UND92,96

RT had his shortcomings as an AD, but I do have to give him credit for having the guts to actually conduct a search for his successor rather than simply promoting from the within, and thereby avoiding the necessity of the infamous "process" we've come to know and hate. Opening up the job to outside applicants when the program is already successful is becoming increasingly rare, thanks in large part to the aforementioned "process". Had it not been for that decision, who knows if UND would have won it all in 2001, and had all the other success it did from 1999 to 2007?

Didn't UND contribute towards the costs of replacing the turf in the Alerus? I don't recall for certain, but if so I imagine it could similarly contribute towards the costs of improvements to the Betty.

A few results today from the state track meet--Grady and Heidlebaugh go 1-2 in the B discus, and Blackwell had the best time, A or B, in the 300m hurdles prelims.

1963. Of course, that was the season before Huff, et al. arrived. UND finished 8-23 that season, and was 1-10 at the time that game was played. A loss to Mayville St. a few weeks earlier didn't exactly help attendance, either.

As to the second example, that should probably be prefaced with a "usually" or "generally", thanks to the "release" requirement. Prior to a few months ago, I suspect most probably assumed that was just a formality.

Just curious--who on the 2014-15 roster do you think opposing teams actually feared as 3-point shooters? I would say maybe Lauck, and that's probably it. Yes, Dyer and Szabla can knock down 3's, but I believe opposing defenses will give them those shots because they are better penetrators than shooters. I think we need to get a few more shooters like Youngblut or Bagaason were.

I'm going to disagree with you a little bit on that one. The past two years with Evers and Wall (2013-14 only), UND had a total of just three players with 30 or more 3's. The highest total was Buck with 43 in 2013-14. In 2006-07 and 2007-08 when UND had Langan and Kimbrough, there were a total of nine players with 30 or more, with a high of 51. Was UND making MORE of an effort to get the ball inside the past two years than in the Langen-Kimbrough era? I would say probably not. It will be interesting to see whether next year's team might have to be more like 2009-10, when there was no big scoring threat in the post. That year, the top three shooters combined for 214 made 3's.

Were they picked too high this past year? Maybe. The loss of Buck was huge. But UND returned six of its top eight players from 2013-14, plus got Lauck back after missing all of 2013-14. Anyway, not winning the league again wasn't really the issue. Midway through the conference season UND appeared poised for a second or third place finish. And that would have been fine. But instead they lost seven of the last eight games against Big Sky opponents, and finished in a tie for fifth, with a one-and-done in the tournament. That seemed like a collapse.

No, I haven't talked to him. I just think he's recruited too many players who scored 10-14 ppg, and sometimes even less, in high school. Sometimes they've worked out, such as Evers. But more often than not, if a kid isn't much of a scorer in high school, she's probably not going to be an effective division I player, unless maybe she's a pure point guard or a defensive stopper. And I don't think too many players on last year's roster fit into the latter two categories. It's also been frustrating to me for years that UND hasn't recruited more 3-point shooters. This has been a fairly consistent weakness going at least all the way back to the Langen-Kimbrough years. This has not been entirely Brew's fault, of course, but he did play a role in recruiting going back several years before he took over for Roebuck. None of this is meant to imply that Brewster is not, or can not be a good coach. I certainly think he can be. But considering where they were picked pre-season, last year was a big disappointment. I don't think too many people would dispute that.

I don't know the circumstances surrounding the departures, but frankly it is Brewster's fault that he's recruited a lot of players who simply aren't/weren't good enough to play at this level. That was abundantly clear last season. You can only carry so many scholarship players like that on a roster and still be remotely competitive. He needs to do a better job with his evaluation of talent. There will always be a few mistakes, but he's just had far too many IMO.

Buckley was coming off a serious injury as a high school senior. It may have just been a case of her being physically unable to play.

Looks like several players won't be returning: http://www.undsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=58573&SPID=6389&DB_OEM_ID_COUNT_=2&DB_OEM_ID_1_=13500&DB_OEM_ID=13500&DB_OEM_ID_0_=13500&Q_SEASON=2015

Yes.

End-of-spring blog entry by SFI: http://siouxfb.areavoices.com Sharp's departure is confirmed.

I also think it's significant that the kid was a walk-on at Wyoming. I've heard of schools refusing to grant releases of scholarship players to another school within the same conference. But I can't imagine this situation happens very often--refusing to release a walk-on so he can transfer to a lower level. I think a possible compromise is that the NCAA waives the requirement that Wyoming has to sign a Release, but that Nevermann isn't eligible to play in the Wyoming game.

Gorres is apparently a really good athlete. She's actually a good sprinter--something you don't often see in a 4/5. If her basketball skills catch up to her athleticism, she could be a player.

Was the spring game held at Memorial one other time during the Alerus era? I was thinking it was, but I don't recall how many years ago.

Baldwin highlights:

I'm not sure if you took a look at the link I posted earlier today, but UND is reportedly spending MORE than Minnesota and Wisconsin for women's hockey. I don't want women's hockey dropped, but neither do I understand the logic behind this level of spending.

Could UND cut $200,000 per year from the women's hockey budget, and still achieve a similar record to the last couple of years? I would guess the answer is probably yes.

I do think Duluth is a useful comparison, because they've tried to keep up with MN and WI (and UND) spending-wise, and it has led to some serious problems for them. I don't think women's hockey necessarily needs to be dropped. But the spending has to be looked at closely. If travel costs and coaches' salaries aren't the issue--and I don't believe they are--where is all the money going? Here's an interesting link: http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/291770101.html

Is it a potential Title IX problem, or just a potential PR problem? As I see it, so long as schools such as Bemidji St., SCSU, Mankato and Duluth are funding programs, it might be tough to make the case that UND can't do the same. From what I've been able to gather, the problem might be that UND is spending at or above the levels of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Where is the money going exactly? The women's WCHA is essentially a bus league (other than Ohio St.), and Idalski isn't being paid as much as the Minnesota or Wisconsin coaches.

Granted, I don't know what new players UNC has coming in, but based on returnees I would be disappointed if they finished ahead of UND next year.

I don't think it means Baker is out. It might be a contingency plan, or it might mean others won't be back. Hypothetically, there might still be as many as four scholarships open right now, depending on who else won't be back. At this point, I'm only really counting on Hooker, Shanks, Cashman, Crandall, Seales, Collins, McDermott, Bernstine and Avants being on scholarship. Maybe Hobaugh will get one for his last year, but that's not necessarily a given. The other three or four are still questionable IMO.

Several early departures seem inevitable. With 15 scholarships, the lack of quality depth this year was a bit alarming. I wouldn't be surprised if there only end up being about four total juniors/seniors-to-be returning on scholarship.