Matt

On PA & Dubay today, Dubay picked the Sioux as the favorite to win not only the Final Five but the NCAA tournament. His predictions have become the kiss of death lately...should we be worried?

Agreed. The reasons we are offended by something are as diverse as there are individuals to be offended. Often the origin of the offense is derived from our own particular life experiences. Example-Pine Bluff, Arkansas has become a subject of much derision among women's basketball fans, and the press which has covered the elite eight tournaments. We don't find a comment like, "man that place is a pit", as offensive, but more of a truth. However, someone born and raised in Pine Bluff may take offense to having their home insulted. Understandable. However, one could also effectively argue that simply being asked to spend such valuable time, like making the elite eight, in a place so objectively blighted (crime rate, qulity of life measures, etc), is in and of itself, offensive. Who is correct? Who shouldn't be offended? In the end, we just have no right to live our lives without being offended by someone or something. Nor do I believe it is a worthwhile pursuit.

statewide in MN

update: Big Sky-Only Sac State, Portland State, and Northern Colorado have not made the tournament. UNC isn't eligible yet, and the other two began their D-I teams in '96-'97.

These labels-football town/hockey town/basketball town-are nonsense. In only ten seasons (not even counting the '06-'07 season) the Redhawks have drawn over 1.9 million fans. Does that make Fargo a baseball town? People have many reasons for attending different sports in their city. I have three kids in soccer, basketball, hockey, and football. What bearing does that have on Fargo or Moorhead being a____town? I go to a lot of soccer games now, but when they are done playing I will never attend another soccer game in my life. On the whole, tying these city labels to such things is false logic. For some cities there are obvious traditions-Warroad, Roseau, Grand Forks-but these are the exceptions. One of the things I enjoy about living in the F-M area is you don't get pigeon holed in such things. There is a wide breadth of high level play, from amateurs (RedHawks to USHL?) to college and high school excellence to great youth organizations. PS-As a Moorhead grad, I always enjoy seeing us referred to as a "hockey town". The state tourney appearances are something to be proud of. Yet until the early nineties that program stunk out loud. The first state appearance was '92. The football program and boys and girls track have won multiple state titles between them. Boys and girls basketball and volleyball have had many more state appearances than hockey, dating back several decades. In fact, the girls qualified again yesterday, and the boys play tonight. One could argue that since all that cumulative success is still dwarfed by the hockey team that Moorhead really is a hockey town, but as much as I love my alma mater, I still wouldn't still consider Moorhead one of those obvious exceptions. I think that has more to do with the state's love of the hockey tourney than anything else.

C'mon guys...take it over to the college hockey discussion.

White is having himself a tournament for Grand Rapids.

Considering every current member of the Missouri Valley has made the big dance (source:Mike Kern Associate commissioner MVC) you don't really have to be much of an optimist to expect that, at some point, the Sioux and/or Bison will as well.

Dave, at some point, UND will be in a conference with an auto bid, and they will make the tournament. So will NDSU. That's not a big if. It's an inevitability. And yes, they are likely to get beat badly. But stop with the "ESPN force feeds hoops" baloney. The country doesn't lose 260 million in productivity at work in the first two days of the tournament, and an estimated 1.2 billion overall (Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, Inc. research) because they are forced to. In addition, CBS broadcasts the tournament, not ESPN. And considering the last contract ending in '02 was for 1.7 billion, I'd guess the new one is well over 2 billion. Someone is watching, and ESPN isn't making them do it.

Please, let's not bite on this.

Be carefull here. There will be a day in the not too distant future when literally millions of people all around the country are filling in their NCAA bracket and hoping that NDSU or UND will be able to knock off Duke in the first round. Besides, are you confident Bison fans know who Barry Melrose is?

