UND92,96

Craig Riendeau certainly didn't have one of his better games that day, but he has a national championship ring and was named to three different all-america teams so I think we'll forgive him. In the interest of fairness, here's the box score from the game in question. It looks like if anybody was made to look silly that day, it would have been the Winona db's since UND quarterback Kelby Klosterman was 27-32 for 341 yards and 5 td's!

I like UND's chances tonight IF Roebuck has made an adjustment so that Lorenz and/or Froehlich can't back down Mahlum every time down the court and shoot over her from inside of 10 feet. It seemed like there was a clear-out about every other possession the last time these two teams played, and Amy is just too short to play good defense inside the paint against somebody 6 or 7 inches taller. UND has matchup advantages of its own in that NDSU doesn't have anybody who matches up very well with Boese. Fricke and Klabo are both far too slow to guard either Boese or obviously Leighton, and I doubt very much that any of the smaller players can deal with Boese down low. It would also be nice if Perrizo can hit a few outside shots. She's been very good hitting free throws this year, but from the floor she's really struggled of late.

I was kind of thinking the same thing regarding NCC women's basketball. UMD has done well in the past and probably will do well again in the near future, USD has obviously done well recently but whether they will continue to do so minus Koupal is a huge question mark, St. Cloud St. has potential but must step it up a notch or two, Augie is usually pretty decent but not great, and UNO and Mankato are typically awful. UND doesn't necessarily return a ton of talent next year, although I think Boese is outstanding and Mahlum and Jahner are pretty good guards, but I almost think they have to be considered heavy favorites next year by default. I do think that the Sioux will have some very good newcomers next season, as two Minnesota Ms. Basketball finalists have already signed and there are three or four pretty good red-shirts this year.

I'm not trying to put down the Huskies, but it's probably a good thing for them that the system doesn't take into account margin of losses, since they had some very bad ones late in the season. Not only did they lose 6 of their last 7, but they weren't even competitive in several of those games, i.e. against UND, NDSU, SDSU and USD.

Does anyone know how this year's red-shirts have done in practice? I'm assuming Sannes hasn't practiced at all due to injury, but I'm curious who is expected to contribute next season? I know Werdell is supposed to be a very good three-point shooter, and that is something that will be badly needed next year.

I'm pretty sure that UND would give Winkelman a full ride in a heartbeat if he committed. If he goes elsewhere, it will be another in the list of excellent high school players in recent years who we came close to getting, e.g. Matt Jones and Josh Mueller, but ultimately did not. It's tough because not only are we competing with lower level division I schools for some players--and a lot of kids are so enamored with the division I label that they don't even care that the actual caliber of play of many lower-tier division I conferences isn't very good--but also with the fact that a lot of kids would prefer to play closer to home. That's where we are at such a disadvantage with North Dakota and northwest Minnesota producing so few good basketball players. Once you get into South Dakota, Wisconsin or Iowa, the distance from home becomes a major obstacle if that player is also being recruited by a school which is a few hundred miles closer.

Of those two scholarships, do you think they'll hold one for awhile in the chance that Koenig is indeed going to transfer? Also, it sounds like Winkelman will announce his decision following the end of Morris's season, which should be within the next couple of weeks. Any rumor as to which way he's leaning?

I listened to Glas on the coaches' show last night, and he said that Ryp, Lindahl and Johnson combined to shoot a little over 50% on the year, but that the rest of the team combined shot well under 40% on the year. He sounded generally pleased with the defensive effort this year, but without question the shooting must be better next year. There was mention by Swyg that the assistants were currently recruiting in Ohio. I can only assume the are looking at junior college players. Glas confirmed what we already knew--that there's not much scholarship money available. However, he did say (although it was tough to hear due to the static) that they hope to sign one "difference-maker."

I've always felt that McFeely is pretty much anti-everything. He seems to revel in ticking off as many people as possible. Sort of a local version of Dan Barreiro.

It sounds like the Great West may be down to six teams, according to the Forum:

To be completely honest, I'm not very disappointed in last night's loss, because now this season is mercifully over and the coaches can get out and recruit a couple of more players. The odds of actually having won the NCC tournament to extend the season were pretty unlikely, anyway. It sounded like last night was a microcosm for the entire season. This year was a series of games where the Sioux played just well enough to lose. I'm not pointing any fingers since we all know there were extenuating circumstances which played a large role in the 14-14 season. But on the other hand, there was enough talent to actually have had a lead late in many games, so I can only assume there should have also been enough talent to hold onto it more often than we did. Even with the key injuries, I think 14-14 is a disappointment. This team still had enough talent to have won at least three or four more games than they did.

