jimdahl

3:30 CT

The way I read it, I'd be really surprised if forfeiture comes about. The situation is that he had 3 incompletes which he had to retake at CSU before he could transfer to UNC. Though he took the courses, the transcript that CSU sent over didn't yet include a grade for one of the three, the interior design course. Cutlip claims that he really took the course and got a grade, so I can't imagine a severe punishment -- it was a simple clerical error (though UNC should have verified his eligibility BEFORE letting him play 3 games). On the other hand, if it turns out that he didn't really finish that incomplete, then I think there would be a very good chance that the games would be thrown out. The NCAA won't do anything until they know his real status in that course. In fact, the issue isn't even before the NCAA until UNC decides to self-report it, which they haven't yet. As of today (Wednesday) UNC had not officially been able to confirm the status of the course with CSU.

Forgive my stadium construction ignorance, but what does "a sports bubble... over Memorial" mean? I've heard that a lot, and never really understood it. Are we talking some sort of dome-like roof? That seems like a pretty expensive retrofit. Whenever I hear about the "sports bubble", I always picture a big plastic bubble that makes Memorial Stadium look like a giant snowglobe (not what everyone's really talking about, I suspect)

http://new.in-forum.com/articles/?id=20414 If UND doesn't move up but remains competitive with NDSU in football, I would think that NDSU would not want to play a D-II team that might actually beat them, especially if NDSU has playoff hopes. If, however, NDSU develops into a much stronger team than UND, I would think UND would quickly lose interest in getting pounded every year by a former competitive rival -- I suspect it would be very painful for a lot of UND fans to be forced to admit that NDSU's football team was actually decisively better. Just my prediction -- unless they're in the same division, the UND-NDSU games will eventually end. Personally, even in situation #2, I'd love to see it continue for the bragging rights on those rare occasions UND does win.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/n...ews/4235254.htm

OK. UND 1-1 (loss to UNC) NDSU 0-2 (losses to Augustana and USD)

The nice thing is that she seems to be getting hers in the end. It's a shame that she's penniless so won't really be affected by the fine: http://www.startribune.com/stories/1405/3334453.html

Though I guess I haven't heard anything specific about those games, I would think they would be covered by UND's normal internet broadcasting facilities: http://www.undalumni.org/broadcast.htm

I was using the word "editorial" in the colloquial definition of meaning "opinion piece" -- I didn't mean to imply that it was the opinion of the Forum editorial staff, per se. To correct myself -- the above was an opinion column that appeared in the Fargo Forum on the sports page that was written by a regular salaried Forum columnist (the important distinction being that it wasn't a letter submitted by someone from Grand Forks who is part of the conspiracy)

http://new.in-forum.com/columnists/article...ist=mikemcfeely It seems the Forum has joined the vast Grand Forks conspiracy of thinking there might possibly be (gasp!) some challenges in moving to D-IAA. Select quotes in case you want to avoid registering:

And #12 USA Today. Clearly those being polled think something has changed between this year and last. Of course, pre-season polls also have even more of a "tradition" and reputation weight than regular season polls.

Good, this is what I thought. NDSU will have a minimum of 16 sports next season, but only need 14 to be a member of D-IAA. Though the Bison plan on adding some women's sports to offset the increasing football scholarships for men, the option will exist in the future to drop a couple sports and still meet the minimum sponsorship requirements. This is what I've thought since I learned that NDSU will have 16 instead of 14 in D-I, but every now and then I run into someone who claims that NDSU actually needs 16 instead of 14.

