UND92,96

I saw that on the WDAZ news tonight also. Great news! With the NCC completely dominating the other two regional conferences this year, it's practically a given that the NCC winner will host. I like the odds of that team being UND.

Here's a Forum [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=113470

I agree. The losses of UNC, NDSU and SDSU really crippled the NCC from a scheduling standpoint. Another loss would probably spell the end for the NCC as a dII conference. Aside from UNO, who could conceivably join the MIAA, the remainder of the NCC would have to either go dI/I-AA, or join the NSIC. I don't think anybody else really WANTS to go dI/I-AA, but they almost have to at least explore the possibility since the NSIC isn't going to make many of the their fans/alums very happy.

A big difference between the men's basketball situation and that of the volleyball program is that there have been, and will continue to be a lot of fans and alums who voice their displeasure to Buning about the state of the program. It will be very difficult for him to ignore, particularly given the fact that basketball SHOULD be a pretty good revenue producer. The longer this is allowed to go on, the fewer fans will be showing up.

That's true. Minot has actually lost to a couple of Canadian teams, and UMC. There's no sugarcoating this one. It was bad. Tomorrow night's coaches' show should be interesting. Luckily for Rich nobody ever seems to call in except for one guy, and he's unrelentingly upbeat about everything.

Here's the problem that I have when people bring up how difficult recruiting is: that would seem to be implying that our current talent is so poor that it explains the poor results. I don't believe that's true. There are a lot of players on this team who were heavily recruited. Lindahl, Jacobson (dI transfer), Nobles (signed LOI with Baylor), Doyle and probably Harkins all received pretty substantial dI interest. Gutter, Wills and Blackwell were considered to be very good dII recruits. There is enough talent on this team to be easily beating DAC teams, particularly at home. Instead of focusing on how difficult recruiting supposedly is, why not ask the real questions--do our results match (or even exceed) the level of talent in most years? Do players routinely improve during their careers? Do most of the players seem to be putting forward their best effort on a consistent basis? To me, those are the bigger issues.

I agree that there is absolutely no buzz in the community when it comes to men's basketball. Among the vast majority of local basketball fans, it's all about the women, as well it should be. I used to be outraged at losses like this, but now I guess I'm just immune since there have been so many...

That's correct. This is the primary leverage the NCAA has in attempting to coerce UND into changing the name, and they're not going to back off unless UND pulls off some kind of miracle in the last administrative appeal, or can prevail in litigation.

UND has two known verbals--German and the Winnipeg offensive lineman, Henderson. News of commitments has been quite limited as far as I have been able to find for UND, NDSU and really all other regional dII or I-AA schools. Last year at this time, UND had about six known commitments, but two years ago, there were also just two. I guess these things just go in cycles.

I agree, but it will be tougher than in the three national championship years, since in all three we played either the regional (98 and 99), or the elite 8 (97) at home. This year, thanks to the NCAA, UND will be on the road for the regional regardless of our seed.

At 16-0 and with upcoming home games vs. Saginaw Valley and Omaha, it's looking very good to at least tie the record for best start.

Yes. I see where Concordia-St. Paul beat Metro tonight by 15 so hopefully that bodes well for us tomorrow.

I was wrong, as UND won at Colorado Mines tonight, even without Harkins and essentially without Lindahl. Gunhus played a few minutes for Mines but didn't score.

Pueblo was 7-2 coming into this game, so to win by as big of a margin as the Sioux did was especially impressive. It should be a bigger test tomorrow playing on Metro's home floor, but I think UND is more than up for the challenge.

It's tough to imagine this team will win a road game this year. UND hasn't had a season without a road victory since the 1988-89 season.

According to the Herald, it's 2:00 our time, on 100.3 FM.

Thanks. That would explain the glaring omissions.

I think this list is kind of a joke considering some of the names left off it (Landon Smith, Landry, Kasowski, Sauvageau, German, Glaser, Zarak, Weidler, etc.), but here's a list of the supposed top prospects in North Dakota according to the ESPN site: link.

Here's a pretty interesting Herald article on the men's basketball season thus far, including some comments from Rich Glas regarding the heat he's feeling from fans:

UND has apparently offered a receiver from Mounds View who is getting quite a bit of dI interest: link.

Things just keep getting worse and worse for the NCC. USD was the last team to have a good non-conference record (albeit with their typically weak schedule), but they got blown out last night in Sioux Falls tournament by Bemidji.

Another Wisconsin kid UND is apparently recruiting: link.

I've never seen him play basketball either, but at 6'3" and around 235-240, I assume he'd physically resemble Kleinsasser as a high schooler.

I think they started three seniors and two juniors on the o-line this past year, so youth wasn't the problem. I really don't know why it was they had absolutely no running game. Although I'm sure they'll TRY to run the ball early in the season next fall, I'm not convinced they won't abandon it altogether again if they don't have success with it early. I'll also be interested to see if any of their current backs transfer in the off season. It's interesting that Bubba is recruiting in UND's backyard again. I know he was really after Chappell, Wahlin, Rambeck, etc. last year.

Duluth is the last program I'd want to go to if I were a running back, for reasons obvious to anybody who saw them play the second half of last season! Realistically, I think Kasowski projects much better as a defensive player at the college level. That's not to say he couldn't be a Roland/Beatty type runner, but it would probably take him longer to get playing time than if he played defense.