UND92,96

I have heard that Britz is gone, also.

I heard from a pretty reliable source that three womens players won't be returning next year. Two are probably not much of a surprise, but one is a mild surprise to me, if true. None of those leaving was a starter last year, but one played quite a bit.

I must admit that I'm a little surprised by this commitment. I recall reading in the Forum awhile back that he was probably going to be walking on at Wisconsin-Green Bay (where Tyler Koenig is going next year). Leikas had a nice career at North, and I know his goal in attending a prep school this year was to earn a division I scholarship, but I didn't really feel that he was an NCC-caliber point guard coming out of high school. On the other hand, he may have improved a good deal in prep school so hopefully he will pan out. This will make three former Fargo North point guards at UND next year (along with Jade Jahner and Carissa Jahner).

This certainly isn't good news: Mahmoud dismissed from team I thought it was a little odd that his name wasn't even listed in the spring roster, but I had hoped it was only because he was running track this spring instead of playing football. I guess that wasn't the reason. I hope Beatty and Miller can actually stay healthy for a whole season. If not, the running game may be in some trouble.

It's hard to say, but you may be right. I do think that an off-season of weight training did a lot of good for Jerome Beasley last year. Jerome's body type wasn't exactly the same as Ryp or Lindahl, but he was still fairly thin. I didn't necessarily mean to imply that they needed to add a whole bunch of weight, but adding a little strength would probably help. I just hope that they can both show improvement over the next few years, because they have the raw talent to be very good.

There's no question that this has been a fairly unusual recruiting year in that there weren't any recruits announced in the first day of the late signing period, and that the coaches are apparently going to have to be actively recruiting right up until the end of the signing period. On the bright side, if there is one, USD and Augie haven't signed anyone, and St. Cloud has signed two but neither appears to be a blue-chipper (in my opinion). Kentucky Wesleyan still hasn't signed anyone either, for what it's worth. I have no doubts that there are still a lot of players out there, be they jucos, division I transfers, or players from some other four-year school looking to transfer. It actually looks like Mankato and UNO have two of the better recruiting classes in the league so far, which is somewhat surprising to me. At this point, it still looks like SDSU will be the team to beat, but it's wide open after that based upon returnees and recruits signed so far. So much of how the Sioux do next year is going to depend on the continued development of Rypkema and Lindahl. I feel both have tremendous potential, but they need to fulfill it if UND is going to contend for anything. I certainly hope both spend a lot of time in the weight room this off season!

DMB- Do you know whether Borom from Williston State has been offered? He supposedly has very good quickness, which is something our other point guards don't really have. Granted, I haven't seen Doyle play, but I'm sure the staff would like to red-shirt him, anyway.

I also noticed that Bartlett wasn't on the spring roster. He certainly had good size and probably pretty good potential. I believe Wisconsin was interested in him after his junior year of high school. Fortunately, offensive line depth seems to be pretty good so I don't think his departure will hurt much.

That's possible. But on the other hand, they haven't had much more luck recently with not-so-thin post players (Kelchen) or relatively short, skinny post players (Banks).

I'm surprised that apparently no NCC teams went after Kyle Nelson harder. He may be viewed as a project at this point, but he has 6'9" height, a nice shooting touch and potential. No disrespect to NDSU, but considering they've been fairly small in the post the last few years, you would think maybe they in particular would have been willing to take a chance on Nelson.

Who recently quit?

In addition to Germel Stoute, UND is apparently also interested in one of his Williston State teammates: Teton players moving on James Borom is a 5'10" guard who averaged 14 points per game and was honorable mention division I juco all american.

Based on a blurb in the Forum at the start of spring ball which said that Brennan was sitting out this spring for personal reasons, I have to assume that he may yet return in the fall. The fact that his brother is still on the team is probably a good sign. If he doesn't come back, senior Josh Muro will likely be the starter. He's a bit undersized, but he has good quickness and he played quite a bit in 2001 (after Brennan's season-ending injury) before sitting out last year with injuries of his own. Shane Duchscher should also be in the mix, and there are a number of defensive ends who are big enough to move over if necessary. I would say that nose guard may be one of the more unsettled positions on the team, but it shouldn't be a huge problem.

It's a perfectly legitimate concern by Lennon, and it shouldn't have anything to do with "having what NDSU has." I don't believe it should be characterized as "whining," either. It's simply common sense. Every school should promote its history and accomplishments. Hell, even Hyslop has practically nothing with regard to UND basketball history. No Phil Jackson display, no displays from the Vonesh-Guldseth years, no displays (other than championship banners) from the Crouse-Pudenz era, no displays whatsoever. It's sad. So it's not like this is a problem unique to the Alerus Center. Obviously, the Ralph has done a tremendous job of incorporating UND hockey history into that facility. Why UND hasn't done something similar (on a smaller, less expesive scale, of course) at Hyslop is a mystery to me. UND should pony up the dough to do something at the Alerus, and at either Hyslop or a new basketball facility, if it's built. For football, there should be something to honor people like Fritz Pollard, Red Jarrett, Steve Myhra, Errol Mann, Dave Osborn, Jim LeClair, Phillip Moore, Jim Kleinsasser, etc. I don't believe we're talking about huge money here. All it takes is somebody who's willing to show some leadership and get it done.