From the MN AP All state ballot (from teams in the MN tourney): Ben Hanowski, SO, Little Falls: Center, 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, 37 goals, 67 assists, 104 total points, 7 power-play goals, 9 short-handed goals, second in Section 4-1A scoring to teammate Jared Festler thru section semifinals. Beau's little brother age wise, but much bigger. A great all-around player who is being heavily recruited by WCHA schools including Minnesota, St. Cloud State, Wisconsin, North Dakota, etc Matt Reber, SR, Edina: Had 27 goals and 39 assists this season; Quick forward that sees the ice well; Mr. Hockey finalist. Helped lead Hornets to top seed in Class 2A state tourney. Second team all-metro. Jake Hendrickson, JR, Burnsville: Led the Lake Conference in points. Had 24 goals, 42 assists, 66 points. Third team all-metro for Section 5AA champions Zach Budish, SO, Edina: 16 goals 22 assists; considered one of top prospects in his age group; 6-3, 195; Good puck sill, vision and passing ability. Has ability to control game Aaron Crandall, JR, St. Thomas Academy: Second team all-metro. Had 1.29 GAA, .936 save pct Sam Foley, SR, Woodbury: Went 13-5-1, .924 save percentage, 1.77 GAA Nate Hardy, SR, Hermantown: Had 1.9 goals against, .927 save percentage, 3 shutouts; led team to its second straight state tournament Chris Franks, SR, Burnsville: Had 11 goals, 27 assists. Solid two-way player. Third team all-metro Joe Gleason, JR, Edina: Had 9 goals and 20 assists this season; Puck-handling, mobile defenseman that sees the ice well, very good skater, and makes nice passes out of the defensive zone. Third team all-metro. Physical player Chad Huttel, SR, Hermantown: Had 14 goals, 29 assists, 43 points; leader of top-ranked, undefeated team Patrick McClure, SR, Orono: Blue-liner who can score. Led the Wright County Conference with 47 points and 22 goals. Strong, fast skater who will play beyond high school. One of top-scoring defensemen in metro Joe Beaudette, SR, Blaine: Had 32 goals and 37 assists this season; Tremendous hands and speed to go along with good size (6-3); Also possesses a very hard shot. Third team all-metro

yes. So is Christian from Moorhead.

New speculation from WDAY that Gateway membership means annual bison game won't happen. (happy birthday DaveK)link

Compare? I'm not gonna get drawn into that discussion. I started the MN hockey thread for info, not to rip ND hockey. I thought you posted that Grafton-Warroad score as an FYI for overlapping schedules with MN teams.

Moorhead beat #2 Fargo South 5-3, and didn't qualify for the MN tourney.

It is a bit odd seeing a bison helmet creating a discussion string on siouxsports.com, but they are relevant.

Sioux fans shouldn't be worried about much of anything at this point. Plenty of Bison folks were feeling awfully good about their chances in the Big Sky and where did it get them? And yet, things managed to work out. Worry...don't worry...what difference does it make when we are talking about potential events in the next 5-10 years? Think back to the mid nineties. Was St Cloud, Mankato, Augie, and Duluth seeking membership in the NSIC due to the dissolution of the NCC part of anyone's expectations? Speculation can be fun, but take it for what it is-not serious.

According to Hallstrom's blog, since SU scheduled Central Michigan, a UND-SU game in '07 is even less possible now. If it in fact could get any less possible than it already was.

We now have a "cahones" reference.

The ralph is nicer, but opulence isn't why the Cup is prestigious. It's the competition. It's hard to find a single tourney with better teams anywhere in the country than the gold divsision of the Schwan's cup. The competition may be even tougher than the state tourney because, unlike the state tourney, they can have great teams from within the same section. This GF would do well to target those top MN teams have been ending up in the silver division. Playing the marquee tourney in the ralph would, I think, be a bigger draw than the second fiddle bracket at the X.

My question goes to the road game. Would NDSU want a guarantee for a road game when they could get 150k from a team like Ball St? Assume no home and home has been negotiated (It's been hard enough discussing one year let alone the possibility of 2). Or do you think UND would say home and home only?

Is that fact or speculation? I think Gateway membership has a major impact on this issue. If there are only 3 nonconference games to schedule, will the same date be held every year for the UND game? Will it matter if the game can't be held every year? If a team like Ball St will pay 150k, will NDSU ask for some guarantee from UND (certainly not 150k, but something), to keep that date open? Unless the game gets put back on both teams' schedule every year, we could very well see some guarantees being paid.

Given it will be an assured sellout, what's a reasonable guarantee for UND in 2009?