So what are the most glaring needs to address so that next year's team can contend for an NCC title? For one thing, I don't think this year's team had enough outside shooting. With Ryp dominating inside, it should have provided a lot of open shots for the perimeter guys. Lindahl can obviously knock down 3's, and Johnson will generally hit one or two of them per game, but nobody else was able to provide any consistency in that regard. I know Austin has the ability, but he just wasn't ever able to get things rolling. Jacobson also has ability, but must be far more consistent and play up to his ability. I know Doyle was a great shooter in high school, so hopefully he can recover from his injury. It's hard to know whether Parks will be able to recover enough to be an effective player considering the severity of his injury. Nobles should also provide some outside shooting. While there may be enough shooters on the current roster if they all played up to their abilities, I would like to see at least one more player who can be enough of a 3-point shooter to open things up inside. I'd also like to see another big man to spell Ryp on occasion and who can be a scoring threat while he's in there. Maybe Stoute can improve enough to be that guy, but that's not a certainty. Of course, Koenig would be an ideal candidate if he does indeed transfer. Otherwise, it will probably be necessary to add another transfer. I'm not even sure that he would necessarily need to be 6'8" or taller if he's strong and athletic. A King or a Staten, for example, were obviously able to do very well inside despite only being about 6'5" or 6'6". Finding that kind of a talent may not be realistic, but I'm sure there are juco's or dI transfers out there who can provide some more inside scoring punch. With a couple of additions, and continued improvement by some of the current players, next year's team has the potential to really do something. UNO and Mankato both return quite a bit, but I see no reason why UND can't win the league next year.

Isn't it a little odd that Stratton was named most valuable defensive back over Danny Gagner, who was first-team all-NCC?

Yes, he missed a whole bunch of free throws. It's been an issue all year. But come on, the guy was 13-19 from the field, scored 30 points, and averaged more than 25 over the last seven games! We're mad at him for not scoring 40? He's already shown more improvement during his career than anybody I can recall in the past 20-plus years of UND basketball. He went from being a seldom-used role player to all-conference and by far the best post man in the league. I predict that next year, he'll increase his free throw percentage to about 65%, will average 22 to 25 ppg on the year, and will have a very good shot at being NCC mvp.

That was a tough loss last night. St. Cloud shot the ball very well, but they are not exactly a well-rounded team in that they don't rebound well--the Sioux dominated the boards--and they have practically nothing in terms of post play, especially offensively. I can deal with allowing Carlson to go off since he's a very good player, but Miller? He was only averaging 12 ppg in the NCC coming into the game, so obviously he doesn't shoot that way very often. Jahner was clearly missed on the defensive end. It's hard to be too critical, however, when injuries have taken away the top two point guards. Nobody in the league has the depth to be able to withstand that kind of situation very well. Ryp was again solid with 24 points, even though he struggled more than usual from the floor. Lindahl shot very well and scored 26, and Johnson and Austin both played well, also, and scored in double figures. Generally, when you have two guys combine for 50 points, have two others in double figures, and dominate the boards, you're going to win. Unfortunately, St. Cloud just shot the ball very well, or at least two of them did. I'd still rather have a team where you have scoring threats both inside and outside, than a team where your only real chance to win is if your guards are hot from the outside. That doesn't leave much margin for error.

I have to admit that I don't follow high school hockey as closely as many of you, but does it seem like a highly-skilled kid from Grand Forks is more likely to forego his last season or two of high school eligibility in order to play junior hockey than a comparably skilled kid from, say, Warroad, Roseau or Moorhead? If so, why would that be? I can think of numerous GF players who have left early over the past 20 years. I believe Steve Johnson was the first, and it really seemed to have started a trend. I don't know if the same can be said of some of the other hockey hotbeds in the area. Maybe there have been and I'm just not aware of them.

Although I know that the NCC is very anxious for a presence in the Twin Cities, I'm a little wary of private schools, particularly those in large metro areas where they tend to get lost in the shuffle of larger schools and pro sports. For one thing, like Augie, neither St. Thomas nor Concordia-SP draw well at all for football. St. Thomas averaged just under 3000, while Concordia was significantly less than that. Perhaps playing at a higher level would help somewhat, but probably not too much. I also think it's just very difficult for private schools to compete well in football (at least at the division II level in the midwest) on a year-in, year-out basis because with tuition that is so much higher than public schools, it's very difficult to make 36 scholarships (assuming they even fund that many) go very far. At Augie, for example, I believe they offer mostly full scholarships, leaving them with very little depth and susceptible to having a few up years and many down years. I can see the same thing happening at St. Thomas and/or Concordia-SP, if they were to join the NCC.

I'm not sure if this is necessarily the best thread for this, but here's an article from the Sioux Falls paper regarding the loss of the SDSU-Augie and USD-SDSU rivalries. I thought it was interesting that the USD a.d. and football coach state that USD-UND could be a good rivalry. I would agree, to an extent, as far as men's basketball goes, as the two programs have had some classic games over the past 12 to 15 years. While the level of rivalry is certainly not the same, I think there have probably been more truly memorable games lately between UND and USD than between UND and NDSU, i.e. last year in Vermillion and the region title game back in about '93. Obviously, there's a huge gap between the two football programs, however, and I would doubt that the football game would be a true rivalry any time soon.

I'm not familiar with the loophole which would allow a team to claim a home game for what is in reality a road game so as to meet the minimum attendance requirements, but assuming such a loophole exists, I'm not sure I'd count on it existing for too long. It would be disingenuous--even for the NCAA--to enact a requirement which could so easily be artificially met.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I believe Glas said on the radio last night that Nobles is practicing again. However, there was no mention of him playing again this year. Does anyone know whether he's actually practicing, or just shooting free throws, etc.?

Nice job, star2city, that was impressive! Regarding Big Sky membership, how do you see Idaho fitting into the picture? I can't imagine they're going to be able to stay I-A for much longer.