farce poobah

Lot of causes for attendance declines, but I agree that with a Big Sky schedule, the potential exists to draw a lot more. However, basketball has suffered from a number of things that are readily addressed, while others are harder to address: 1) Predictable game days and game times. We see this with hockey ... have the games every Friday and Saturday night, and people will come from hundreds of miles (Twin Cities, in my case). If they ever started playing hockey on Tuesdays, Thursdays, etc, the out of towners simply would not be able to come. Good old NCC hoops was every Friday and Saturday, and that was a huge reason it filled. In order to not disrupt the Golden Goose (hockey revenues), play basketball - predictably - on Saturday afternoons and Sunday afternoons. That gives UND a shot at drawing out of town ticketholders. And if hockey is on the road, play Friday and Saturday nights. 2) At basketball, GIVE THE STUDENTS THE GOOD SEATS. It worked at the Fieldhouse/Hyslop. Make it a point system, where loyalty / attendance drives priority. Make the Betty as tough a place to play as the Ralph is. These players have a lot of choices to play hoops, and let's give them one more reason to get jazzed about playing at UND. 3) Improve the Betty's seating. Add more permanent seating on the ends. With a 4000 capacity, that should add $$ and noise and help make it a noisy, crowded bandbox of an arena. Other items are structural with the game of college basketball itself, which I find increasingly hard to watch. 1) Ends of halves are not tension filled, they are simply tedious. The ridiculous amount of time that expires with (a) foul shots, (b) intentional fouling, © media timeouts, (d) team timeouts, (e) foul-out-timeouts, etc etc etc. SPEED UP THE GAME, PLEASE. 2) One simple rule change is that the team fouled keeps possession. Penalty for fouling is 1 shot (shot like a technical). 3) Reduce team timeouts in games with media timeouts. 4) I'm sure others can think of better ideas than I. I do think UND basketball could regularly draw 4-6k for big games. But there's a lot of work to be done.

Interested in people's perspectives whether its better for Dell to come into the rink Friday with a scoreless streak of 19 seconds or 225 minutes. I was thinking it would have been a distraction ... on a weekend when we don't need other distractions.

I checked the video at Fightingsioux.com and it is there in its entirety. If there's rebroadcast, it might get cut, but it would be worth trying the DVR thing...

OUTSIDE: White Out. INSIDE: White Out.

Yale 5 CC 1. The ECAC is better this year than previously ... Quinnipiac swept UNO, Union beat Minnesota and UAA, etc. Looking at the Pairwise, Yale has to win almost all their games to stay #1. If they lose a couple, they will drop pretty quickly.

Most of your list if pretty good. You're on the right track, and I hope the University moves quickly.

QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! Let the Mighty Ducks comparisons begin.

Agree ... the game is slowing down for him too; starting to see some nice playmaking and moves.

That didn't seem like an 8-0 game. We were not as totally dominant as the score suggests. Felt more like a 5-2 game. I agree with a lot of comments above: ** We were counting MacWilliam's blocks on that shorthanded sequence that led to the SH goal... had gotten to 4. I was wondering if he would be able to limp back to the bench after taking those shots. He is one tough as nails dude. ** Kristo has the potential to dominate at this level. The game is slowing down for him, and he's getting better all the time at seeing his teammates and finding them. ** In our row, we were noting the almost complete absence of body checks in the first 20 minutes. Must have been a coaching decision to lay off the Colonials. However, after they laid a body on Kristo, second period, we started doing a little hitting. ** I like Dillon Simpson on the PP. He may be quarterbacking it next year. ** Lot of ice time for 3rd and 4th lines. Liked the play of Rodwell, Lamoureux, Davidson; they just couldn't get the finish for a goal. ** We will need to guard against a letdown tonight. Keep the feet moving ...

Kristo is just getting started. 7 seniors with something to prove. New kids have learned the system.

Underrated: Ben Blood. Mobile, physical, reads plays, makes the good first pass on the breakout ... On track to become one of the best ever at UND.

In WCHA games only, the Sioux powerplay is #8, while the PK is #1. Agree with the comments above about our PP needing to be better .... Given our depth at D, ... I'd be inclined to use 2 D and 3 F rather than a 4-forward approach ... and getting some underclassmen (Forbort, Simpson) some time would help reload next year's team. Love that PK number - wow - over 87% - I remember when "under 20%" was a good PK. Power Play: Totals SHA PCT 1 Wisconsin 15/ 63 2 23.8 2 Minnesota Duluth 15/ 68 0 22.1 3 Colorado College 16/ 74 5 21.6 4 Bemidji State 11/ 53 1 20.8 5 Michigan Tech 9/ 49 3 18.4 6 Denver 10/ 55 1 18.2 7 Nebraska-Omaha 8/ 46 1 17.4 8 North Dakota 11/ 68 1 16.2 9 Minnesota State 12/ 75 3 16.0 10 Minnesota 9/ 57 1 15.8 11 St. Cloud State 10/ 68 0 14.7 12 Alaska Anchorage 8/ 65 3 12.3 Penalty Kill: Totals SHF PCT 1 North Dakota 48/ 55 1 87.3 2 Wisconsin 54/ 62 1 87.1 3 Colorado College 40/ 46 1 87.0 4 Nebraska-Omaha 51/ 60 0 85.0 5 Minnesota State 67/ 79 2 84.8 6 St. Cloud State 50/ 59 2 84.7 7 Minnesota Duluth 49/ 59 4 83.1 8 Denver 59/ 74 3 79.7 9 Bemidji State 58/ 73 0 79.5 10 Alaska Anchorage 51/ 65 2 78.5 11 Minnesota 45/ 61 2 73.8 12 Michigan Tech 35/ 48 3 72.9

Were Bryan and David Lundbohm brothers?

In Minneapolis at the John, Gophers strike first.

Mavs in white. Sioux in black.

I am on the north side and its channel 23....

The University of North Dakota adopted the nickname Roughriders in 2011. The nickname honors the brave men and women who serve in our military forces. They epitomize hard work, a fighting spirit, and winning battles. They defend our freedom and our way of life. Please be loud and proud and exhibit good sportsmanship as you cheer on your team tonight.

Just when this was starting to look like a relatively easy four points, Mankato goes on a four game winning streak, led by Phil Cook in goal and an experienced D-corps. We better bring game. And those black jerseys.

Another night where we give up "almost no" powerplays, and not surprisingly almost get a shutout. Sioux have played 17 games so far this year. In 6 games, we've given up a 5x3 or we've given up a major. In those games: 1 win, 4 losses, 1 tie. In 11 games, we've not given up a major or a 5x3. In those games, 9-1-1. I don't recall ever seeing such a stark difference. Bottom line: if we stay out of the box, we're da## tough to beat.

Credit Jake Marto with a good back check to save a goal. 1 minute left in the second 1-1.

Late 2nd, 1-1. Sioux with a puck possession edge, but not getting a lot of even strength chances.

This is the first of the weekends 4 periods that looked like the kind of hockey that I thought we'd see vs Notre Dame. 4:30 left in the first. nil-nil.

In case anyone didn't see it already, link to webcast from NCAA.com: http://www.ncaa.com/allaccess/?media=213983 7-3 mid-2nd period. RoMo with the ball at midfield.

Unbelievable. Another 11,000+ sellout. Sorry, even after a decade at the Ralph, I'm still in awe of the support for this team. Wow.

NOTE: Anyone with NHL-US gets a rebroadcast tomorrow. Chance to see Kristo's hat trick again.