UND92,96

According to the media guide, it hasn't happened since 1986.

I'm assuming that Quigley is going to be named NCC mvp, but I really think that honor should go to Kristi Boese. Yes, Quigley has the bigger point and rebound numbers, but Boese is ranked in the top 6 in the league in points, rebounds AND assists, and she is a far superior defensive player than is Quigley. Of course, the team accomplishments are far more important than are individual honors, but I really feel that Boese deserves the honor of being named conference mvp. Even if she doesn't get it, she's clearly the most COMPLETE player in the league.

Go to the "thoughts on the Betty" thread for an explanation.

I can't completely discount the rationale for waiting, but I just don't want to feel as though we're throwing next season completely away by retaining the current regime for yet another season. Craig Smith is the current Mayville State head coach and a UND grad. He's only been a head coach for two years, so he'd be something of a gamble, but I figure if a guy can win in Mayville, North Dakota, he can win anywhere. He was also a Tim Miles assistant for awhile. Craig Irwin is the head coach of ND State College of Science. He's been very successful there. I believe his winning percentage is over .800 during his six years there. Somebody on this board mentioned that he's related to Roebuck, but I don't know that for certain. Normally I wouldn't be too enthused about a juco coach, but we did do pretty well the last time a UND basketball program hired somebody from the juco ranks (Roebuck). The ex-Jamestown College coach is Brad Huse. He would also be a good candidate if he's interested in coming back to North Dakota.

Hiring a new coach is really the only thing that may stop the exodus of fans after the women's game. I don't think wins and losses are the main issue. Give me a team that plays hard, plays with some emotion and has a good scheme which results in somebody getting a quality shot most offensive possessions. Fans can get behind a team like that even if they're not necessarily the most talented, and even if their record isn't necessarily spectacular. With UND, either there's not a very good scheme, or else the players just don't run it properly. I suspect it's the former. The more I think about it, the more opposed I am to waiting until the division I move has been officially announced to start a search for a new coach. We all know that barring some kind of miracle, we're going. I'm sure most coaches in the upper midwest who have any familiarity whatsoever with UND know it, too. Delaying things another year just sets us back that much further. The program is in desperate need of a shot in the arm. Keeping the status quo is not going to get it done. Craig Smith and Craig Irwin have been mentioned as possibilities from the area. How about other coaches from the NCC? I'm thinking of Margenthaler from Mankato in particular.

Things are going to be very interesting in the next week in terms of who can wrap up the last 2-3 spots in the regional. As crazy as it sounds, the NCC could conceivably be looking at only getting two teams in if certain things happen, despite the fact that the NCC is 29-9 vs. the NSIC and 12-3 vs. the RMAC. Augie was 7th last week, and had a bad loss to USD. The two RMAC teams behind them won their games. Augie needs to win its first round NCC tournament game, and maybe even beat SCSU in the semi's to wrap up a spot. You have to assume UND, SCSU, Wayne St., Regis and Northern are all in regardless of what happens this week. That leaves Augie, Concordia-St. Paul, Kearney, Metro and even UNO to battle for the 6th, 7th and 8th spots, not to mention some other unexpected team who could theoretically win a conference tournament and get an autobid. What a travesty it would be if Augie were to lose early in the NCC tournament, and the NCC would then be looking at two teams getting in, compared to three each for the other two conferences...

UND will play the winner of UNO and USD in the semi-finals of the NCC tournament. Considering how horrible UNO looked in their two games against the Sioux, I'm shocked they were able to finish as high as 4th place in the NCC.

It was kind of a weird game. In reality, UMD had no business staying within 30 points of the Sioux, especially since their field goal percentage was in the mid-30's, but they were at the free throw line constantly. 25-35 from the line. They don't do many things well, as their record reflects, but they can make free throws.

Great game last night by Amy Mahlum! It had to be one of the best games of her UND career. It was disappointing giving up 40 first half points and leading by just 5 at the half, but Mankato was unconscious from 3-point range.

