UND92,96

I know the national poll has nothing to do with the regional polls, but it still seems pretty odd that a team unranked in the national poll (and they only received a few votes) could be ranked number one in one of the toughest regions in dII women's basketball. The RMAC simply isn't any good, and never has been. Even in something of a down year for the NCC, I have a hard time believing an NCC team does not even merit a top-2 ranking.

From today's Herald:

Well, I guess this shows how little I know: North Central Region 1. Regis (Colorado) 11-0 12-3 2. Concordia-St. Paul 8-2 11-4 3. Augustana (South Dakota) 8-3 17-4 4. St. Cloud State 8-3 14-4 5. North Dakota 8-3 14-4 6. Minnesota State Moorhead 8-3 13-3 7. Colorado School of Mines 9-3 11-3 8. Minnesota Duluth 7-4 13-5 9. Southwest Minnesota State 6-5 12-6 10. South Dakota 8-4 12-4 Roebuck is actually on the regional committee this year, so it will be interesting to hear his take on this.

So I guess we can officially now start speculating about candidates for RT's replacement. I have previously mentioned current Stanford assistant a.d. and UND grad Ray Purpur, and I think he'd be close to the top of the list if he actually applies. Does anybody know of other people with UND or area ties who might be a strong candidate? I'm sure there will be some in-house applicants like possibly Rich Glas, Mike Stromberg or Rob Bollinger. I personally would like to see somebody a little younger and with strong experience as either an a.d. or an assistant a.d. as opposed to exclusively coaching experience.

I'm curious about that, too. If there really is a $400,000-plus deficit, you would think we'd be seeing some action taken as a result. I'm not seeing any obvious ramifications that you'd expect to see in such a situation, but I certainly don't know the whole story.

There was an article about Kimbrough in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune today (it may require registration to access it).

One more question, how can NDSU fans realistically think that being a mid-major dI basketball power like the aforementioned schools is remotely possible considering NDSU's history as a dII program? I can see it possibly happening in the not-to-distant future for the women's programs at NDSU and SDSU (just as I think it could happen for UND should they go dI), but it's highly, highly unlikely that the NDSU men will ever be comparable to Gonzaga, et al. in men's basketball. It's fine to hope for the occasional trip to the Big Dance (should NDSU find a conference), but it's a huge difference between making the field every 20 years or so as a 16 seed and getting hammered by Duke or Kentucky in the first round, to being a team like the Zags who make the tournament practically every year and who the teams from major conferences legitimately worry about playing against.

The first women's regional poll is supposed to come out tomorrow, and as crazy as it seems, UND could very well be number one. Nobody from the RMAC even received any votes in the last top-25 and it's highly unlikely that any of its teams will be ranked very highly in the region. It's probably between UND, Augie and Concordia-St. Paul, each of which has four losses, and USD with three losses (but obviously coming off a lop-sided loss to UND and without many wins versus strong teams).

As for my theory, see the thread regarding NCC scheduling.

She did have a huge game at Omaha, and I have actually been pretty impressed with how she's been playing, particularly the fact that she's cut down on her turnovers. Both games this weekend were lop-sided from the start, and she didn't really need to assert herself as a scorer. The really encouraging thing about last night's game was the fact that UND built a 25-point halftime lead despite only about a combined 10 points from Langen and Boese. Carissa Jahner has really improved her offensive game this year, and is a pretty reliable third offensive weapon behind Langen and Boese.

I'm not saying that there's some kind of conspiracy against UND or anything, but I think the powers-that-be who made out the NCC schedule this year did a rather poor job from a UND perspective. First, having UND vs. UNO for the first two conference games was stupid and unnecessary, even though it turned out well for the Sioux on the men's side. Probably more importantly, there are two instances this season where UND has a game on one night, and then turns around and plays again the following night against a team who didn't have to play the night before. Last night was the first time, and later this year UND plays UMD on the second night of a back-to-back when UMD will have had a week's rest prior to playing the Sioux. I quickly checked the NCC composite schedule, and I didn't see that any other team has to do this even once, let alone twice (although I could easily have missed it and this might be happening to other teams, as well). I'm not saying USD wouldn't have won last night anyway, but you can't tell me that it wasn't a major advantage for them to catch the Sioux the night after having had to play a tough game against UNO, while USD had fresh legs from not having had to play since last weekend. Why couldn't the games this weekend have been Thursday and Saturday instead of Friday and Saturday? At least then it's not such a huge advantage for the team that has just one game.

