UND92,96

60-57 UND with 33 seconds to play.

58-55 UND with 3 minutes to play.

UND is actually up 54-48 with 5-plus minutes to go. Bledsoe has 23 points. Sioux shooting 56%.

Sioux won 84-71. Defense evidently struggled in the second half, but considering UND is basically using a six-player rotation, I guess that's not too big of a surprise.

UND leads Utah Valley 42-26 at the half.

UND volleyball picks up a transfer: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/147524/

50 Seattle 66 UND final Sioux only had eight available players tonight.

And don't forget about UMary. Who would have thought?

The Massey ratings now include 1337 basketball-playing schools in the US and Canada: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cb Here's how some former NCC, current NSIC and local NAIA/dIII teams rank: 78 Northern Colorado 91 MSU-Mankato 113 Nebraska-Omaha 182 St. Cloud St. 214 Augustanta 234 SDSU 254 Winona St. 273 Mary 313 SW MN St. 323 USD 345 NDSU 463 Concordia (Moorhead) 511 Upper Iowa 565 Minot 587 Concordia-St. Paul 656 MSU-Moorhead 665 Northern St. 702 Bemidji 712 Jamestown 724 Morningside 755 UMD 812 Valley City 818 Mayville 859 UND 869 Dickinson 942 UMC

Not sure how to answer that. I felt strongly that a coaching change was warranted after the 2005-06 season, just as it probably was at the end of the Gunther era, and the end of the Gino era in hockey. However, in retrospect it probably would have made sense to give Rich another year or two, and then make a change to a younger coach once the job was a bit more attractive to prospective applicants. Just my opinion. I doubt Rich would be doing considerably better at UND right now than Jones is doing, but he almost certainly wouldn't be doing any worse, either.

For whatever it's worth, this is sort of a summary of how things went in the last three years Rich Glas coached at UND, and so far under Brian Jones: 2003-04 (Glas) 12-13 vs. dII 2-1 vs. NAIA/dIII 2004-05 (Glas) 18-10 vs. dII 2-0 vs. NAIA/dIII 2005-06 (Glas) 12-13 vs. dII 1-2 vs. NAIA/dIII 2006-07 (Jones) 8-17 vs. dII 3-0 vs. NAIA/dIII 2007-08 (Jones) 11-14 vs. dII 4-0 vs. NAIA/dIII 0-1 vs. dI 2008-09 (Jones) 5-2 vs. dII 6-0 vs. NAIA/dIII 1-6 vs. dI 4-3 vs. transitional dI 2009-10 (Jones) 2-1 vs. NAIA/dIII 0-12 vs. dI

65 UND 76 Eastern Michigan final The good news is that judging by Roebuck's comments, the team is getting better as the season goes on. The bad news is that 50 of the 65 points were scored by seniors, and the bench produced just 2 points.

It looks like Wayne has finally done away with the comments section: http://www.areavoices.com/waynenelson/

Getting back to the original topic of this thread--there actually was another win on the schedule after all: 58 St. Olaf 69 UND final

There are only two people I'm aware of who are obsessed enough with UND to post this nonsense in the comments section of every single Nelson blog. I'm sure a lot of people know to whom I'm referring.

As much as I love UND basketball, I think staying dII would have been a mistake. True, it would have allowed the women to continue to contend for national titles. But the men probably weren't going to win any titles at any level--be it dII, dIII or NAIA. And football was going to be harmed by staying dII due to the recruiting landscape having changed with all the additional scholarships by the xDSU's. If we couldn't get our share of the top local/regional kids, we simply weren't going to be good enough to consistently compete with Grand Valley or NW Missouri. And given a choice between football and basketball, I would choose to do what's best in the long run for football. I can respect that not everybody agrees with that, but I think the right choice was made, so long as the conference situation works itself out. Time will tell.

I just got home from foolishly venturing out six blocks to the in-laws. Of course, I got stuck on the way home (on my own street, fortunately). And who helped push me out? Dave Hakstol! Many thanks to Hak and Jody Hodgson!

Please don't even begin to compare the state of the UND football program with the men's basketball program. The football team had a winning record against dI competition, and is clearly on the right track as there is a lot of good young talent on the team. The basketball program is a completely different story.

I hope they don't go looking in DeBoer's direction. I shudder to think what that guy could do with those resources...

2010 UND opponent Montana is now looking for a new coach, as Bobby Hauck has reportedly accepted the UNLV head coaching job.

This probably won't come as a surprise to many, but according to the latest NCAA statistics, UND has allowed more 3-pointers than any dI team in the country (112). Opponents are shooting 40.6% from 3-point range against the Sioux.

A little off-topic, but do you happen to know why Massey ranks all college football teams regardless of division, but apparently only ranks dI basketball teams? I was curious about how the computer would rank UND relative to NSIC/MIAC/DAC teams, but as of now Massey doesn't include non-dI's: http://www.mratings.com/rate.php?lg=cb

Sagarin now has UND at number 345 out of 347 dI teams. I'm guessing Houston Baptist--one of the two teams ranked below us--is anxious to prove they belong at that coveted 345 spot.

It had to be a mistake in the box score. You'd think such a radical move would have warranted mention in the Herald, and there was none.

I didn't see the game today--did Josh Schuler actually play, or was it just a mistake in the box score showing that he played 3 minutes (and thereby gave up his red-shirt status)?