nodakvindy

huge get!

Very cool, North Dakota will be playing in the first ever NCHC game and it will be on National TV. I see the UND at UNO game on Saturday night will also be on CBS Sports. Good news. Maybe Midco will be able to pick up the Cox feed for the Sunday game, if Cox does the game.

And maybe part of it is tied to taking his team to the NCAAs two years in a row. Sure the twins were a big catalyst for that, but he has clearly resurrected a program that was in shambles. Other than maybe Hardee, what UND coach has done that.

I'd trade summers in Denver for summers in Bar Harbor in a heartbeat, and that's when you have some down time. Maine is plenty attractive as a place to live. And their fan base is much more passionate than Denver's, the eastern version of UND. It's a very desirable job.

Make sure to get a Primanti Brothers Sandwich while you are in town, and if you are at all a baseball fan, hit PNC park and the Roberto Clemente museum on Friday. PNC is my favorite park, it has amazing views of the the Pittsburgh skyline and good tickets are cheap, probably even moreso in April.

That is an added bonus, depending on your point of view.

I think the only changes that need to be made are moving the regionals the home of the top four seeds and then dispersing teams to minimize conference matchups as much as possible. I would have seeded this years tourney as follows. You would have had great attendance at all sites and the matchups are pretty close to perfect PWR bracketing. At Quinnipiac 1 Quinnipiac 4 Canisius 2 North Dakota 3 Niagara At Minnesota 1 Minnesota 4 Yale 2 New Hampshire 3 Denver At Mass-Lowell 1 Mass-Lowell 4 Wisconsin 2 Miami 3 Union At Notre Dame 1 Notre Dame 4 St. Cloud 2 Boston College 3 Minnesota State Mankato

If Oakland leaves for the Horizon, the ballsy play for the Summit would be to find a way to jettison its eastern wing (bids to the Horizon League or OVC) and then invite UND, Montana, Montana St., Northern Colorado and Weber State. That would give you a 10 team league with 8 football schools and distinct 5 teams divisions for olympic sports to minimize travel. For hoops and volleyball Omaha and Weber would be travel partners, while the other pairs are the in-state rivals. UND NDSU USD SDSU UNO Weber St Montana Montana St No. Colorado Denver You would have a high level FCS league and a basketball league that would have the potential for multiple bids. Most importantly, you would create a stable league of like-minded institutions with some decent media markets that could in a short amount of time become an upper tier mid-major conference. You would also have the ability to create a Mountain Plains academic consortium that would be a smaller scale version of the Big Ten's CIC.

Wilmer's great outlet made that play happen.

Makes the Omaha loss sting even more. They would be 2 games over had they won that and would be eligible even with an upset loss in the first round of the Big Sky. While the Big Dance is obviously the primary goal, any way to extend the season is good for the program and UND could probably do some damage in the CIT. Speaking of the BIg Dance. Liberty is playing in the Big South final right now on ESPN2. If they win they would almost certainly be a first four team, which UND would likely be with its record should it win the Big Sky.

The loss flipped our comparison with St. Lawrence, looks like the Badgers will sneak in if Northeastern doesn't beat BU. Tough break for the ladies. The parity in the league outside of Minnesota cost UND, with the lack of TUC teams compared to the eastern schools.

Just watching on the webcast, but the officiating has seemed to be horrible in this game. Extremely physical and lots of stuff let go. Can't say I've really been impressed by Big Sky refs at all this season.

I think you have to put the blame on the X. They will still host the Big Ten, so they have incentive to push that tourney. There is no such relationship with the NCHC.

Being a Carolina fan I still have nightmares about Harold "The Show" Arceneaux. Weber St. is definitely a worthy program and the class of the Big Sky. Montana has been strong recently and I remember they were a 16 seed in 1991 and got crushed a then-undefeated UNLV team. I also remember some pretty solid Montana State teams in the mid-80s. They had a guy named Kral Ferch who was an incredible dunker.

Congrats to Williston State for winning the Junior College National Championship. It's the first National title in school history and comes in only the second year for the program. Good exposure for the game in western North Dakota.

Fewer conference games is a must in getting more teams into the NCAAs. The Pairwise is based on non-conference action. If the NCHC can tear it up in non-conference they should be able to get four teams in the tourney, and on a rare occasion maybe five (and in down years three). Ideally UND would work with Bemidji to get two teams to come in playing one team one night, then switching opponents. Getting more opponents is also helpful for the pairwise. Hopefully there is someone in the league office that reallly understands the nuances of PWR and is working with teams to schedule in a way that can maximize the league's chances of getting teams into the NCAA tourney. Several mid-major basketball conferences have been able to do it to create and sustain a level of success.

Still in 8th in the pairwise, but it's definitely a must to sweep Mankato and beat Bucky to have a shot at an at large bid. Also have to hope for no upsets in the tourneys.

UND women lose in a shootout and settle for #3 seed in WCHA playoffs.

UM-D wins the shootout. UND falls to the #3 seed.

Going to OT. UND needs win or shootout win to get #2 seed, Bulldogs need win or shootout win for #4 and home ice against Ohio State.

Sioux on power play with less than 2 minutes in game two against UMD tied 2-2. UND needs a win or shootout win to hold on to the #2 seed.

Anyone else having problems with UNO webcast. It crashed on me. Not a computer problems as I can get the Big Sky indoor track that is also on American One.

Hate the dump and chase on the power play. Need to keep puck possession.

GUTTY WIN!

Anderson needs to hit the free throws and this one is already over.