UND92,96

I am certainly open to any and all ideas/explanations. As Yogi Berra said: "if people don't want to come to the games, how are you going to stop them?"

10 years ago, UND basketball had an average attendance of 2791 per game. A game at the Ralph against NDSU certainly helped that average, as did doubleheaders with the women's team, but nevertheless 2500-plus per game was achieved many times over the years at Hyslop. This year, the average is 1717. It has ranged from around 1600 to around 2000 for several years now. Obviously the transition really hurt things, but aren't we getting to the point where the transition is far enough in the past that it's not really an excuse anymore? Is the inability to get back to 2500 or more per game mostly the fault of Jones, Faison or both? Or is it not realistic to expect UND basketball to draw as well as it did 10-plus years ago?

Here's Brewster's tweet:

I don't think UND basketball has had a guy like him since--somebody who could jump over you OR just physically overpower you.

The Big Sky coaches have been very accurate in predicting how Jones will fare in his three years so far. In 2012-13, UND was picked to finish fourth, and actually finished third. Last year, UND was picked second, and actually finished in a three-way tie for second. This year, UND was picked ninth, which as of right now is right on the money.

I'm not even sure if this whole weather discussion is supposed to be serious or not, but assuming it is, I don't understand the point behind making excuses for something, i.e. recruiting, that hasn't seemed to be much of a problem in the last five or six years. I have no complaints about the talent level in the program--recent past, present or immediate future. With what will be returning, and if Crandall and Seales are even close to being as advertised, I actually think UND will probably be top three in the Big Sky next year in talent. In spite of weather, hockey, Jones' salary, etc.

Last night was my first women's hockey game, and I was quite impressed. It's pretty cool that UND has three women's sports that average more than 1000 per game. I don't think there's many schools, particularly outside of the power 5 conferences, that have that.

I'm assuming Kuntz is Mike's son. Mike played at UND from 1988 to 1992 or 1993.

It's brutal for many, and less so for others. I don't think there's any way to predict how a given program is going to fare. 20 years ago, who in their right mind would have guessed that perennial NCC middle-of-the-pack programs like UNC and NDSU would have made it to the NCAA tournament early on in division I?

In the interest of full disclosure, Nagy had a track record of nine years, four NCC titles and a .781 winning percentage at the time SDSU started their transition. I don't pretend to know exactly why they struggled so badly for awhile there, but he clearly had earned a fair amount of slack given that pre-transition record.

I think UND will have a new a.d. within two to two and half years. Faison is under contract through June of 2017, and at his age I kind of doubt he's interested in working beyond that.

Some weird things happened during the transition. SDSU went from being a power in dII, to being really bad for several years. They finally recovered when Wolters was signed. NDSU went from being largely irrelevant as a dII program, to suddenly becoming strong. Actually, NDSU men's basketball and SDSU football have a lot in common in that regard.

Just in terms of winning percentage: .609--last nine years under Glas .468--first (almost) nine years under Jones And for the record, I don't dispute that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison.

He's kind of a mystery man to me. Came in with some decent credentials, but couldn't get on the field last year despite the total lack of depth that existed.

Has Cox bulked up enough to be a viable option? He needs to add about 30-40 pounds from last season IMO.

I would imagine you could say the same thing about coaches in any conference. But moving up is quite possible, as shown by Tad Boyle and Wayne Tinkle in recent years. Boyle managed to parlay one good season at UNC after three or four mediocre ones into the head coaching job at Colorado. I also don't believe having a low-paid men's basketball coach is something that will persist much longer. It's simply been a function of Jones having been hired with no head coaching experience at a then-dII school, and not having won at a high enough rate to earn a big raise, whether at UND or elsewhere. Either Jones will show in the next year or two that he's worth the $150k-plus that other coaches at regional peer programs get, or else the next guy will get that kind of salary.

Ditto. IMO the overall body of work hasn't been poor enough to be let go, nor has it been good enough for any other school to try poach him away. Next year is crucial, however.

Point taken, but the Weber loss at home really bothered me. Weber lost at SUU and at Idaho, both of whom UND beat on the road. That was simply a game UND can't lose at home.

I can't figure this team out. UND is the only Big Sky team with a losing record at home while having a winning record on the road in conference play so far. And it wouldn't even be so maddening if all the home losses had been to really good teams. But Weber St. and Portland St.? Those are the losses that may very well keep UND out of the Big Sky tournament.

I was just looking at the state track results from last year, to refresh my memory on Grady and Heidlebaugh. Especially interesting was the discus results: 1. Grady 2. Cieslak 3. Heidlebaugh Heidlebaugh is not only a very good quarterback and 6'5", but he also is one of the favorites for Mr. Basketball this year, finished in the top 3 at the state meet in the discus, triple jump and long jump (what an unusual combination) AND is fast enough to run a leg on Rugby's 800m relay. In terms of multi-sport athletes in ND this year, I don't think you'll find many better than Grady and Heidlebaugh.

Hartness twins are in.

Hansen caps off an incredible year for UND recruiting in Canada. Hard to imagine a better group of Canadians in one class anywhere in FCS.

Greer's twitter account still shows him as a UND commit. I think he's still very much on board.

Austin Gordon has committed to UND.

UND is down two games to Montana in the standings, still has to go to Missoula and Montana doesn't have to go to Sac. St. this year. It's not looking good for a repeat title.