UND92,96

link After just eight months at his current job?

Thanks for the info. Minnesotapreps.com had him rated as the 20th best senior in Minnesota prior to the start of the season. link.

I just looked at USD's schedule to see whether they've lost at home yet this year. They haven't, but the really odd thing about their schedule is that they've played just one dII opponent at home so far (Chadron St.). Apparently it's not only their men's team that likes to schedule cupcakes.

No spin intended. I'm just calling it like I see it, and Omaha has been a bust. I am glad the Sioux men are apparently improving, though. I didn't think there was any way we'd win an NCC road game this year, at least not against anybody aside from perhaps Augie.

Speaking of Koenig, this was in a Wayne Nelson Herald article yesterday:

In a season full of disappointments for the NCC, Omaha's performance thus far has to be the biggest disappointment of all. They were picked to win the league, and returned a lot of talent from last year, but are sitting at just 10-9 (1-2 in the NCC). I didn't expect that the loss of their coach would have this big of an effect, but apparently it did.

With ZBJ's departure, that would seem to point to sophomore-to-be Matt Bodoh starting at weakside outside linebacker, with Tyson Giles as the backup, unless one of the freshmen is able to step in and challenge for playing time.

You're probably right on the location. If it happens at all, it would likely be in Sioux Falls.

UND does apparently recruit NDSCS (Tyler Morrow last year, for example), but clearly not to the same extent as programs who rely on jucos, e.g. Mankato. My feeling is that if there's a potential impact player at a position of need and he's a good kid, then he should be recruited. I'd love to have another Mathews, but I want no part of a guy like Abrian Stovall (UNO via NDSCS). He was a good player but a thug, judging by his on-field behavior.

I think the hesitancy to play conference teams too many times in a year was a lot more valid back when it was a 9 or 10 team league and there were far fewer non-conference games to schedule. Now, with all the non-dII teams on the schedule, it doesn't look so bad, but perhaps the coaches would disagree with me on that one.

Since it's obvious that non-conference basketball scheduling is a huge challenge for everybody in the NCC, I was just thinking that perhaps it's time to reinstate the old holiday tournament that the NCC used to have. Granted, with just seven teams is would require somebody to have a first round bye (presumably either the host school or the conference champion from the previous year). At least it would result in three more games (for all but the first round bye team), none of which would be against a dIII/NAIA opponent. It could rotate locations between all the teams. With the NSIC having fewer open dates starting next year with the addition of Mary and Upper Iowa, I think it's time to do something different or else we're going to end up playing everybody in the DAC every year. I realize it becomes a moot point for UND should we go dI, but it's something to consider.

I haven't been able to find anything too interesting in a couple of weeks. I believe there are still several good North Dakotans who are apparently undecided, including Evan Sauvageau, Travis Mertens, Ryan Kasowski and Jake Landry, all of whom I believe either have visited or will visit UND, along with other North Dakota possibilities including Dylan Glaser, Cole Zarak and Zack Winkler (I have no idea whether there has been any mutual interest between the latter three and UND). I don't believe this year's group of North Dakota recruits will be as good as last year's for UND, so hopefully we do very well in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The other unknown factors are whether we get any impact transfers, or jucos. Those have been pretty rare in the past, but you never know when another Travis Lueck or Glen Mathews may show up.

Does anyone know whether Northern Colorado hired a consultant prior to its move to dI? Has a consultant ever said to one of its clients that it has very little chance of successfully making the jump to dI? I don't know, I'm just asking.

Apparently the annual NCC winter meetings were held last week (per a poster on the d2football.com board). It certainly would be interesting to know what, if anything came out of that meeting with regard to the dI issue and/or the progress in finding new members.

Yes, that's my recollection, as well.

I agree that having the fans so close to the floor makes for a good atmosphere, and it does provide a significant homecourt advantage. The was something that was definitely missing when the games were played at the Ralph.

No, I don't think they would try to move the game at this point. It would create more problems than it would solve.

Coachdags, teamsioux and dakotadan--very good points. I don't think any of us had some sort of pre-conceived notion that we weren't going to particularly like the Betty. I really wanted to like it. There are just some rather glaring miscalculations in its design. I don't know who's ultimately responsible, and it really doesn't matter at this point because what's done is done. In retrospect, I would have much preferred to remain at Hyslop until a bit more study had gone into exactly what type of arena we wanted and could afford. It really does seem as though everything was rushed, and rushing something of this magnitude is rarely a good idea.

