star2city

As someone from Grand Forks, I would have thought there would be a little more humility from some of the GF posters on this thread. A school like Red River, with the numbers of youth playing hockey in its district (and the relative affluence of their parents), should be absolutely dominating in the region, not just in North Dakota, but in Region 8 in Minnesota. Yet annually they struggle to beat a school 1/4 the size of it: EGF. The question that should be asked, in my mind, is: why can’t GF schools be annually competitive with much smaller schools like Roseau and Warroad? As far as the West being weaker than the East: certainly that is true. But isn’t that more a function of depth than top-line talent? Even the GFC players stated they upped their level of play to the best they’ve been, and without an unlucky goal, Bismarck could have beaten Red River. Teams with players that can sleep in their own beds (GFC, GFRR, GPR) will perform better. Arguably, the only “deserving” eastern team that is not at state is Fargo North. Here’s a ratings service at USHSHO.COM Of the top 8 rated hockey teams rated by this system (which includes strength of schedule), seven of the teams are at state. RANK TEAM W L T GmPerf Sched Total Last 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1,Minot,ND,___________________________ 19 0 1, 2.9, 8.5, 11.49, 11.75 W 2,Grand Forks Red River,ND,___________ 11 7 1, 0.8, 10.0, 10.84, 10.30 E 3,Fargo South,ND,_____________________ 13 7 1, 0.8, 9.7, 10.46, 10.49 E 4,Grafton,ND,_________________________ 14 5 0, 1.4, 8.9, 10.27, 10.61 E 5,Grand Forks Central,ND,_____________ 11 8 1, 0.5, 9.6, 10.06, 9.92 E 6,Bismarck High,ND,___________________ 12 8 0, 0.6, 8.6, 9.22, 8.28 W 7,Fargo North,ND,_____________________ 11 9 2, -0.5, 9.5, 9.06, 8.75 E 8,Williston,ND,_______________________ 15 5 1, 1.1, 7.8, 8.94, 8.14 W 9,Jamestown,ND,_______________________ 10 10 0, -0.2, 8.2, 7.97, 8.10 E 10,Bismarck Century,ND,________________ 9 11 1, -0.2, 8.0, 7.79, 7.82 W 11,Hazen,ND,___________________________ 11 9 2, 0.5, 7.2, 7.70, 6.83 W 12,Devils Lake,ND,_____________________ 6 10 3, -0.7, 7.9, 7.13, 8.42 W 13,Mandan,ND,__________________________ 10 11 0, 0.0, 7.1, 7.10, 7.14 W 14,West Fargo,ND,______________________ 4 15 1, -1.4, 8.4, 7.07, 6.97 E 15,Fargo Shanley,ND,___________________ 6 15 0, -1.5, 7.1, 5.61, 5.41 E 16,Dickinson,ND,_______________________ 3 16 1, -2.1, 6.8, 4.77, 5.71 W 17,Wahpeton,ND,________________________ 2 20 0, -2.6, 6.5, 3.90, 3.40 E 18,Bottineau,ND,_______________________ 0 17 1, -3.0, 6.6, 3.58, 3.05 W

Either that, or the GF school system has had a dramatic drop in standards since I left.

IMHO, coach Glas is probably the most well-rounded and multi-talented individual in the entire athletic department. But those attributes do not necessarily translate well into coaching but would well serve the athletic deprartment or some other facet of the UND. One of the few game I’ve seen in person lately was the UN-Kearney - UND game Thanksgiving weekend. The coaching adjustments that Tom Kropp and his assistants did for the Lopers to mount a comeback, even though they lost in overtime to UND, was inspiring. Afterwards, I happened to run into Kropp and complimented him on his tactical changes he made during the game. Although he was very gracious in response, my sense was that Kropp still seemed focused on the dynamics of what just transpired on the court and was already mentally making more adjustments for improvement. Glas doesn’t seem to have that certain extra intuitive focus that separates decent coaching from good to great coaching.

This article, Mastodons ought to join a conference, in the Fort Wayne paper indicates some of the desperation that IPFW must be feeling without a conference affiliation. IPFW's athletic department's identity is defined by its basketball and volleyball programs (its men's volleyball program is one of the better ones in the east), so conference affiliation is crucial for those programs. Since the article has so many salient points similar to what UND or other NCC schools would face, most of the article is posted below.