Central gets an empty net goal. 4-2 final.

Central is up 3-2 with 36 seconds to go...

I believe the first record is the overall record vs. dII teams. The second is the in-region dII record.

One other player to watch--not really from the "area" but from North Dakota--is Jessica Kielpinski from Mandan. She was first team all-state as a sophomore last year. Her older sister was Ms. Basketball last year, and for whatever reason, went to Alaska-Anchorage, where she's averaging 19 points and 9 boards a game as a freshman. She may be the only really good female basketball player to ever leave the state to play dII ball.

I feel bad for Peter Rivard (Shantel's husband). It's not as though there are a lot of college soccer coaching positions out there within reasonable commuting distance from Grand Forks.

Kirstie Gillett apparently had a huge game last night in the regional semi-final. Hopefully Dakota Prairie can make state as I'm interested in seeing the Gilletts play. Does Kirstie have 3-point range? At 5'10", she'd need to be playing on the perimeter a lot in college.

Any word on when we can expect the schedule to be announced? I'm still holding out hope we were able to find a better opponent than Mesa for Sept. 9.

The funny thing is, I remember worrying back in the early 90's that a division I school would hire him. It seems crazy to think that now, but at the time it seemed plausible. Just think, had he left back when he was considered a viable candidate for other jobs, Mac may have then taken over, and probably stayed until the Northern Iowa job opened up a few years ago. It's hard to say who might be coaching here now, but I doubt we'd be struggling this badly today had the above scenario played out. Instead, we've been saddled with an average NCC finish of 5th over the past 11 years, with no season having a better finish than third.

The question is: are the bench players seemingly scoring less because they're not playing as many minutes; or are they not playing as many minutes because they're not scoring as well? I don't know. The reason I'm concerned about a lack of bench production can best be explained by this: link. It's dangerous to have to rely on the starters to do all the scoring.

Going back to late last season, we're now 5-13 in the last 18 games vs. NCC opponents. Anybody fired up about next year?

The bench needs to step it up a bit. Earlier in the season, I felt like bench scoring was what set UND apart from other teams, but in recent games that offensive production off the bench just hasn't been what it was. I think Bagaason could be that spark if she were to get a few more minutes. Am I the only one who felt that the Sioux should have been pressing USD more tonight? They didn't seem to have a point guard, and they had 20 turnovers even without being pressed very much. It was frustrating watching Robinette (ostensibly their post) walk the ball up the floor on every possession without being made to work very hard.

Late regular season games tend to have somewhat smaller crowds, but the much bigger dropoff occurs for early round playoff games. It's that way for basketball, and to a lesser extent hockey for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. I've never really understood why that is, but it nearly always happens. I think November football games would be better attended if they were played at night, but Lennon is on record as saying he doesn't like night games, so I doubt that will happen.

The interesting thing about the 2005 attendance is that for regular season games only, this was the second time UND has exceeded 10,000 per game, as the average was 10,126. That poorly-attended playoff game really cut into the average.

New regional poll: North Central 1 North Dakota 23-0 19-0 2 St. Cloud State 17-2 16-2 3 Wayne State (Nebraska) 17-2 17-2 4 Northern State 14-4 14-4 5 Minnesota Duluth 12-8 9-6 6 Concordia-St. Paul 14-7 13-7 7 Regis (Colorado) 19-4 15-3 8 Augustana (South Dakota) 12-7 10-7 9 Metropolitan State 13-8 13-6 10 Nebraska-Kearney 14-6 14-6 I'm not sure I see the logic of Duluth remaining that highly-ranked, considering they're in the midst of a 5-game losing streak. The RMAC is in jeopardy of only getting one team in! Not that they deserve any more than that, but traditionally the committee has shown an inordinate amount of respect for the conference, despite its post-season futility.

I'm actually glad it's a road game. Labor Day weekend is a tough draw. It just sucks that we're not at home until the 16th.

Men lose yet again, 72-62. After a 2-0 NCC start, UND has gone 1-6 since.