the green team

Actually, my understanding at of red-shirting is (in any sport) is that in the end it's always up to the individual student athletes. The coach's give them the information and they go from there. I re-call Coach Mussman talking about this on the coach's show- he said that they can lay it out with how much playing time a player will possibly be getting and other details and information...but in the end even in football it boils down to individuals choice. Red-Shirting is far more common place in football, it is utilized a bit more randomly in basketball.

Summed up so very well. There is a lot of the ''sky is falling" crowd prevalent right now. But your use of facts proves that we are panicked when we really shouldn't be...yet. Would last years team beaten either Montana or SDSU? I venture to say no. Last years squad took a long time to win on the road too, and they didn't have road games against KU and New Mexico either.

Again, we are only reaching the halfway point of the season. They played because it was non-conference and you had to evaluate what you had. 14 games is a good evaluation period. Relax. I would be shocked if the bench didn't shorten up as they move forward through their season. Being nice has nothing to do with it. Giving guys opportunities to showcase what they can do has everything to do with it. Its all about the INFORMATION. How come you can't do that in practice? You may ask? Well, some guys maybe terrible practice players but when they get in the game- their gamers or vise versa, maybe a guy is all world in practice but really struggles in game mode- you won't know until you play them. They have, and I don't begrudge them one bit for it. Again, lets see what the rotation will be as we move through the rest of the season.

I completely echo your thought process here. I've been thinking "Am I the only one, that can't decipher a vast conspiracy when reading through the correspondences that have been released to the public between the Big Sky and UND?" I've been wondering if there is honestly something wrong with me? The fact that I can't see it so clearly as a Frank BC or the SA Blog guy can. Honestly, when a child does a connect the dots book- they usually result in a clear picture, but if your connecting the dots the way some of these people want you to connect them- the resulting picture would be a muddled mess.

I think that having both Webb & Anderson on the floor has been fine. When they are together, my view is that Webb is the point with Anderson as the off guard- which is fine considering that Anderson is an efficient scorer just look at his percentages. Webb is also probably our best defensive perimeter player- he really locked down some guys since he's been here. One (Anderson or Webb) goes to the bench to rest when Schuler comes on & either Webb or Anderson can handle the ballhandling duties. I certainly don't mind who we have in our starting 5. As of right now- Goodman is only 2 games back from an injury that basically kept him out a year. I like him coming off the bench, because he can give us a lift both offensively & defensively in both areas when he checks off the bench. I would be ok with Schuler starting, but Anderson to this point has been a little better this season and I feel has deserved to start. Again, when Schuler is into it, he adds a tremendous threat of bench scoring.

I appreciate the positive comment. My philosophy has always at least attempt to measured in my responses...doesn't always work out but if I can be some of the time then hopefully I can play a role in these forum discussions. I appreciate your passion and certainly can see your perspective on this, in fact I can't disagree with it. In fact I think that your rotation right now is at 9 players with Schuler, Allard, Goodman & a little Wilmer off the bench. I do look back on last season and I think as we got into Great West play think we did shorten things up somewhat as the season progressed. I think that because we have so many non-conference games and very little post season opportunities- (NIT, only if we would have beaten Kansas & New Mexico- CIT-GWC Tournament Champion) that they want to use every opportunity as an evaluation of the players. Consider this... next year in the Big Sky we will have a far shorter non-conference campaign- so we will have to have our ducks in row in regards to rotation that much sooner- because it's really tough to experiment & evaluate when each conference game is so incredibly important.

Coach Jones was asked that question on the Coaches Show last week as to why Gentry and Antwi did not redshirt. He replied when it get's down to it- it's the student athletes decision. So it sounds like they chose not to. You can encourage a player to redshirt but he or she does not have to. Everyone has to make that decision for themselves and have their own time table to work with. Schuler has been averaging pretty good minutes all season as has Allard off the bench- so I really don't see an issue with minutes already with those 2 off the bench. Goodman was out last night- not feeling well, but what did Gentry play- about 2 minutes, Antwi 1, Archer 1, and Haugen 2. I think the minutes they received last night are a good indicator of who is going to be getting court time, in the future. I really don't think the minutes those players received were that consequential to the other players. I guess will see how it plays out.

Well it must have been a minor miracle and I guess I'll have to chalk it up to dumb luck that I actually I had a logical approach to things.

