UND92,96

I believe we can now safely count out Mr. Purpur. Rob Bollinger, however, may yet apply? link

It's been a long time since I've been to the Bismarck Civic Center, but as I recall it's nice enough, but nothing too special. I guess I'm still of the opinion that the attraction of Bismarck as host has much more to do with location than the actual facility, but I guess that's open to debate. As an aside, I've always found it interesting that despite Bismarck's reputation as a basketball town, nobody seems to go to Mary games.

If healthy, I suspect he'll see time as the third running back, and probably on some special teams.

Further proof of this sentiment: link

He was evidently under contract through the 2009-10 season. The extension is reportedly for three years--through the 2012-13 season. So he's now guaranteed seven years (the two that he's already completed, plus five more).

Whether this was or was not a wise move, I can't say. But I can't help but wonder--are all the other current coaches also going to have their contracts extended for such a long period of time before the new a.d. starts?

Rod Carey

This is more of an observation rather than a criticism of Roebuck and staff, but it's interesting that most people feel that in order to be competitive as a mid-major division I program, UND will need to expand its recruiting territory. And yet, over the past three or four years, it almost seems like our recruiting area is contracting, rather than expanding. Besides Mallory Youngblut, all the signed or committed recruits over this time period have been from either North Dakota or northwest Minnesota, and most are within an hour or two of Grand Forks. Obviously those areas have been very good to UND over the years, but so have the twin cities (Britz, Leighton, LeCuyer via transfer, etc.) and southern Minnesota (Pudenzes, Arndtson, Boese, etc.). The state of Minnesota produces a lot of talent year in and year out. I think we need to get back to getting some of the outstanding players from areas besides just the northwestern part of the state. I like watching local kids as much as anyone, but if there aren't more Langen's or Kimbrough's on the horizon, we need to find difference-makers somewhere else. Just a thought.

UND's loss certainly doesn't look any better now, as Mankato defeated Wayne St. yesterday. Mankato was just 6-6 in the NCC this year.

For whatever reason, I'm nowhere near as disappointed about this loss as I was after the last games of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons. I guess those losses rendered me immune to women's basketball disappointment. Still, the last game as a dII program is certainly not the ideal time for probably the biggest choke in UND women's basketball history.

UND is down 12 at the half to unranked Wayne State.

The A tournament in Grand Forks a couple of years ago wasn't particularly well-attended, but there were some extenuating circumstances. For one thing, UND was also hosting the women's basketball regional the same weekend. Also, 4 or 5 inches of snow fell on that Saturday, which didn't exactly encourage travel, even from Fargo (North was in the boy's championship game). I guess what irritates me somewhat is that it seems many people from the west want EVERY state tournament, in seemingly every sport, in Bismarck for travel reasons. That's presumably not the prevailing view, but it is out there. Yes, it's fairly centrally located, but that's not a good enough reason to eliminate eastern sites from hosting state championships. On another note, I'm also somewhat puzzled by talk of rotating the state hockey tournament with Fargo once the new arena is built. If Bismarck gets state track every year because the Community Bowl is so much better than every other track facility in the state, shouldn't Grand Forks continue to host hockey every year because the Ralph is one of the premiere arenas in the country?

Just my opinion, but my understanding is that NDSU has just one available scholarship for next year, and they have a glaring need for a low-post scorer. So while true that Mertens' position probably precludes NDSU from offering him, I don't agree that he wouldn't play much there. NDSU simply didn't have an abundance of offense after their "big three", and Mertens could provide that--at least as much as Tveidt, and likely more than Coleman. I didn't see Carlson play in high school, so I can't comment on him. For "Bison Dan", keep in mind that Brett Winkelman's final three were NDSU, UND and St. Cloud. By your logic, he may have been "just a dII player."

I'd certainly like to think that considering how much time he's spent in GF this past season, he'd choose a scholarship at UND over a walk-on offer at NDSU (even with the promise of a scholarship in 2009-10), but I guess we'll see. Rumor also has it that UND has something--or perhaps more accurately someone--that could help to steer him here.

Assistant coach Chris Johnson was on the coaches' show last night, and he said UND has five scholarships available for next season. He also said that they are only recruiting one juco player. Based upon his presence at many Sioux games this year, I assume that's Travis Mertens. Obviously we'll find out in about a month how things pan out, but he sounded quite optimistic about their chances of signing a very nice class.

It's a moot point now, but I believe the meeting at which this info came out occurred either late afternoon or early in the evening. WDAZ had footage of the meeting, and it wasn't a live feed. Plus, the Herald routinely has stories about events that ended later than this meeting apparently did, e.g. Sioux hockey or basketball games. I wasn't trying to be nit-picky--I just thought at the time that it was a little surprising that the story didn't make its way into the Herald the next day.

Oops--you're right. I knew his first name started with a "D".

Donovan Dawson?

Also Tim Prinsen, the Robson brothers, Mike Juhasz, Milson Jones, Lawrie Skolrood and Dallas Rysavy off the top of my head.

Congrats to Ashley for being named co-mvp, and also to Kierah for her second all-NCC honor! link

That's been posted there for some time:

If recent history is any indication, the odds may be against USD. Just twice in the last six years has the host team won the region.

The first two on-campus interviews have been scheduled: link We should also know fairly soon whether Barbara Burke is offered the Eastern Illinois a.d. job, as all of their on-campus interviews have been completed.

For a team like UND who was picked not only to win the conference--but also as the pre-season number one in the country--to potentially lose four times to one opponent would be quite a disappointment. It's probably not a surprise that losing four times in a season to one opponent has never happened under Roebuck (it was all but impossible until the advent of the NCC post season tournament).

I've seen Travis Mertens from Lake Region at a number of UND games this year. Also, I believe the 6'9" post from Warroad was sitting behind the bench at the last home game, although whether or not he's being recruited I don't know.