UND Fan

92,96 - Your response was right on target. I think another recruit or two will be announced quite soon so we will be able to discuss their likely contribution, etc. Then, when everyone gets to school, someone will likely be able to tell us how various players are looking in pick up games. Not much else to talk about now! Wish there was! DMB

Koenig has apparently made very good progress this summer but, of course, you won't really know if he is truly ready to go until the "banging" starts. If he is healthy, you would think that the combination of him and Dryburgh underneith would be pretty good. I fully agree, we definitely need to improve our game under the basket. The coaching staff has been trying to find a power forward but isn't having much luck this late in the summer.

I had said I wouldn't comment again on this but I will - only to agree with you and Sicatoka. UND has done a great job over the years of bringing in good kids with great character who wanted a quality education. Kids that were proud to be a member of a Fighting Sioux team. It has been very rare when one of them have embarrassed themselves or the University. With our move to DI, I certainly hope that tradition continues - whatever race the young man or woman may be!

This certainly isn't anything worth debating so I will respond once. If you care to respond to mine, go ahead but this is the last you will hear from me on this subject. While there are absolutely a ton of very talented and fast white football players (I guess this applies to many sports), just take a look at the high % of blacks in the defensive and offensive backfields of DI and DIAA college teams and NFL teams. Take a look at any NCAA national track meet or professional meet in the USA, the vast majority of those in the finals are black. I don't think this is a fluke! I am done with this discussion!

Please explain how you get to the $1,300 amount.

I am one who continues to preach that us UND fans should not waste our time arguing and debating with SU fans. Instead, we should talk about UND sports! Therefore.... I assume it has been announced but when does our camp open? Do we know if any of our more important players will not be returning this fall? Who is walking-on? Anyone of note? Do we think our backup QB will be "the other senior" (probably Belmore) or will it be Danny Freund as he is the heir apparent for the job next year? Let's talk football................

The following is not a racist comment: I would not be surprised if the next coaching replacement at UND is an African American. Someone who may have greater success in recruiting black players to Grand Forks. To be successful in DIAA, we will need more speed and athleticism! Comments from Bison fans are not necessary! We know that you have had good luck in this area.

Another factor that has not been discussed regarding UND waiting the extra year before making the move up to DI is simply the fact that all Fighting Sioux Club invoices had already been mailed to the hundreds of members prior to the decision to move being made. The Club levels were not increased this year so you would assume that contributions levels would increase by the normal amount. Had they had time to increase the various contribution levels now, they would have raised much more. I am not sure this was a major factor in delaying the move, but I am sure it was a factor. I would guess the levels will increase quite a bit next year - which will give the Athletic Department an extra year to "put money aside" before the major expenses start to hit in 2008-9! Sioux fans - be prepared. The Bison fans who frequent this site will now tell us how unorganized we were - that they decision should have been made earlier. They might be right but, either way, ignore them!

Why in the hell do we continue to debate this? It is all history. Right or wrong, NDSU had the balls to make the move a couple of years ago. Now UND has announced they will move to DI. Let's talk about sports!!!!!

What promises were not kept?

I am not implying that Gene signed the Gillett girl for this reason but she has a younger sister that I know we are very interested in. The only other two we were hoping to get to commit are a "girl from Bismarck" and a "girl from Mandan". That probably is LaFrance from Century. Isn't there another very talented girl from Mandan other than Kielpinski?

I write this same message every 4-5 months but with the "Fighting Sioux" issue and our recent announcement that we are likely moving to DI, I will do so again. While some NDSU fans that come on this site do so respectfully and make good points, many are here only to irritate us loyal UND supporters. Too often, we stoop to their level in our responses and are just as offensive as they are. The solution - let's ignore any stupid, silly, false or outlandish posts by SU fans! When we respond to their crap, it rewards their behavior - they are just trying to get under our skin. I personally do not visit the Bison website. I hope that none of us go on their site just to talk "smack" - we shouldn't do so. We have a bunch a very true, loyal Sioux fans here, let's talk amongst ourselves about our teams, our successes, our challenges, etc. Ignore the crap comments from SU fans.

Thanks for the post! Very interesting! Quite exciting!

While there may be some debate why we didn't go straight into the exploratory year, let's not waste our time doing so. It's time for most of us to write a little bigger check and start getting excited about our future!

Apparently you can not get an internet feed through KNOX. What other stations (who have internet feeds) will likley be covering this event?

Are you at liberty to say who those two schools may have been?

I was not being sarcastic with that question. I live a couple of thousand of miles away from GF and really didn't know how valuable of an asset he was for the program. I appreciate many of you enlightening me!

Unless something happened in the last couple of days, Dryburgh will be at UND next year. We still have a little more than one scholarship available. They are looking hard for a power forward.

Is that a loss?

The schedule reinforces the fact that moving to DI is a necessity!

Some very interesting comments by Fullerton: He feels the Big Sky will expand soon - it could be as easily to 12 teams as 10. He has concerns about losing BSC teams to other conferences. Therefore, the BSC should not burn bridges with any prospective member. The President's No. 1 concern is inviting the "right" kind of university - they want schools with the full package of academics, research and athletics. He feels both SUs and UND easily fit that definition. The biggest challenge with the Dakota schools is geography. Travel costs and time away from class are issues but he also has concerns about the vast geography creating cliques (sp) that would be detrimental to the conference. While the conference would much prefer teams that are already through the transition or partially through it, he indicated that he feels that they like UND and would not be afraid of the fact that UND was just entering the transition period.

Thanks for the post- the interview is starting right now!

Guys - don't take me wrong, I appreciate your thoughts on the matter but I am really trying to get an overview of what the average UND alum living in ND thinks about it, what the average college sports fan thinks about it, etc. We really have debated it enough. There are strong and valid arguments on both sides. What do your neighbors and people down the street think? Will supporters write larger checks if we move, etc.?