UND92,96

With all due respect to the many great players who have played at UND, I don't think there can be much serious debate about who the best player has been--Jenny Crouse. The numbers she put up, and the three national championships during her career speak for themselves. She may be the best all-around post player in dII history.

As expected, UND is number 2 in the first regional poll: North Central Region 1. South Dakota 13-1 10-1 2. North Dakota 14-1 10-1 3. Concordia-St.Paul 17-1 14-1 4. Fort Lewis 17-1 15-0 5. Augustana (South Dakota) 14-4 10-2 6. Minnesota State Mankato 12-3 8-3 7. Wayne State (Nebraska) 13-5 13-5 8. Nebraksa-Kearney 16-5 15-5 9. Nebraska-Omaha 11-5 8-5 10. Metropolitan State 13-6 12-6

It's funny how recruiting works sometimes. Last year at this time, we had about 16 known commitments. This year, despite probably more early commits than ever before, as of now we are at somewhere in the vicinity of 11, with the Tracy commitment in some possible doubt, and the Benjamin commitment not yet confirmed in the media (or by Walrus or UNDvince97-01). The month of January has been high on quality, but seemingly a bit low on quantity.

I don't believe there are any academic issues with Campbell, and I suspect the lack of news regarding his recruitment is mostly due to him not talking to the recruiting gurus. This article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a good read. The above article was from December 1, so a lot may have changed since then. Campbell is ranked among the top ten prospects in Wisconsin on virtually every list I've seen.

It sounds like he has a drug problem--apparently heroin.

link

I believe this is true.

From a very good source, Cavil committed to UND after Lennon's departure was announced. Also, it's confirmed here.

I'm guessing we're looking at signing perhaps eight or nine more players besides the commitments we know about. The following are some of the players who have been mentioned as possible UND recruiting targets and who have not committed elsewhere yet to my knowledge: Damon Campbell, Milwaukee Lutheran, LB--WI A.P. player of the year Tyrell Rosemeyer, Fennimore (WI), LB Bradie Ewing, Richland Center (WI), RB Tony Lyght, Fennimore (WI), OL Sean Kennedy, Milwaukee Lutheran, DB Ethan Magstadt, Maple Grove (MN), RB-LB Rashad Gayden, Robbinsdale (MN) Cooper, LB Willy Baregi, Holy Angels (MN), LB Devin Benjamin, Minneapolis DeLaSalle, DL (rumored to have already committed to UND) Kyle Gratzek, Stephen-Argyle, FB-LB Andrew Anderson, Crookston, OL Matthew Muenchow, Glencoe-Silver Lake, QB-DB I'm sure this list is far from exhaustive, and I still kind of expect there to also be a few juco transfers, particularly on defense.

Good luck to Dr. Kelley, but I really feel sorry for Bruce Smith and Dennis Elbert.

The committee is forwarding only Kelley's name to the board! link

Just to play devil's advocate, you could have Jossy at the point, Guinn and Beck at the wings, and bring Seay off the bench. Danye is a good player and maybe is the player best-suited to play the point, but it has to be very tough for somebody used to playing on the wing (and even some 4) to have to become a point guard at this level.

I guess I'd have less of a problem with this but for Cavil's post-Lennon-departure commitment to UND. He knew the situation here when he committed.

Does anybody know whether Chris Tracy is still a solid commitment to UND? Posters on the SDSU board are claiming he's re-opened his recruitment.

I think the following is why many of us are having a hard time understanding how Coach Lennon would recruit a kid known to already be committed to UND. The change in NCAA classifications really shouldn't make that big of a difference. Even had Cavil simply decided he no longer wanted to go to UND for whatever reason, I really wouldn't have expected Lennon to recruit him under the circumstances, because that would seem to be the exact same situation as what occurred with the Anderson kid last year.

I thought this article in the Strib yesterday was kind of interesting: link

I believe he actually committed to UND after Lennon announced he was taking the SIU job. Anyway, some apparent good news--according to a pretty reputable poster on the minnesotapreps.com board, Minneapolis DeLaSalle defensive lineman Devin Benjamin has committed to UND.

Concordia-St. Paul lost to MSU-Moorhead last night, which should mean UND will be second in the first regional poll this week.

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.