UND92,96

I have football programs from both '78 and '79. There are the usual "mug shot" pictures of the players, but that's about it. If you would like to use them, you certainly can.

These are the people we can thank for putting this tournament in such a fine facility: Laure Smith, Nebraska-Kearney (chair) Todd Barry, Wayne St. Lisa Carlsen, Nebraska-Omaha (presumably replaced since she's been fired at UNO) Paul Fessler, Concordia-St. Paul Steve Kirkham, Mesa St. Nancy Neiber, South Dakota St.

Godfread didn't play at all. It's probably not too surprising since he only averaged 5 minutes per game on the season. It's interesting to compare and contrast the careers of Godfread and Rypkema. I have no idea how highly the UND staff thought of Godfread coming out of high school, but in the event that UND really wanted him and Ryp was something of a consolation prize, it's safe to say that UND got the far better end of that deal.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize that game was on until late in the first overtime, but at least I caught the end of it. That was quite an accomplishment since the Mo. Valley is a very tough league. It's hard to know what Mac's career aspirations are. I assume he's quite happy at UNI since that's his alma mater, but if a big-name school came calling I'm sure it would be very tough to turn down.

Let me preface this by saying that I really have nothing against UNO. I will admit to harboring some resentment towards Behrns due to his coaching job at UND, although I was only in grade school at the time, and the way the 1996 game in Grand Forks ended, but nothing serious. I also think that it's good for the league that UNO and SCSU are both playing at a high level, along with UND, so that the league can hopefully keep its place amongst the top dII leagues despite the recent losses of schools. Regarding stereotyping, I guess I haven't seen or heard anything like that. I will admit that certain UNO players do a bit more of what appears to be taunting than what I like to see, but I don't relate that at all to race. It's more of a sign of the times, but thankfully it is highly discouraged at UND, and from what I've seen by most of the other schools in the NCC. That's not meant as a direct knock on Behrns--just an observation. Trust me, nobody who knows anything about football is treating any game, and in particular the game at Omaha, as an automatic win. True, many of us are quite optimistic about next season due to the large number of returnees and the obvious fact that we were close to another national championship this past year, but past success doesn't automatically mean current or future success as we found out in 2002.

This was in the Star-Tribune today: I guess we'd better hope she wants to stay close to home for college. A 6'2" girl athletic enough to be second in the hurdles at the state track meet AND be the all-time single-season scoring leader for MN is extremely impressive.

You can take a virtual tour of this arena here. Corella is correct with regard to there being permanent seating on just one side. I honestly don't think the Concordia athletic department has any idea what it's gotten itself into. The idea of ticket demand far exceeding ticket supply is going to be a completely foreign concept for them. Way to think this through, regional committee.

It really doesn't look like Concordia is very well prepared to host this tournament. I just read on their web site that there will be no advance ticket sales. You have to buy your tickets at the arena, and the ticket windows won't open until one hour before the first game. Also, all tickets will be general admission--no reserved seats at all. I don't think I've ever heard of not being able to buy tickets in advance, and not having any reserved seats.

Congrats to Todd Rypkema and Evan Lindahl for being named all-conference. But Tola Dada being named league mvp? Give me a break. I wouldn't have put him in my top five for that award. Staten, King, Moeller, Carlson, Rypkema and probably others were all far more deserving.

I was hoping, but not expecting. I think Concordia is a total fraud right now. Maybe they would have had a shot at winning the regional at full strength--a longshot but a shot nonetheless--but I see them having no shot now. SDSU has almost a bye into the final despite being a number four seed. They crushed Kearney earlier this year, and I see them having no problem whatsoever against either UMD or Concordia. Concordia somehow managed to finagle three home games out of their four games against NCC opponents, and took advantage of it for the most part, although I would dare say that their wins over both NDSU and SDSU were more or less flukes. In a rematch, I'd look for a 20-plus margin of victory for any of the NCC teams against them. I just hope that the regional committee membership changes next year. I believe this has been the exact same committee for at least the last three years. I realize that members are supposed to recuse themselves when discussion of their own teams comes up, but does anyone believe that it's a coincidence that Mesa St. and Concordia have had reps on the committee the past three years?

Although the Concordia web page lists the capacity of its arena as being 1200, the announced attendance at the NSIC title game was 2199, so apparently it can hold a few more than previously thought. I still think it's irresponsible to hold this tournament in a facility that can't even hold as many people as at least three of the NCC schools in the tournament AVERAGED on the year. There should be a minimum capacity of 3000 or 4000 in order to host, and if you haven't even managed to average 1000 people per game on the year, then don't bother bidding. Concordia averaged under 700 on the year, and hadn't had a crowd of 1000 until the NSIC semi-finals. I find it disingenuous that money plays a huge factor in being the impetus behind strict regionalization for football and basketball, yet when it comes to potential for revenue-generating in the playoffs, money is apparently meaningless.