I'm not sure their stats are available anywhere on the web, but the Herald did have a nice article on Kimbrough and Bagaason today. The article said Kimbrough is averaging 34.3 ppg on the season thus far.

While I doubt she'll actually win Ms. Basketball due to how far away from the twin cities she plays, and the fact that Katie Ohm (going to UMinn next year) just broke the all-time career scoring record, I at least hope she's a finalist for the award. With the kind of career she's had, I think she deserves some state-wide recognition. I'd be surprised if there's a better player in MN this year than Kimbrough. It would be great to see her match up with Ohm at state.

Is Lindsay Draayer still on the team? She hasn't played at all in the past three games, and I didn't see her on the bench last night. She must either be very sick/injured, or has left the team. It was nice to see Val Sannes play a little last night. I believe that was her UND debut.

The official attendance numbers were about 3500 for the women and 3800 for the men, which isn't bad. The atmosphere was like it's typically been at REA for basketball, which is to say it's pretty dead. It's hard to say how much of that was due to 1) the women's game was pretty lop-sided for most of the game and 2) the men's game had no flow to it. But I suspect that barring an absolute classic nailbiter (and even then I'm not sure the atmosphere would be much better), it's going to be very quiet in REA for a basketball game.

I believe tonight was far more representative of the "real" UND women's team than were the last two games at SW St. and UNO. If a neutral observer had only seen tonight's game, they would not believe it possible that UND could have ever lost to UNO. Nevertheless, the Sioux need to start learning how to play away from home the way they play at BEA/REA. Of course, the other big difference between the two games was Ashley Langen. She was apparently quite hobbled last week, but dominated tonight, scoring 22 pts. in just 20 minutes. Kudos to Rich Glas and the Sioux men for an impressive sweep of UNO. I'd be surprised if anybody else in the NCC manages that feat this year.

Most of the best offensive talent in the NCC from this year returns. Look for Jamar Day from UNO, Stefan Logan from USD and Matt Birkel from SCSU to all be prime candidates.

I hope Dressler does eventually run, as he is probably the best high school sprinter in ND history (in my opinion). But he certainly wouldn't be the first outstanding track and field athlete not to compete while at UND. Jim Kleinsasser could have been a national champion in the discus and/or shot put. Ditto for Casey Blue. Both were ranked very highly nationally in the discus while in high school, and were both at or very near the 60-foot level as high school shot putters.

According to the WDAZ sports last night, it sounds like RT is going to be offered the commissioner's job. One of the issues is whether he can remain in GF, or whether he must move to Sioux Falls. I found it interesting that the chair of the selection committee is none other than mr. politically correct himself, Roy Saigo of St. Cloud St.

I think the UND women will win big--by 20 or more. Aside from the Northern State fiasco, they've really done well at home, including a fairly convincing win over highly-ranked Seattle Pacific. Clearly, the Sioux have been quite poor away from home, however. The men's game will likely go down to the wire. If Rypkema can stay out of foul trouble and UND can knock down some 3's, don't be too surprised if the Sioux get the sweep. If the "good" Sioux team shows up, they're extremely difficult to beat. If the team that lost to Bemidji St. and Concordia-St. Paul shows up, then UNO probably wins easily.

I see that the new track roster has been posted, and although there are (by my count) six football players listed, Dressler is not one of them.

There was a theater in the Crown Colony complex. I believe it closed some time in the mid-90's. It may have been briefly a discount theater towards the end.