UND92,96

FYI, that guy is a Bison fan. I don't think any UND fans are going to be bad-mouthing the caliber of play in dII football.

After seeing the other supposedly best teams in dII in person, there's no question in my mind that UND certainly could contend for a title next year. I don't think it will happen without a few changes, however. For one, Roebuck needs to install a zone for certain situations. At least against teams with limited outside shooting, and for teams that don't have a player who Ashley can realistically be expected to guard away from the basket. In this day and age, there are more and more teams out there without a true post player, so your choices are to live with Langen and Kimbrough trying to guard people one-on-one far from the basket and getting burned, sit one or both down and struggle offensively, or switch up defenses now and again to hide that weakness to the extent possible. UND did start out in a zone briefly against Gulf Coast, but that's not something you can install that late in the year and expect it to be effective. Secondly, how to run the offense against teams that overplay on the perimeter has to be a bigger point of emphasis. I'm sure it's worked on, but clearly not enough judging by how the Sioux looked against Regis and Gulf Coast, in particular. We need more players who will look to take the ball to the basket. Unfortunately, we typically don't have many of those slasher-type players. That would be the one area of criticism I'd have with Roebuck's recruiting. I believe Ashley Privatsky of Devils Lake would be a good example of that type of player who can get to the basket. I think Seay can be that kind of player if she'd get more confident and aggressive. Guinn also has some one-on-one ability. Also, I think we need some more consistent 3-point shooting. Bagaason is generally going to shoot a pretty good percentage. Guinn, Beck and Bergan can knock them down, but are a bit more streaky. Hopefully Youngblut can step in and provide another 3-point threat. This year, it kind of seemed like either everybody was hitting, or else nobody was. There are only so many things that can change in one year with limited personnel changes. It's not like the overall team quickness is going to improve dramatically. But I firmly believe that the talent is more than sufficient to win it all. But after so many disappointing ends to seasons, it's hard to be more than cautiously optimistic.

IMO, Florida Gulf Coast clearly shot far better than normal against UND. I guess the question is, was it due more to just great shooting, or poor defense? Here's how Gulf Coast finished up the season: FGCU 50, Valdosta St. 41 shot 36.8% FGCU 57, Delta St. 44 shot 42.6% FGCU 83, UND 64 shot 56.4% FGCU 61, Clayton St. 57 shot 41.5% FGCU 45, Central Conn. St. 61 shot 30.5% It seems pretty clear which game was the aberration. However, I seem to recall a lot of wide open 3's, and easy layups. A lot of teams can make those if you give them up. I don't think I'll ever change my opinion that the manner in which the Sioux lost that game was inexcusable, particularly when you really look at how FGCU seemed to play against the other ranked teams they faced in the tournament.

Yeah, the way to beat USD is definitely by throwing the ball, and obviously that's not a UNO strength. I still would kind of expect UNO to find a way to win that one at home, though.

Not if UNO takes care of business when they play USD in Omaha. You can generally count on USD to drop one road game against a team they shouldn't, so that, coupled with a loss at Omaha, would likely keep them from winning the NCC (at least from winning it outright).

In case anyone's interested: Southern Conn. St. 61, Florida Gulf Coast 45. Final. I guess Clayton State and Southern Conn. both saw from watching the Sioux game what not to do against Gulf Coast, as both teams completely held the Gulf Coast offense in check. Not a good day for undefeated teams in dII championship games.

SDSU's players are primarily from South Dakota and southern Minnesota. It can be done. When Minnesota went to the final four a few years ago, I don't believe they were the most athletic team around, either (not that I'm saying that the final four is ever going to be a realistic goal for a mid-major program). Assuming Roebuck retires within the next few years, I believe you need a coach who combines Roebuck's recruiting, and Ruley's ability as a bench coach. That's what SDSU apparently has right now.

What you say has some validity if one were to look at the last game in isolation. The thing is, my criticism is based not on one game, but rather on a trend in terms of how the team always seems to have a poor performance at the end of the year. True or false? When things start unraveling, they don't tend to get better. True or false? Is it really so sacreligious to point out some shortcomings that many, many people have noticed? I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings here, and I try not to criticize very often, but I'm not afraid to call things as I see them.

I'm 100% fine with a difference in opinion. And you do win as a team and lose as a team. The problem is, who's the one person who's been a part of the past six years? How many of those years have finished up with a decent performance where you just had to tip your hat to the opponent for having a better team? Maybe once or twice? Has it always just been the players' faults? 2002--loss to SW State on a neutral court. Bad. 2003--20-point loss to SDSU. SDSU was probably better, but such a lop-sided loss one week removed from beating them in Brookings? 2004--overtime loss to SDSU. Nothing to be ashamed of there. 2005--choke at home against Concordia-St. Paul. Plain and simple. 2006--choke. Against a quality team in St. Cloud St., but still a team you'd already beaten twice and were better than, especially on your home floor. The team obviously played very tight, and shot just 36%. 2007--debatable as to whether Gulf Coast was better than UND or not, but certainly not so much better that you should be completely out of the game the entire second half. I'm simply calling it how I see it. Roebuck has won over 85% of his games, so he's no incompetent by any means. He can certainly recruit. But in a do-or-die game, at least post-1999, how has he done? It's not like I'm starting some sort of campaign for him to be replaced. That would be stupid, as he's clearly earned the right to go out on his own terms. But to pretend that there's nothing to be critical of on the coaching end of things, considering how the past several seasons have ended, seems silly to me.

