UND92,96

Does anyone know whether UND is still in the running for Brett Winkelman? It looks like UND is in a bit of a difficult situation recruiting-wise with such a large junior class right now. The positive is, of course, that having a senior-dominated team should pay dividends on the court next season. On the negative side, there will be a lot of roster spots to fill but I assume there's not much scholarship money available until after next season. BTW, is anyone else as surprised as I am that despite 61 points and 20 boards on the weekend, Rypkema didn't even get co-player of the week in the NCC?

Well said. Just so there's no misunderstanding here, I am most assuredly NOT saying that Mussman should be fired, demoted, or tarred and feathered. And I think Sic probably brought up a valid point in that it's quite possible that Lennon's conservative nature does have a bearing on Mussman's play-calling. Predictability is probably the most valid criticism, IMO.

Lay off? What exactly did I write that was out of line? My post was more complimentary of him than it was critical. I don't claim that I would be any better of a play-caller, but I'm hardly the only one on this board who has scratched his or her head about some of his decisions. If that makes me hyper-critical, then so be it. I appreciate the end results, i.e. the wins and the fact that the offense has typically been towards the top of the NCC in points scored. I personally would just like to see a little less predictability, which was a large part of what cost us the Mesa St. game this past year according to some of the comments made by their coaching staff and players after that game.

It will be interesting to see which Mankato team shows up next weekend--the one that took SDSU to the wire in Brookings on Saturday, or the one that lost to woeful Augie on Friday. It will also be interesting to see how Rypkema does against Mankato's center Whitfield, who is a pretty good defender and who leads the league in blocked shots.

I'm only mildly concerned about the offensive line, as there's a nice nucleus to start from with Smith, Kuper and Hendrickson. As for the other two spots, there will be some inexperience, but probably not a lack of talent. While I'm not always too impressed with Mussman's play-calling, he seems to have really done a nice job with the offensive line over the past several years considering how many good ones the Sioux have had recently. I can only assume that it's not all just a matter of having talent--it seems to have been developed nicely also. As for the defensive line, I think it looks really good. With the return of Ross Brennan, it should be just that much better if he can get back into shape. Duchscher had a very nice first year of starting at nose guard, earning honorable mention all-NCC. Brennan should be able to rotate in with him, along with possibly the younger Muro who was a heck of a high school player two years ago. Newhouse and Peterson both played a lot already as backups, and should be able to step into starting roles very nicely. I assume senior Mike Gruschalla should have the inside track for one of the backup defensive end positions, and there should be a group of freshmen who should contend for the other backup position(s), similar to how this past year's freshman class (Babington-Johnson, S. Brennan and Ullsperger) was able to contribute at the linebacking positions right away.

A very nice and unexpected win by the men last night in Vermillion. Rypkema is on fire in the second half of the NCC season, averaging just over 25 ppg. Not bad for a first-year starter, huh? The Sioux are also in a position to actually finish at .500 in the league with two home wins next weekend. I personally never thought that would be possible. Also, UND has a realistic chance to move as high as fourth (and even an outside chance of tying for third if NDSU stumbles twice next weekend at home), which would mean a home game in the first round of the NCC tournament. The biggest keys are, of course, winning twice next weekend, and USD losing at home to SDSU. If both of those happen, I believe the Sioux are assured of no worse than the fourth seed since UND swept USD and would therefore own the tie-breaker.

I would agree that Smith will likely move back to tackle, where he started the first few games of the 2002 season. I think the problem before was that his feet weren't quick enough to deal with speed rushers, but hopefully he's better prepared now. Regarding the quarterback situation, my concern with Carney, as well as my beef with Bowenkamp, is the lack of scrambling ability. I haven't actually seen Carney play enough to know for certain, but at his size it would seem unlikely that he's very nimble. Bowenkamp probably has the speed, but he has no elusiveness and seems to lack the instinct of when to run and when not to. Groeschl has certainly shown his athletic ability and he definitely can run. I'm pretty sure the same can be said of Manke. I haven't seen Bellmore play at all so I have no idea whether he can run or not. Having a quarterback who can get you a first down by running when the play breaks down is such a weapon, and unfortunately it's been lacking ever since Klosterman went down with an injury in 2002. Nothing against Bowenkamp since he's been very respectable for the most part, but I honestly hope he's the last immobile quarterback we have at UND for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, there are, as mentioned, some very mobile quarterbacks in the program right now, and it looks like recruit Dan Freund also fits that mold. Regarding Alexander, it would seem that with his speed he needs to see the field one way or the other. There's such a log jam at both defensive back and receiver that I'm not sure which side of the ball he would stand a better chance at playing next year. I'd be very surprised if he isn't the primary kick returner, at the very least.

An inability to win meaningful games away from Hyslop has become a disturbing trend the past few years for the UND women. With tonight's loss to USD, that makes four straight losses in Vermillion, three losses out of the last four games in Brookings, and three straight losses in Fargo. Obviously, the NCC will change a lot next year with the departures of NDSU and SDSU, and the likely fall back into mediocrity by USD with the graduation of Koupal, but nevertheless the UND women had better figure out how to win on the road if another national championship is going to be won any time soon.

