BSC and the FCS.

You will remain in our prayers. Please keep us posted as to what we might be able to do to assist you and your family!

For those of you who have read the above already, I have added under Coaching Concerns the fact that Hardin only had three receptions in the last two games. Despite problems with the passing game, you have to figure out how to get the ball to him! Having only one player among the 28 players named to the GWC first-team is not good. Congrats to Ryan on this honor!