UND92,96

It's an interesting question, but I don't really know the answer. The hockey program was certainly not at its highest point during the glory years of the basketball program, so there may have been some fans who basically chose basketball over hockey to an extent. But things are so much different now with the new arena and the fact that excitement about Sioux hockey has been extremely high during the Blais era, and in particular since 1997. I don't foresee a dip in interest in Sioux hockey anytime soon, so basketball probably needs to create its own excitement to get the fans back into the 4,000-plus per game range where it was 10 years ago. I think that if the mens basketball program would win a bit more consistently and cut out the ridiculous early season losses to schools like Minot, Bemidji and UMC that have occurred in recent years, the fans would come out again in larger numbers. But a new facility is almost a must at this point. People's tolerance for the lack of comfort of Hyslop seating went way down when the Alerus and Engelstad were built. Wood bench seats just don't cut it anymore. Hyslop certainly served its purpose, but its time has come and gone.

You are correct in that this area has been spoiled to at least a degree by success. What surprises me is how few students go to basketball games when you consider that the majority of them are probably from high schools where basketball is king (i.e. ND Class B). There has got to be a way to get them interested enough to go to basketball games, particularly when it's free. Regarding Engelstad for basketball, it is too big. But it would have been interesting to see what the atmosphere would have been like at the NDSU game had the game actually been well-played instead of the poor shooting foul-fest it was. That was the worst-played game of the entire home schedule, and it happened at the worst possible time considering the big crowd and the TV audience. It certainly didn't make any casual fans want to go to another game.

You may be correct, but I think there are two things that will bring people out to the tune of 4,000-plus per game: a nice facility or a great team (preferably both). Obviously, the condition and age of Hyslop is a problem, and one way or another a decision needs to be made soon as to the future home of the basketball teams. As we can all probably agree on, the mens team hasn't been great since the early 90's, but the attendance has been at least O.K. even during the poorer years. Hopefully, the NCC will get back to the old Friday-Saturday games again this year now that there will at least temporarily be an even number of teams. Thursday games aren't typically good for attendance as it severely cuts down on the number of out-of-towners who can go. I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to UND sports, so I'm not going to give up on the idea that we can get back to the level of the early 90's. The NCAA site only has attendance numbers going back 10 years, but according to that site, UND averaged just over 4,200 in 1993, and that was down more than 700 per game from 1992. So it can be done, but we need to get back to something approaching that level of success, and hopefully get a nice arena, as well.

The thing that I found so strange about Brandt's comments in the Herald article last week was that he seemed to almost be saying he was homesick, i.e. wanting to get back to his family and friends in Minot. The guy is finishing his fourth year of college! I would think that most of his Minot friends don't even live there anymore. It makes no sense.

Just one more question for you, DMB, since you obviously have good sources. Was Brandt's departure much of a surprise to the coaches? How much of a loss do you think he was?

If we could get b-ball attendance to just 40% of hockey attendance, it would be in the 4,000 to 4,500 range. Not an easy goal, but it could be doable, particularly in a facility better than Hyslop and if the teams are doing fairly well. I know that there are a lot of UND hockey fans out there who don't care at all about basketball, but for those who are willing to give it a chance, I don't think they'll be disappointed in the entertainment value. Unfortunately, the opportunity to see a Jerome Beasley-type talent perform will likely never happen again.

We probably can't complain much about Mesa State, as I'm pretty sure that a home-and-home contract was entered into last year, and Mesa was coming off a pretty respectable year in 2001 (7-4). I don't think it would be worth it to buy-out of the contract at this point. Crookston is a joke. This is apparently either the result of laziness in not trying to schedule anyone better, or else maybe Roger and the UMC A.D. are good friends. I have no idea, but there's no excuse for having this game for the fourth year in a row. I doubt there's a single UND fan who relishes the idea of watching this game again. As for Newberry, it's entirely possible that they are bad, too. But they do play in a pretty good league (Catawba and Carson-Newman), they scored 26 against Catawba and 36 against Carson-Newman last year, and they return their entire starting offensive unit. So in other words, it's just as possible that they'll be decent this year, too, or at a minimum a pretty good challenge for the Sioux defense.

You are correct, and also I imagine that the football and basketball ticket prices are higher in Montana so their budget is probably fairly large. But I do think we have to be pretty proud of the fan support at UND. 368,884 is a lot of people for a single year's attendance.

Thanks for the info, DMB. I have a couple of questions you may or may not be able to answer. Has Ferguson pretty much decided he's tranferring after this year instead of playing another year at Lake Region? I know he's quite a bit older than the average college freshman. Also, do the coaches expect that Adam Jacobson will be an impact player next year, or is he expected to be more of a role player? Thanks in advance.

I apologize if this doesn't necessarily exactly fit into the I-AA discussion, but does anyone know approximately what UND's athletic budget was this past year? I was trying to figure out the total ticket revenue from 2002-03 as a preliminary matter, but it's nearly impossible to know how much UND actually gets from ticket sales due to the arrangement with the Alerus Center for football. I'm also not entirely clear on how the situation with REA works. In any event, the total attendance for football, mens hockey, and basketball (mens games plus womens bball games not part of a doubleheader) was 368,884. Of course, some of those attendees were students who either don't pay or pay a reduced price, but I figure that the student fees which go to the athletic department more than make up for that. I'm thinking the ticket revenue/student fees must be at least in the $4 million to $5 million range, and possibly more. Concessions have to be factored in, as well as the funds raised by the Fighting Sioux Club (at least those above and beyond the ticket prices). It would seem that there's got to be a lot of money there. It's tough to compare apples and oranges, but as an example, Montana's total attendance for their three sports which draw more than a nominal number of fans in 2002-03 was 258,926. And it appears that that was the largest total athletic department number amongst all schools playing I-AA football (by a lot). To the extent I have a point here, it's that UND probably sells more tickets as an athletic department than any non-IA football school in all of college athletics. That's quite an accomplishment in my opinion.

