star2city

Thanks for the great work, Jim!

Finally, a reasonable post. As far as travel in the Big Sky, the distances create issues for practically every school. N Colo, Sac St, Portland St, and NAU really don't have any reasonable bus rides (NAU will once SUU is in), especially in the winter. Ever driven from Bozeman through West Yellowstone to Pocatello in the winter? But look at a conference map sometime. There are all kinds of schools that must fly practically every team every time: BC and Miami in the ACC, ECU, Marshall, UCF and UTEP in CUSA, St Louis and Charlotte in the A10, all the PAC10 except travel partners, TCU and UCF in the Big East. Why not harass their boards too?

Even if he just looks at it that simply (what else is he capable of?), then because of his stand five years ago, he's either jealous, hypocritical, or double-minded.

Bison fans continue to spout so much B.S. it's sickening. If UND in the Big Sky is equivalent to SUU in the Summit, why the hell did the NDSU administration and fans lobby so hard to get into the Big Sky? Were you and your fans that screwed up in your mind five years ago? The truth is that UND in the Southland or UND in the OVC is equivalent to SUU in the Summit. SUU only got in the Summit because the Summit had no choice but to pick them. The Big Sky chose to offer UND, even though the Big Sky had multiple options. UND to the Big Sky was not a forced marriage.. You still don't get how conference affiliation helps better define what at school is (and probably can't grasp the concept): the Summit is basically a corn belt league as its economic base. The Big Sky is economically a natural resource league (with exception of Sac and PSU).. Fargo State is school that is geared to being a corn belt school. UND is more and more a school that emphasizes the people and businesses and services associated with the wide open places with natural resource development (aviation, geology, energy, rural medicine). The coming economic development of the western part of ND (as well as eastern and even Central Montana) will be possibly the most significant development in ND history since settlement. UND has at least outwardly positioned itself for that change: to become the school western ND cities look towards. Meanwhile, Fargo's desire to be the next Omaha gains new momentum, as the real Omaha comes aboard. The division between Imperial Cass and Western ND will become even greater: for UND to align itself with the Summit League (and in turn beholden to Imperial Cass at the expense of western ND) would be a tragic mistake.

Maughan's arrest record indicates that he is connected to NDSU athletics, and he admits he has made very poor choices:

With an ethically challenged - admitted serial liar and deceiver - commissioner, is it in your DNA to defend that type of garbage? No UND fan would ever defend the WCHA commissioner, who has an ethically challenged past. Douple's an embarrassment to the league, even one that makes compounding strategic mistakes. No other conference would ever consider him with his record. Ethically challenged people create disasters - just wait and see in this case too. Considering you continue to defend Chapman's ethics, thanks for the compliment. It was an actually ethics lecture - and it obviously can't sink into shallow ground.

With the Herald, the bottom line is that Jacobs and Dennis write the editorials, which go a long way to create perceptions in the entire community. Dennis has a world view that is more open, but Jacobs' worldview seems frozen in the 60's post-modern thought. Jacob's recent column about how education is the answer to everything shows how delusional his world view is. Yes, education is extremely important, but Jacobs seems incapable of understanding how integrity and spiritual development are the underpinnings of meaningful human development. If education was the answer, there wouldn't be substance abuse or any host of issues facing humans. Education itself is incapable of eradicating human failings, nor is it capable of giving hope. But nevertheless, Jacobs and many UND professors worship at the altar of the academic ivory tower, which has developed a PC liturgy denies the deeper levels of the human soul and spirit. The Herald newswriter who is capable of going beyond just intellect and seems to have a deeper and balanced world view is Stephen Lee.

Haga incorrectly ascribed those comments to "UND Fan": it was actually "Old Time Hockey" that made those comments. UNDFan would never have written that. It's interesting how the point that no nickname supporter was asked to be on the flight was buried deeply within the story, and one comment about a witch hunt - falsely attributed - becomes the focus of the story. Nickname supports have only asked for fair play from this UND administration and the Herald, and that's never been received. I stand by my comments that Kelley was "jubilant" and "smug" after the SBoHE retired the nickname.

With some more development, do you forsee Huff as a 20 - 25 ppg contributor? IMHO, Huff has the potential to become the national average scoring leader if he stays at UND.. Some Badgers fans have recently resurrected a thread about Huff, with hopes that he transfer there, or at least to another Wisconsin school.

SFI was always in favor of the MVFC over the Big Sky, so no surprise there.

Decent people demand that people be treated decently. This whole thing had been going on for months, not days. Douple's also talking out of his back cheeks here: But it was just very strongly encouraged. Omaha WH: Summit League has had eye on UNO for a long time

Conferences provide members with certain services: like "good" PR advice.

