UND92,96

A large number of fans leaving either immediately after the women's game, or at least well before the end of the men's game, really only started within the last few years. I guess it was a form of silent protest of the product they were seeing on the court during the last few years of Rich Glas's tenure. Unfortunately, although they got what they wanted--a coaching change--they are not giving Jones and the team a chance, or else they would see that the team is better and more exciting to watch, although the overall record doesn't really reflect that. I guess it just shows that once a culture of losing sets in, it's very difficult to win back the confidence of the casual fan. I'm certainly not excusing the fact that people continue to leave, as it baffles me, but I don't think it's unique to Grand Forks under this particular set of circumstances.

Although Augie has one more loss, two of their losses are to out-of-region teams, which seem to be less costly in terms of regional rankings. I expect UND will drop to number two this week. UND needs to win its last three games, and hope Augie loses at St. Cloud on Saturday.

It was kind of a disappointing loss today, even as short-handed as the Sioux were. Duluth is a team you really need to beat at home. It was something of an unfortunate set of circumstances that had UND playing a team that was completely fresh after not playing on Thursday, because obviously with such a short bench and the starters having to play so many minutes, the legs were going to be somewhat tired today. The bottom line is that it's very difficult to win when you need your starters to score 70 points to have much of a chance to win. The main positive that can be taken from the suspensions is that Bledsoe has really elevated his game. He's going to be a good one.

According to Kevin Fee's blog today, Youmans and Lehnertz will be held out again for this Saturday's game against UMD, and thus, the Sioux will be down to seven players. I certainly don't envy Brian Jones in this situation. On the one hand, you have two players who have apparently done something severe enough to have warranted being suspended for at least 25% of the conference season. On the other hand, particularly with the additional injuries that have now been suffered by Koenig and Dryburgh, you're in a situation where you have essentially no depth remaining. So in essence, it's the other team members who are also being punished by being placed in a situation that is becoming dangerously close to unwinnable. I'm not sure how you balance these two seemingly irreconcilable interests, i.e. punishing the guility, while also attempting to minimize the collateral damage to the rest of the team. I don't have the answers, but as stated I'm just glad I'm not in Jones' situation.

If the Sioux don't come out and play an excellent game on Saturday, I'm afraid we may look back on that blown game at St. Cloud in a similar light to how we look back on the football game against UNO in 2005. That game completely derailed what could have been a special season, and unfortunately it's looking like a similar story could be developing now.

I swear, I've never seen a basketball program that has experienced as many serious injuries as UND has over the past several years.

While this certainly isn't the ONLY reason for the back-to-back losses, it's a big part of the problem--a combined 5 of 35 for 3-point shooting.

Getting back to the red-shirt issue, here's what Lennon had to say in today's Herald: My guess--and it's strictly a guess--is that Saporu may be the most likely recruit to play as a true freshman. After Alexander, there's not much in the way of proven returnees at corner. That's not to say that there aren't some upper classmen who will step in for Hoffschneider--and hopefully players like Otto and Jordan really step forward in spring ball--but Saporu has impressive size and credentials and has played against pretty strong competition.

It sounds like Beck is out for tonight with an injury. I have no idea how long she's expected to be out. Maffin also is somewhat hobbled, and Guinn has been sick, although both will likely play. Hopefully Bagaason can provide some scoring to offset Beck's absence.

Lennon really seemed excited about Bylin's potential, and I think I can see why. Obviously it's a huge jump in competition to go from North Dakota 9-man to college at the dII/I-AA level, but here's a kid who's 6'5", 270 (probably without the benefit of much in the way of weight room facilities), and he's athletic enough to be averaging 22 points and 17 rebounds per game in basketball this season. If a kid like that had grown up in Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck, etc., had the benefit of those facilities, plus (probably) more coaching and much better competition, I have a feeling he may have been the state's top recruit. As it is, he's probably got some catching up to do, but his potential seems outstanding.

Most likely, although Lennon always leaves the door open for a true freshman to play if it's a position of need, and the kid is capable of contributing immediately. It happens maybe once every four or five years.

According to the Forum, UND's key signings were Carruth and Kelley.

I'm impressed with Goska's credentials, and he looked good on film. Lennon mentioned the name Cullen Finnerty when describing his style of play on the WDAZ sports tonight. It should make for a very interesting quarterback battle in a few years between he and Landry.

At www.fightingsioux.com, you can also view a highlight video on the recruing class. I just finished watching it, and it's pretty cool.

Here's the release. There are two additions whose verbal commitments were never mentioned on this board.

I don't think anybody is saying that it will change, or that UND deserves special treatment. The skepticism has to do with the NCAA's rationale behind the lengthy period of playoff ineligibility for new members. I don't believe for one second that it's primarily academically motivated.

That's all well and good in theory, but in reality those dI "standards" aren't apparently all that difficult to get around in terms of getting academically-challenged "student"-athletes into a dI school. The Cincinnati basketball program under Bob Huggins would seem to have been a prime example of that.

According to an article in the St. Cloud Times, it came down to the fact that NDSU is approaching being playoff eligible, and UND has its period of playoff ineligibility coming up. I understand this, and the truth of the matter is that the same issue probably helped UND win some recruiting battles with NDSU in 2004 and 2005. We'll be at a disadvantage for a few years for some of the top local kids because of the lack of playoff opportunities, but there are plenty of good players out there.

NDSU may also have a bit of a quandry with regard to the whole Walker Lee Ashley deal. According to Kolpack, he's going to visit sometime this week. I highly doubt NDSU still has two full scholarships available, so who knows how that will play out, or whether it will have any effect on the Veldman situation. Personally, I think Ashley is far more trouble than he's worth.

I think only the coaches can answer that. Of course, I suppose the same question could be asked of NDSU. I had thought they were only going to sign 15 or 16, and they're over that now. Of course, a few of them, like the Stephen-Argyle kid, are probably getting very little scholarship money.

Another commitment to report--Ben Hicks, Pine Creek High in Colorado Springs, outside linebacker, 6'1", 195. link to some info. The commitment article requires a subscription, so you'll have take my word for it.

He's Gene Roebuck's wife's nephew.

[url="http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/articles/index.cfm?id=9421

I like the speed of this group, with examples being Ankenbauer, Murray, Hawkins and Ebanks all reportedly running in the 4.5 range for the 40; Kudrna being the defending 400m state champion; Daggett was third in the MN class A 110h in 2006; and Rose was third in the 200m and sixth in the 100m at the WI d3 state track meet last spring.