UND92,96

UND certainly does have a good history with Stephen and/or Argyle, particularly with the Borowicz brothers, and now with Halfmann and Safranski. Plus, as I mentioned before, if Gratzek is as good of a student as it appears he is, he should have a good chance at the equivalent of a full ride between academic and football scholarship money. That would negate one of the primary advantages NDSU has over UND (ability to offer full rides).

UND is up to number 2 in the latest poll.

If Anderson visited UND this past weekend (last week's Forum article said he was scheduled to), I wouldn't be surprised if he commits to one or the other as early as this week since he's probably taken all the official visits he's going to take. Hopefully Trenbeath and Oksendahl are talking to him often since I assume both are home for Christmas break.

The league definitely looks tough this year. What I find encouraging is that we all probably agree that UND is better and deeper than last year, and last year UND went a combined 5-0 vs. UMD and SCSU. I am quite certain that neither St. Cloud nor Duluth has added anything close to what UND has in terms of newcomers. Plus, St. Cloud has played a very soft non-conference schedule which could hurt them a bit once NCC play starts. Duluth relies so much on Dietz that they will be vulnerable, especially in those games where she struggles. That was how UND absolutely throttled them by 35 last year in Grand Forks.

It looks like a few of the players have really struggled with their shooting the past couple of games. Hopefully it's just a matter of being tired from finals and/or the fact that the season has been a little longer than it normally would have been at this point due to the early start at the Disney tournament. On the plus side, Langen really seems to have elevated her game recently. If the outside shooting can get back to where it should be, along with Langen's dominating play inside, we'll really see what this team is capable of.

There was a death in her family.

Sioux seem to have things back on track after that woeful performance in the UMC game, and lead Bemidji 48-27 at the half.

BSU certainly has talent, but I can't help but wonder what their graduation rate has been since Gunther left? Sure, it's nice to have better talent and more wins, but is it worth it to bring in 8-10 new transfers every year in return for 17-18 wins per season? I believe 20 wins is the most they've had since they've gone to this virtually-all-transfer method of building a team. Maybe an argument can be made that there's nothing wrong with it, if a decent percentage of the players actually graduate, but if not, then no way. Glas and Hennessy were having an interesting conversation about that very thing last Wednesday night on the coaches' show, but unfortunately I only heard bits and pieces of it due to poor reception.

For what it's worth, I think Roebuck agrees with you. It's kind of ironic that going dI would probably help the men's program, but could very well have a corresponding negative impact on the women. Personally, I'd prefer to do what's best for the women, but it seems that dI is the direction the athletic department is heading.

From today's Herald regarding Travis Mertens:

Another Wisconsin kid UND is apparently recruiting. link.

It was apparently a good game between Crookston and GFC yesterday. Wahlin scored 27, Seay 26, and Crookston won by 5. link. If her stats so far are any indication, Seay should have a very good chance at ND Ms. Basketball this year.

This was a mild surprise to me, but NDSU seems to be a bit lacking in offensive firepower. They clearly couldn't handle Dietz at all. This is just my personal opinion, but it appears as though NDSU's recruiting has really fallen off in recent years. Since signing Katie Lorenz--who is certainly an excellent player--they haven't really brought in many "difference makers" in the past 3-4 years.

UND is reportedly showing interest in a kid from Colorado. link.

Here's [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=111818

I can only assume the Betty expenses have something to do with the disproportionately large number, although in reality I don't understand the point of artificially inflating both the reported expenses AND the revenue for basketball (revenue is reported to be $640,000+). In any event, regardless of the "real" number, it appears the NCC schools are spending the most in general, without getting much bang for their buck, particularly when compared to Winona.

I realize the numbers from the OPE site are by no means 100% reliable, but I thought this was interesting, anyway. I've ranked all the teams in the NCC and NSIC based upon how much they reportedly spend on their men's basketball program according to the most recent numbers available: 1. UND $711,657 2. UNO $420,417 3. Augie $413,732 4. SCSU $363,632 5. Mankato $352,150 6. Northern $341,570 7. UMD $338,672 8. USD $329,740 9. Southwest MN $310,250 10. Concordia-SP $284,693 11. Wayne $248,549 12. Bemidji $216,053 13. Moorhead $199,121 14. Winona $190,023 15. UMC $158,220 Again, these numbers may or may not be truly accurate, but they were reported to the federal government, so I would hope there's some basis for them. Clearly we're not getting our money's worth if the UND number is anywhere near accurate. And that holds true even if the "real" number is actually closer to what UNO and Augie are supposedly spending.

A Southwest State fan on the d2football.com board said they're at something like 6 scholarships. Maybe they're an aberration, but I strongly suspect the majority of teams are probably at least a few scholies below 10. And again, I realize men's and women's basketball are very different since this area produces so many more good girl players, but you would still think that the gap between the NCC and NSIC should be comparable for men and women. It's definitely not. The NSIC typically has a couple of legit women's teams, but that's it. The NCC was never dominant on a national scale, but it was once known for having a lot of good teams. Maybe not teams that could win a national title, but a lot of good teams nonetheless. It's gotten to the point where it's a rarity for an NCC team to make the Elite 8. Certainly Metro State has had a lot to do with it since they hired their current coach with all the Aussie contacts, but the NSIC has had a couple of Elite 8 teams since the last NCC one, and that really shouldn't happen IMO.

To answer my own question, according to Steve Hallstrom, NDSU is showing interest in Travis Mertens, Evan Sauvageau and Lee Vandal. link.

The thing I find perplexing, though, is that considering the scholarship advantage for the NCC vs. the NSIC should be roughtly equal for the men's programs AND the women's programs, why is it that on the women's side, the NCC has a 20-5 record vs. the NSIC, whereas the men are roughly .500 vs. that conference? I just don't see why it is that the women have more or less been able to maintain their dominance over the NSIC (and the DAC and other NAIA programs) over the years, but on the men's side, there's not much difference anymore. I'm not sure there's really any one answer, but it's hard to believe how far the NCC has fallen in men's basketball.

Oksendahl didn't get (or didn't take) the Mayville job, so apparently Tim will stay at UND. Hopefully this bodes well for UND's recruitment of Matt Anderson.

This may be the worst the NCC has been in recent memory. Everybody has at least three losses except USD, who is playing their usual weak non-conference schedule. Duluth looked pretty good for awhile, but just lost at home to Southwest State. Aside from the obvious of losing teams to dI, what has happened to this league? I realize most teams were senior-dominated last year, but whatever happened to reloading? The NCC's record vs. the NSIC is basically .500 right now. Is the NSIC really getting better, or is it just a matter of the NCC getting that much worse?

That would be good news, as he's a nice player. Any word on Evan Sauvageau?

According to this, a Wisconsin kid who UND offered just committed to Minnesota.