UND92,96

Second year in a row UNO has a bye from NCC play the week prior to playing UND. What's up with that? You'd kind of think RT would be giving UND those types of little scheduling advantages more often.

UND recruit Kirstie Gillett has been named North Dakota class B senior player of the year. [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=29536

It should be very interesting to see who gets the final two spots in the regional. Here are the final regional rankings, and the results since then: 1. North Dakota 24-3 15-3 (beat UMD) 2. Augustana (South Dakota) 19-5 17-3 (lost to UNO) 3. South Dakota 16-7 15-7 (beat MSU-Mankato, beat UNO) 4. Regis (Colorado) 19-5 18-3 (beat Mesa St., beat Kearney) 5. Metropolitan State 22-5 17-5 (beat Colorado Mines, beat CSU-Pueblo) 6. Concordia-St. Paul 16-9 14-8 (beat SW MN St., beat Wayne St.) 7. Nebraska-Kearney 17-8 17-7 (beat Western St., lost to Regis) 8. Northern State 16-7 16-6 (beat Bemidji St., lost to MSU-Moorhead) 9. St. Cloud State 13-10 11-10 (lost to UMD) 10. Minnesota State Moorhead 16-8 13-7 (beat Upper Iowa, beat Northern St.) I think the top six are clearly in, and Moorhead has probably played themselves in by beating Northern in the NSIC tournament, and finishing ahead of them in the conference. That leaves Northern vs. Kearney for the last spot. Considering both went 1-1 in their conference tournament, it would be hard to justify Northern jumping them. Both teams have one very impressive non-conference win (Northern over UND; Kearney over USD). Although clearly it's not officially a selection criterion, I think the fact that Kearney is hosting the Elite 8 this year gives them a small intangible advantage over Northern. I expect to see UND vs. either MSU-Moorhead or Kearney in the first round.

According to today's Argus Leader, USD was planning to travel about halfway to Grand Forks after last night's game (probably didn't get on the road before 10 P.M.), and the rest of the way today. Their second-leading scorer, Jeana Hoffman, was injured last night and is doubtful. They are planning on staying in Grand Forks all week in anticipation of the regional being here next weekend.

The UNO-USD game has been moved to 7 tonight. If UND wins today, they will be playing a very tired, very travel-weary team tomorrow in Grand Forks. I can't imagine playing a 7 p.m. game in Vermillion, and then travelling all the way to Grand Forks for a 3 p.m. game the next day.

It seems that in certain circles, Grand Forks gets bashed for attendance at last year's east regional and state class A basketball tournaments. As proof, read some of the comments to one of the recent blog entries from Fee or Bakken, or a thread at northdakotapreps.com. In my opinion, Fargo and Bismarck have something of a built-in advantage, since not only are they more likely to have more local teams in the tournament when they host (obviously they have more schools), but they're also a bit more centrally located. Obviously Bismarck is fairly centrally located for the whole state, while Fargo is much closer than GF for towns like Wahpeton, Jamestown and Bismarck-Mandan. My question is, what is realistic to expect from a host town in terms of drawing locals who have no connection to any of the teams? It seems that Grand Forks does quite well as a host for the Region 2 class B boys and girls tournaments, because obviously the class B towns bring their own fans. I've attended all the Dakota Bowls the Alerus has hosted, and again I've felt attendance was pretty good since most of the teams travel well. State track always drew well in GF, again because a lot of people from out of town followed their sons/daughters/relatives who competed. My point is that I'm somewhat skeptical of any claim that Fargo and/or Bismarck is truly any more of a "basketball town" than is Grand Forks, at least in terms of drawing people with no real connection to a competing team. Granted, high school and college sports aren't necessarily an apples to apples comparison, but I look at Mary's basketball attendance, and it's terrible (500-something per game). UND historically draws as well or better than NDSU in men's and women's basketball. If these towns were really any more of a "basketball town," shouldn't that extend to college sports, as well? Or am I way off base here, and Grand Forks deserves criticism for not having thousands of people who will attend high school events if no local team is playing? Realistically, if Minot or Williston or Dickinson was playing Central or Red River in Fargo or Bismarck (and it was on tv), what would attendance be like?

