star2city

A&M lead back to 9, Sioux shooting 50% from field, 50% for 3's, and 82% from line.

Bledsoe on a tip-in, Sioux within 8.

This current year is the most difficult of UND's transition year, and all of the sudden, Foss is ripping it? No starters anywhere were recruited for DI, and we're supposed to be doing well? I've always been of the "have a conference/have the money" opinion, but once the transition starts, turning back (to the NSIC? !!!) would be the biggest disaster ever. A DI move can't be judeged for at least five years, and more likely ten, depending on the program. Virg, get a tiny bit educated before you start blasting the panic button.

Sounds like the Sioux really dominated in the second half. Bagaason really had a big game: good to see her really come along after her injury year. Lamar is actually rated higher than Wyoming, Toledo, Montana State, and Northwestern, so the Sioux seem to be taking some major steps up in play. Iowa State will likely be toughest challenge of the season.

UWGB was the first game against an under 100 RPI team; the only higher rated team UND will play is Texas A&M. With no height to speak of, few pure shooters, and UWBG shooting over 60% both on threes and overall, not surprised at the margin.

Surprisingly, all these goals are still attainable. A 20-win season is not out of reach - granted most would be against DII or NAIA or transitional schools. An established DI school was beaten on their home court (UMKC). Not expecting any miracles at UWGB, Wichita, or Tex A&M, but N Colo is possible. SIU-E seems to be really struggling this years (lost to DIII team), while Seattle may be the class of the transitionals (has won three away DI games).

This seems almost like a concession that some of the more elaborate housing / retail / hotel plans may not happen. New IT Center near Ralph?

Predictable Injustice

Sagarin's Ratings also has a women's list, but it doesn't include UND or a number of other DI transitional schools. In women's basketball, mediocre squads from the power conferences like the SEC and Big Ten are more common. Unlike men's basketball where no new DI school have entered into the top 100, three new DI schools have accomplished that (with SDSU amazingly up to #13). Based on its performance so far, UND would likely be in the 200-250 range. UND's DI schedule has almost no bottom feeders, so, other than the lack of DI home games, it's a rather good litmus test of where we stand in DI basketball. Women's College Basketball 2008-2009 Div I games only through 2008 December 12 Friday HOME ADVANTAGE= 4.93 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 25 | VS top 50 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR 13 South Dakota St. = 92.37 10 1 75.39( 36) 0 1 | 4 1 | 101.84 3 | 85.14 32 37 Arkansas = 83.77 7 2 68.65( 142) 0 1 | 0 2 | 81.86 48 | 84.26 34 48 UW-Green Bay = 82.35 6 1 65.60( 208) 0 0 | 0 1 | 82.23 46 | 81.24 56 51 Iowa St. = 81.20 6 2 70.71( 96) 0 1 | 0 1 | 81.70 49 | 79.54 63 91 Fla. Gulf Coast = 75.42 5 2 64.05( 247) 1 0 | 1 1 | 79.53 61 | 70.55 149 100 USC Upstate = 74.12 3 1 63.55( 262) 0 0 | 0 0 | 75.14 85 | 71.87 136 115 Wyoming = 72.43 4 3 70.07( 111) 0 0 | 0 2 | 71.84 104 | 71.63 138 128 Kennesaw St. = 71.17 1 4 86.49( 1) 0 2 | 0 3 | 68.94 124 | 71.94 135 138 Ball St. = 70.31 4 3 72.69( 60) 0 1 | 0 2 | 70.95 115 | 68.35 176 152 UC Riverside = 69.11 2 4 74.98( 39) 0 1 | 1 1 | 62.45 174 | 74.35 109 154 Vermont = 68.87 5 3 63.75( 252) 0 0 | 0 0 | 68.90 125 | 67.46 189 155 UC Davis = 68.78 4 2 62.27( 287) 0 0 | 0 1 | 63.13 170 | 72.97 124 162 Lamar = 67.74 4 2 62.42( 284) 0 1 | 0 1 | 71.50 109 | 62.81 244 184 North Dakota St. = 65.30 3 3 64.15( 242) 0 0 | 0 1 | 55.39 222 | 73.85 115 197 Toledo = 63.82 2 6 72.03( 72) 0 0 | 0 0 | 58.48 201 | 67.69 185 200 Montana St. = 63.58 2 4 71.88( 73) 0 0 | 0 1 | 59.63 191 | 66.06 211 202 Northern Colo. = 63.30 3 3 60.50( 304) 0 0 | 0 0 | 55.09 226 | 70.06 157 204 Utah Valley St. = 63.26 2 5 72.84( 59) 0 0 | 0 2 | 57.97 203 | 67.07 196 230 Eastern Michigan = 60.25 2 5 70.94( 89) 0 1 | 0 2 | 52.81 239 | 66.20 208 257 Northwestern = 56.80 1 6 70.60( 99) 0 0 | 0 3 | 39.73 321 | 71.58 140 268 Chicago St. = 56.09 3 6 64.14( 243) 0 0 | 0 2 | 44.32 294 | 66.05 212 269 Longwood = 55.99 3 4 63.72( 256) 0 0 | 0 1 | 53.76 231 | 56.73 297 278 Bryant = 54.45 3 6 58.65( 322) 0 0 | 0 0 | 49.44 262 | 57.98 291 279 Northern Arizona = 54.30 2 6 66.51( 187) 0 0 | 0 1 | 47.35 275 | 59.70 275 284 New Jersey Tech = 53.81 2 5 61.29( 294) 0 0 | 0 0 | 48.45 268 | 57.66 292 292 North Florida = 52.82 2 4 62.90( 272) 0 0 | 0 1 | 48.02 271 | 56.14 298 295 Texas-Pan Am. = 52.46 3 4 55.38( 336) 0 0 | 0 0 | 46.50 283 | 56.91 295 323 Central Arkansas = 45.64 2 5 58.69( 321) 0 0 | 0 0 | 43.69 304 | 46.05 338 327 N.C. Central = 44.56 1 9 65.71( 206) 0 0 | 0 0 | 40.92 317 | 46.73 337 335 Niagara = 43.15 1 7 65.92( 199) 0 1 | 0 2 | 34.96 328 | 49.54 334 337 Winston-Salem = 39.94 0 8 64.98( 226) 0 1 | 0 1 | 26.16 337 | 50.50 329 Black - other recent move-ups Red - Established schools UND has played Orange - Established schools UND has schedule later Blue - Great West Schools listed on Sagarin's Womens list

