UND92,96

UND now down 41-37. Terrible 3-point shooting so far.

Huff with four quick points to start the second half. UND up by 5.

UND up 31-30 at the half.

Benton having a nice first half, with six points so far.

UND on a 14-2 run.

Dear Lord. This program is beyond cursed when it comes to injuries.

UND has also offered several Chicago area players today, per Edgy Tim.

UND has offered Cretin Derham Hall cb Tim Gordon, per an SFI tweet.

I see Ryan Stendler is now a two-star recruit on rivals. Didn't they have him as a "no-star" prospect before NIU came into the picture? It seems pretty lame to change a kid's grade this late.

I'm intrigued by the potential of Cox. It's always nice to have DE's with that kind of frame and height.

New commitment: Connor O'Brien, a LB from Lemont, Illinois: http://rivals.yahoo....Q_WRz9qgk9IPZB4

I guess my biggest problem with the whole thing is that I find it a bit ridiculous that a transitional program should even be in the Bracket Buster. It seems like it would have made more sense for only the eight tournament-eligible Summit teams to be in it.

Personally, I would have just preferred to play a team that is actually eligible to play in their own conference tournament.

Not to complain too much about something we have no control over, but I find it a little ironic that our first, and only Bracket Buster game is against a transitional program with an RPI in the 300's. It sounds a lot like a Great West conference game.

Dan Hammer just tweeted that UND got a commitment from Norberg, but I don't know whether that's old info or whether that means the Iowa offer never materialized and he's now a solid commitment.

Just curious--has Norberg's interest in Iowa always been listed as "low" on rivals, or is that a recent change?

I was focusing on the word "attended" UND and the Wisconsin program, whereas he actually got a degree from Aaker's. It would be interesting to know the real story there. EDIT: I just checked my 2005 UND alumni directory, and FWIW Espegard apparently has no degree from UND, which would seem to support the "attended" vs. "graduated" distinction.

I'm a little confused by Espegard's bio: http://www.ndus.edu/board/sbhe-members/ Does the president of the Board of Higher Ed not have a four-year degree, or am I reading that wrong?

My apologies for taking this thread off on even more of a tangent, but since the early 1990's, I actually think American basketball as a whole has taken a step back. Not from an athletic standpoint, as LeBron, for example, is incredible, but more from a fundamental standpoint. I can't really fathom how the US Olympic team can struggle to beat a comparatively unathletic team like Spain so often. Granted, other countries have gotten better in the past 20 years, but I don't think that alone explains the difference between 1992 (original Dream Team) and today.

I believe UND was his only dI offer. He was listed at the time as a potential Cornhusker walk-on. I think it's safe to say he's exceeded all reasonable expectations at UND.

I am going to guess he goes the juco route.

I believe the keys to the early 1990's teams were unselfishness and being fundamentally sound. There was also better size up front than at present. 5-Vonesh couldn't jump very well, but he would have absolutely abused any of UND's current bigs with strength and an unstoppable fadeaway jumper. 4-Gardner was a shot-blocking beast with ridiculously long arms and a good scorer, and was also vastly superior to any current UND big. 3-Guldseth was sort of like Huff with an additional 25 pounds of muscle and a better shooter. 2-Boschee was an unbelievable 3-point shooter. 1-Burkett was a phenomenal athlete who didn't need to score much but could penetrate at will and find the open man. It also didn't hurt to have future highly-successful division I head coaches Greg McDermott as the primary assistant, and Ben Jacobson as sixth man/coach on the floor.

I was at UND from 1988 to 1992, and did not miss a single home game. I also played against Boschee, Vonesh, Guldseth, Jacobson, Robertson and Gardner in high school (some in summer league or camps only). With all due respect to the current team, I believe the 1990-91 team in particular (V, Gardner, Gully, Boschee and Rico) was better than the current team at all five starting positions, and I believe it would have been the case even with a full strength team this year. From a purely athletic standpoint, one or two current starters would have an advantage over their 1991 counterparts. But as overall basketball players, the old-timers were better IMO.

Kyle Norberg article: http://www.mchenryco...pnfta/index.xml And Herald recruiting article: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/255478/group/homepage/

FWIW, this question was asked on the Herald's live chat on Wednesday, and Tom Miller thought he was more of a DAC/low-level dII type player, and that while he can score he's a bit one-dimensional.