star2city

Thanks for the correction.

With the class coming in and the play so far this year by a very young team, Roebuck seems to be on the verge of delivering a strong run for a Big Sky conference championship and NCAA berth.

"Maybe we're working on our first road sweep," Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said Tuesday from the Minneapolis airport, where his team had a layover on the way to facing North Dakota on Wednesday in Grand Forks. "We're going to approach this like conference. We got the first one, let's stay focused, not be content with that and try to get the sweep." "The Huff kid came to our camp a few years back and we offered him a scholarship and he told us if we did, he would commit," Tinkle said. "Then he changed his mind and wanted to wait, so we pulled the offer. There's a little history there where he might want to tune us up a little bit." Read more: http://missoulian.com/college/griz/montana-basketball-team-aims-for-road-sweep-at-north-dakota/article_094b22cc-1583-11e1-b6c7-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1eVOr6HkP Montana's seven-footer, Selvig, will be available (but likely won't start due to an anke injury). Selvig is the son of Montana's women's coach.

NDSU lost to Duquesne, 74-66.

In town for the week, and stopped at the Ralph for tickets. Was told tickets aren't going very fast because of the game being on Thanksgiving Eve.

If Notre Dame really is now serious about a move to the ACC - Seth Davis' tweets are reporting serious conversations - then even the basketball side of the Big East is in question. http://twitter.com/#...970351253209088 BYU not going to Big East http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/33459898 Most of the MWC presidents and admin have had major issues with BYU's admin, so this isn't that surprising. For BYU to basically want to call the shots with the Big 12 and the Big East is hubris to an extreme.

Last year, Duquense finished with a 52 RPI and advanced to the third round of the NIT. http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2011WBBrpi1.html

If this game had been for an NCAA berth, a crowd of > 2000 could have been possible. Will be interesting to see how much the attendance grows in the Big Sky (if UND keeps winning). UND #60 (of 327), just behind Notre Dame. http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1

Congrats to the Sioux ladies and Coach Hardee on their third straight Great West tournament championship. Hardee made a huge adjustment to Utah Valley's play by inserting a second setter, Krueger, in addition to Husfeldt. Krueger, who was all-conference last year, didn't get much playing time this year because of the freshman Husfeldt, but was a key player in UND's win over Utah Valley and even made the all-tournament team. Sioux finish the year 26-5. Next year: Big Sky Championship. Will definitely miss the seniors!

In the first half, Duquense's shots seemed to rim out. In the second half, Duquense shot much better.

2011-12 A-10 Women's Basketball Predicted Order of Finish (First-Place Votes) Team - Points 1. Dayton (7) - 189 Temple (7) - 189 3. Duquesne - 159 4. Charlotte - 141 5. Saint Joseph's - 129 6. St. Bonaventure - 125 7. Xavier - 119 8. Richmond - 112 9. George Washington - 73 10. Massachusetts - 70 11. La Salle - 65 12. Fordham - 42 13. Rhode Island - 31 14. Saint Louis - 26

Surprisingly, no news this week from the Big East. Supposedly, Boise St and / or BYU are reportedly the hold ups.

NKU had "yes" votes from 8 of the 11 OVC voting members (Belmont can't vote yet), missing out on membership by just one vote. http://www.therepubl...ference-Search/ The ASun is at nine members, down three members from a few years earlier (Campbell, Gardner-Webb, and Belmont have left or will leave), so the ASun will definitely add more schools. Kennesaw State is adding scholarship football, so they may leave the ASun for the Big South. Longwood is another ASun possibility, as well as NKU, Lincoln Memorial, and Bellarmine, and possibly Francis Marion.

When N Alabama announced its move to DI, they stated it wouldn't be for three years until they even attempt a transition due to fundraising issue. The other league that is likely pursuing NKU is the Atlantic Sun. The ASun needs a travel partner for David Lipscomb (Nashville). The other school rumored for the ASun is Lincoln Memorial, a Tn school right near the Cumberland Gap. LMU would be the travel partner for E Tenn St. The Summit is a better league in most sports and certainly academically, but NKUs alumni probably lean in the ASun direction.

That's a long long round trip for hockey practice. Does Williston pick up kids from Watford City, Sidney, and Crosby?

