UND92,96

The announcement will be made late this week (I believe Friday).

The NCAA has released the attendance figures for the 2002-03 season for mens basketball. UND was third in division II at 3,423 per game, ranking behind Nebraska-Kearney and SDSU. The rankings can be found here: 2003 attendance rankings

I actually think Mankato may be worse than last year, or perhaps about the same as they were. They lose quarterback Shea who was a pretty decent player, the juco wide receiver Fonoimoana who had a huge game against the Sioux last year isn't returning (I don't know why), and they lost Tippens who was by far their best d-lineman, among other losses. They do return a pretty decent running back and most of the o-line, however. Perhaps most significantly, they haven't recruited particularly well the past few years. They will rely heavily on juco transfers, which has not traditionally been a recipe for success in the NCC. I would look for them to finish no higher than about 5th or 6th in the NCC, behind SCSU, UND, NDSU, UNO and perhaps SDSU.

Just curious, Pirate, do you feel UND will have trouble scoring next year due to lack of talent, an ultra-conservative scheme, or some other reason?

I don't have any inside knowledge as to Brennan. I certainly hope he does return, but at this point, based on the fact that he didn't practice this spring, I have to assume his return is unlikely. I am also ASSUMING Lueck is eligible since he did practice this spring, and if necessary he should be able to go to summer school. Again, I don't have any inside info on this.

I see UND returning to at least near the top of the NCC next year. A lot of experience returns on the offensive line, Bowenkamp is a pretty capable qb for the most part, solid receivers with a potential star in Lueck, and a very solid and deep defense with something to prove. Question marks are how much the loss of Mahmoud will hurt and whether Miller and/or Beatty can stay healthy at running back, whether Glas can kick consistently, and possibly whether anyone will emerge at nose guard to replace Blue and Brennan. While UND's record last year was clearly sub-par, I don't believe too many people who follow the program closely feel that lack of talent was the problem. A combination of bad breaks (loss of Klosterman in particular) and apparently some complacency following the 2001 season caused some breakdowns which resulted in losses that should never have happened on paper, i.e. Mankato, Augie and arguably UNO. With regard to the NCC as a whole, St. Cloud will almost certainly be the favorite, but a very difficult road schedule will make a repeat of last year's performance very difficult. UNO lost quite a bit from last year's team so whether they will improve their record is questionable. NDSU has apparently upgraded itself in the coaching department, at quarterback and possibly receiver, but the running game must improve itself (both in terms of backs and line), and the defense is a pretty big question mark. I doubt any of the rest of the teams will be serious contenders. All in all, I would say that the NCC is probably not going to be as strong next year as it has been, at least on paper.

The most recent mock draft from nbadraft.net has Jerome going to the Knicks as the 30th pick. The thing that sticks out to me is that only five college seniors are predicted to be picked ahead of the Beas. I also noticed that Rick Rickert's stock is falling fast. Jerome is now predicted to be drafted well ahead of Rickert, as well he should in my opinion.

This guy sounds like a very intriguing prospect. In one of his last games of the year, he had 30 pts, 17 boards and 4 blocks. He led his conference in blocked shots, as well. This is the type of big guy that really nobody else in the NCC has been getting--tall AND athletic. We'll see how he turns out, but kudos to the coaching staff for this signing. With all the new faces, I'm sure it will take awhile for the Sioux to gel. But in terms of pure talent, and in particular across the front line, UND could be as good as anyone in the league. There should really be some stiff competition for playing time. At this point, point guard is the one position I have some questions about, although Jahner probably won't hurt the team playing there. I would look for Doyle and Leikas to both red-shirt unless no juco point guard is signed by August.

Thank you for the article. I am very proud of all the work Erik has done the past several years. Best of all, he's actually doing something to help current and future Indian students with his program to encourage entering the coaching/teaching profession. Regardless of one's position on the Fighting Sioux name issue, it seems quite clear that Erik is not all talk. He's doing something beneficial for Indian people, in stark contrast to all the hot air coming from some of those on the other side of the issue who seem to enjoy publicity just a little too much, i.e. Lucy Ganje, and yet never seem to accomplish much of anything.

That's possible, but in Ferguson's situation it doesn't seem to make any sense to stay at Lake Region, or any other juco for that matter. My understanding is that because of NCAA rules, he's not eligible to play division I ball so even if he came back to DL and scored 30 a game next year, it wouldn't change the fact that he's ultimately going to have to play division II if he wants to continue his college career. Since he's already highly sought-after by some strong division II programs, and I believe he's already in his mid-20's, there doesn't seem to be any obvious reason to play another year in DL instead of at UND, NDSU, Kentucky Wesleyan, etc.

If I'm not mistaken, May 15 was the last day of the late signing period during which recruits could sign a letter of intent for next season. Of course, that doesn't mean that players can't still verbally commit for next fall, but it certainly creates some uncertainty about how Rich Glas is going to use the last 1 or 2 scholarships for next year. Additionally, I imagine there's still the possibility of a transfer from a division I school over the summer. Does anyone know what the deal is with Franklyn Ferguson? I'm assuming at this point that he's not coming to UND, but he apparently didn't sign with anyone else, either. It seems odd that he wouldn't have signed with somebody before the May 15 deadline.

I always thought that UNC was a geographical misfit in the NCC. But you have to scratch your head at the idea of joining a conference where you'd be flying from Colorado to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Louisiana, among other places.

According to today's Herald, Leikas is actually walking on at UND. Also, Jimmy Hoy from West Fargo is planning to walk-on, as well.

I don't know what happened with Britz. I also thought she played relatively well last year, or at least well enough to warrant continuing her basketball career. To the extent there was any question before this, it's now certain that several of this year's recruiting class will need to play right away. Leighton, Demaine, Perrizo, Mahlum and Boese are now the only returning players with any real experience.

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.