I'm not intending to go overboard in my criticism of Roebuck. But I think coaches like Lennon, Blais and Hakstol seem to have a better sense of knowing how to get the ship righted once it goes off course. Case in point is Lennon in the Grand Valley game this past season. Things were going about as bad as they possibly could be. What happened? The team calmed down and came back to make it a game. The difference is, at least in the past three seasons, Roebuck hasn't been able to get things turned around once they go bad. He seems to either flip out, or just sit there and give the impression that he's either given up or has no idea what to do next. That's what has me frustrated. That, and a 20-hour round trip to watch a terrible performance. I can deal with losses if the team goes down fighting. I have a tougher time accepting it when things go from fine to terrible halfway through the first half, and there's no improvement the rest of the game. That's not acceptable.

I think the whole private school factor might prevent it. Similar to Augie not ever seemingly being fully embraced by Sioux Falls, at least in terms of fan support. UND played at Mary in both men's and women's basketball on different nights in December. Both games drew just over 800 people. I just don't see Mary having the kind of support that would make a division I move feasible.

For what it's worth, this is how UND has fared in NCAA tournament games over the past six years: 5-0 vs. RMAC 3-2 vs. NSIC 1-3 vs. NCC 0-1 vs. other

And yet another reason why I can't stand Mike Jacobs...

Of course, the players must bear some of the responsibility for a poor performance. I'm just getting a little sick and tired of these instances of things spiraling out of control, and not being able to stop it, such as what happened in basically all four losses this year.

They did. What I'm having trouble with is that when you look at the last four games Gulf Coast has played, they scored in the 50's or low 60's, EXCEPT for the game against UND. Were they that poorly scouted by the Sioux? They had a ton of wide open looks from outside the 3-point line, and a ton of easy layups. Evidently, they weren't getting those against Valdosta, Delta or Clayton. Why?

No question, Gulf Coast deserves credit for probably playing their best game of the year (per their coach) at the best possible time. But if you asked me point blank--what was the biggest reason Gulf Coast not only won that game, but won it convincingly despite no size, limited depth and frankly having less overall talent? At least in that particular game, they were much better coached. Before anybody jumps all over me, I'm not contending that Roebuck is a poor coach by any means. It's just that he has some weaknesses, and they were exposed on that particular night, just as they were often exposed in games against NDSU when UND was favored, and recently in a few games against St. Cloud State. For example, have people noticed that when things start really going bad how they seem to continue to go that way until the end of the game? Such as when the Sioux have blown big leads, even at home? IMO, Roebuck simply doesn't possess that calming influence that a lot of great coaches have, and know when to use. He is much more apt to throw a tantrum, which doesn't exactly make the players play any less scared or tight. I thought for certain that the team would come out to start the second half with fire in their eyes and at some point at least make a run to cut the lead into single digits. It didn't happen. Quite the opposite, in fact. That disappointed me even more than that horrible last 10 minutes of the first half. Without naming any names, I was told prior to the game by somebody who knows A LOT about basketball, and who was a great player at UND, that on paper the Sioux were 20 points better than Gulf Coast. I truly believe that. So people can draw their own conclusions about what caused that alleged 40 point swing.

I really felt that UND had the versatility to win either way. For example, take out Langen and put in Guinn and all of a sudden UND was an extremely athletic team with no real speed/quickness mismatches. The proper adjustments simply weren't made. I have no idea whether it was a matter of the players not following the gameplan, or the gameplan not being the proper one. All I can say for certain was that it was about as poor of a defensive performance as I have seen from a Sioux team. And if Valdosta State, Delta State and Clayton State could all keep Gulf Coast's scoring well below their season average, it seems to me that the Sioux should have been able to do the same.

Realistically, how many more years is Roebuck expected to coach? He must be about 59 or 60 right now. You don't generally see college coaches continuing coaching right up to retirement age, although it happens one in awhile. Not that I'm trying to push him out the door or anything, but I have been thinking about potential replacements simply given his age and the fact that retirement could conceivably happen within the next few years. About the only ones that come to mind are Karla Nelson and perhaps Travis Brewster. Interestingly, in a Forum article about Moorhead basketball today, Lori Ulferts was quoted:

It would be ironic. However, it sounds from the article in the Forum today that one of the assistant (Koering or Phillips) is probably going to get the job. Smith to Colorado State as a Miles assistant seems like a pretty good possibility, however.

Simply judging by the score, I have a feeling last night was more the "real" Florida Gulf Coast team than what UND saw. Granted, I probably shouldn't judge Clayton State solely on the one game I saw them play, but in that one game they looked like a team completely lacking in fundamentals. Had Gulf Coast played (or at least shot) like they did against the Sioux, I don't think there's any way Clayton would have stayed within 30 to 40 points of them. I'd guess what Clayton actually had going for them was the quickness to defend Gulf Coast on the perimeter. UND's defense was just plain bad on Wednesday.

I just got back into town from Kearney. The first 10 minutes or so were fine, and then the wheels fell off. I'm really not at all convinced that Gulf Coast is as good as they played last night. If they were, I would have expected them to have rolled through their regional tournament a lot more convincingly than they did. Regardless, whether due to their very good play or our very poor play, they were the better team last night. What made the loss all the more frustrating was the fact that the other six teams in the tournament looked terrible. There's no doubt in my mind that even as poorly as we played last night, had we played any of those other six teams yesterday, it would have been an easy win.

It looks like another potential opponent could be Midwestern State, a 2006 playoff team from the Lone Star Conference. They have open dates for Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 according to the "open dates" list on d2football.com, and are apparently willing to do a home-and-home. NW Mo. St. also has the same open dates, but is only looking for a home game.

Thanks for the link. That seems like a pretty winnable game for the Sioux, but with an inexperienced quarterback and the loss of a lot of seniors on defense, any road game is bound to be tough. You have to give SUU credit--that's a very tough schedule.

According to the women's basketball press release on fightingsioux.com today, television coverage is "to be announced."