nd1sufan

I say this is less about the nickname and more about the other Big Sky presidents not happy about UND coming into the Big Sky alone. In a time when schools across the country are trying to cut expenses, they are not happy traveling to the Eastern Dakotas for one school. If USD had gone with UND, I don't think they would be threatening to deny UND's acceptance to the conference. There are an awful lot of Presidents in the Big Sky that don't want UND in, and this is the perfect opportunity to get them out.

Northern Illinois was not better than the Gophers in 06 when the Bison lost by one. They went to a bowl game that year and almost beat Texas Tech. And Idaho is basically a Big Sky team in a bad dome. If you don't stay close to them this year there is something wrong. Iowa St, K-State and Kansas are BCS schools, Wyoming and Northen Illinois are not. That is the difference.

That's kind of ironic, since most schools in the Big Sky would cut off their noses to get UND out of their conference. That is sad but true. UND needs the "Fat Chick" form 75 miles south of them to join their league to keep the other schools from revolting. Even the school that rules the Big Sky (U of Mont) and is supposedly a supporter of UND (perhaps their only one) apparently didn't want to make UND one of its rivals in football. Truth be told, when NDSU was seeking membership in the Big Sky, there wasn't a MVFC or Gateway/Summit or Mid Con option. If there were that option they may very well have picked the Mid Con/Gateway. If UND had the choice between the Big Sky or MVFC/Summit, I think they would have chosen the MVFC/Summit. So in fact, they settled for what was their only option and probably thier second choice.

The difference is getting paid barely enough to cover expenses ($150,000) to play Idaho and Wyoming or getting a $350 to $400 thousand payday to bus to Minneasota or Wisconsin and pocketing a bunch of money. Also, much more exposure playing a Big Ten team, and even more if you can beat one of the Big Ten teams.

Well, considering the total growth of the Bismarck/Mandan metropolitan area was not as much as West Fargo alone grew, the Bismarck Metro area has a lot of ground to make up in 15 to 20 years. I don't think you could get the President of the Bis/Man Chamber of Commerce to make a statement that they will be larger than Fargo in 2030. Statements like that one make YOU look like the fool. But I think most that have read your posts have come the expect some foolish statements.

Just curious what happened to your prediction earlier this year that the western part of ND was growing much faster than the East and Bismarck was soon going to be the largest city and metropolitan area in North Dakota? It appears Fargo grew by more people (15,000 to 6,000) and by a larger percentage (15% to 10%) than Bismarck did in the last 10 years. Close to a quarter of the population in ND lives in Cass County. I'm going to say western ND is a 50/50 split between UND and NSDU backers at best. UND fans are always saying that NDSU is the Ag College or Moo U. What industry do you think most of Western ND residents identify themselves with? I'm going to say that agriculture would be at the top of the list. And yes, I'm sure Western ND would suffer greatly if UND were in the Summit League. One of their most glaring needs is a Universitiy's athletics programs to follow. Road and infrastructure improvements, more law inforcement officers and expanded housing is distant second. You could probably ask 90% of the residents of western ND and they would say what is the Summit League or Big Sky Conference. They are most likely more concerned with the NSIC(Mary and Minot) or the conference Dickinson is in than either of the Eastern schools. Debating what conference is better for the fans of each school is one thing, but impling that being in one conference or the other is for the betterment of the people of the State of ND or a portion of the state is ridiculous. Is UND going to stop producing doctors for rural areas or stop researching energy atlernatives if it would join the Summit?

I'm not blaming UND for accepting an invite to the Big Sky, but I'll bet you if you asked each Big Sky president the vast majority would privately say that would not have voted them in if they had known USD would not be coming with them. So in that case, it was somewhat of a forced marriage to the other Big Sky schools.

If the Big Sky honors their acceptance of UND into the league, the Big Sky Conference will look much different when UND plays their first conference game than it looks today. Some of the western schools will either defect or at the least drop some of the non-revenue sports. I can't see those schools sending a volleyball or soccer team to Grand Forks for one game for very long. I think Northern Colorado's Director of Development said what a lot of other BSC schools are thinking when he said "What was the conference thinking" when asked about UND joining the league alone.

Actually, One of the years when NDSU was still in their transition, which was the first or second year of the CBI, Scotty Miller asked Miles if they were asked, would they play in the CBI, and they said they most likely would not pay the fee to get into the tournament.

Agreed that the BIson need a point guard. That is the only position NDSU could have pulled off the Sioux roster this year and put in the starting line-up. The ONLY one. And the Bison have an athletic point guard transfer that had to sit out this year that is a good ball handler, can score and has a 42" vertical. They will be fine next year. The Sioux got an automatic invite to a 4th tier tournament by winning a horrible conference's tournament. Don't get too excited. If you are beating a 5-26 team in the semi-finals on a questionable foul call if the final second, maybe you want to hold off on declaring their recruiting classes great.

