UND92,96

Yes, everybody was complaining about the Ralph's atmosphere for basketball, but had we known that the Betty could only hold 3000 people, I highly doubt any long-time UND basketball fan would have been in favor of moving into such a small facility. A lot of people had doubts when we thought it would hold 4000. All you need to do is look at the highwater mark for average attendance, and make sure it's built AT LEAST that big! If you don't have the money to do it right, don't build it until you do!

I'm afraid you're missing a big point here. Building the Betty with roughly one-half of the capacity Hyslop had was stupid, plain and simple. Anybody who has been going to UND basketball games over the past 10-20 years can attest that there have been many, many games with well in excess of 3000 people. It's not an isolated occurrence. During the 1990-91 season, the men averaged 4432 per game. It would have been akin to moving UND football into the Alerus with a capacity of 6000 or 7000. You wouldn't do it. Yes, the atmosphere in the Ralph isn't very good for basketball. But given a choice between too big and too small, it's not a difficult decision from a bottom-line standpoint.

Let's just hope Wayne Nelson is incorrect in his belief that conference games will not be moved to the Ralph next year. There's a lot of money to be lost playing those games in the Betty.

Since we now know that the Betty's capacity is only in the 3000 to 3300 range, that means we have the second-smallest basketball arena in the NCC: USD (Dakotadome) 10,000 (approx.) SCSU (Halenbeck) 6,400 MSU (Taylor) 4,800 Augie (Elmen) 4,000 UNO (Sapp) 3,500 UMD (Romano) 2,759 Building a 3000 seat basketball arena is stupid enough, but if UND and/or REA refuses to move conference games--at least the bigger games--to the Ralph next season, it's inexcusable.

It didn't take long to get an answer: link. If Wayne is correct, I'm really frustrated. How in the world can they have "estimated" the capacity up until recently? They know how many chairs they ordered. They can easily count the number of people the end bleachers can hold (especially since they're not very big). This is too weird.

I guess it was a myth. For whatever it's worth, there's a question and answer forum on the online edition of the Herald, and I e-mailed a question to Wayne Nelson about this, and also asked whether he thinks it's likely that conference games will be played at the Ralph again next year. If he answers, I'll post a link.

In terms of seats, I guess the capacity is about 3300, at least if you don't count the hospitality room. I got this directly from the Betty website:

I have to agree with you. Luckily for me, I never had to leave my seat the whole time, so I didn't experience any of the hassles surrounding the rest rooms and concession stands. The bottom line is that we have to move conference games to the Ralph, or if that is impossible for some reason, then let's hope the contract with REA would allow for conference games to be moved to the Al. Many of us questioned the small capacity of the Betty when it was in the planning stages. It took all of three conference games for our fears to be validated.

I just realized something--the women's regionals are set for March 10-13. Grand Forks is also hosting the class A boys and girls state basketball tournaments on March 9-11. Do you think it might be a little tough to get a motel room in Grand Forks that weekend if UND ends up hosting? EDIT: Also, the Region 2 class B boys' tournament is in Grand Forks March 6, 7 and 9 at the Betty! Luckily it doesn't conflict with the women's games, although it could create some headaches for the practice schedules.

I would think that only the ticket sellers at the Betty could give any sort of an estimate.

The Grygla-Gatzke kid's name is Tomas Loberg.

The same thing happened after the women's game against Augie. What is really interesting is that nearly the entire student section left shortly after the women's game. By midway through the second half of the men's game, I'd be surprised if there were more than about 1000 left. We've had worse teams (1988-89, for example), but I don't think the level of apathy for the program around town and around campus has ever been this bad.

It will be interesting to see whether there's any fall-out from last night's game. I'm sure Roebuck would resist moving games from the Betty since it does provide a nice homecourt advantage, but on the other hand, I don't think the athletic department is in a position financially to be turning away people (and their money) who want to attend women's basketball games. Can you imagine how many more people would have been turned away last night had it been a Saturday night, and had the weather been better? Keep in mind that very few St. Cloud fans made the trek, but likely would have on a Saturday. My preference would be to try dakotadan's idea next year for configuring the Ralph for basketball, at least for NCC games, or at a minimum for the St. Clould State game. Do a little arm-twisting at the NCC office if necessary to make sure it gets scheduled for a Saturday next year, too, and that it is on a weekend when the hockey team is on the road. I'm guessing that at the Ralph on a Saturday night, this game could draw 6000 to 7000 people. Possibly more. Am I wrong, or does REA use a "tickets sold" method of determining attendance for hockey, but apparently uses a "headcount" method for basketball at the Betty? I know I've been to many hockey games were there were several hundred no-shows, but the announced attendance was 11,500.

