UND92,96

IMO, NDSU beating Wisconsin in basketball a couple of years ago was bigger than beating the Gophers in football. The 2007 Minnesota football team may have been one of the worst Big Ten teams in recent memory. Wisconsin's basketball team was actually good. Now I realize that football and basketball are very different in terms of the potential for upsets, but UC Davis knocked off Stanford a few years ago, so it's not unprecedented for a non-playoff-eligible FCS program to beat a poor team from a major conference.

I certainly didn't expect USD to stay within 25 of UNC. I wasn't impressed with the Yotes in any of the four games I saw them play this year.

According to a Wayne Nelson blog from earlier this week, UND has offered Doug McDermott. I had previously thought he was a senior this year, but apparently he's a junior.

I think we all know what Walaker probably meant, but the fact is that he said it in a very untactful manner, and he's going to justifiably get crucified in the media for it. He knew, or should have known how those comments would be perceived by a lot of people, and not just in Grand Forks.

I have a feeling Sioux Falls doesn't report attendance so as to avoid looking bad compared to Augustana.

In case anybody is wondering, these were Johnson's comments: I was curious about Sioux Falls attendance, so I checked out their web site. They conveniently neglect to include attendance figures. I'm sure Johnson is enjoying being a head coach, but I highly doubt he's getting better fan support now than he was while at UND.

Wayne Nelson blog. Looking like we may have to wait until October for a home game.

Check here.

I will be interested to see South's girls play. One would think they may have at least one college prospect given their dominance this year. Also interested to see the Kielpinski kid for Mandan's boys and Hanstad for Dickinson.

For those who don't care for her writing, don't get too excited about the headline, since:

Two non-dI's--William Penn and Wisconsin-Stout.

The rumor on the USD board was that they were playing at Akron in 2009. I guess that either fell through or was simply a fabrication by somebody.

According to Wayne Nelson's blog, next year's home schedule looks quite good--Ball State, Toledo, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wyoming, Vermont and Northern Arizona, among others.

Wayne Nelson blog on next year's men's and women's schedules.

Do you recall what NDSU was supposed to have paid Maine back in 2001? I still can't believe Maine agreed to play that game.

B- I pretty much agree with you, but since unlike the basketball teams, football had a new head coach which made going dI even a bigger challenge, I gave them a slightly better grade. The defense needs to get far more consistent if we're going to start hopefully replicating the type of success at the FCS level that we enjoyed over the last 15 years or so as a dII program. B My expectations were extremely low for this year. I was disappointed that we were unable to add a transfer to be a stop-gap measure in the post until the red-shirts start playing, but given the limited size and talent of this year's team, I think they achieved all that they possibly could have. B+ It was a good year, and in reality I think that a number of the losses probably would be wins if the games were played now. It took some time to get used to the increased speed of the game, but by the end of the year this was a very solid team, even with only using a seven-person rotation. Finding another post in the Kleinsasser/Crouse/Boll/Langen/Kimbrough mold will be a key to the continued progression of the program. The perimeter looks pretty good next year.

Although I believe UND will have a pretty good team next year, it will be strange (probably) not having a really good low-post scorer. From 1992-93 to 2008-09, there was really only one year without such a player.

I was pleasantly surprised by the finish by the UND men's team. They were small, not particularly athletic and certainly not deep, but they managed to beat some teams that were considerably more talented than they were. I think Bledsoe, Mertens and Mitchell are a nice nucleus to build around next year.

I believe Roebuck was in attendance last Wednesday night when Sharkova had 23 points and 18 boards against Williston. It sounds like she could provide some needed insurance if Ledger isn't completely recovered, and would possibly allow for the red-shirting of the freshmen posts.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the careers of the graduating seniors--best of luck to both in their futures. I suspect Kierah will be able to play professionally overseas if she so chooses.

I agree, although last night I suspect people leaving had more to do with wanting to watch the hockey game on tv rather than just disinterest in the men's team. Hopefully we won't see many leave after the women's game tonight.

Looks like we can rule out Central Washington as a potential 2009 opponent: link Going by the "2009 schedule blog official release" as found on anygivensaturday.com, it looks to me like our potential options for a home non-conference FCS game in 2009 are as follows: Sept. 12 Portland St. Sam Houston St. Wagner Howard Oct. 10 Indiana St. Morehead St. (and no, I'm not talking about MSU-Moorhead) Stony Brook Davidson

If I were Faison I'd probably accept that, but with a huge, huge buyout clause.

Not without it being the front end of a home-and-home. Since clearly Taylor isn't going to agree to that, it's a dead issue IMO.

Luke's uncle, Chad Johnson (another ex-Sioux player), is one of Dean Blais' assistants in Fargo.