I think everyone would know if it were his second. The Fargo media will not let any legal trouble a Bison athlete gets into go unreported. Perhaps if Hakstols punishment had been harsher, it would have taught Kristo a bigger lesson and he wouldn't be in the situation he is in now.

Why are you critical of Bohl for not suspending Jensen for a first MIP, when Hakstol didn't suspend Kristo for his first? And Kristo's second got him a suspension for an exhibition game, That will teach him

I would assume Hammer will be tied up a handful of Saturday's in the fall doing NDSU football games on The ND NBC Networks, so I don't think he will be doing any UND games this fall. What about Pat Sweeney on non televised games and Hennesey on the others? I guarantee Hennesey knows as much about football as Ralston.

I'm not saying one conference is better than the other, and I actually think both UND & NDSU will be in the same conference (not sure which one) in the near future, but what are Sioux Fans going to be saying in 4 or 5 years when UND isn't beating the Bison by 4 touchdowns in football or 30 point in basketball every year. Listening to Sioux fans UND getting into the BSC is the end for NDSU and a springboard to the Big 10 or Big 12 for UND. The current conference situation may level the playing field for UND, nothing more.

Yes, that is way they gave 6 times as much to NDSU than it did to the UP Center, they definitely know who drives their bottom line . And yes, unfortunately there are many Grand Forks transplants and Sioux fans in the Fargo-Moorhead metro market, so there is a demand for Sioux merchandise in Fargo. And there are also a lot of Grand Forks people that come to Fargo to shop at a major mall. And no, there isn't a demand for Bison merchadise in Grand Forks because there is no reason for someone from the Fargo area or an NDSU grad to move to Grand Forks, or for that matter to shop in Grand Forks.

Like the ones that have banners all over the Fargodome and will have in Scheels Arena, and the ones that are buying the suites in the Fargodome and will assuredly buy the ones in the new Scheels Arena ( Renovated BSA)? Like the ones that are currently driving season ticket sales up year after year at the Fargodome? I think NDSU knows about corporate sponsors. By the way, how many of those corporate sponsors that ring the REA boards or the Betty or the Alerus are from companies from Bismarck and West? Just curious.

Have you seen these people making all of the money on ND Oil being interviewed in news stories on TV? I'm pretty sure these people don't know what a hockey puck or football are, and if they did, they aren't spending any of their money on much of anything, much less a college athletic program.

UCLA is a good win, but Oregon State is a horrible Pac 10 team. Also, Nevada's only win is a 15 point victory over Montana. I'm not sold on the Big Sky if Montana is their best team. I'm not saying the Summit is better every year, I just think they are better this year.

Shouldn't UND be looking to Altru and Gerrells to be giving them donations? Scheels is a Fargo based company and Sanford has a major presence in Fargo, not Grand Forks.

To be quite honest, I think currently the Summit is a better mens basketball conference than the Big Sky. Oakland, who just beat #7 Tennessee and lost by one to #8 Michigan State. I don't think there is a team in the Big Sky can compare to Oakland and their athleticism. After this year when the Summit loses their 2 worst mens BB teams in Centenary and Southern Utah, it will only get better.

I believe a person with class should be treated with class. However, Mr. Foss has not earned that treatment. He has always been a basher of NDSU athletics and its fans, and doesn't deserve to be treated like a person with class. Any "journalist" that allows his allegiance to one school and hatred for another to accuse it of steroid use and cheating without any proof, just because his beloved school couldn't compete with its rival, doesn't qualify as classy in my book. Fans in an internet forum making comments is one thing, journalist publishing in newspapers is a completely different story.

I agree with the guard comment. Anybody that pressures the Bison point guards this year will have success. I do believe Webb and Anderson would get some playing time if they were at NDSU this year. They may be an improvement handling the ball over the NDSU's point guards. But, I'm not sure anyone else on the Sioux mens team would get much if any playing time at NDSU this year.

The Asst Comish of the BIg Sky Conference was just on WDAY and he said they weren't too upset that USD didn't accept their invite to the BSC. He said the distance between Vermillion and Grand Forks made them less than ideal travel partners for UND. He said in the next 6 months, they may be looking to add another school. It sounds like they would still like a travel partner for UND. Any ideas on who that would be?

Yeah, like it has put Northern Colorado, Portland State, UNA, etc. in the spotlight. I'm not saying the MVFC/Summit would put UND any more in the spotlight, but some UND fans thinking that the Big Sky equivalent to the Big Ten or Big 12 in the eyes of the rest of the country is just naive. Making the Big Dance or FCS playoffs will put you in the spotlight, and it doesn't matter which conference you went through to get there.

Perhaps the one statement on this site no one will (or can) dispute.