UND Fan

Teamsioux -- I do have some ties to inside info on the men's program but not nearly as much with the ladies. They were solely guesses on my part. Kilander and Elias get little scholarship assistance and I am sure that Track picks up most of Olimb's limited scholarship $. UND 92,96 -- With DeMaine being a senior and no other real height on the roster, I would think that Roebuck will give Glynn another year to develop. I did some surfing of the web on the recruit we got out of Iowa - she was from a smaller school but appears to be a heck of an athlete. I agree that we have the start of a good mens' recruiting class. Although one of the reasons we landed Austin was our agreeing to his playing both FB and BB, I hope he gives up on his FB interests quickly. His not joining the BB team until December would not be good. We need him to be learning the system, etc. from the first day of practice. He is going to have to play a very important part in next year's team. star2city -- UND was not actively recruiting anyone out of the Cities. That could change if we could pick one of them up at the last minute. But, this would be due to our other priorities not coming through.

Spoken like a true entrepreneur - I like your ideas a great deal! One of the problems is that I don't feel Grand forks has the population base to support a minor league BB team.

Any recent updates regarding how spring ball is progressing?

You ask a good question. I had thought that they were going to announce their two signings right away and then wait to see what happened with Ferguson and a couple of other guys. As I mentioned before, they were also hoping to learn how some of these guys were leaning before offering a point guard a scholarship. Obviously, I hope that the delay doesn't mean things aren't falling into place. They were also hoping to convince a 6'7" HS kid out of Wisconsin to walk-on. I will post more when I learn more - I haven't called up there this week. I am sure the staff is plenty busy!

Obviously, everyone on the roster isn't on scholarship but I agree that there will likely be at least a couple of ladies missing next fall. My best guess: Elias Hausauer - I have no idea what happened with her, had a great frosh season, didn't get much playing time at all this last year. Kilander Olimb It wouldn't be overly surprising to me if Perrizo didn't come back despite being a starter. Gut feeling - don't have any "inside" info on that!

I fully realize that part of the fun of these sites is to give each other grief but debating the non-conference FB schedules of the two schools is ridiculous. SU's, as usual, is very good -- ours is again full of cupcakes. It is appropriate that SU have somewhat of a tougher schedule due to their upcoming move to DI. But, UND needs to work harder (and be agreeable to writing larger checks) to bring in some decent opponents. Not only would it be much more appealing to Sioux fans, it would also be better for the FB team to play quality teams prior to the start of NCC play.

Ferguson's visit went well. He apparently understands that if his primary goal is getting a good business education, UND is the place to go. If he wants to play DI ball (although you could debate whether the next couple of years would really seem like DI), he will go to SU. He is unlikely to make a decision this week - may make a couple more visits. Sounds 50-50 at best that we will get him. We have a commitment from a 6'4-5" JC player who plays the "3". Missed out on a good kid who will likely end up at St. Cloud - closer to home and girlfriend! Trying to convince a pretty talented forward from Wisconsin to walk on - another situation where he may not want to be so far away from home. Beasley got back in GF this morning - I talked to him briefly. He is pretty excited - as he should be!!

While it is difficult to compare players from different eras, there is no question that Jerome is much more athletic than Phil ever was. However, Phil had much more of an impact on the program than did Jerome. Primarily because he was a ND kid who fans had followed through high school and the recruiting process. Plus, his UND teams experienced much more success than have the teams of the last two years: finishing high in the NCAA tourney and beating some DI teams.

Good observation!

UND 92,96 I really better not give out names. I am surprised that the press hasn't learned of it yet. I don't want to be the one "announcing" the commitment. He is a raw, 6'8", 220-230 lb kid out of Trinidad. Apparently, he has lots of upside potential. As I said earlier, Rich would prefer to redshirt him. Offering the point guard a scholarship is dependent on who else commits prior to signing day.

