UND92,96

It's a bloodbath out there, with Ole Miss, Kansas, Arizona St., Illinois, Memphis, UCLA, Colorado St., Washington St., UAB and Akron either having already fired their coaches this weekend, or being expected to shortly, along with possibly Tennessee and Texas A & M. But the all-time low may be Rob Ianello at Akron, who was fired. By phone. On the way to his mother's funeral.

Another possible prospective recruit from Illinois--Anthony Taylor: http://www.mysuburba...ruiting-on-hold UND has reportedly offered: http://espn.go.com/b.../anthony-taylor

I think it was an absolute necessity this year given the lack of any high school quarterback recruits in 2009 and 2011, and the early departure of Demler from the class of 2010.

New commitment--Ryan Bartels from Sycamore, IL: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2011/11/25/sycamores-bartels-commits-to-north-dakota/aikkh86/

Sure looked like zone to me, which was probably why penetration and Brekke on the inside were taken away so effectively. In any event, I think it's safe to say UND will see very little straight-up man defense this season, and will need to figure out a way to attack zones better than what we've seen so far. Does anybody know what the story is with Goodman?

63 UND 46 NMSU final

61 UND 43 NMSU 2:37

59 UND 42 NMSU 4:08

49 UND 34 NMSU 7:57 remaining

UND is up 43-27 with just under 10 minutes to play in the second half.

Really disappointing performance today. Three of UND's top six players struggled, and scoring against the zone continues to be a problem. If Western Illinois finishes in the bottom part of the Summit as expected, this just isn't the type of team you should lose to at home. First home non-conference loss in just over a year.

Will be interesting to see how Bradley does tonight on a neutral court against Wisconsin. It can be seen on the Big 10 network.

I agree. Normally Schuler and Anderson are reliable free throw shooters and smart with the ball. They are who should have the ball in their hands late in a close game. Anderson struggled with free throw shooting last night, but I believe that was an aberration.

All five sophomores scored in double figures, and combined for 76 of UND's 88 points.

I used to be one of the more avid UND basketball fans around, but admittedly lost some interest in the past few years. However, I am as enthusiastic about the future of UND men's basketball right now as I've been in 20 years. This was a great win tonight, and I suspect people will start taking notice and the attendance will greatly improve.

If he's not playing even with Goodman out, you kind of have to wonder whether he is going to see much time this season at all.

Mitchell did start.

Former UND great Don Gulseth has passed away. http://www.fightingsioux.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13500&ATCLID=205337879 Condolences to his family.

https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/800060.pdf?ATCLID=205337765&SPSID=58640&SPID=6399&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=13500 Muss named coach of the year. Hardin, Jake Miller and Hendrickson are first teamers, and Kleason, McKendry, Wisthoff, Zeb Miller, Brenneman and Belotti are second teamers.

You bring up a valid point regarding Goska's running ability. We didn't see much of it this year, but teams knew he had that ability from last year's film and had to respect it. One of my concerns with Bradley is that we didn't really see much from him to suggest he can be a running threat. I think you really need a quarterback in this day and age who can buy time with his feet, and get you a first down now and then by running. Hopefully Bradley has that ability and just didn't display much of it through six-plus games.

I think it was a little more than Bradley having one bad game. I believe he only threw for more than 150 yards once, averaged just 122 yards per game in the six and a half games he played, completed just 52% of his passes and threw just 3 td's. By contrast, Goska averaged 222 yards per game in the four and a half games he played, completed nearly 60% of his passes and threw 9 td's. It seems weird that the guy known as a running quarterback had significantly better passing numbers than the guy who was brought in to be the passing quarterback, but I fully acknowledge that Bradley could very well improve with another year in the program.

UND finished a very respectable 28th in FCS in total defense, and an impressive 4th in rushing defense. The pass defense? Not so good--108th out of 124 teams. It seems difficult to understand how a pass defense could struggle so much considering the pass rush was actually very good this year. With the loss of both starting safeties and one starting corner, I wonder whether things are likely to get any better next year?

That's a fair point, but stranger things have happened. Case in point, Ryan Tannehill at Texas A & M. He went from walk-on receiver to possible first round draft pick at quarterback. Had the starter not gone down with an injury last year, maybe he never moves from receiver?

You could be right. On the other hand, Tom Miller of the Herald opined in a live chat two weeks ago that next year's starting qb likely isn't on the current roster. It will be interesting, that is for certain.

Here's a crazy thought--with good depth at receiver, and such a need at quarterback, why not consider taking a look at Blair Townsend this spring at quarterback? He's got good size, he can run and his passing numbers at Coon Rapids High his senior year were pretty amazing--2300 yards, 70% completion percentage, 30 td's.