Well, it was announced as a sell-out, and the few empty seats almost certainly belonged to season ticketholders who didn't show up, so I guess maybe the capacity is less than what we were told? In any event, I don't think more than maybe 100 more people could have been fit in tonight even had there been no no-shows at all. I'm still confused as to how many people the Betty actually holds. It appears that maybe it's much closer to 3000 than 4000. EDIT: I guess I really can't estimate how many empties there were, since from my vantage point (side where the benches are), I can really only see the other side. There were very few empty seats on that side, but of course there could have been some on my side that I wasn't in a position to see.

I remember Ferguson, but I guess I didn't realize he'd done anything once he got to Wesleyan. They've kind of fallen off since their probation, I think.

I can't disagree regarding the track records of recent Mon-Dak players, at least from schools other than NDSCS. Hunter Berg is the last really good one I can think of from Williston, Bismarck or Lake Region.

Thanks. Do you know whether UND is recruiting Matt Goodwin from Williston State? He's a 6'1" guard, a high school teammate of Mike Gutter, and is averaging something like 27 ppg.

Good article. Thanks. I wonder if the Empire could perhaps fill a niche that the independent theater in Helena (mentioned in the article) fills?

I agree. I don't care much for the Carmike 10. Just a question to anybody who might know: why didn't the movie "Good Night and Good Luck" ever make it to Grand Forks? Or did it and I just missed it? Did Carmike even try to get it?

Does anybody know whether there's any scholarship money left to bring in players for next year? I have to think there's a big need for some immediate impact players, since nearly half of the scoring--for a team which struggles to score as it is--will be leaving after this year. Considering Koenig's uncertain health status, I would think it's imperative to find another player who can be a scoring threat in the post. I think there may be a player at Lake Region who may be able to help there, and I've also heard Dryburgh's name mentioned from NDSCS. Also, I think there's a need for a guard who can penetrate and create his own shot. But perhaps Bledsoe can fill that need.

I think you'd have to say that this was a pretty good year for North Dakota high school talent, judging by the number of signees thus far. UND signed eight; NDSU four; other NCC schools signed three; and so far, eight more have signed with NSIC schools (Mary hasn't announced yet). Bubba signed two (Zack Winkler from North Border and Jamie Sigl from Bismarck); while Wahpeton's Cole Zarak signed with Augie. I don't know to what extent, if any, UND recruited Winkler, Sigl or Zarak.

If Tibesar was responsible for Wisconsin (I thought somebody said he was but I'm not sure), then it really seems as though his departure may have had an impact. We got far fewer Wisconsin signees than the past two seasons. I am pleased with our linebacker signees. I believe Cochran, Dublanko and Kasowski all run very well, and German is very solid on the inside. They should nicely complement last year's outstanding group of Stroup, Miller, Dombrovski, etc.

I was looking at it from a worst-case scenario: 1. Beatty is done after this year for sure; 2. Strouth may or may not come back for a 6th year, which would mean he could also be done after this season; 3. Sundby's health is an unknown to me (bad injury a couple of years ago); 4. so that leaves Brady, Armentrout and Chappell (who may possibly play some at receiver, a la Dressler). I know the coaches did try recruit some backs, and I have no problem with not signing any if the top 3-4 guys all decided to go elsewhere. Better to wait rather than simply signing guys for the sake of signing backs if they are not projected to be likely contributors down the road. Running back would seem to be a position where you can fill in with a transfer, either juco or division I, if necessary.

Here's the list of recruits. I have to wonder if perhaps there are more to come? If not, this would be the smallest recruiting class in several years. I'm also extremely surprised that no running backs (Kasowski and Schwenzfeier will almost certainly play defense) or receivers were signed. That's very unusual.