UND92,96

We can only hope that Buning is thinking along the same lines.

A couple of big upsets in the quarterfinals of the RMAC tournament last night, including Regis losing. Metro and Fort Hays also lost. Hopefully Kearney can win the tournament, otherwise somebody is going to get the autobid who wouldn't have otherwise had any chance to get in, and a more deserving team will be squeezed out. Here's the most recent regional poll:

It would normally happen shortly after the season. If nothing has happened by the weekend of the final four (division I), I suspect Glas will be back again next year.

Yes.

UNO beat USD tonight, so the Sioux will be playing the Mavs on Saturday. That makes for a better matchup for UND IMO, since USD made it difficult for Langen by forcing her away from the basket on defense.

I suspect Tusculum would have been either undefeated or very close to it had they played Charleston's schedule. I just would prefer to see a team that could conceivably provide a challenge to the Sioux. I don't think anybody in the WVIAC would do that. Tusculum was evidently a bit down last year, but was 9-2 in 2003 and above .500 in 2004.

That game could possibly be beneficial from an RPI standpoint--although I'm not sure how the RPI works exactly--but the West Virginia conference is brutal. I think any team in that league would be blown out by 50-60 points against anybody from the NCC.

Tusculum also has an open date which would work for that week before the Central Washington game. They appear to be the only decent opponent with that open date according to those listed on d2football.com.

I thought these comments by Gene Roebuck in a McFeely Forum column today were interesting:

You are correct. Lorenz played in two regional tournaments--2003 and 2004. UND and NDSU played each other in one of those years, and UND won. She must have been talking about a regular season game.

1986 was the last year UND didn't have an all-conference player.

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.