Fresno, Nevada, and Hawaii (fb only) will all be in the Mountain West starting next year after TCU leaves (Boise replaced Utah / BYU). Hawaii will be in the Big West for all other sports next year. Due to exit fee issues, Boise St and Air Force can't begin Big East play until 2013.

The Boston Red Sox pedophile scandal was actually more notorious than Penn States, as every one in the Boston Red Sox organization - the players, owners, everybody - knew that their clubhouse manager was molesting young boys. For almost 30 years up until 1991, nothing was done. http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201111/another-era-and-another-sport-sex-abuse-scandal-still-inflicting-pain-today

<p> What may be left Denver Seattle Idaho Air Force (needs a spot to park Olympic sports) Boise St (ditto) UT-Arlington Texas St (?) (La Tech, UTSA, Utah St, SJSU are all probably gone) The WAC actually has a higher payout than the Big Sky, due to BB credits, so it might actually make financial, acdemic, and basketball recruiting sense for some Big Sky schools to jump over even if they keep playing football in the Big Sky. If the Montana schools could swing a deal like that - an umbrella FCS conference like the CAA does for Atlantic10 and America East schools - the WAC could be the main survivor, not the Big Sky. The Big Sky would then have to back fill with Utah Valley, Bakersfield, and Grand Canyon U.</p>

There's just too many variables and uncertainties to accurately predict any movement with CUSA right now. - There's talk that the Big East might also add San Diego St and Hawaii as football-only members, making the Big East West a true western division and sliding UCF over to the east. Sounds crazy, but with a Pacific and Hawaii time zone schools, the Big East could offer football games at almost any time, potentially making their TV contract more valuable. - CUSA and MWC are still in merger talks for football, even with AFA, Boise, UCF, Houston, and SMU leaving. That group could end up as 18, 20, or 24 teams. At 24 teams, they would go to 6 team pods, and try to evenutally swing a playoff system for the 24 teams. -If the MWC wants 12 schools, that could actually open up a spot for Idaho, as well as San Jose St, Utah St, depending on if UTEP switches from CUSA to MWC. -CUSA will almost certainly reload with a Dallas school (North Texas) and a Florida school (FIU or FAU or both) as well as possibly UTSA (drawing good crowds even with Minot State level competition) and number other Sun Belt candidates, La Tech, and non-FBS football schools (Ga State, Charlotte, Old Dominion). If CUSA no longer officially sponsors football (the MWC might take that role), Marshall and ECU are pushing for more schools along the Atlantic Coast. - The WAC may be in serious trouble, as its sole hope might be as a basketball only conference.

Perhaps an inside joke? Considering the legislative action.

The gasification plant at Beulah produces ammonia, not sure about urea though. It would seemingly be an opportunity for some company to step up. If nothing else, portable gas turbines that can provide local electricity needs or plug into the grid would seem possible. The Bakken region has to import massive amounts of electricity as it is now. This London newspaper had a more in-depth story: London Mail: Mystery American 'city' caught on stunning time-lapse video from space revealed to be massive Midwest oil field http://www.dailymail...ideo-space.html

Oops! The Big East becomes an 8 / 8 / 4 hybrid conference.

An Orlando radio station is reporting that Big East expansion will be official this week. The Penn State scandal last week delayed the announcement, as the Big East would have received minimal media coverage. Big East East UConn Rutgers Navy (fb only) Louisville Cincinnati USF Big East West Houston SMU Boise St (fb only) Air Force (fb only) BYU (fb only) UCF Basketball schools remaining: Notre Dame Villanova Marquette DePaul St Johns Seton Hall UCF vs USF, and Navy vs Air Force would be permanent cross-division rivals in football.

Jacksonville St wants to leave the OVC for FBS. Tennessee St is talking about leaving the OVC for the SWAC. EIU left the Gateway and MidCon for the OVC: there's no compelling reason for them to go back. OVC football is easier and cheaper, and other sports in the OVC are bus trips. EIU was the school pushing for SIU-E, which chose the OVC over the Summit. SIU-E was the school that the Summit really needed to fill in the hole between UMKC and WIU, but SIU-E had no interest in joining a Dakota-league. The schools that the Summit League really need to be pushing for are Grand Valley St and Wayne St (Mi). The MVFC could then go to divisions if they allowed them to join (which is a huge if).

That's got to be a misprint by a factor of "10" ? Is construction strong in Grand Forks, just from the spillover effect?