Looking at the rosters at http://www.gfparks.org/ndaha/, it seems a number of the state tournament teams are still quite young, namely: South, Minot, Grafton, and Williston. With eastern teams like North and Jamestown also returning substantial offensive firepower, next year would seem even more of a challenge for GF teams to make state. Is there much talent expected to move up next year for either GFC or GFRR?

There is no question Bison T&F was a premiere program at the DII level, but there is a big gap between mid-DI and upper DI levels. The Missouri Valley and Big Sky are far from the power conferences in T&F. And isn't the "decent indoor facility" the BSA? It is a shame that with a facility like Newman Field, baseball will have difficulty fielding a competitive team. If the season was extended into June and an indoor practice facility was available (or is there one already?), that might change things. Even in the South, the higher level baseball teams have indoor facilities. The one sport you haven't mentioned is Women's volleyball. More than softball, it would create fan interest. But isn't the Bunker Fieldhouse somewhat of a anchor holding down that program's DI competitiveness?

Is there really an NCAA rule? Could it be a WCHA rule? The Alerus shows football replays without anyone questioning them, doesn't it? If there is video replay capability in an arena, I would argue that it is unethical not to show a replay.

O.K., I retract the wrestling part.

It seems Valdosta State is taking the same view on a DI reclassification as UND: upgrade your facilities to DI+ level and "lay the groundwork". Having recently been in Valdosta, the city's growth and the university's appearance, especially its athletic venues, were more impressive than I expected. Valdosta Daily Times: Assembling All The Pieces

Good to see two wins over the weekend, but that away loss to Augustana seems big now with three tough road games left. Since all other NCC teams have now made a UND appearance: Is there any team in the NCC that has more talent the the Sioux starting five? What needs to happen for the Sioux to go up a level in performance?

With Langen’s performance this year, even with some double coverage, adding Kimbrough in the equation would make them both even more potent. Just out of curiosity, would this be the expected starting lineup next year? 1. Jahner 2. Guinn 3. Boese 4. Kimbrough 5. Langen With a bench including Maffin, Mahlum, and Bagaason that would start on most teams, that’s quite an imposing lineup.

And he's astute enough to realize that 10 years without an NCC championship may be a problem. There are really two jobs open, the AD and REA GM positions. Would he not be a strong fit for the latter, other than his non-hockey background?

Exactly. While a scholarship in an equestrian sport may seem like a great deal, it is really only a “teaser”. Many students will bring their own horse for boarding, which the school will charge for and profit from. In addition, the “scholarship” athlete will have to put in time cleaning the barns, as well as feeding and grooming the school-owned horses, so the scholarship is really more like a work-study situation that gives equine departments free labor for animal care.

Looking at WWU's schedule, they are already making some serious trips this coming year. Even their GNAC trip to Humboldt State is a haul. At a minimum, they would get rid of thier double round robin GNAC schedule, and have early season games against Humboldt and Western Oregon.

The Dakota Student last week gave some clues into the leadership this team. http://www.thedakotastudent.com/vnews/disp...7/41f96e42e0c7a With the loss to Augustana, the St. Cloud game will be a big test for the team’s leadership. If this team can get rid of its inconsistency evident again Saturday plaquing it, it could make some noise. One of the more revealing insights, imho, into teamwork and sacrificial leadership by a Fighting Sioux team was from this past Saturday, and it wasn’t found in the sports section: NAOMI DUNAVAN COLUMN: Jim Goodrich On reflection, the 70’s basketball teams seemed to have shared leadership and spiritual traits with certain other Sioux teams that have probably exceeded expections based on talent alone: such as recent Sioux football teams or Lee Goren-led hockey teams. And the reverse seems also to be true: those teams where the athletic leadership is more selfish than sacrificial in character seem to underachieve.

