nodakvindy

Nope, I think it is the right move. This is a national tournament. You shouldn't play conference teams until there is no one else left to play. You don't see Duke and Maryland or Oklahoma and Kansas playing in the Sweet 16. Having conference opponents play in the first round should be saved for Division II. There the cost savings can possibly be rationalized. They should have also split up all four Hockey East schools, but that didn't happen. Hopefully for next season, they will change the RPI back to the split is had last season and also make teams a TUC based on record rather than RPI. That second change was a huge benefit to Hockey East, a large part of why all their teams are highly seeded.

I must agree, this is a bad idea. A 4000 seat arena kills any DI growth potential. Also, having basketball games at the Ralph would only make the ice conditions worse, and that certainly isn't needed. What happened to refurbishing the old Ralph? That would make a lot more sense.

Being a very recent transplant to D.C. I was wondering if there are many Sioux fans in the area. Would like to find a place to watch the Wisconsin games this weekend and the Final Five is Fox North is carrying it.

Great line in the pre-game show. Tim Hennessey comments on how Denver did a nice job controlling the Bochenski-Parise line, however they did it. Gwozdecky response, "Yeah, holding our breath worked real well." He was one of my favorites while I was covering the Sioux, and he is a damn good coach. Him and Serty would be great at a roast.

I like this decision. Hopefully he can play well, and Siembida had a good week of practice at home, continuing to work with Craig Parry. If Siembida can fight his urge to flop like a halibut, he can be very solid. I like a Ranfranz/Siembida combo.

OT. Let's get it done!

Spie gets in done in the clutch! Let's go Sioux!

24,9,8

I think it's important to remember that the Canad Inn will be a LUXURY hotel, so while it is adding rooms to the Grand Forks lodging landscape, they are a different type of lodging and people that would stay there aren't going to consider East Grand Inns, Ramada Select Inns and the like. This is another area where Grand Forks was/is behind both Bismarck and Fargo. Fargo has the Radisson downtown and the Ramada Suites out by West Acres. Bismarck has the Radisson/Kirkwood/whatever it is called now plus the downtown Holiday Inn. Grand Forks has no hotel near its convention center, and the nicest place in town is probably the Hilton Garden Inn, still not really in the luxury class. It's sort of like Burger King competing against Sanders or Lolas, sure they both serve food, but they aren't competing for the same clientele. In much the same way the Alerus hotel is bringing in new market share that is really untapped in Grand Forks. And there must be some hotel shortage in Grand Forks, or Holiday Inn wouldn't have built the new HI Express out on 32nd Ave. They clearly some potential and hope snare some Alerus traffic.

OK, I'll play. I think there is a 33% chance that NDSU will drop wrestling in the next five years. With the additional 27 scholarships going to football, there will also need to be 27 new scholarships for women. This likely means two new women's sports, which will likely be money losers for NDSU. They may get by adding a single sport and adding additional scholarships in other sports. I am not sure if that would be feasible. I would guess that NDSU offers the max in scholarships in all sports they currently field. Some sports may have a higher number of allowed scholarships at Division I, but this difference is almost certainly not enough to absorb all 27 scholarships and therefore an additional women's sport must be added. It also appears that in order to join the Big Sky Conference, NDSU would have to add men's and women's tennis. Failure to add men's tennis was part of what made Cal-State Northridge leave the Big Sky. Of course, the other option in reaching equality is dropping men's sports. Looking at the Big Sky Conference sponsorships, baseball and wrestling are the main options. I know that NDSU was a partner in the building of Newman Outdoor Field, a fine facility. I think it would be difficult to drop baseball, although in a northern climate, DI NDSU baseball has virtually no chance of success. The College World Series is almost an entirely southern event. So I would say it is almost assured that NDSU will drop a men's sport, I think it is about a 2/3 chance it will be baseball, and a 1/3 chance it will be wrestling.

SDSUfan: Thanks for the education re: the South Dakota delegation. Doesn't surprise me about Janklow. Having worked disasters down in South Dakota, I know the guy is a jackass, and probably a racist to boot. I don't understand how the guy keeps getting elected, and many of my friends in SD wonder too. Also didn't mean to imply that the North Dakota delegation neglects NDSU, only that their ties are already close to UND as it is, and that DI sports would have a negligible impact. Regarding travel, I was talking more from a fan perspective. A benefit of the NCC is that you see a fair amount of opposing fans at games at most venues, Greeley excepted. I think that is a good thing. Although your charter airline suggestion is interesting. I heard there is a study being done on a possible regional airline for the Dakotas, with service between many of the major cities (Bismarck, Minot, Fargo, Grand Forks, Sioux Falls, Aberdeen, Rapid City, maybe Pierre). You are also right about "stick in the mud" thinking that can be prevalent in this region. But sometimes the way you are doing things is the right way and there is no need to change. Just as real is the unfounded inferiority complex that this region has, and it's desire to get the approval of big cities or change perceptions. The whole dropping North from North Dakota is a prime example of this. We shouldn't be afraid of being who we are. I get the opportunity to travel around the country for work, and I would put the quality of life in North and South Dakota up against anywhere I have been. It's interesting that you say that partnerships with other schools would be more likely. Do you think Cornell or Texas A&M or North Carolina State would be more likely to partner up with SDSU because of a move up in athletics? That's the thing I find most disingenuous about this whole debate. The proponents of a move to IAA bring up all this prestige that will come, but invariable mention schools like Michigan, Notre Dame, Minnesota, and Nebraska or for actual IAA schools the Ivy league. That is just totally unrealistic. The real comparison is with your Valparaisos, Louisiana-Lafayettes, Southern Utahs and the like. I don't honestly believe these schools have any enhanced national, or even regional reputation. I'm not some bitter fan who doesn't want teams to move because it could hurt UND. I think NDSU, SDSU and UND would all likely field successful teams at the IAA level. I just question whether the additional costs involved in doing so will provide any meaningful benefits. It seems like an extraordinary gamble for a small piece of the March Madness pie.