Any coaching staff is disappointed to lose seniors who have been with their program from the start. Seniors normally provide good leadership for underclassmen. Plus, the fact that this leaves us with only one returning starter provides less continuity. That being said, Johnson leaving was not really a surprise. His getting married and practice teaching had been discussed for some time. Brandt's decision was a surprise but with Austin and Jacobson coming in plus potentially another shooter, his loss will not be too great! When discussed with the other returning players, they weren't upset about it other than feeling to some degree that Brandt was abandoning them. The way I look at it, if he wasn't sure if he wanted to be there or not, the Sioux are better without him. That might be part of the reason he had such a so-so year - his head wasn't into it! Someone mentioned earlier that recruiting Brandt was a mistake by the coaching staff. While it hasn't worked out, we need to remember that a lot of schools recruited Brandt very hard out of HS. SU went after him big time as well as some DI schools. He had a very good frosh year but went downhill since then. It will be interesting to see if he gets his shooting touch back at Minot State.

I fully agree that we should be proud of our fan support. We do, however, need to add a thousand or so to both the men's and ladies' average attendance.

Unfortunately, I do not have as good of source on the women's side but I may be talking to someone on Monday who can provide some insight!

$6-7 million, I believe. I will find out! We need to remember that a large portion of the U of Montana's athletic funding comes from their State legislature. That does not and will not happen in North Dakota!

I also agree that our non-conference schedule is very weak and less than exciting. We had always said that we couldn't afford to pay the guarantee that good DII programs require to travel to ND (something that SU has been able to do for years). I believe that this was true - until we moved into the Alerus. With a quality opponent, we would have at least 10,000 people in attendance - we should be able to provide decent guarantees now. None of us better be giving SU fans any grief about their schedule!!!

It appears that Ferguson will be transferring - but it would have to be to a DII school. He wants to go into International Business. Kentucky Wesleyan doesn't have much of a program. SU's Business Program is now accredited but honestly is not as good as UND's. The hope is that our Business folks who talk to Ferguson can convince him that he will get the best education at UND. We will see. They expect Jacobson to contribute but I don't think they would consider him to be an "impact" player, at least not next year. Obviously, Aaron Austin may be an impact player but his wanting to play football really complicates things. The Nelson kid won't end up at UND unless he wants to walk-on!

We have one commitment from a talented 6'8" juco transfer. Lots of upside potential but we would prefer to red-shirt him next year. That leaves three more scholarships available. We really want the Ferguson kid from Lake Region but a lot or schools are after him. He doesn't qualify for DI but he could get there via the NDSU "loophole". As we all know, they are DII next year before going DI in the fall of '04. He would be "grandfathered" into DI. This is appealing to him. He has made his visit to SU and will be at UND next weekend. Kentucky Wesleyan among others is also interested. There are 2-3 other talented bigger kids, trying to decide if they want to go to DI. They will likely come to UND if they don't go DI. That means we could get all three of them or not any. Depending what happens with these kids, we might bring in a juco piont guard. Doyle, the incoming freshman from Iowa, could play but Glas would prefer to red-shirt him. Lot of potential for getting some great recruits but lots of "ifs" as well!

Glas is all for making the move into The Ralph, Roebuck is opposed. I understand and agree with each of their thoughts. It is much more difficult to recruit talented men to the cold, northern plains than it is women. The guys are very impressed with the Ralph; therefore, it helps Rich's recruiting immensely. There are 2-3 players who are playing or have committed to UND because this facility was a "tie-breaker" when compared to another school. It is easier for Gene to recruit women to UND - partially because there are more girls able to play good DII BB in ND and Minnesota than there are men. Although this trend is changing, girls havealso been less likely to sign at a school a long distance from their home. Therefore, with Gene able to get most the girls he really wants, he wants to play in Hyslop which does provide more of a "home court" advantage than The Ralph. Both are correct in their thinking - one will get his way, the other won't. It will be interesting how this plays out!

UND 92, 96 -- Thanks for the insight and observations. Do you know how the guys who were injured last year are coming along? Is everyone back in school for the 2nd semester? Keep the info coming!

One more time - why don't we all just ignore JBB! It is foolish to let him get under our skin and even more foolish to try to reason with him. As I have advised earlier, if everyone ignores him - he will go away!

Well said!!!!

As a reminder, I am ignoring you, JBB. This will be the last time I respond to one of your posts.

As I continue to advise -- just ignore JBB. If we do, if he will go away!!

While I agree with your thoughts, I have been voting for Bochenski, Parise and Lundbohm (in that order) on a daily basis.

Supposedly, LB Robbie Meek of Jefferson committed to the Sioux last night!