If calling attention to what I perceive to be problems constitutes blowing them out of proportion, then I'm guilty as charged. But I do feel that there are, indeed, problems with the Betty that were avoidable. With regard to problem number 1, I would not have brought it up but for the fact that Saturday's game was not against a rival, nor a particularly big-time opponent. It was Omaha. They are arguably the second-worst draw among all current conference opponents. If it was a problem with this game, it will be a problem for all conference games. Perhaps I'm in a unique situation, since I have two very young children, but at Hyslop, if a person needed to make a quick getaway, you simply needed to duck out into the concourse to deal with a crying kid or some other mini-emergency. Now, you would need to walk all the way down the stairs, behind the bench, past the end bleachers, etc., all in full view of everybody. It's not exactly ideal. And please, refrain from saying "so don't take your kids to the game." All I'm saying is that most other arenas, modern or otherwise, have a better set-up. Hyslop was better. The Alerus is better. And of course, the Ralph is better. The bathroom issue is the least of my concerns, but I've heard people complain about it. Again, not to belabor a point, but when there are long lines for a game with 2700 people... Since nobody else is exactly agreeing with my position, perhaps I'm simply in the minority on this one. I just never thought I'd actually miss Hyslop, but I have to admit that I do.

I agree, except that when the arena can't comfortably hold the number of people that the basketball teams have averaged in the past, there's a problem. I don't think it was as big of a problem at Hyslop. Unfortunately, that's a recurring theme (positive's from Hyslop that weren't replicated in the Betty). There are concession stands at the ends, although they're not always used. My first recommendation would be to stop using the concession stand in the one hallway where the visiting team and officials' locker room is. They rope off half that hallway so that the teams and ref's can get to the court, which makes the already narrow hallway even moreso.

I don't mean to sound overly negative, but I have some real concerns about the Betty as a basketball facility. Once you're in your seat, it's fine, but getting to and from your seat can be a problem. Some of these problems are probably not fixable, but here goes: 1. The lobby is too small. Prior to the UNO games on Saturday, there were so many people waiting in the ticket buying lines that there was no room for people who already had tickets to make their way to the ticket scanners. And this was for a game where the attendance was 2700. What would it be like for a game with 3500 or more, i.e. the St. Cloud State games this year? 2. The hallways going from the lobby to the arena are far too narrow. Particularly when you factor in that there are concession stands in both hallways. These hallways needed to be several feet wider, or else the concession stands should not have been put there. 3. The lack of a concourse or even a walkway behind the scorer's table makes it very difficult to get from one place in the arena to another. I never realized how much I would miss Hyslop's concourse area. 4. Bathrooms are too small. It's good that there are four of them for each gender, but they needed to be made bigger. Realistically, as things are now, I don't believe the Betty can comfortably accommodate much more than 2000 people for a game. If we get games in which the attendance is in the 3500 to 4000 vicinity, I'm afraid there are going to be a lot of upset and irritated people. I can see a time in which it will become necessary to move conference games either back to the Ralph, or else to the Alerus. And IMO, that could have been avoided with a little more careful planning in the design of the Betty.

According to the Fargo public schools web page, the January 2006 total enrollment for Fargo South (10-12) is 1565. For GF Central, the total 10-12 enrollment is 810 (9-12 enrollment is 1136). I couldn't find the Red River enrollment, and didn't look for any other schools.

Women won 89-64. It was a solid effort all around.

If they're still at 40-something scholarships in their 4th season of I-AA, then that tells me they didn't plan very well and weren't financially ready to give themselves their best chance to succeed at I-AA football. They should at least be approaching 63 scholies by now.

Keep in mind that I never said there's no difference between dII and I-AA--merely that UNC is traditionally up and down. When they're up, they're very good. When they're down, they stink. With their location, if you give them another Joe Glenn-type coach, they'll do very well in I-AA. If you give them a 70-year-old coach who's best days are long gone, they're going to struggle. I do think that if they had the talent of their national championship teams, they'd do pretty well in I-AA, but that's not to say there's no difference in the divisions.