UND92,96

I think what happened is that all spectators who weren't UND students, children or senior citizens ($18 per ticket) counted as one spectator. Children and seniors ($11 per ticket) counted as 11/18ths of a spectator, and UND students ($5 per ticket) counted as 5/18ths of a spectator.

I guess I didn't know they were missing anybody. It seemed to me like Kearney would have struggled against a zone since all they seemed to do was go one-on-one on every possession. I know some coaches (Glas and Roebuck in particular) really hate to play zone, but it has its place. God knows the UND women will face it a lot this year with their wildly inconsistent outside shooting.

I too was very disappointed in yet another loss to Bemidji. It appears that this year's team will be talented enough to beat anyone on a given night, particularly at home, but will also likely lose a lot of road games. I'm afraid that there could be another really embarrassing loss on the horizon since we play at Crookston again pretty soon, and that usually seems to be an adventure despite the fact that UMC is never any good. Even though beating Kearney was a nice accomplishment, it seemed as though the Sioux tried very hard to blow that game after building a 17-18 point lead in the second half. Twice down the stretch UND failed to even get off a shot on key possessions, and there were a number of missed free throws.

Regarding Mertens, he's a 4.0 student so you would think that he would end up getting a full ride between a partial football scholarship and academic scholarship(s). My understanding is that that was more or less the situation with Rory Manke last year, although I could be wrong about that. Regarding Chappell, I would think he should be in line for some track scholarship money, even though I know there isn't a lot of track money at UND. Again, hopefully between football and track he'd be close to a full ride. I had thought that Mahmoud got some track scholarship money in addition to football so this would not be unprecedented.

Just think, if the regions consisted of the same conferences they used to, UND-Pitt St. likely would have happened two weeks ago in the region semi-finals. UNO would likely have made the playoffs as the 6 seed. Grand Valley St. likely makes it to at least the semi's, and quite possibly the championship game as nobody in the current northeast region would have beaten them, and I think they would have had a good chance of knocking off Valdosta. If you're in the MIAA or the PSAC, you probably love the new alignment. The best team from those conferences has a virtual guaranteed spot in the semi's every year. Unless TAMUK gets really good again, it's hard to imagine anybody but Pitt St. or NW Mo. St. ever winning the southwest region. In the northwest, it's going to be a dogfight every year among UND, UNO, St. Cloud St., possibly USD, Winona St., Grand Valley, Saginaw Valley, Northwood, Tech, etc. It will be interesting to see how long the current region make-up lasts considering the vastly different number of quality teams in the northwest and southeast compared to the northeast and southwest.

Yesterday's win marks the 5th time in 12 years that UND has advanced to at least the semi-finals. Obviously that's quite an accomplishment at any level and in any sport.

I have been to every game played at the Alerus, and can generally predict the crowd size within about 500. This is the second or third time that the actual size of the crowd was probably about 2000 more than the announced crowd. The other times being the UC-Davis game in 2001 and the NDSU game in 2003. I guarantee that there were more than 10,000 people there yesterday.

Pitt St. has a good offense, but their numbers are somewhat inflated due to the fact that most of the teams they play have poor defenses. Look at recent history, and how has the MIAA fared against the NCC in the playoffs? Not very well at all, including Pitt's losses at UND in 2001 and 2003. I think Pitt St. has to be favored, but only because they're at home. This will not be a blowout, and UND can definitely hold them in the 20's with a good defensive performance. The key is whether our offense can do some damage against a Pitt defense that obviously can be scored upon (given up over 70 points in two playoff games this year). If the Sioux can force some turnovers, this is a winnable game. Dale Lennon isn't 10-2 in the playoffs by accident.

This was in the Herald today:

Congrats to Nick Mertens on being named player of the year in Minnesota by the A.P., and for leading EGF to its first ever state title! I have no idea how realistic UND's chances are of landing this kid, but he's one of the best local high school football players I've seen in a long time.

That list could be added to shortly. Rumor has it Heinitz at Augie may be hanging it up. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mussman were interested in that job.

It's the northwest against the southwest in the semi's, and since in the southwest it's the 1 vs. 2 seeds (Pitt St. hosting NW Mo. St.), it's a guarantee that whomever wins between Pitt St. and NW Mo. St. will host the semi's since they will be seeded higher than either UND or Grand Valley St.

UND adds another men's recruit: link. He was apparently an AAU teammate of Andy Wills with the Howard Pulley team. Between signing these two, and Bo Powell being one of the Pulley coaches, hopefully this pipeline can continue as some very good players go through that program.

I took it as a positive that Sweeney didn't say on the sports last night that the game WOULD NOT be televised. I'm sure they're getting a lot of calls about it, so if it definitely wasn't going to happen, I think he'd have said as much to put the issue to rest. I suspect we'll hear one way or the other by tonight.

According to the Herald today, both Mettlach and the pro prospect o-lineman aren't expected to play. It sounded like Wayne Nelson got his info straight from the Tech coach. But of course, whether he's telling the truth or not is another question.

I wonder if this guy is getting his brain picked a little this week?

It looks like depth is going to be a problem for the women this year, particularly on the interior. Boese and Langen will be tough inside, although Langen needs to cut down on the fouls. But Glynn is just not strong enough to do much inside, and neither Draayer nor Sannes are apparently ready to contribute as neither played at all tonight. I think the Sioux may have a few more losses this year than we are accustomed to seeing, particularly on the road, but hopefully the younger players will progress as the year goes along, and by next season we should be back to being a serious national championship contender. Hopefully we can win all the home games and go about 4-2 on the road in the NCC, which will probably be enough to win the league.

St. John's averaged 7800 on the year, which would be pretty good for most dII programs, let alone a dIII. What is interesting about their attendance is that for their games against MIAC opponents within about one hour drive, they draw from 9400 to 10,400. But for teams a little farther away, such as Concordia, they draw in the 5000's. That tells me that they are probably the beneficiary of having a lot of opposing fans living in the twin cities come to several of their games (Gustavus, Bethel, St. Thomas, etc.), since in terms of importance, the Concordia game should have been one of their biggest crowds but obviously was not.

I would say it's the responsibility of the a.d. to make sure that there is a certain degree of marketing of a game--particularly a playoff game. If there are print, radio and t.v. ads and people still don't turn out, then of course the problems run deeper than the public simply being unaware that the game is taking place. In St. Cloud's case, it sounds as though there simply wasn't any marketing, and that has to be Kurtz's fault. At UND, there is a marketing coordinator. I'm not sure if SCSU has a similar position, but if not, then such a position needs to be in the athletic budget or the problem will never be solved. I have family in St. Cloud, so I am very familiar with the challenges that SCSU has in terms of lack of local television and competition from sports in the Twin Cities and St. John's--problems which we at UND do not have to face. However, while SCSU may never get to the point where they a) have a facility which can hold 10,000 to 13,000; and b) can average 9000 to 10,000 per game like UND can, it should certainly be a reastic goal to consistently sell-out a 4200 seat stadium. Perhaps with better marketing, and better yet, a new a.d., that can be achieved.

Would it be fair to say that the responsibility for the complete lack of promotion falls squarely on Kurtz's shoulders? I've heard some SCSU fans complain about him in the past, and I can definitely see why.