UND92,96

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."

I can't imagine Smith's next job will be at an NAIA school.

I'm sure he'd have a chance, but I suspect a current NDSU assistant would have the inside track, provided he didn't follow Miles to his next job.

I agree that Gulf Coast does sound similar to Regis and Kearney. It's interesting that FGCU's shooting percentage was quite poor in the their last two games--presumably against the two best teams they've played--but they still managed to win in low-scoring games. However, notwithstanding their undefeated record, I highly doubt they'll be the most talented team UND has seen this year. If the Sioux take care of the ball, and shoot a decent percentage, I look for a UND win. Is anybody making the trip to Kearney? I'm planning on being there.

And I'm proudly in dead last. The General's team let me down.

Actually, wcbsas is a Winona State fan.

Detroit Lakes is playing on tv right now for anybody who wants to see Lof play.

I'm not comparing UND to these schools in terms of basketball, obviously, but how about Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Boston College and even, every once in a great, great while, Minnesota. And if we want to include dII schools, there are several more who have enjoyed success in both hockey and men's basketball, such as St. Cloud St., UNO and UMD. And of course, as mentioned, UND has enjoyed success in both sports in the past, and probably will again at some point in the future.