twins15

Yep... especially because there is no SUU this year that will go 1-17, giving everyone a free couple of wins basically.

Last year EWU was 10-10 and missed the tournament with 7/11 teams making it... This year, with 8/12 (so a slightly higher percentage of teams making it), I am guessing 9 wins should do it, and 8 will likely put you in a tiebreaker. That's my feel right now. Still think EWU will be the team on top at the end of the year... the Hornets are #1 right now, but they hung on to beat Idaho at home by the skin of their teeth, and their win over EWU came at home, in a game when Venky Jois was hurt. Hornets are a very good team but my money would still be on the Eagles for now.

I have thought about it, but I'm not sure I have the technical skills or the time to moderate such a board. But I will definitely look into that, thanks for the suggestion!

Hi all, I come around here every so often, but in case you don't know, I write a blog on the Big Sky. Every year, I like to go long-winded with my preview, in this case totaling 13K words. If you are interested in reading (probably in parts!), check out the link here - http://www.bigskybball.com/2014/11/the-most-comprehensive-big-sky-preview.html Thanks! Let me know what you think, or if you have any thoughts or questions....

Great news for UND! Odd to see the NCAA be logical for a change...

Nash would be huge if he would get an extra year of eligibility. Do you think he has any realistic chance? Doesn't seem as though the NCAA is very strong in the common sense area, unfortunately.

Hi, I've put up a post on some early rankings for next year and how I see things slotting out very early. http://www.bigskybball.com/2014/04/early-2014-15-big-sky-rankings.html I've put UND #11 for now with all of the losses, but really all guesswork for now. Would love to hear any thoughts or opinions...

Was at the game today... going by the numbers going in, I was expecting UND's interior D to be bad, but even I was surprised - it was dreadful. UND goes for the steal often, and sometimes it works (20 turnovers for UNC today)... but when it doesn't, it's like they lay out the red carpet for the ballhandler to get to the hoop for the open layup. Their help defense was just bad. Offensively, UND seemed to have some struggled with UNC's 3/4 court trap... they just struggled to be able to get into their half-court offense. The Bears were switching all screens, and I think that really took UND out of a rhythm, because they weren't able to turn the corner and get to the hoop, and they always weren't able to hit the screener popping back for a shot - with the switching (and UNC's big men being athletic enough to make that work). It was a frustrating performance to watch on both ends.

From the pre-game notes, it seems as though he is good to go TRAYLOR REGAINS ELIGIBILITY Senior Alonzo Traylor had to sit out the second semester of last year’s schedule, but worked hard in the classroom to regain his eligibility for the 2013-14 season. Traylor was starting to come into his own after eight games of last season, but poor academic performance cost him the second half of his first season at UND. Traylor had a double-double in what was his final game of the season in the Big Sky opener at Southern Utah (Dec. 18). He averaged 7.1 ppg and 5.0 rpg in just over 16 minutes per game. Not sure if he has some type of injury issue that kept him out of this one... but my impression is that he will be there and playing.

I think they'll be a little better than that, because I think their overall talent level is still above ISU and SUU... so I've got them 9th now. Had them at 7th before I learned of Russell's departure.

Hi guys, I have put together a little preview on the Big Sky (well, a big one!), if anyone is interested. I pretty much wrote about anything I could think about (order, conference tournament, all-conference teams, top newcomers, predictions, etc)... so if you like the Big Sky, I think and hope you'll enjoy! Would love to hear any thoughts - http://www.bigskybball.com/2013/11/the-most-comprehensive-big-sky-preview.html Thanks!!

Usually you can only get a medical redshirt year if you have not previously redshirted. In other words, I wouldn't hold my breath that the NCAA would actually be logical about it.

Jones said today that Brekke is going into the doctor again tomorrow for a checkup, but it is an "ongoing process." He said obviously they won't allow him to compete before he is completely healthy, but didn't really sound like they had any type of timetable at all. I think they don't really have a good idea or feel for things right now. He mentioned that last year Brekke got hurt, missed a bunch of games, came back, got hit again and missed some more games, and how it was tough for them to try to plan out their rotation. Sounds like they just want to avoid any uncertainty and wait until they aren't worried that any little hit with make things flare up again.

I think Nash will definitely be a serious contender to start and play a lot of minutes - to me, he is their best big man and I would expect he'll play as many minutes as he can handle. He should be the perfect four man for the fast style of play UND can play with their good guards. The athleticism of a combo of Nash-Huff would be tough. In my mind, either Traylor or Brekke is UND's best "true" big man, but that's just me. Not sure how the coaches view him, but he had some nice numbers and flashed some nice game during his time last year. If it were me, he would be the first big man off the bench...

It seems like the decision on whether to redshirt or not is one of the toughest decisions a coach has to make. If it's close, it seems like at the mid-major level you should always lean towards redshirting. I think I remember reading a quote by Dale Lennon back in the day... who said basically when you redshirt you are trading a guy's worst year for his best year. It seems like a lot of times, though, coaches lean towards not redshirting, and playing instead. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.