I'm not sure what to make of that. Although it is interesting that UND and SDSU are already at a level with 2 Pac-10, 2-Big 12 and 1 SEC school, so it appears their status in major D-IA conference has not put them noticeably ahead of UND and SDSU. Also it says the athletic move may affect the rest of the University, but does not mention if it would do so in a positive or negative fashion. I honestly don't believe having a DI or IAA athletic program can have that much of an impact on attracting research grants. As has been mentioned, you may be able to throw some tickets the way of a congressman, but that's a pretty small perk, and they are in DC most of the time anyway. UND is a little different in that the entire North Dakota congressional delegation are alums. I don't know what that situation is in South Dakota, although I believe Janklow went to USD and wouldn't be surprised if Daschle went out of state. Johnson is a pretty good guy, levelheaded and down-to-earth, so it's possible he went to Brookings. I think it's clear that there are DI and DIAA teams that have athletic programs that are clearly inferior to those of most, if not all, NCC schools. However, what is working against the NCC schools, and has been for as long as there has been intercollegiate athletics, is geography. The NCC schools are too far from other DI schools of similar size. It is obvious UND and NDSU will never be in the Big 10 and USD and SDSU will never be in the Big 12. These two conferences house all other state universities in the midwest. If the Dakota schools were located in the western parts of the state, or even if Montana or Montana State was located in Billings, the Big Sky might seem more realistic. Bozeman is 900 miles from Fargo, and that's not a fun drive for a game, even less so to Missoula, crossing mountains during the winter. This DIAA move at NDSU is almost entirely geared for the football program. I don't see how any other sport benefits. The flagship wrestling program has been relegated to being a farm team for the Minnesotas, Iowas and Oklahoma States of the world. And the saddest thing is, they could have used there DI exemption for wrestling. The basketball teams face 13 years in purgatory, and Title IX will become a problem when they add 27 new football scholarships. Finally, I don't think they will get this anticipated return to glory- as other IAA schools will also have the full scholarship complement, a far cry from the 1980s Bison dominence when they were the Yankees of Division II, buying up all the talent with their edge in scholarships. That's my $.02 Vindy

A sad day indeed. My prayers go out to his family. Also found this story in a Las Vegas newspaper. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/.../514308404.html

Just saw on NFL.com that former Sioux and NFLer Jim Hester passed away. He played football and basketball at UND and was a teammate of Phil Jackson. As a relative youngster I never got to see him play, but have heard stories about him and know of the success of UND football and hoops at that time. He was also an influential community leader in his hometown of Davenport, IA. Here is a link to another story from the Quad Cities Times. Quad Cities Times My prayers are with his family. Hopefully the Sioux will be able to win one over the Coyotes in his memory this weekend.

No, the student section isn't in the corners. But if you had seats in the corners and could move to vacant student seats nearer the middle of the field, wouldn't you do so.

You're right about the PSU game. Those self-absorbed students went home and spent Thanksgiving with their families. Yeah, they aren't real fans. Next you'll be quoting attendance for WCHA playoff games scheduled during spring break.

The Chump JBB said -- NDSU does not give a turnstile count. They give a sold count. If you had taken time to notice there were more than enough fans left in the Prestigious Tailgate areas to fill the Fabulous Fargo Dome. At most there were 1,000 empty seats. During the D2 playoffs in the grand cities last year Winona drew 6,500, The PSU game say 10,000 and the Davis game 11,000? How does that even compare to the Prestigious Crowd at the Fabulous Fargo Dome? ================================================ Tickets sold is meaningless, bodies in the seats are what matter. I've never seen an empty seat enjoy a dog and a coke, or buy any souvenirs. You can rip UND's football attendance, but first take a look in the mirror (and remember that Fargo U (whoops, NDSU) is supposedly a "football school", that just isn't true in Grand Forks.) NDSU draws 10 grand and change for Augie, but can fill the place for the Sioux. What does that mean? It means a hell of a lot of people are wearing green in the Fabulous Floating Football Barn, green and white that is. Don't count on those 8000-9000 Sioux fans showing up for your games when you are DI. You aren't selling out Sioux games because more Bison fans are actually showing up, although you'd like to think that. Good luck getting 8000 fans to make the trip from Bozeman, Cedar Falls, or whatever other D-I (AA) powerhouses you get to come play. You constantly deride UND and the other NCC hockey schools, but the attention they get is what you so crave and is the motivating factor behind NDSU's move up. It would have been smarter to let just the wrestling program go to D-I. Schools like Edinboro and Lock Haven do it and are Top-25 programs. You don't face competition from UND, and it's the one sport that North Dakota can produce enough athletes to fill a D-I team. Instead that honorable program will likely be a sacrifice to the alter of I-AA football, when the Title IX folks wonder how you are going to balance your 27 football scholarships. I'll really feel for you when the reality of "D-I" sets in and you get your hopes up when the Bison score a 4th quarter TD to get within 63-7 against the Huskers in Lincoln. What a proud day that will be for the Thundering Herd, but hey that $300,000 might stem the red ink for a year. And who'll be able to turn down tickets to the Bison Holiday Hoops Classic featuring NDSU, Siena, Stetson and Texas Pan-American. Welcome to the Big Time.