The toll that travel takes is underestimated, especially with with weekday games and balancing schoolwork. That said, somehow SDSU continues their winning ways, beating Gonzaga on the road. SDSU may be the truer model, but here some excerpts from: Sioux Falls Argus-Leader: Gonzaga success a model for SDSU

When Jones installed the Princeton offense, it was an acknowledgment that UND's men's basketball will need to use teamwork, timing, 3-pt shooting and brains to have success against more individually talented teams. Recruiting a player like Beasley, for instance, was a fluke at the DII level, and would be even more difficult at DI until UND has proven itself as a winning program. For the Princeton offense to really succeed, the players in the program need to be immersed in the system their entire college career. JUCO's really aren't the answer for Princeton offense team. Air Force, which has major issues in attracting basketball talent, became successful because they bought into the Princeton system and were patient. The redshirting class is the first one that really came to UND having bought into the Princeton offense. The success of that class is the true test of Jones' coaching and leadership. If Jones had brought in another JUCO or two so his record could have been better this year and next, he would have sacrificed longer-term potential. Implementing a system can be painful a first, but has better long-term potential. A school in a very similar situation to UND is Denver. Eighteen months ago, DU hired the former Princeton and Air Force coach, Joe Scott, and currently have a team with no seniors and 8 freshman or redshirts. DU's had some horrid years before Scott and last year, so it will be interesting to see how DU progresses.

If stench ='ed toxicity, EGF and Moorhead would be spring-time Hiroshima's and the highest death rates would occur from sitting on the throne!

USA Today also badly botched the Smokestack Study of Nations Schools Actually, some good, sound reporting by the Herald:

USA Today: N Dakota tops corruption analysis The numbers in the USA Today certainly look bad. But if the data is renormalized based on elected officials, the story changes quickly. (With huge numbers of elected ND officials coming from township boards and "towns", the majority of which are less than 500 people, no wonder ND looks so bad). Here's what one poster wrote:

