UND92,96

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

I really don't undertand all this animosity towards basketball. Yes, it's unfortunate that the Sioux can't practice in the Ralph prior to the start of the NCAA's, but it's not like the REA people couldn't have foreseen that this might be a problem back at the time they were bidding on hosting the dII elite 8 a couple of years ago. And as for the UND basketball programs, don't fault them for playing conference games at the Ralph this year. That was REA's idea, too. I'm not as sure about Glas, but Roebuck has been telling anyone who'll listen that he wants to play ALL games in the Betty.

Here is an article with some information about possible UND recruit Kori Vernon: link. EDIT: It appears the link expired last night. Sorry.

What bashing? The consensus among UND men's basketball fans is that Rich is a good guy and should stay with the university in some capacity, but not as basketball coach. Rob Bollinger's current job would be perfect for Rich, IMO. Ten years without so much as an NCC title tends to make a UND basketball fan like myself a bit irritated, but I really don't think what I posted can reasonably be construed as bashing anyone.

I will say this, if Bollinger got the job it would great for UND basketball. Why? Because Rich Glas would be a good replacement for him as a fundraiser for the FSC, and somebody younger and hungrier could be hired as the men's bball coach.

It's a fair question, but the thing is that the majority of the applicants are either going to be assistant a.d.'s somewhere, which generally means that their focus is limited to one or two specific areas, or else they're a.d.'s at a smaller school without hockey and with a much smaller budget than UND. This is the most relevant part of Purpur's bio with regard to his experience at Stanford:

According to the WDAZ sports tonight, Purpur has finally applied.

In what has to be considered kind of a surprise, Kayla Bagaason makes first team a.p. all state in Minnesota, but Kierah Kimbrough only makes second team. link I would have thought it would be the other way around. It's pretty cool that Minnesota and Iowa St. are the only other schools besides UND to have signed more than one all-stater this year. Of the eight seniors named to either the first or second team, at least five are going to a major dI program, with obviously Bagaason and Kimbrough going to UND.

Koenig has all the tools--size, strength, above average athletic ability for a big kid (as shown by his football ability in high school as a wide receiver), and he can shoot the ball, or at least he could in high school. I don't know why things didn't work out for him at Green Bay. I certainly wouldn't look for him to be any kind of superstar, but he could definitely be a solid contributor if his heart is into it.

Good job tonight by St. Cloud defeating Concordia. The frustrating part for UND is that this is the second time in four years that a Sioux upset loss to an NSIC team opened the door for another NCC team who UND had beaten three times during the season. In 2002, SDSU took advantage of UND's loss to SW St. even though the Sioux were 3-0 vs. the Jacks that year. It was a similar story this year as UND was 3-0 vs. St. Cloud. I'm just glad that the NCC continued its stranglehold on the north central region title.

I know minnesotapreps.com had Gunhus ranked as the 7th best senior in Minnesota prior to this season--ahead of players like Vaughn, Pennick, Sussenguth and Gossen. I haven't ever actually seen him play, but he's apparently a good shooter and can put the ball in the basket. I would think he'd be worth at least a half scholarship, and since he's apparently an excellent student, he'd likely get the other half paid for in academic scholarship(s).

The following for both SCSU and UMD wasn't bad. It's hard to guess numbers, but perhaps 75-100 people. Concordia had very few fans, and Moorhead didn't have a great following either, considering how close Moorhead is to GF, but it was a Friday afternoon game when they played.