UND92,96

I just noticed this at d2football.com. How about North Alabama or Catawba on September 1?

I don't mean to imply that Regis is a bad team. I just feel that they tend to do better early in the season, particularly at home or on a neutral court. Some recent examples: 2003-04 UND 73, Regis 71 (at Regis) 2005-06 UND 78, Regis 70 (in Florida) Judging solely on those results, one would think Regis would have been a factor in the regional tournaments. But here is how they've fared: 2002 SDSU 91, Regis 76 2003 SDSU 107, Regis 71 2005 UMD 73, Regis 60 2006 Northern St. 89, Regis 79 In fact, since the 1999-2000 season, the RMAC is a combined 0-15 at regional tournaments. Unless an RMAC team goes undefeated during the regular season, or beats a really good non-conference opponent on the road, I just have a very hard time taking them too seriously. Obviously I hope the UND team takes everybody seriously, but as a fan, I'm just very skeptical of the RMAC in women's basketball.

Regis has good guards, but inside they will get brutalized by UND should the two teams meet. Plus, particularly with Jahner and Beck, UND has the defensive players to keep the Lopezes somewhat in check. I haven't been impressed with Regis at all in the past two regional tournaments. The thing about the RMAC teams is that they will not, under any circumstances, play the top NCC teams unless it's in the state of Colorado, or occasionally in a tournament on a neutral court. Once they get on NCC turf (which only happens in the regional), they really tend to struggle. The only legit non-conference opponent Regis played this year outside of the state of Colorado was CSU-Chico (the number 2 seed from the west region). Chico beat them by 25.

Possibly. I had heard Cain's name mentioned in the media as a candidate, but I think some people get too hung up on blocked shots, which is what he was known for.

I agree that this competition will be extremely intriguing. It makes for an unusual situation, at least for UND, in that the offense is basically set (and stacked) at every position EXCEPT quarterback. My guess is that the depth chart you listed is accurate, if for no other reason than it follows seniority. However, as we saw last year with the running back depth chart, things can change rather quickly. I think Chappell was something like 5th last spring.

Congrats to Emmanuel Little for being named all-NCC, and to Harry Boyce for being named defensive player of the year. link.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but let's say the NCAA really wants to keep these records sealed, and furthermore, the odds of Judge Jahnke allowing that are probably slim. Could there be a school of thought within the NCAA that says it essentially already got what it was after--most of the schools on the hit list "volunatarily" agreeing to change their names? In other words, would simply dropping enforcement of its policy as to the relatively few remaining schools on the list be more palatable to them than risking major embarrassment if these records are unsealed? A settlement on terms very favorable to UND may be becoming more and more likely.

My picks: 1 UND 8 MSU Moorhead 4 Regis 5 Metro St. 3 South Dakota 6 Concordia St. Paul 2 Augustana 7 Nebraska Kearney semi-finals 1 UND 4 Regis 2 Augustana 6 Concordia-St. Paul finals 1 UND 2 Augustana The Sioux are due for a strong performance at the regional. Losing at home three straight years simply shouldn't happen.

I believe UND will be playing at 3:00. I know every effort was going to be made to avoid a head-to-head with the hockey game.

True enough, it was a pretty tight game earlier this season (on a neutral court). But for whatever reason, although the RMAC does get occasional wins over the NCC in non-conference play, they never get it done in the regional. In fact, besides one appearance in the region title game by Kearney in either 1998 or 1999, I can't recall a single win by that conference in the regional.

I have to admit that I think the Sioux got a little bit of a break here, as I believe the second, third and fourth-best teams in the field are on the opposite side of the bracket. It's kind of interesting that the committee ensured that an RMAC team would make it out of the first round for one of the very few times ever.

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