It appears there will be a water park "boomlet" in the Red River Valley, as an upscale park will be built outside Winnipeg: Resort, hotel to be built on outskirts of Winnipeg Meanwhile, a theater "controversy" lingers for the new Canad Center, Canad / theater update, and the GFHerald editorial board can't seem to keep out of it: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/n...on/10792597.htm

The new opened Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center shouldn't hurt UND's Entrepreneur program or rankings: GFHerald: 'Ina Mae' exudes creativity A place where ideas are born, DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN

GFHerald readers have already seen this, but the following would appear to be very good news for Rugy and North Dakota; Company proposes N.D.'s largest wind project at Rugby

This is probably in poor taste to restart this thread, but the Denver Post came out with some info this week that seem to fully vindicate the whole premise of this thread: Denver/UNC to the Big Sky. Pioneers' search for new conference stays on hold Here's a quote from Doug Fullerton: Denver's five-year commitment to the Sunbelt is up, so they have been recently looking elsewhere, including the Big Sky (again): So the Big Sky still apparently has interest, and the WAC's interest seems to have waned based on its commisioner's comments. Any question if the BSC team that will be touring UNC will make a stop at the Denver campus too, just in case? The BSC's Plan A, Denver/UNC, still has a reasonable chance of happening, in my view. If this isn't bad enough for the SU's, this is probably worse:

If WKU leaves, the Gateway probably doesn't have many choices, except NDSU, SDSU, Wichita State (if it revives football) and certain DII GLIAC schools (would they ask GVSU, monster?) Except for an autobid in football, arguably the Gateway doesn't really buy that much. Would a lineup of Ill St. S Ill, W Ill, Ind St, N Iowa, Youngstown St, and SW Mo St, although formidable, generate much excitement? N Iowa would be the only real rival. Since SDSU is not up to full football scholarships, would that mean SDSU and NDSU would part ways? IF NDSU moved to the Gateway, an unintended consequence might be to force Cal Poly and Cal-Davis into the Big Sky, so their football schedule and programs remain viable. Is that something NDSU wants to do: risk anchoring more California schools in the BSC, freezing out eastward expansion indefinitely? I would agree that DI conferences in this region are much more likely to take an established DI indy, but those same conferences are so focused on potential television viewers that Dakota schools have extreme difficulty getting serious consideration. For UND, it really is best for NDSU and SDSU to do the heavy plowing (sinking mega-dollars into annual expenditures), while UND continues its internal athletic improvements until that "Gentleman's agreement" presents itself, which will, ironically, be made possible, in part, courtesy of NDSU teammakers.

Gentleman

Cratter: In a previous generation, I was also born in Fargo but raised in GF. My take: For most of their histories, Grand Forks and Fargo have been rivals. For example, going back to their establishments, Fargo papers would always print “Forks” rather then “Grand Forks”, because certainly nothing could be “Grand” up there. But for all intents and purposes, the last couple of decades have given Fargo a permanent victory. There are probably many reasons for this, but three major ones are: Fargo has the only interstate intersection in the state (most natural location for branch offices), Microsoft-Great Plains giving Fargo a major corporate presence, and more visionary city and business leadership in the 60’s and 70’s in Fargo. In the 60’s and early 70’s, Grand Forks actually had relatively high growth with the GFAFB/missile wings and food processing expansion, so it seemingly became content. It’s been paying for its lack of business foresight since. Currently, it is my personal understanding that there are “more irons in the fire” for economic development than there has ever been in GF. This year may be pivotal for announcements. For example, Cirrus is likely to announce this year where they will locate a jet assembly facility (maybe GF, maybe elsewhere), LM Glasfiber will likely announce a major expansion (somewhere, maybe GF), and certain Winnipeg companies have interest in beginning US operations. GF, IMO, is making a sharp right (correct) turn on economic development (precipitated largely by the flood), but the view may not yet seem like it quite yet. But it should be remembered, with all the bravado about Fargo’s and even GF’s growth, that most of the growth these two cities have experienced are more the result of a relocation of retail and services from small-town North Dakota than “real” internal growth. Both cities focused too long on expanding their trade areas, which actually hurt surrounding rural areas as Fargo and GF acted as economic vacuum cleaners, instead of focusing on being nationally competitive in select industries. Only recently has Fargo’s growth helped revitalize nearly all of rural Cass County, and its further growth should have ripple effects well beyond its county line. So does Fargo’s growth hurt GF? IMHO, absolutely not, it only helps GF and ND. (and more than that, it is unhealthy to begrudge another’s success.) North Dakota cities need to be nationally (and internationally) focused in their business outlook and Fargo is showing how that can be done. But GF can learn what not to do from Fargo’s example. IMO, Fargo’s achilles heal is it’s non-distinct urban sprawl. Ten-twenty years from now, GF is likely to have three distinct (and distinctive) vital cores: downtown (don’t laugh!), REA/Bronson/University, and the Alerus area, which will be very unique for a city its size.