The transition to Div I basketball is probably the most difficult one UND will experience: the smaller and non-football schools focus their entire athletic program on it, while the larger schools are so well funded. The Sagarin Ratings, which now include UND, show almost all the recent DI schools that have completed their transition or still postseason ineligible to be floundering. UND isn't really fairing any worse than other transitional teams (but, admittedly, it would be worse if NAIA teams were included) NDSU and Utah Valley are clearly outperforming, but even NDSU has no chance for an at-large. If UND could move up 25 places in the rankings each year, I'd be tickled. Basketball is going to require incredible patience. College Basketball 2008-2009 Div I games only through games of 2008 December 10 Wednesday HOME ADVANTAGE= 4.50 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 25 | VS top 50 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR 139 North Dakota State = 74.72 3 2 72.46( 206) 0 0 | 0 0 | 74.56 139 | 74.24 132 164 Utah Valley State = 72.61 4 3 67.96( 316) 0 0 | 0 0 | 69.75 204 | 74.79 122 181 Northern Iowa = 71.92 5 4 70.55( 269) 0 0 | 0 1 | 73.28 158 | 69.88 201 214 UMKC = 69.77 4 6 74.18( 141) 0 1 | 0 2 | 69.84 202 | 69.05 222 224 Montana = 69.09 4 4 69.70( 284) 0 1 | 0 1 | 67.56 246 | 69.89 200 234 Northern Colorado = 68.41 2 4 72.33( 210) 0 0 | 0 0 | 66.91 259 | 69.17 219 266 Chicago State = 66.62 2 5 74.74( 116) 0 1 | 0 2 | 67.00 257 | 65.55 276 272 UC Davis = 66.26 3 6 70.92( 256) 0 0 | 0 0 | 64.62 293 | 67.10 254 273 South Dakota State = 66.24 2 6 73.13( 177) 0 0 | 0 0 | 64.36 299 | 67.26 250 284 South Dakota = 65.83 0 3 86.07( 3) 0 1 | 0 2 | 67.65 244 | 62.79 309 289 Kennesaw State = 65.29 4 2 62.11( 346) 0 0 | 0 0 | 65.80 273 | 64.08 293 293 CS Bakersfield = 65.00 3 6 70.32( 274) 0 0 | 0 0 | 64.50 297 | 64.85 286 305 Central Arkansas = 64.32 2 3 71.73( 230) 0 0 | 0 1 | 65.16 284 | 62.67 310 308 USC Upstate = 63.65 0 6 79.72( 19) 0 1 | 0 1 | 63.64 308 | 63.01 305 309 Longwood = 63.62 4 4 68.73( 301) 0 1 | 0 2 | 64.35 300 | 62.10 318 310 North Dakota = 63.46 1 2 74.76( 114) 0 0 | 0 0 | 65.36 279 | 60.00 332 313 Seattle = 63.23 1 4 74.53( 128) 0 0 | 0 0 | 63.61 309 | 62.16 317 317 Texas-Pan American = 62.66 1 6 73.31( 169) 0 0 | 0 1 | 60.38 327 | 63.82 297 319 Florida Gulf Coast = 62.52 2 6 71.82( 228) 0 1 | 0 2 | 61.96 319 | 62.42 313 321 SIU-Edwardsville = 62.36 1 7 77.48( 44) 0 0 | 0 1 | 63.45 312 | 60.28 327 323 Winston-Salem State = 62.11 1 6 78.32( 33) 0 1 | 0 1 | 63.82 306 | 58.88 337 339 Bryant = 59.03 1 7 75.12( 100) 0 1 | 0 1 | 57.99 339 | 59.32 335 343 Houston Baptist = 56.32 0 8 76.91( 52) 0 0 | 0 2 | 55.37 343 | 56.52 342 346 NC Central = 53.42 0 10 74.80( 111) 0 1 | 0 1 | 52.94 346 | 53.23 345 347 NJIT(New Jersey Tech) = 50.70 0 9 68.06( 312) 0 0 | 0 0 | 49.21 347 | 51.19 347 Orange- UND opponents Blue - Great West schools Black - other move-ups

Winnipeg Sun: Moose's Goehring an undersized overachiever

Can't help but be impressed by the administrative team Faison has been putting together. Hopefully, it converts to wins later. Scott Herring named CFO for Athletics Department From the Orlando Sentinel's basketball blog:

Greatest Game Ever Played You know about Johnny Unitas (middle) and Alan Ameche (right). You probably don't know about Steve Myhra (left), who also had a prominent role in the magical 1958 NFL title game.

Even with commodity prices dropping, hopefully ND's economy can hold steady or continue up:

UNI 69 UND 49 Hard to believe in this day and time just how dominating UND men's basketball was in the 70's, as UND's had a sixteen game winning streak against UNI before they left for DI in 1978. No surprise that the streak is over, but even getting to parity in competition with UNI would be a major accomplishment. UNI Panthers

Nice story in the other Denver paper: Rocky Mountain News: Air Force's Lamoureux overcomes depression, Hockey forward living his dream by playing for academy

This site lists 2009 Open Dates and shows UND with six, which can't be right. Some of the Great West dates may be flexible, which may be why six potential dates are listed. Seems the schools with the most common dates for UND are Liberty, Old Dominion, Northern Colorado, and IA New Mexico State. Old Dominion would be a first year program, so they'd be a real young team. Would hope we could get UNC, Liberty and or ODU in a home/home. Two IA games wouldn't be unreasonable, especially if the second one is NMSU. Still doubt NMSU would schedule us.

So Dano, which games will the Bison win next year? My response: beat WIU, but lose @IaSU, @Sam Houston, @ SDSU, @ SIU, at home against UNI: 6-5 BTW, this year had NDSU losing @ Wyo, @ UNI, and one of the three other MVFC road games (YSU, ISU, MSU): 8-3 Was your prediction 11-0, or 10-1? Never dreamed they'd lose to WIU and SDSU at home.

Eric Moe honored in hometown paper

Robinson Award nominees announced One Great West, Two MVFC, and Two Big Sky coaches