UND vs. UMD in Grand Forks is still on, but the other semi-final game has been moved to Vermillion. link

Certainly there would be some positives to such a large senior class next year. I'm thinking more along the lines of the importance of having a really good year next year, to create some buzz and fan enthusiasm prior to what will inevitably be some tough seasons, i.e. weak home schedules. This year's team finished at 11-17, and and although there was progress, the last two games did overshadow that progress to an extent. How realistic is it for the current group to win 22-plus games, contend in the NCC and earn a regional bid? I'm not sure. But I think that has to be the goal. When Jones was hired, he presumably wasn't in a position to really know what the level of talent was in the program, and there really wasn't time to bring in multiple impact players, anyway. Now, he knows what he has, what their capabilities are, and what he needs to add. I'm certainly not advocating wholesale changes, and I don't WANT any player's scholarship pulled or reduced, but I think the reality is that any new coach is going to want to bring in the players to play his style ASAP. The bottom line is that whether right or wrong, I expect some scholarship money will be freed up so that some impact players can be brought in for 2007-08.

This is just speculation on my part, but really, what are the odds that all eight seniors-to-be (Doyle, Koenig, Hoy, Gutter, Dryburgh, Little, Boyce and Youmans) will be returning next year? I don't see it happening. For one thing, that's far too many players in one class. Secondly, does a new coach really have the patience to play two seasons with basically an inherited team? That would be quite unusual if he was THAT patient, particularly coming off an 11-17 season. One way or another, I have to think spots will be opened up so that Jones and his staff can bring in two or three impact players for next year.

My feeling is that the top two seeds were already set prior to the conference tournaments. I think there was some threat of Augie jumping to number one had they won the tournament, but obviously that's out the window now. I think USD could very well drop if they don't win the tournament, particularly if either Regis or Metro wins the RMAC tournament. St. Cloud St. should be out. Right now, I think the following teams are in for sure: UND Augie Regis Metro USD Concordia-St. Paul The other two spots will be filled either by an unexpected winner of a conference tournament, or among Northern State, MSU-Moorhead and Kearney.

UNO upset Augie tonight, which should mean for all practical purposes that UND has now wrapped up the right to host the regional.

UMD beat St. Cloud tonight, so assuming they can make it here by Saturday, it will be UND vs. UMD in the conference tournament semi-finals.

The last regional rankings are out: North Central Region 1. North Dakota 24-3 15-3 2. Augustana (South Dakota) 19-5 17-3 3. South Dakota 16-7 15-7 4. Regis (Colorado) 19-5 18-3 5. Metropolitan State 22-5 17-5 6. Concordia-St. Paul 16-9 14-8 7. Nebraska-Kearney 17-8 17-7 8. Northern State 16-7 16-6 9. St. Cloud State 13-10 11-10 10. Minnesota State Moorhead 16-8 13-7 I'm still surprised that the committee keeps putting three NCC teams as one, two, three. That can't be popular politically among at least some members from the other two conferences. The first two positions are easy to justify. But USD, with 7 losses, at 3?

I wonder if the teams will be able to get to Grand Forks for this weekend's games? Ten or more inches of snow is expected from Wednesday to Friday. [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=28919

I was thinking Rivard was in the $60,000's somewhere. Not sure about that, though.

UND won 69-62 today, to claim another outright NCC title.

Those are my feelings, as well. Which probably means that unless the two schools end up in the same conference, we may not see this game for a long time.