April 9-12. Here's a link: Portsmouth

That could be a pretty decent football conference, if it happens. But as for the other sports, I think the Mid-Continent is little more than a lateral move from the NCC. And it has to be one of the most geographically screwed-up conferences ever conceived.

A couple of points. UND is not envious of NDSU football. Yes, NDSU won five titles in the 80's (and 1990). That was quite an accomplishment. But historically, UND has more than held its own against NDSU as witnessed by the all-time record between the teams (61-45-3 in favor of UND). In particular, UND has essentially owned the series over the past decade. Most unbiased observers would have to conclude that at present, UND is the better football program year in and year out. That is not meant to minimize NDSU's accomplishments in the past, but it is a fact that NDSU has been just another good program for the past dozen years or so. Secondly, NDSU did not build the Fargodome, nor did UND build the Alerus Center. Those were both municipal projects paid for by sales tax money.

Any word on who from among last year's red-shirts may contribute next year? I'm assuming Hoffschneider for sure, and I imagine there are other possibilities like Ullsperger, Wolf and Babington-Johnson, among others. I am looking forward to the spring game to see how some of these guys have progressed.

And truthfully, I doubt anyone on this site cares what you do or don't care about. Here's a piece of advice for you--if you don't like hockey, and your primary interests are division I football and basketball, then it probably makes very little sense for you to be at this site, let alone this particular thread. Things must be pretty boring in Wyoming, huh?

I agree. In hockey alone, I believe UND has been on national TV (ESPN or ESPN2) six times since 1997. Add to that four times for womens basketball and once for football during that same time period. Being on national TV 11 times in six years is unheard of for a predominantly division II school (and the Sioux went 9-2 in those games, incidentally ). NDSU will likely never receive the sort of national recognition that UND has gotten and probably will continue to get, unless you feel having scores on the ESPN News ticker constitutes national recognition.

I don't know this for a fact, but I doubt there's a whole lot of head-to-head competition between NCC schools over a particular juco player, unless he's playing at NDSCS, Fergus Falls, Lake Region, or another school in the immediate area. Considering how many junior colleges there are all over the country and that the coaches/asst. coaches probably all have various different connections, I'd be surprised if they run across each other all that often recruiting the same junior college player(s).

It looks like Ross Brennan may not be done after all. There was a blurb in the Forum today saying that he was sitting out spring ball for personal reasons, but it didn't say he had left the team permanently. Hopefully he'll be back in the fall. Also, Carney transferred to Scottsdale Community College.

Looks like NDSU also had some basketball defections. Shawn Gabbert, Tyrone "The Travelling Man" Terry, and Jason Smith won't be back. Terry is really an enigma. He was North Dakota's Mr. Basketball a few years back. He originally committed to UND after his junior year, then changed his mind and went to division I Texas-San Antonio, then transferred to NDSU, now is transferring to Valley City State.

I don't mean to disparage the kid's game, but after watching him in high school and considering he averaged less than 2 points and 2 boards a game at UNI this year, I don't think he would have much, if any impact in the NCC. He's big, but he doesn't play big and he's not very aggressive. I think Kyle Nelson is a much better prospect, and Nelson would at least have four years of eligibility instead of the two Godfread has left.

I'm not convinced that Billiter is going to do much at Augie. He's kind of returning to division II with his tail between his legs. He left NDSU in order to get a dI job within a few years, and he failed. Even Ray G. was able to do that and he wasn't anywhere near as successful as Billiter at NDSU. At the time Billiter was at NDSU, UND recruited relatively few jucos, and the program suffered as a result since the more successful programs were getting those players. While UND is not at a point where they were in the early 90's, the program is pretty solid for the most part recruiting a mixture of high school players and jucos and/or dI transfers. While recruiting jucos is not something everyone agrees with, I have no problems with having from two to four on the team at one time. Any more than that and you risk losing any sort of continuity in the program in that you have to rebuild every couple of years. I think UND will have a pretty good team with the likes of high school recruits Lindahl, Rypkema, Johnson, Jahner, Bradley, Doyle and Gutter, and transfers Austin, Jacobson, and perhaps two to three others. At least one, and probably two power forward/post players are needed, along with possibly another true point guard.

Jeff Brandt and Josh Johnson are not returning for their senior seasons: Herald article Johnson's departure makes a certain amount of sense because he just hasn't ever shown much ability, but Brandt? Sure, he had a poor season, but he has shown to be a very solid NCC player. The good news is that it opens up some scholarship money to get some players who will help immediately, i.e. juco transfers. Between Mike Johnson, Rypkema, Lindahl, Jahner, Aaron Austin, Adam Jacobson, Josh Doyle, Steve Bradley, and two or three jucos, the team should still be alright next season.

Now it appears that Michigan Tech is NOT dropping football after all, according to an article posted on d2football.com.

One other Fargo product is Cory McLean from Fargo North, who I believe plays for Notre Dame. It does seem that Fargo is a little underrepresented in the division I college hockey world considering how many kids play or have played hockey in the city.