UND Fan: Do you know whether there has ever been any discussion between the basketball coaches and Carney about playing hoops? I believe he was first team all-state and was considered one of the top three or four players in SD his senior year, and at about 6'7" and 230 pounds or so, he would provide a big body in the paint. Of course, not having played competitive basketball in several years probably means he would be very rusty, but he might be worth a look. Keaveny at SW St. showed that a guy can start off playing a different sport and still have a nice basketball career.

Yes, Rick is Paul's son.

I don't disagree with you that such a scenario is unlikely, I just thought it was interesting that after numerous Forum articles and/or local sportscasts over the past couple of years mentioning possible Big Sky expansion, this was the first time that NDSU's name came up with a potential partner (Idaho) other than SDSU. In case you didn't see it, it was was mentioned by Jeremy Jorgenson on Fox at 9:00.

If last year's start time is any indication, we're just over a month away from the start of spring football. One thing I will be interested in is who emerges as the backup quarterback. If I'm not mistaken, Bowenkamp can't take part in spring ball since he'll be a sixth-year senior next fall. That means that Carney, Bellmore, Manke and possibly Groeschl should all have ample opportunity to show what they can do with the first-team offense. Also, who will be the four primary receivers? Johnson and Grossman have the most experience, but Groeschl (if he's not playing quarterback), Weber, Ranson, Presthus, Van Dyke, Loegering and Ott should all contend, also. Finally, who will emerge at corner? Obviously Manke and Hoffschneider return as starters, but Franklin, Alexander and Greenwood, among others, should also be serious contenders for playing time.

somebison: You have to admit that it would be pretty funny if NDSU managed to get into the Big Sky (along with Idaho) and left SDSU to fend for themselves after all the talk about being travel partners. That might actually be enough to create a REAL rivalry between NDSU and SDSU.

I think 99% of the reason that there even was a press conference was to field all the "why isn't NDSU on your schedule" questions at once. Some people seem to have misconstrued the reason there even was a press conference as if it was to tell the world "heh, look how great our schedule is." True, it's a very good schedule, but if it weren't for the whole NDSU issue, it would have simply been announced via a press release like every other year. If an 11th game is added, great, but I don't think they wanted to delay the inevitable any longer, i.e. to confirm that NDSU would not be on the schedule.

There had been some talk earlier about NDSCS and ex-NDSU linebacker Tyler Morrow transferring to UND. Does anybody know whether he decided to play another year at NDSCS? I didn't see his name on any school's list of signees, and I believe he does have another year of juco eligibility.

This was just posted on allcanadagridiron.com:

While it's not that big of a deal in the scheme of things, the fact that Marissa Leighton only got co-NCC player of the week despite scoring 64 points on the weekend is a joke. Some freshman from USD whom I've never even heard of and who scored 24 fewer points than Leighton somehow warranted equal billing in someone's estimation. For whatever reason, the conference seems to have a very hard time awarding the player of the week honor to just one player in a given week.

I agree. I'm almost positive the actual crowd was more like about 3000. But let's face it, I don't think they have exactly the most accurate methods of counting at Hyslop. At REA, you know the figure should be pretty exact, but at Hyslop, who knows where they get the numbers from?

SDSU has actually won three of the past six games in Brookings between the two teams. It's the recent games in Grand Forks that have all been complete blow-outs, with UND winning the last six games by an AVERAGE of just under 27 points.

I have a feeling that any attempt by the legislature to get involved in college football scheduling may end up in Sports Illustrated in their weekly "This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse" segment. For those unfamiliar with that particular segment of SI, here's an example of a recent one: a Catholic high school in Pennsylvania recently ran an ad for exotic dancers in its girls' basketball program.

Rypkema and Lindahl are really headed in opposite directions right now. When he's not in foul trouble, it doesn't look like anybody in the league can guard Ryp one-on-one once he gets the ball on the low blocks. If he could make free throws, he'd be unstoppable. Granted, the post play in the NCC is really down, but Ryp appears to me to be by far the best offensive post player in the league. Lindahl, on the other hand, has completely disappeared the past two or three weeks. I have no idea what happened to him since he was on his way to being an all-NCC selection at the halfway point of the conference season. Between Lindahl, Jacobson and Jahner, I'm not sure who played the worst last night. The best lineup right now would appear to be Ryp, Wells (for defensive reasons only), Johnson, Austin and Dahl.

In another interesting matchup last night, Kimbrough out-scored NDSU signee Ali Sonstelie of Sacred Heart 33-17 in an easy B-G-MR win.

It was definitely a great performance by the women last night. Leighton and Boese are the best one-two punch in the league. There are also some definite parallels between UND's home games with SDSU in both football and women's basketball. On the road, it's almost always going to be tight, but at home, the games are nearly always blow-outs. It's been 7 or 8 years since SDSU has come within 12 points of the Sioux at Hyslop, and many of those games have been very one-sided, including a 24-point win last year and a 38-point win two years ago.