UND92,96

UND didn't get quite as many bench points as usual, but still out-scored St. Cloud's bench 17-2. Sioux now have five of the last seven NCC games at home.

According to a poster on the minnesotapreps.com board, Machacek has committed to St. Cloud State.

I'm thinking Dan Monson and a lot of other coaches are kicking themselves for not recruiting Ben Woodside (or not recruiting him harder).

It was a very nice win by NDSU. This is an example of the unpredictability of sports which makes them so interesting. A couple of days ago the Bison lost to Utah Valley State, but then turn around and beat a top-25 team. You just never know...

UMary to change nickname? link.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the key is to get one or two of the SCSU players into foul trouble, and make their bench play more than what Ulferts wants them to. After Quigley, they have absolutely nothing in terms of an inside presence. Langen and Kimbrough need to take it right at Quigley. Their bench is essentially all freshmen, and none of them have been putting up big numbers. Also, their point guard (Hansen) is very hobbled by an ankle injury according to the St. Cloud paper, so how much she'll be able to play and how effective she'll be is a question mark. I just hope the Sioux bring their "A" game tonight. If so, the superior depth and inside game of UND should prevail, so long as the perimeter players can play better than they did against Mankato the other night.

Poor UMC--not only do they struggle badly in most sports, but they also have the lowest graduation rate in the area!

link

Strong arm; throws very nice deep ball; athletic enough to have been all-state at linebacker as a junior; good size (6'3", 185 or so). This was a quote from Mike Berg in today's Forum:

While I'm not normally into moral victories, pushing the best team in the NCC to the limit on the road is a big improvement for this team. A month ago, this game had 30-point loss written all over it. We have to win at St. Cloud, though. They're struggling right now. At least our win at Omaha is looking better. The red Mavs beat USD tonight in Omaha.

Langen dominated tonight, with 29 points and 15 boards. It should be a clash of the titans when she and Quigley match up on Saturday. Ashley actually out-scored her in two of their three meetings last season. Quigley is quicker getting up and down the court, but Langen is much stronger. One big advantage UND will have is that even if Ashley gets into foul trouble, the Sioux will still have Kimbrough, who had 21 points tonight. If Quigley gets into foul trouble, St. Cloud is in huge trouble, as they don't have much of a bench. UND's perimeter people will need to step up on Saturday. Besides Mahlum, Gene didn't sound too pleased with any of the rest of them tonight.

He definitely has a lot of ability. Anybody who saw Central's state title win can testify to that. That was one of the best games I've seen a high school quarterback have.

It was in the Herald today, so it definitely looks like it.

I agree. If Braegelmann can come back at full strength, the line will be very talented with he, Troen and Murray each being all-conference caliber players, with a whole bunch of guys competing for the other two spots (Bauer, Bronson, Hoffelt, etc). Assuming he comes back for a 6th year, it may also allow Kusler to move back to tight end.

Just a thought, but maybe it was Herald writer Tu-Uyen Tran who got it wrong. Personally, I'm going to believe the UND athletic department over Tran. The other possibility is that the Alerus doesn't include students in its internal count (as opposed to the "official" number reported in the box scores), since they don't purchase tickets. I'm not going to get all up-in-arms about UND football attendance based upon one line from a Herald article about the Alerus.

As to what Bergan's role will likely be at UND and why she was recruited, I think this is a pretty good description: link.

Sorry, I don't have all the answers. I believe it was the Ferris St. game that there wasn't attendance reported initially. I know it wasn't the West Chester game. In any event, UND's yearly attendance has held quite steady between 9000 and 10,000 per game since the opening of the Alerus. It has not significantly gone down, which I believe was your original question.

Those numbers are incorrect. Through the six regular season games, UND drew a total of 60,757, for an average of 10,126 per game. The playoff game was very poorly attended (just as the game at GVSU was--we're not the only ones who drew well during the regular season but who struggled with playoff attendance), and dropped the average down to just over 9400.

More commitments--Joel Schwenzfeier from Kittson Central and Adam Ward from Maple Grove. link. Also, Jake Landry is supposed to announce today between UND and St. Cloud St. per the Herald.

Cochran was rated as one of the top 20 prospects in Wisconsin prior to the season, link, and I understand he has excellent speed. Murray was first team all-conference in the Great West. link.

UND is number one in the first regional poll. link.

I was also at the Central-VC game, and I agree that Seay is an outstanding player. I was somewhat skeptical when she was signed because frankly, the history of Grand Forks girls players succeeding at the college level isn't very good. But she can really play. I think she's probably the best girl basketball player ever in Grand Forks, and can certainly play in the NCC. Although I think she could contribute immediately for the Sioux, I wouldn't mind seeing her red-shirt due to the fact that it would give her a chance to get stronger, and also because so many perimeter players return next year (Jahner, Maffin, Guinn, Bagaason and Beck). From what I was told, that was about as poor as Bergan has shot this year. I suspect both she and Seay were a little nervous with the UND coaches and most of the team at the game. I think she'll be fine, especially considering that as the point guard, she's going to primarily be asked to handle the ball, pass and play defense. That's not to say that she can't shoot, because she can. She's also normally very adept at penetrating and dishing, but she simply doesn't have many options to pass it to right now. Of course, that will change next year, as she'll be surrounded by four players who can score whenever she's on the court. I don't think there's much of a chance that she'll red-shirt, because although Jahner can play the point and likely will start there next year, nobody else on the team is a natural point guard. I know Guinn and Bagaason have been playing some at the point, but that's a tough transition from the wing to the point. I would expect Jossy will be the backup point guard next year, just as Amy Mahlum was a freshman.

Great news! From what I understand he's a really good kid and clearly an excellent football player. It would have really hurt to have lost him to Bubba.

There's a good opportunity to see two UND recruits go head to head tonight in Grand Forks, as Jossy Bergan and Valley City play against Alys Seay and Central.

The number of Wisconsin recruits rose dramatically at roughly the same time the number of SD recruits pretty much stopped altogether, so I'm guessing it was a conscious decision to focus more on Wisconsin, which has far more prospects than SD and no dII football-playing schools. SD doesn't have all that many more prospects than ND, but has a lot of competition for those players. The odds of getting high quality players seems a lot better in Wisconsin, where we are mainly competing with UMD, SCSU, Winona St. and a few others for the top dII prospects.