I'm really not even much of a hockey fan, so there's no need for me to be making excuses for any particular school or team. I am a sports fan in general, and as a life-long Grand Forks resident, I am interested in issues such as the demise of GFC hockey, and RR football. Granted, RR football doesn't have the history of GFC hockey, but they had some very good teams in the 1980's. I don't think there's anything wrong with speculating as to the reasons for the deterioration of these programs. I don't think it's purely a matter of chance.

A very large reason Central won state a few years ago was open enrollment. The Lamoureux clan lives well inside the Red River district. I don't think they were the only ones on Central's team who did. And just to be clear here, nobody's saying you have to be rich to be a good hockey player. The point is more that if you come from a family where the household income is close to the national median--somewhere in the $45,000 range--you probably will be needing to make some pretty big sacrifices to be have your kid(s) play hockey. And some families do that, although probably not very many. It's not like I'm saying that Red River's or Fargo South's accomplishments are somehow tainted, or that they have an unfair advantage. That's not my point at all. The point is that things have changed rather dramatically from the days when Central was "it" in North Dakota high school hockey on a routine basis. Again, if it's not the changing demographics of the north end of Grand Forks, then what is it?

I'm the one who originally brought up the point regarding the disparity between Central and Red River in certain sports being due in large part to money. I stand by that assertion, to the extent people have qualms with it. The idea that a Central hockey team could not only fail to make it to the state tournament, but also only win four or five games, would have been unheard of 20-30 years ago. Now, I can't say that I'm surprised at all. When I was growing up, the primary feeder programs to Central were the park board teams from University, Riverside and Central parks. Central park doesn't even exist anymore. Much of the Riverside neighborhood was removed after the flood, and Wilder School has the smallest enrollment in Grand Forks. The Lake Agassiz/West/Winship neighborhoods are increasingly becoming rental houses. It certainly doesn't appear to me to be a coincidence that sports which were once staples of the Central athletic program--hockey, tennis and golf--are shadows of their former selves, while those sports continue to thrive at Red River. If this has nothing to do with money, I'd be interested to hear other theories.

The is probably overly simplistic, but if you took an all-star team of NCC players from any given year (exluding the Washington schools, since they're in a completely different recruiting area), how would that team compare athletically to some of the best in I-AA? Pretty well, I think. Obviously, I'm not saying UND is going to start getting everybody it wants when recruiting against the soon-to-be-former NCC schools. Rather, the point is that the vast majority of players in the NCC were not offered scholarships by I-AA schools, but that doesn't mean they're not I-AA caliber players. My hope is that with an additional 27 scholarships, UND should get not only its traditional share of very good players from Minnesota and Wisconsin, but also start taking even more players away from the St. Cloud State's, UMD's, Augustana's, etc., particularly since those programs are likely facing scholarship cuts due to the NSIC scholarship ceiling. Furthermore, I'd like to think UND can start stealing a few talented Nebraska kids who historically have gone to UNO. Players such as Chris Denney, Chris Bober, Chris Cooper, etc. These were all future NFL players who (presumably) didn't have any I-AA offers. Would they have been willing to travel north for a full scholarship, as opposed to the partial they were likely offered by UNO? Very possibly. UND also has to the potential to do very well in Colorado, particularly with the trainwreck that UNC has become. Throw in some more Canadian recruiting, and I think UND could really upgrade its talent level without having to try to compete with the countless other I-A and I-AA schools already trying to recruit in Texas, California, Florida, etc.

It seems kind of weird, but I'm positive that is the rule. An example is the receiver/returner from Northern Iowa last season. He played at Pitt in the 2005 season, transferred to UNI, and played there in 2006.

If he transferred to another I-A/BCS school, he'd have to sit out a year. A transfer to any other division, including I-AA/FCS, would mean he could play in the 2007 season.

So did anybody make it to the Betty last night? I saw in the Herald that Kirstie had 23 points, and Jenna had 16, but that's all I know.

No. Although the population seems to be on the rise (or at the least the number of households is going up), enrollment is declining. People have fewer kids these days.