UND92,96

Congrats to Kristi Boese for being named first team all-region. link Unfortunately, a glaring omission was made by not selecting Ashley Langen for at least the second team. I didn't get a chance to see all that many NSIC or RMAC players, but there's no way UNO's J.J. Smith merited being selected ahead of Langen.

Both Rich Glas and his wife are big assets to the GF community, and for that reason I want to see them stay despite the fact that I also believe it's definitely time for a coaching change. It really could be a win-win situation for Rich to be out of the high-pressure, high-stress world of college coaching and into a job where his people-skills can be utilized for the benefit of UND.

Rypkema is the lone Sioux player selected all-NCC this year. link

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press: I know Ohm's career numbers are outstanding, but I also know she was pretty badly out-played by Langen at state last year.

Here are the actual seedings/matchups: 1. UND vs. 8. Fort Hayes St. 4. Concordia-St. Paul vs. 5. Metro St. 2. MSU-Moorhead vs. 7. St. Cloud St. 3. Regis vs. 6. UMD This almost makes it appear as though the seedings were done without regard for today's results. I don't see how Regis could have stayed at three, and Metro St. clearly wasn't rewarded at all for having beaten Regis again. Ditto for Concordia-St. Paul seemingly having several advantages over MSU-Moorhead. The good news for the Sioux is that they are in the opposite bracket from the other two NCC teams.

Concordia-St. Paul beat Moorhead, and Metro beat Regis today, which probably would have resulted in UND hosting the regional even had the Sioux lost last night. In any event, my guess as to what the seedings will look like is as follows: 1. UND 2. Concordia-St. Paul 3. MSU-Moorhead 4. Metro St. 5. Regis 6. UMD 7. St. Cloud St. 8. Fort Hays St. Spots two through five are somewhat unclear, although with Concordia beating Moorhead two of three meetings, and having quality non-conference wins vs. St. Cloud St. and UMD, I think they'll jump ahead of Moorhead despite Moorhead's better overall record and NSIC regular season title. The same would go for Metro jumping Regis since they beat Regis two of three meetings. It would be a bonus for UND if the Sioux would have opponents from the RMAC in the first two rounds. If the above seedings end up being accurate, I wouldn't be surprised to see a UND-SCSU title game. The actual pairings will be announced around 9 P.M.

If your grasp of history is that poor, you might want to consider not saying anything at all. Anybody who has followed either UND or NDSU women's basketball should be well aware of the fact that UND won in 1997, 1998 and 1999, with a runner-up finish in 2001.

According to the ncaa web site, apparently the regional has to take place on Friday, Saturday and Monday. I had hoped that perhaps it could be held Thursday, Saturday (afternoon) and Sunday so as to hopefully avoid going head-to-head with the hockey games. What this means is that on Friday night, assuming UND will be playing in the evening, parking is going to be a problem around the Ralph/Betty.

There were some pretty happy teams in this region when UND beat USD last night. USD would have knocked somebody out of the tournament had they earned the NCC autobid. As things stand now, the top eight teams from the most recent poll should all get in. I expect to see UND vs. Fort Hays in the first round at the Betty.

I agree that this team deserves great fan support, but let's remember that historically the NCC tournament does not draw well no matter where it's held. Last year in Fargo, the UND-NDSU game only drew about 2200, which is obviously far less than the regular season games between these two teams traditionally drew. If UND hosts the regional, I think the crowds will be considerably bigger than last night.

Congrats to both Kimbrough and Bagaason. It really sounds like both are very classy along with being outstanding players. What a run of talent for the northwestern part of Minnesota! The next big star may be Kamille Wahlin from Crookston (sister of UND football recruit Kenley Wahlin), who is just a 9th grader. Does anybody know whether Roebuck is recruiting Rebecca Mercer from Lake Region? She's another Australian, and she was the mvp of that conference. I believe she does have another year of juco eligibility, however. Since Gene has been here, it seems as though all the best Lake Region products have ended up at UND.

I agree that winning at Wayne probably isn't easy. On the other hand, McDermott had a good record there (about .700 I think), so it is possible to do well. Rico's record is under .500 if I'm not mistaken.

One guy I'd want to talk to if I were the UND a.d. is Brad Huse, the former coach at Jamestown College and a current assistant at Montana. He had something like a .750 winning percentage during his 8 years at Jamestown, and I believe they were 30-3 in his last year.

Is there any chance that Harmeson himself may urge Rich to step down? I just can't imagine that Rich doesn't see how this is likely to end up, and stepping down with the understanding that another position will hopefully be awaiting him in the athletic department would greatly help along the process. A new coach still probably wouldn't be in place until after signing day, but that may be a sacrifice that has to be made. Next year is probably not going to be very good, anyway.

If your point is that UND-NDSU was a much bigger rivalry than either school currently has, I completely agree and I doubt anybody would dispute that.

NDSU must have thought this was a pretty good idea since I see they charged more for their recent home basketball games with SDSU than any other home game this year. I wouldn't be surprised if you see the same for the football game against them next season.

Considering their 22-8 record, I have a hard time understanding how Augie has dropped completely out of the poll. Aside from UND, the NCC is not exactly sitting all that well for making the regional. UMD should still get in, but at fifth and with a first-round exit from the NCC tournament, they've put themselves in some jeopardy depending on what upsets may occur in the conference tournaments. SCSU is sitting at 7th with obviously an extremely difficult road game up next. Augie has to win the tournament to get in. Despite having very good records vs. the NSIC and RMAC, it's looking like it could be a struggle to get three NCC teams in.