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You mean like Target did when it went across the street and left a gaping hole in Columbia Mall. No reason to think this won't be a second Wal-Mart. They aren't going to abandon the other location, especially with Sam's Club there as well. This new store seems pretty squarely aimed at the Canadians. Also, the old Wal-Marts in Minot and Bismarck seemed to get reutilized in short order.

Hopefully this deal requires that events be on Midco sports channel 1 (at least in North Dakota). It would be nice to be on the main tier near the other sports channels, rather than up in the 300s. If you have an older set or are someplace like a hotel or bar, you may not get Midco sports 2 or 3. I've been working in western North Dakota for the past couple of years and frequently missed Sioux games, while Midco 1 has had USD events or Northern Sun games, sometimes even things like repeats of South Dakota high school soccer. UND has to be there most attractive package, it should be placed accordingly.

I think people have to realize that with the unbalanced conference schedule, UND could put up a very good record and still finish in 5th. Here's a scenario where UND is 6-2 and alone in 5th Montana St 7-1 Only loss to Montana Cal Poly 7-1 Only loss to North Dakota Weber St. 7-1 Only loss to Cal Poly Montana 7-1 Only loss to Weber St. UND 6-2 Losses to Montana and Montana St. I certainly couldn't be disappointed in a season like that. A win vs. Portland State in the non-conference game would put UND at the magic 7 wins and likely mean a playoff berth.

The Montana-Dakota centered WAC envisioned above could make a lot of sense. It would give the six FCS schools a measured entry into FBS and they could take their time. There isn't likely to be any other opportunity to make the FBS jump in the foreseeable future. While being the clear third FBS league in the west, the FBS status alone would probably give them the firepower to build up to a multi-bid basketball league, which is a better situation than any of the schools is in now. The divisional setup would really cut down on travel, and would be pretty geographically sound.

The WAC should make a play for the flagship MonDak schools and Nebraska-Omaha. You would end up with this for football Idaho New Mexico St. Montana Montana St North Dakota North Dakota St South Dakota South Dakota St. And this for all sports Mountain Division Idaho New Mexico St. Montana Montana St Seattle Boise St., Central Division North Dakota North Dakota St South Dakota South Dakota St. Nebraska Omaha Denver You would have a league with affordable travel and keep/reinstate many rivalries. Could be a decent basketball league, I'd probably put the tourney at the Pepsi Center in Denver. South Dakota would probably need to play football games in Sioux Falls and we would have to sell lot of standing room to get to 15K, but it would be doable. The one odd team out would be New Mexico St., but I doubt their travel would be a lot worse than it is now, and they don't have a lot of other options anyway. This could be the one chance to move to FBS if that is indeed a goal for the these teams.

BC teams that good - maybe Jerry York that good - definitely - his teams have now played in five of the last seven NCAA title games. I can't imagine that's happened since Michigan back in the 50s. He's been in the title game 8 of the 18 years he has been at BC, and also has a title from Bowling Green. It will be interesting to see if BC can sustain that after he retires, likewise with Michigan and Berenson. That is one of the unique things about UND. The success have been able to be maintained despite coaching changes.

NCHC already has a deal with CBS sports, so not sure when this proposed Fox channel could become an option. However, this could be an interesting possible national option for the Big Sky Conference.

What I'd like to see is avoid intraconference matchups for as far as possible. If you have four teams from a conference, they should be separated one to each region. This year, four of the five CCHA teams were in one half of the draw. Use the ratings to establish the 16 teams, but to so slavishly stick to ranking for seeding is idiotic. The teams are generally close anyway, and with the minimal non-conference play, there is some question to the validity of various rankings. I think this would have been an ideal bracket, in terms of spreading out the teams and also staying Worcester -- Boston College-Michigan St. Ferris St.- Denver Green Bay -- UND-Mass-Lowell, Miami-Cornell St. Paul - Michigan-Air Force, Minnesota-Boston U. Bridgeport - Union-W. Michigan, Minnesota-Duluth-Maine All four brackets have one Hockey East, one WCHA and at least one CCHA team, with the two ECAC clubs on opposite halves of the bracket. Attendance would be decent, although would have been nice to get another eastern team into Worcester.

