UND92,96

Johnson is quite a story. Went from averaging a pretty modest 15 ppg as a junior in high school, then signing with MSU-Moorhead in November of 2023, then had a good senior year in high school but still not good enough to attract any dI attention, then started off as a redshirt for the first month or so of his freshman season before being forced into action due to injuries, and went on to average about 20 ppg as a true freshman. Now a preseason all-Summit pick. At the rate he's improving, he might be at a much higher-profile program as a junior and senior.

I get that preseason polls are meaningless, but I find it kind of fascinating that the consensus from league coaches, SIDs and media members is that Bergstraser at Denver was able to build a roster pretty much from scratch (only returned three players, two of whom basically didn't play at all), over the course of a few months, better than Sather put together in year seven.

After the predicted top two, it's a complete mystery given how few proven players are returning for the other seven teams. I actually wouldn't be surprised at all if UND ends up as high as third. There will be a better head coach, better depth and hopefully better 3-point shooting this season.

I believe just one.

Per Jack Michaels, apparently Abby Duchscherer, the 2022 Ms. Basketball from Kindred and currently a softball player at Alabama, is going to transfer to UND after this school year to play basketball.

I went back and watched the first half of that game. Yes, Montana definitely struggled on defense. Both teams moved the ball well in the first half, and each had one costly turnover. CWU is a good, but certainly not great dII team. They are currently ranked in the 20's in the d2football.com poll. UND ran for over 200 yards against Montana last year, and won despite Simon going 11-24 for just 97 yards and a pick. If Kaminski plays like he has through the first two games, UND has a good chance.

I'm not thrilled about it, but playing three non-dI games has been the norm for the past several years. USD, St. Thomas, Omaha, Denver and ORU are all doing the same. Only the xDSU's aren't (NDSU has two such games, and SDSU has one). KC hasn't announced their non-conference schedule yet.

I am certainly no volleyball expert, but it seems UND volleyball has had some of the same issues as women’s basketball. Specifically, hiring head coaches with no or limited head coaching experience at the college level, and too little recruiting in the region. Maybe instead of hiring another dI assistant from Texas or California, try hiring a successful NSIC head coach, and recruit in MN more? I also don’t understand why ND produces almost no division I volleyball players. It’s definitely less than in basketball, despite the fact that there are far more young girls playing volleyball than basketball, and it’s been that way for years.

Ex-UND commit Pabst already in the 2-deep.

I believe that likely completes the 2026 high school recruiting class--Fricke, Smith and Sonnenberg. Looks like a very solid class. This was from a Star Tribune article on recruiting from May:

That's what I am thinking, also. As in 1. offense; 2. defense; 3. kickoff; 4. kick return; 5. punt; 6. punt return; 7. field goal/extra point.

6’2”. Projects as a 4. Fits what Hutter likes at that position, in that she has 3-point range in addition to post up ability.

Has offers from Oral Roberts and Southeastern Louisiana, plus numerous dIIs. Ranked 14th best 2026 prospect in Arkansas.

Warren Township (IL) lineman Jordan Ellis has committed to UND. Had offers from Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, St. Thomas and Butler.

I'm not sure having more NIL money really impacts the caliber of players a low-major program is going to get from the portal all that much. Looking at who Omaha is bringing in, the only one who looks like he might be something is a 5'9" division II transfer who scored 24 ppg last season. Otherwise, their newcomers don't look like anything special.