That's probably part of it, but the conspiracy theorist in me thinks there's some kind of unspoken agreement between the RMAC and NSIC committee reps to award the top-ranked team between those two leagues the right to host if it can possibly be justified. Two years ago, it was as if we were supposed to conveniently forget that the NCC has won this tournament every single year since its inception. I think everybody who knows anything about dII women's basketball in this region knows that if Concordia had to travel to Grand Forks, Fargo, Brookings, Vermillion, etc., they would have at least four more losses, and quite possibly five or six more losses. I think it's insulting everybody's intelligence to act like a 27-3 team from the NSIC or RMAC is somehow better than NCC teams with a few more losses but who are playing a far more challenging schedule. Unfortunately, the waters were muddied somewhat by Concordia winning early-season home games against NDSU and SDSU (along with a loss to the 5th-place team from the NCC St. Cloud St.) Just as the committee had egg on its face when Mesa promptly lost two years ago, I look for the same thing to happen this time around. Duluth is the only NSIC team who has shown anything over the years, and they've never hosted. Why should a janie-come-lately like Concordia be rewarded when they haven't accomplished anything as of yet?

According to the Concordia web page, their arena seats just 1200! With all the UND grads in the cities, plus all the NDSU and SDSU people who I assume would go, there is no way that this tournament should be in an arena that small. There will probably be a lot of people turned away at the door if UND, NDSU and SDSU all make the semi's. But my faith in the regional committee went out the window two years ago when Mesa St. was awarded the right to host with a gym that makes Concordia's look like a palace by comparison, not to mention the complete lack of success enjoyed by the RMAC over the years. It was political correctness run amuck. Hey, let's let everybody have a turn hosting! I'm sure there's going to be some very interesting conversations going on today and tonight by the committee members, but I have very little confidence in the tournament being anywhere else but Concordia despite not having an adequate facility with which to host.

Even if Concordia does, as expected, host the regional, they are about as vulnerable of a 27-3, number one seed as you can get. They lost their second-leading scorer in the conference semi's with an a.c.l. injury, and prior to their loss today they managed to beat a pretty mediocre Moorhead team by just three points (at Concordia) yesterday. If ever that criteria regarding availability of student-athletes was going to come into play, this would be an example of how it could since losing your second-leading scorer is a pretty big blow at this time of year. In the end, though, Concordia's overall record and their early-season wins over NDSU and SDSU will most likely get them the number one seed. I still look for them to go out early--maybe even in the first round.

I know a lot of NDSU fans accuse Gene Roebuck of basically being a jerk. Well, this quote, which appeared in both the Forum and Herald, is an example of why many UND fans feel the exact same way about Amy Ruley: I think most of us agree that it's stupid that the NCC even has a post-season tournament for women. Thus far, I don't believe it's gotten any team into the tournament who wouldn't have gotten in anyway. But to basically say that "we didn't care anyway" after a loss is an example of not knowing when to keep your mouth shut. If NDSU truly didn't care about winning a game with their arch-rival, they should have just forfeited and saved 3300 fans some money.

If the committee actually follows the criteria set out by the NCAA--and I personally doubt that they will based upon recent history--it would appear that the Sioux have made a pretty good argument for the number two seed. Here is how the criteria shake out as between UND and NDSU according to my very unofficial compilations: 1. overall won-loss UND 25-5 NDSU 24-6 advantage: UND 2. head-to-head UND 1-2 NDSU 2-1 advantage: NDSU 3. records vs. common opponents UND 15-2 NDSU 13-4 advantage: UND 4. won-loss within region UND 19-4 NDSU 18-6 advantage: UND 5. overall strength of schedule UND 10.53 NDSU 10.77 advantage: NDSU 6. within region s.o.s. UND 11.04 NDSU 10.50 advantage: UND 7. availability of student athletes--not applicable So it appears that UND has the advantage in four of the six applicable criteria, which are to be considered in no particular order of relevance. But the regional committee has already shown in the past two years to not have any particular fondness for UND as the Sioux were basically robbed of the right to host two years ago in favor of Mesa St., and last year we had a four to one advantage in the criteria, with one tie, compared to NDSU, but were still seeded lower. I wouldn't be surprised if UND is seeded as low as fourth. But the most important thing is that the site will be a neutral floor for the NCC teams. I don't believe Concordia would have finished higher than 5th in the NCC, so I would be shocked if they actually win the tournament despite hosting. UND should have confidence after finally showing that they can beat good teams away from Hyslop. I believe the twin cities is probably the most beneficial site for UND other than Hyslop as there should be a very nice UND contingent there--quite possibly more than even Concordia will have.

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.