A few random thoughts about yesterday's spring game: * Babington-Johnson could be a superstar. I'd like to see him gain about 20 pounds, but he has outstanding speed and quickness. He seemed virtually unblockable at times. * Although there's really not a true run-stopping nose guard in the middle of the d-line, I really like the potential of the defense to get back to being a dominating unit. In particular, I think the linebacking unit will be much-improved and very deep. * I am a big track fan, but Mahmoud really should have taken part in spring ball instead of track. * It's awfully hard to judge the offense in this situation because of the rotating of four quarterbacks and lack of continuity. * Strouth is a pretty impressive running back, although he's very small. It's hard to believe he was high jumping 6'7" last spring at his size (5'10" ?). * Jeff Glas needs to get more consistent. Distance is never a problem on field goals, but his accuracy was pretty suspect for much of last year, and it was again yesterday.

According to today's Herald, 6'5" 285 lb. Will Kusler has moved to number one on the depth chart at tight end. Ben Murphy has moved back to the offensive line, where he is better suited, in my opinion. Cody Saunders, an all-conference kicker from Minot St., has transferred to UND and will challenge Jeff Glas for the starting kicking job.

I read in the Greeley paper that they have received private donations for an additional 70 scholarships, but it's unclear whether that's 70 scholarships for one year, or 70 scholarships per year. In any event, scholarships are only part of the equation. If I'm not mistaken, they have a terrible basketball/volleyball facility which needs addressing, they will have additional travel expenses, coaches' salaries will be on the rise, and at some point they need to start drawing some fans for basketball, as well as getting football attendance to a more respectable level. I would be shocked if donations can overcome their lack of ticket revenue over the long haul, unless Monfort and/or Coors make an Engelstad-sized donation. Barring that, I think that they are going to be in some serious financial trouble in the near future.

This was his bio when the 2002 recruiting class was announced: Zack Babington-Johnson, 6-2, 195, Outside linebacker, Minneapolis, Minn. (De La Salle HS) Named team

My understanding is that renovating the old Ralph would be far more costly than what was originally thought, and the odds are that it is probably going to be torn down in the not-too-distant future. I think that most people agree that using the new Ralph for basketball is a bad idea. Those of us who follow the basketball teams closely (most of us anyway) feel that the Ralph is too big for hoops and thus there's no atmosphere or home court advantage. Those fans who are exclusively interested in hockey don't want the quality of the ice jeopardized. So while we're not looking at it from the same perspective, we're probably mostly in agreement that having basketball in the Ralph is not a good idea. By the same token, Hyslop is so old and decrepit that playing any sport there much longer isn't really an option. I think that the proposed construction of a basketball/volleyball facility adjacent to the Ralph is a great idea if the money is there (which it apparently is), so long as it's built with a big enough seating capacity that it's not obsolete immediately (e.g., the womens basketball facility at Minnesota). A new facility in the 5,000 seat range would be about right. If it is built in the 3,000 seat range as proposed, it's a terrible idea and a big waste of money.

Not that it's unusual in this day and age of college football, but that's going to be a huge offensive line, averaging 6'5 1/2" and 308 lbs. I think the line is going to be the big key as to whether the offense can regain its form and score some big points this year. In 2000 and 2001, UND had the highest-scoring offense in the NCC, despite running a pretty conservative (some might say very conservative) scheme. Obviously, that sort of production did not happen again last year. As I recall, the line play was fairly inconsistent in 2000, but it returned intact in 2001 and performed extremely well. I'm hoping for the same kind of improvement by this year's line, as it returns virtually intact. I think Kuper in particular has the potential to be very good.

There was a brief feature on the WDAZ sports last night, and Lennon mentioned that the safeties have been very solid this spring. No names were mentioned, but presumably he was referring to Stratton, Gagner and Brandsted. Also, he said Manke and Franklin were playing very well at the corners, but that there have been some hamstring pulls limiting some of the other corners, presumably Hoffscheider among others. Just one week left until the spring game.

The one guy from the Cities who didn't go division I and who I really wish UND would have tried to recruit is Kyle Marxhausen. I haven't seen him play, but I have heard he is very good. Maybe he would have gone to Mankato anyway, but I would have to think UND would have had a fighting chance considering Mankato isn't generally considered one of the better NCC programs, despite having pretty good talent the past few years. On the other hand, maybe UND is going to sign some juco players who are even better prospects. Hopefully we'll know within the next week or so.

I certainly hope Perrizo returns and that she can have better success at the wing than she did at the point, but her shooting percentage must improve dramatically. 35% overall and 28% from 3-point range is really bad. Maybe not having to be the primary ballhandler will help her, but if not she may see her playing time diminish.