There was no talk at all about cutting football or wrestling in the Omaha press even though it was well known the Summit was visiting. The Summit and UNO handled the whole situation disastrously - with absolutely no concern or sensitivity for the people negatively affected. It's practically a sports business textbook case of how not to act.

A huge part of Douple's job is to manage the PR of the Summit League. This is just another example of where the news has blown up in the league's face, bringing it more disgrace. In the rush to get UNO in the league, the Summit didn't give a crap about the negatives associated with cutting programs. What was the rush? Any offer that the Summit gave should have only been extended after assurances that UNO had at least talked in private with the coaches affected. It's called class.

The way UNO handled the personal angle on the football and wrestling cuts was disgraceful: that can not be denied. What would it have hurt either UNO or the Summit League to at least give the wrestling team a week to celebrate? Why could Alberts not have sat down later this week with the coaches and informed them, instead of by the phone? Firing someone by phone is about as low class as you can get. UNO stated the Summit wanted it done right now: why the rush when no one can officially invited to DI until this summer? Trust Douple to drive the Summit just as much as a drunken Joseph Hazelwood at the helm of the Exxon Valdez. If Douple had any sense of PR and decency, much of the garbage that UNO brought on itself would have been averted.

Interesting stats on Devon Beitzel, Northern Colorado's star guard 5.3 ppg as a freshman 11.8 ppg sophomore 14.4 ppg junior 21.4 ppg senior Obviously, most players won't improve as much as Beitzel during a college career. But consider what might be possible with Huff, Schuler, Anderson, Webb, or Brekke:? Webb's and Anderson's scoring probably won't go up much (rather their assists and passing efficiency), but the upside on Huff's scoring could really be something to behold. Huff: 13.1 ppg Webb 10.8 ppg Schuler 8.5 ppg Anderson 7.9 ppg Brekke 5.8 ppg

The legislature and the taxpayer pays his bills, not the SBoHE. Seems like Kelley could give the legislature (and the people who elected them), just a wee bit of respect by presenting both sides. Kelley lobbied the SBoHE well before the SBoHE "retired" the name: that is undeniable.

Kelli Sassi should have pulled a Wisconsin and chained herself to the Capitol steps in January until the bill was defeated if she feels so violated. One of the best arguments for keeping the nickname that rarely gets mentioned is keeping pinheads like the NDSU professor away from UND and North Dakota. Regardless of their view, if a professor doesn't have the social or emotional intelligence to not be flustered by the situation, they have no business as a professor. Some of the UND professors have basically devoted their entire working career to being full time lobbyists to rid UND of the nickname.

Is anyone truly surprised by this? The T&F athlete that was shuttled to Bismarck wrote a letter to the Herald about how the Sioux nickname was harming athletes (not being able to go to Minnesota meets). Kelley's had an agenda all along - it's not been difficult to see. Last spring when Kelley was able to declare that the SBoHE had declared the nickname retired, Kelley seemed almost jubilant and smug.

At the beginning of the season, all I saw was a long dark tunnel with no hope of any light at the end of it. With the freshmen and the +11 in wins over last year, there truly is a lot of hope. Brekke being out of the game in the first half with foul trouble really had a big effect on UND's defensive effort in the first half. If the freshmen +Wilmer/Allard keep making strides, these team can make some noise the the Big Sky. Hopefully we get more depth inside. Would be awesome to get a Kansas game. Just get a return game to the Ralph like ten years ago.

UNO plan leaving MIAA scrambling, frustrated Mav's Big Donor Sokol says UNO sacrificed for Huskers

Would you really consider that a majority of Bison fans are Sioux hockey fans? Seems a lot of them are either agnostic to hockey, or if they like college hockey, are move partial to the Gophers or any team playing the Sioux. Just wondering, as I don't live in ND.

UNO, Alberts, Douple and the Summit League are getting terrific press from the football / wrestling fallout With Douples' scruples, he could just as well have been at the helm of the Exxon Valdez. CBS Sports: Nebraska-Omaha rips out hearts (and Dennis Dodd reams out Trev Alberts UNO vs IUPUI should be even more exciting.

Why North Dakota is Booming

That is simply untrue. Every NCAA school in the state of South Carolina faces a post-season hosting ban because of the South Carolina state capitol flag issue. The issue is different, but the legislature component and relationship with the NCAA are similar. South Carolina school AD's and Presidents did not resign en masse, nor have any of the public schools in South Carolina faced difficulty in filling those positions. Moreover, none of those South Carolina schools faced additional sanctions from the NCAA because of their legislature's actions. The schools in question are South Carolina, Clemson, South Carolina State, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, South Carolina-Upstate, Winthrop, and The Citadel. DII schools like Greenville and Francis Marion are also effected. Moreover South Carolina-Upstate transitioned to Division I immediately prior to UND and has not faced additional sanctions or delays in its move to DI because of the state legislature's actions.