UND92,96

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.

Very, very sad news. He was a great man.

I see UNO and SCSU as being the two biggest rivals for the Sioux in the NCC. SCSU is probably more of a friendly rivalry considering the mutual respect between the coaching staffs, whereas the rivalry with UNO is probably more bitter, at least so long as Behrnsy is coaching there.

I have no problem with it so long as there is a stipulation in the agreement that the NCC would have an "out" clause allowing the Washington schools to be dropped if more than one all-sports member can be found. I think what some people are afraid of is that adding the Washington schools as football-only members would hinder the search for permanent NCC members.

I'm sure they're not as bad as they looked when they played the Sioux in Grand Forks, but on the other hand, they're only 3-4 against teams ranked in the current region poll, they're 1-2 vs. the NCC, and aside from winning at SW St. last week, they have no quality road wins. I think a lot of people probably have a hard time overlooking the fact that they've never been very good in the past, and as such look at them with a certain amount of skepticism. It's possible that the best team they've had coincided with a down year in the NSIC, which allowed them to win the conference. I would not expect them to consistently be any better than about fourth in the NSIC on a year-in, year-out basis.

6-6 (6-7 counting the tournament) in the NCC is not solid by any means. The non-conference season was solid, but that's meaningless when you're not even over .500 in the league. Labeling the season as anything other than a big disappointment is just delusional. And as others have said, next year is looking far, far worse.

Let's win two this weekend and the regional will return to GF for the first time in four years. I would never have thought this possible back in January after back-to-back losses to SW St. and Omaha.

There has been a lot of discontent for years, but last year I think most people were willing to cut Rich some slack due to the injuries. Clearly, that was not an excuse for this year's collapse. Right now, if a poll of season ticket holders was taken, I think about the only people who would want Rich retained are his close friends. The program is in serious need of new blood. I just hope Rich can admit that to himself and help this process along.