Kollar re-signs with Quad City Mallards following his only professional game last March (a 6-1 win over the Kalamazoo Wings). http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=948...05&nav=0zGqBRET

I've actually seen conflicting reports on this. The current bylaws, as far as I can read, indicate that for D-IAA that you only need 7/7 or 6/8. However, I've seen Fargo press sources repeat the 16 figure (required for I-A) many times. D-IAA requirements: https://goomer.ncaa.org/wdbctx/LSDBi/LSDBi....1&p_CallCount=1 D-I requirements: https://goomer.ncaa.org/wdbctx/LSDBi/LSDBi....1&p_CallCount=1

I agree wholeheartedly that economic development in ND and Grand Forks is a big problem -- one that certainly isn't solved by paying people to stay in state (a vicious circle of gathering money from all residents and redistributing it to those who make the most threats that they might leave). That said, it's a reality of modern education that athletics is one of the most visible marketing efforts a school makes. There are plenty of counter examples, but UND is no MIT. Strong athletics programs are definitely a draw for students and increase name recognition. While there are clearly more direct ways to spend money to increase a school's student base and research prowess than investing in athletics, strong athletics programs can contribute to a school's recognition.

For those who missed it the first time around, here's what Wanless had to say to the GF Herald shortly after NDSU announced its decision. The article talks mostly about the implications for UND, but mentions NDSU a bit also: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/s...rts/4027971.htm

We're discussing the difficulties that NDSU is likely to face because they're well-known, of interest to us as a traditional rival, and likely to apply to UND if we try to jump alone at some point in the future. That said, we're of many different opinions, so trying to collect our opinions together will reveal inconsistency: 1. Some of us are of the viewpoint that UND should stay because NDSU is going to fail miserably 2. Some of us think that if UND moves now with NDSU and others that it can prevent a lot of the problems that we're talking about for both UND and NDSU 3. Some of us think UND should just go its own way, but acknowledge that NDSU will face a lot of difficulty People in the #2 camp above (like me) dicuss how some of the difficulties that the Bison will face are mitigated by a bunch of teams moving at once -- that's why I talk about the Bison's potentital difficulties, but still say the Sioux should move. I think the biggest mistake UND could make would be to sit around for five years and then decide to move alone, which will subject them to all the same difficulties the Bison will face now. I'd much rather see UND move now, if ever, and lessen those difficulties for all of us! I've never seen anyone here say that NDSU will fail, instead we've discussed a lot of the difficulties because they are relevant to UND. Our biggest problem with Bison fans on the board is that they seem to reject the possibility that NDSU will face any difficulty.

I wouldn't be too worried -- he actually managed to bring about quite a bit of success at UND. Big increases in athletic budgets and attendance at sports. Unprecedented success of the teams. His problems at UND came about because UND is a hockey school and he's not a hockey fan. He promoted football a lot, which has turned out to lead UND to unprecedented football success. However, hockey is very influential at UND (a hockey alum recently donated $100m to the school to build a new hockey arena, for example). To make a long story short, important people didn't like some moves Wanless backed (including pushing out a very popular ex-hockey coach and not supporting the "Fighting Sioux" nickname and logos) which put a lot of pressure on him to leave. It was more of a culture-clash than him being a bad administrator. Just my opinions, of course.

That's certainly why I gave the (so far lowest) 6 vote. I remember 90-96 all too well. The offense was decent, guys like Johnson and Naumenko scored, but our goaltending was not top-5 WCHA caliber. I don't see what's changed between last year and this. Perhaps a year later and whatever training has gone on, someone will step up. If not, well, last year's finish was lower than 6.

It's the old rule of basketball pools -- you don't win by following conventional wisdom or picking the top seeds for each game, sometimes you gotta make a guess. I say the Badgers climb above the Sioux, though I suspect that will come down to the final games in Madison. I don't really expect SCSU to win (even win you consider puppy power) but wanted to be more creative than guessing a Gopher repeat :O

Here's their release: http://www.usd.edu/urelations/news/archive...eptember24.html I have to wonder how much they'll think it's worth saving the NCC and traditional rivalries if UND and SDSU jump with UNC and NDSU? Of course, their athletic budget is only $3m (the release states) and Vermillion is only about 10,000 people.

I am actually currently working on a new greener "skin" for the board. Once it's finished I'll make it the default for the board, but if you want to use it now you can switch to it in the user control panel under "skins".

At the fear of being unpopular for ranking the Sioux too low and the puppies too high: 1. St. Cloud 2. Minnesota 3. Denver 4. Colorado College 5. Wisconsin 6. North Dakota 7. Duluth 8. Alaska-Anchorage 9. Mankato 10. Michigan Tech