UND92,96

Sioux lose 84-69. This is UND's first 0-4 start to an NCC season since 1995-96, and Sioux men are the only NCC basketball team--men or women--still seeking their first conference win of the season.

UND is down 41-33 at the half in Omaha.

I was looking at the media guide, and thinking how many great players have gone through the program, but I never realized just how amazingly consistent recruiting has been under Roebuck. Some of these may be off by one year, but consider the following recruits (including transfers) who would go on to at least one all conference honor: 1987--Heisler*, Chaske* 1988--Walter* 1989--Meier*, Ihry 1990--Deutsch, Tr. Pudenz 1991--Kleinsasser* 1992--Waldal 1993--Britz 1994--Ti. Pudenz* 1995--Crouse*, Winger 1996--J. Pudenz*, Richards*, Jones 1997--Arndtson 1999--LeCuyer*, Boll*, Moen* 2000--Leighton* 2001--Hausauer 2002--Boese* 2003--Jahner 2004--Langen* 2005--Kimbrough* *-denotes at least honorable mention all american So between 1987 and 2005, there was just ONE year in which no future all conference player was brought in, and only ONCE did any many as two years go by without bringing in a future all american player! I guess the one area of concern now is who is going to be the next great player? Perhaps Privatsky?

Sioux win 86-55. Guinn's 19 led the way, and five players were in double figures. Nice recovery after last week's loss!

In case people want to know a little more about the members of the board, you can read their bios here. Hopefully between Espegard, Shaft, Martindale and probably Backes (UND law grad), there are enough UND-friendly people to make sure Paulsen doesn't screw this up.

True--I just meant she's just not an internal candidate like Smith and Elbert.

On the bright side, his term is up after this year (appointed from 2004 through 2008). I only hope there's no chance of him being re-appointed.

Looks like there's still a possibility of playing Cal Poly in 2008: link

My thoughts exactly.

Mankato hired Todd Hoffner, who was USD's offensive coordinator the past two years. He's originally from Esmond (ND), and got his master's from UND.

Does anybody remember whether there were any internal candidates that made the list of finalists when either Baker or Kupchella were hired? I'm just wondering whether Smith and Elbert's chances are more likely helped or harmed by their status as UND grads and deans? I have no idea what to expect from the board, particularly with Paulsen as president.

Sun Prairie (WI) OL Matt Stieber has been invited to walk-on at UND. link

If Ms. Burke gets the job, would Steve Brekke's job title become "senior men's administrator"?

Not to my knowledge. Maybe the Standing Rock tribal council put the kibosh on it?

Minutes from the November IAC meeting included some discussion about the AD position.

I think there may have been an article about his commitment to UND written by Erik Lofdahl on the minnesotapreps site, but it was a subscription article and I don't know exactly what it said. In any event, it's not a huge deal either way. It's not like UND is in need of another kicker until the 2010 season, anyway.

Yes, recruiting juco players this spring will be crucial to being able to field a competitive team next year, even considering the likely very weak schedule we'll have. Besides Travis Bledsoe, there will be very little proven scoring coming back.

The odd thing is that the kid apparently hasn't even taken his recruiting visit to NDSU yet. According to him (on the minnesotapreps board), he's visiting there this weekend.

St. Cloud has been pretty bad on the road, so I think that's winnable. Maybe UMD and UNO at home? I think it will be very tough to beat Augie. Had they not gotten the Iowa State transfer, maybe. But he's really good.

I too like Jossy, and would like to see her get more consistent minutes at the point. Of course, I'm not at practice so I don't know who does what and who earns the minutes. It's kind of too bad that Karla Beck isn't really the ball handler you need at the point, because she is actually the team leader in assists, and has by far the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the team.

True. Western Oregon is the only win against a dII with a .500 or better record.

UND is currently 11-7, with a minimum of 10 games remaining (nine regular season games plus at least one NCC tournament game). Do people now expect them to finish at, above or below .500? I'm going to guess 14-14. Up until the USD performance, I had really thought that at a minimum, we would win all of the home games except USD, and maybe win one or two on the road. Now, with two of the first three NCC games being very poor performances, I'm not so sure that's realistic. Thoughts?

I agree. I could see him as a nice fullback.

I'm not sure, but I'd say the chances are good. I have a feeling UND will sign a couple more offensive linemen, and Jordan Anderson and Andrew Anderson (Crookston) would appear to be good candidates to fill out this already nice group. That's strictly a guess, however.

According to a poster on the minnesotapreps board, Sims has committed to USD. It will be interesting to see whether they project him as a RB, because I believe UND was recruiting him as a DB.