star2city

Practically the worst thing that happened for NDSU fans was for their team to be wildly successful in the transition years and then lay an egg the first playoff eligible year. They were embolded by unbelievable last second wins and especially their win against Minnesota (which doesn't compare to what Cal Poly did to Wisconsin - even though Poly lost). For UND, the talent and depth levels need to be built up, and then expectations can rise. Next year is likely to be difficult for both UND and NDSU. UND has loss at TT, likely loss vs. Cal Poly, and difficult road games @ S F Austin, UC-Davis, Northwestern St., Weber St, and SUU. The Sioux will likely only be favored at home vs USD, Idaho St, a non-scholarship IAA school (hopefully, to replace Iona), and a DII school. A 4-7 record isn't out of the question with that schedule, while going 6-5 or 7-4 would be reasonably successful in building up the program. Not sure of NDSU's 3rd OOC game, but in 2009 they'll have likely losses @ Iowa St, @ Sam Houston, @ SIU, @ SDSU, possibly @ WIU, and a possible home game loss against UNI. A 4-7 record wouldn't be out of the question for them either, 5-6 or 6-5 most likely, and if they went 7-4 they should consider it a success.

Sports Executive Dave Checketts on Ambition, Passion and 'Difficult People' Checketts has been President/CEO of the Utah Jazz, NYRangers/Knicks, and now is part owner of the St Louis Blues and the Real Salt Lake MLS team. Though built without lax in mind, the Alerus Center as is would be the premier college lacrosse facility in the country. Isn't UND an entrepreneurial school? Replace the words Boise/BSU with Grand Forks/UND, NLL with NCAA lacrosse, Qwest Arena with Alerus Center, box with field, and the shoe fits:

UMKC heads to Florida with a warm feeling

The text of Kelley's first address is given here. As he's indicated before, Kelley's giving athletics high priority:

Anyone aware of other games scheduled? This site mentions that we'll play 2 games in a Missoula tournament. Isn't Montana also scheduled for GF next year? Away: 2 GAMES @ Montana tournament @South Dakota @Chicago State @NJIT @UT-Pan American @Houston Baptist @Utah Valley Home: 2-3 lower division schools N Iowa N Colo UMKC ? UWGB ? Montana South Dakota Chicago State NJIT UT-Pan American Houston Baptist Utah Valley

Would be interesting game-day experience. For California schools, Fresno has got to have the most fanatical college fans.

From the stats, looks like both teams had nearly the same shooting %. Derock: 7-9 from 3 pt land seems like the key stat. Of the six remaining non-transitional DI games, the only non-miraculous potential win would seem to be Northern Colorado.

And "too watered" down with "lesser" schools. Heard that argument somewhere before.

It would be awesome for college hockey if Syracuse added a men's team and UConn upgraded it's program!

Wasn't UMTC opposed to Bemidji before? Now, if they leave, they'll have less guilt?

Not that point differentials have any significance, but UMKC was tied with Kansas at halftime before losing by 15 pts. UMKC couldn't have been that bad.

UND up on UMKC by 39-24 at halftime.

Think it was: more interested in the Kulm girl rather than EMU's Lawson.

Ralph is still a major player Mental Floss

Would hope the Stephen F. Austin game would be at home, especially if the Sioux are already going to both Louisiana (Northwestern St) and Texas (Tech) next year. At least it would make more sense for recruiting to have annual games in both Texas and California..

Unless they changed scheduling from a weekend series to travel partner system, so Friday and Saturdays have different opponents. (DU/CC, UND/Bemidji, UM/UW, UMD/MTU, SCSU/MSU-M). If UAA could get a travel partner (UAF or UBC), it could work. But either way, a lot of history changes.

Ten years ago, the thought of Nebraska-Omaha wasn't exactly thrilling either. (and now, the thought of Ferris St or Lake Superior St isn't either).

Syracuse fans don't see men's hockey being sponsored anytime soon. A women's program was relatively inexpensive with the existing small rink they have on campus.

The roughing the passer call on 4th down that allowed SUU to continue it's last touchdown drive certainly didn't help UND's cause, nor did Freund's interception before that. The low attendance and lower noise level probably didn't help either. Listened to SUU announcers for part of the game: they talked about how UND was perhaps the most disciplined team they've seen, but how SUU had a physical and possibly athletic advantage at most positions. They also raved about the Alerus Center, as their coaching staff (some of them NFL veterans) were surprised at the Alerus amenities, like the visiting locker room exceeding those that they had experienced even in NFL stadiums.

Even with the anemic attendance against SUU, UND will end up leading the Great West in average attendance. Cal Poly's average won't exceed UND's, even with a sellout for the Poly-UC-Davis game next week. Total Average UND 50837 10167 Cal Poly 49024 9805 UC Davis 54095 9016 USD 30340 7585 SUU 18208 6069

Maybe Tibesar will be back on the market: It's time for a change

Agree about concerns about the offense: hopefully Bamba continues his progress and Murray stays healthy. In the early part of this decade, it seemed the linebackers had the majority of tackles. Now, five of the seven top tackle leaders are safeties and even cornerbacks: 2008 leaders Rory Manke 33 D. Hawkins 31 Brett Holinka 23 Drake Otto 20 Andrew Miller 18 J. Schwenzfeier 18 Kris Ankenbauer 17 Last year, Manke, Alexander, and Otto led in tackles. It just seems that linebacker recruiting has not been nearly as successful in recent classes. The linebacker corps that we had last year didn't stand out at the DII level, why should it at the DI? With the 3-4 defense at the DIAA level, upgrading this the LB position would seem the most urgent with no short-term fix due to lead time for new LB's to learn the defense. JC transfers can't easily step in. Based on comments, it seems that the LB position is what stood out for SIU compared to UND. Lennon had to have liked the athletic potential of the SIU LB corps when he took the position whereas UND's shelf is relatively bare. As SIU gains even more experience with the 3-4, their defense will be even more formidable.

Patrick Reusse: Kleinsasser was once more than a blocker

An argument can be made that the defense has improved from last year. Last year, with Chappel and Dressler, the offense could shred opposing defenses and put up even better numbers than the opponents. Against any '07 squad with a decent offense, there was some rather glaring numbers, but much less was said: Central Washington 447 yards offense MSU-Mankato 513 yards offense Western Washington 470 yards offense Nebraska-Omaha 413 total offense, 340 rushing South Dakota 450 total offense, 360 rushing

Travel Costs Hitting Athletic Departments A conference like the Big 12 is considering going from eight league games to ten? If the SEC and ACC also followed suit, the number of guarantee games would drop by 72, as would pay-outs. Big-money guarantee games could get rare. The danger for the Big 12 is, with 10 conference games, the schedule would further lessen the odds of having an unbeaten team (eight conference games is difficult enough), decreasing the likelihood of championship appearances (and help the Big East, Big Ten, and Pac-10's chances). But with fewer non-conference games, the Big East would almost be forced to add at least two football schools, starting another domino effect.