UND92,96

Although Gwozdecky isn't the most popular person these days from a UND perspective, I did like this quote from him in the SI article regarding REA: I was also pleasantly surprised that SI actually refrained from taking any potshots at Ralph.

The last of the three planned on-campus interviews occurs April 20-21. Most likely, a decision will be made shortly thereafter.

RD17 or star2city (or anybody who has any "inside info")- Which school or schools are the most likely next additions to the NCC? I think we've all touched on the schools that are potential candidates, and a lot of people have opinions as to who they'd like to see join, but I'm interested in who you think are realistic candidates? I don't really think any more NSIC schools will leave soon because they don't have to the money to fund football scholarships at a higher level and they're content where they're at for other sports. The u.p. Michigan schools are apparently not looking to leave. That pretty much leaves Kearney, who has repeatedly denied interest in the NCC (probably for the same reasons as the NSIC schools), and perhaps the Washington schools, MSU-Billings (except for football), some current NAIA school(s), or perhaps we just wait for SDSU to bounce back after a few more years of not being able to find a conference.

Mary should do fine, but Upper Iowa? I'm not so sure about them. They were a combined 15-49 this season in the three most popular dII sports (football, and men's and women's basketball) for a winning percentage of .234. The school only has approximately 700 students on campus, and the town of Fayette has a population of 1300. It would appear that Upper Iowa almost makes UMC look like one of the "have's" of dII by comparison. Aside from it being reasonably close to Winona, I'm not really sure what they bring to the table for the NSIC.

A nice letter to the editor by St. Cloud St. coach Lori Ulferts (scroll down to the second letter):link

It sounds like Webb is probably going to Minneapolis Community and Tech. College for a year, and then he'll give dI ball another try at a mid-major.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has come out with their annual list of the top 20 seniors in Wisconsin: link. Jesse Blackwell is at 20, and Kori Vernon is at 17. According to the list, St. Cloud St., Concordia-St. Paul and Lewis, in addition to UND, have offered Vernon. Also, this was Blackwell's all-area bio from the LaCrosse paper:

Graham--were you at the protest outside REA prior to the dII basketball championship game? I'm curious, why is it that despite the fact that there are approximately 400 Native American students at UND, plus numerous caucasion faculty members whose politics are considerably left of center, only about 75-80 people total (including non-Natives and people from outside the area) showed up to protest? That's essentially identical to the number that showed up to protest when REA opened in 2001. I would think that if a large number of people on campus were truly passionate about changing the status quo, they would show up for events like these, particularly considering CBS was present.

This part of the article was interesting to me: I can only assume that Four Winds (Indians), Belcourt (Braves), Fort Yates (Warriors), Solen (Sioux), etc. qualify as educational institutions. I've been waiting for years for a compelling argument as to how a name can be considered honorable on a reservation, but "racist" and "demeaning" everyplace else.

This was in the May 19, 1997 "NCAA Record":

I do like the fact that aside from Dressler and Grossman, there will be a lot of receivers in the 6'1" to 6'4" range, similar to 2003. Obviously, simply being tall doesn't guarantee that they will be successful, but it doesn't hurt either.

Here is a Herald article on the start of spring ball. link It's interesting that Groeschl is going back to quarterback. That would seem to make playing time for him much less likely than at receiver.

I guess this can put the Roysland-to-transfer rumor to rest.

I see where Miles Webb has left the Minnesota basketball program and will be transferring. Any chance he might end up in the NCC?

I posted this idea on d2football.com and it was received positively by most NCC fans, so I figured I'd share it here, as well. Assuming for the sake of argument that Central Washington and Western Washington are added as football-only members, how about adding a school like Montana State-Billings as a member for all other sports? They don't have football, but they are generally very solid in men's and women's basketball. Being located in the eastern part of Montana, they're closer than Northern Colorado was, at least for everybody except perhaps UNO. They don't really have a true conference at present, as they play in a quasi-conference with three Hawaii schools and one from New Mexico. For basketball in particular, that would put the NCC back at an even number of teams with 8. I know it's not an ideal solution, but I really don't think there are going to be any good alternatives for all-sports members unless a school like Winona St. does the unexpected and wants to move, or perhaps Carroll College from Montana if they decided to move from NAIA to dII. Thoughts?

It looks like UND is looking for a soccer coach. Again. link What is the deal here? This will be the 5th different coach for a program that started in 1999. The program has actually done exceptionally well on the field, but why is it that this is the one program at UND that can't keep a coach for more than a year or two?

According to the Denver press release, it was Gwozdecky's decision.

It's still a modest number, but the paid attendance for last night's late game between Metro St. and Virginia Union exceeded 1100. I think that's a small victory considering it's more than the attendance for the women's north central region title game at the Betty between two relatively local teams in St. Cloud St. and Concordia-St. Paul. Family obligations kept me from yesterday's games, and will unfortunately keep me from the championship game, but I will be there tonight for what should be some very good basketball.

The thing to keep in mind is that obviously with the first two games being played on a Wednesday afternoon, attendance was going to be very low. That was inevitable and probably a surprise to nobody. The real barometers of the success or failure of the tournament will the semi's and championship games. So long as the numbers don't come in too far below what most of the past year's tournaments have drawn, particularly considering the complete lack of any regional teams, the tournament should not be considered a disapointment IMO.

Purpur is no longer a candidate according to the Herald: full article