Jeff Lerg and Michigan State say hi. Union and Ferris State are playing with house money at this point, and whoever wins that semi should not be discounted in the final.

And wait until next year with western regionals in Grand Rapids and Toledo. With the attendance being what it is, UND should bid for a regional in Fargo (if we are every able to be a host again).

UND moves on and also claims the inaugural NCHC tournament of champions.

Back in the day, the tourneys existed to get the two eastern and two western teams for the Frozen Four. So the WCHA just played off enough to get those teams. The champion of the league was the regular season champion.

It also didn't hurt that all most of our non conference opponents did extremely well in their conference tourneys, benefitting us in the common opponents category and further upping our RPI.

They can't. ESPN has exclusive rights.

I don't really see it going this way, but I think this bracket would be the best attendance wise and still maintain the best bracket integrity. Unless you literally put people in their own backyard (think BC and BU in Worcester), the only legit travelling fan base is the Green and White. UND still makes Green Bay a winner with no Bucky in the field. With all the flights between Minneapolis and Detroit, Michigan's fans probably turn out better at St. Paul than Green Bay. What Should Happen Worcester 1 Boston College 4 Michigan State 2 Minnesota-Duluth 3 Boston University St. Paul 1 Michigan 4 Air Force 2 Minnesota vs 3 Maine Bridgeport 1 Union 4 Western Michigan 2 Ferris State 3 Massachusetts-Lowell Green Bay 1 North Dakota 4 Cornell 2 Miami 3 Denver What probably will happen Worcester 1 Boston College 4 Air Force 2 Minnesota-Duluth 3 Boston University St. Paul 1 North Dakota 4 Western Michigan 2 Minnesota vs 3 Maine Bridgeport 1 Union 4 Michigan State 2 Miami 3 Massachusetts-Lowell Green Bay 1 Michigan 4 Cornell 2 Ferris State 3 Denver

I'd say if we win it next year, we should keep it permanently. No one else will have ever held it.

Dominating the all tourney team Forbert MacWilliam Lamoureux Nelson Dell - MVP Along with Zucker from DU

I think that's a real sharp looking sweater. The off white/cream color makes all the difference. My only suggestion would be to go with interlocking ND on one shoulder and an outline map of the state on the other, possibly with a small star marking Grand Forks.

ESPN Gamecast also available. Scores from other CIT games show up at the bottom. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/gamecast?gameId=320742181

Yes to webcast http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_home.asp All the tourney games are available for free. If you signed up for it last year, it will still be there. I just found it on my account. The quality was decent last year (streaming wise, the video was from the Air Force jumbotron, so you saw replays rather than live action at times), and it has a PIP feature, so you can watch three other games simultaneously.

playoffstatus.com It's a cool site. They seem to use their own ratings on determining if teams are sure things or not. It doesn't always match PairWise.

Here is the bracket. UND got no love in the seeding, probably due to the general weakness of the Great West. http://www.womensbasketballinvitational.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2012Bracket.pdf On the tourney web site it says higher seeds always host, so I'm not sure a bid was even possible. Looking at the bracket, it would be awesome to see a North Dakota-Minnesota final.

I was surprised Weber didn't make the NIT. I would say they have to be one of the favorites in the CIT.

I see us taking out St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Duluth in order to win another Broadmoor, and coupled with the sweep of the Beavers, the DQ Cup as well.

The following CIT games have been announced online by schools or local media, but won't be official until tomorrow night. There could be a change or two, but I'd guess most will happen. North Dakota at Drake Yale at Fairfield Manhattan at Albany Tennessee Tech at Georgia State Rice at Louisiana Coastal Carolina at Old Dominion Kent State at South Carolina Upstate Tennessee State at Mercer Robert Morris at Indiana State No Western matchups yet - A few of the teams that might be in the mix are Portland State, Utah State, Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wyoming, Idaho and San Francisco.