Wow, I must have killed the conversation with my previous response. This thread it appears to have died.

I haven't replied to a basketball thread for about a week or so. Simply because it just has the propensity to go negative so quickly. We have so few fans as opposed to hockey that I argue is it necessary to be so negative. I can understand being critical, and constructively so but lets look at some of the evidence---shall we. First it appears that Coachdaddy & UNDsportsFanatic don't like the offense. Which is a perimeter ball screening offense- that is meant to free up guards and let the get downhill towards the basket. I'll revert to what I've heard about this from the coach's this year from the pre-game & post-game interviews. Didn't you guys not like the Princeton a few years ago? What offense would make you happy? Why don't you just call over to the basketball offices and tell them which offense they need to be running. Apparently, it's not the right one, again. -If the post player is unable to hold his position or if the ball apparently is not coming into them- they are indeed to go out and screen. This relationship is a 2 way street- sometimes the guards need to do a better job of getting the ball in and others the big needs to post up better. My opinion: The ball rarely goes in- so why when it goes in so few times would it come out on reversal? Once one of our posts gets it down there- it's got to be a feeling of "well I finally got it so I had better do something with it" type of mentality- which, can you blame them? -The ball screen offense- and this has been mentioned several times is not intended to work on the first screen up top. Its usually the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time that it will work. Like all offense- even the motion- you have to get the right action from the defense to exploit it. Usually, most college defenses defend really well early in the clock--the perfect example of great early clock defense is... us. - I submit that the ball screen offense is a great offense for this team, why? Where is the majority of the talent? at the guard spots. Where is our talent most effective at doing? Getting to and finishing at the basket. Perfect example of this was the Kansas game- were some of you watching the same game I was? When our offense was most successful was when we got our guards going to the basket off ballscreens up top. In fact Kansas had a great deal of difficulty defending us closely...because when they did- we would blow by- and get to the lane. Consider I counted 10 missed short shots or layups- that didn't go in or were blown, all created by ball screens and drives. Mind you it's against a team like Kansas who hang their hat on on-ball defensive pressure. We were getting the looks- If there is a criticism it should be... stop being so nervous and make the darn lay up. But the offense is working. These 10 missed layins were not even that challenged we just didn't make them. I also submit that the offense is not only good for the obvious...Huff, Anderson, & Webb, but also for Schuler who actually looks almost the best of the 4 on how to use a screen rub off a defender get to 10 or 15 feet and shoot a pull up- they just need to go down more often. 10 layins missed- that's 20 points. The offense to me is working. - One of the craziest statistics I heard on Saturday was the road record of the Great West Conference- Going into Saturday it was 1 and 41. The 1 win was NJIT by 1 at Army. I desperately want us to win on the road, but realize it's incredibly difficult at this level. That does not take away the 2 most dissapointing losses on the road & of the season in my book- at UMKC and at Sac St. Both had leads at the half both were implosions of epic nature in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd halfs. But those are in the rear view mirror. And now we move on. For those who think last years team was better- I disagree, not from what I've seen. What they accomplished they accomplished at the end, we won't know how to judge this team until the end of the season either. Does anyone remember when we first won on the road last year? Beating E. Mich at Idaho was a neutral court game- to my knowledge we didn't win on the road unitl conference season. - Just a couple of notes on the Kansas game- we played hard. That was good. Thomas Robinson is just amazing. Travis Releford & Tyshawn Taylor are maybe the best on-ball defenders I have ever seen in a college game-they are really really good. Jamal Webb- despite a tough shooting day but had 6 assists to 3 turnovers (2:1 ratio) against a team that tries to do everything they can to force you into perimeter mistakes (1 was just a great play by a KU defender, the other 2 were forced passes, but I submit that at least he was trying to make a play). Mitch Wilmer needs to learn to use his body to play a lot bigger. He will have far more success if he's able to learn that. -Can we get better- most certainly yes. We have too. Is it the end of the world? No. Do we need to go out and find some Bigs?- Yes. That goes without saying but I would be shocked if the coaching staff doesn't know that-- and aren't scouring the country trying find a player or players that can help in that area. Do you honestly think they are not? Our players represented North Dakota proudly on Saturday. It's officially the 2nd half of the year. Let's see what they do the rest of the way. Go UND!

Please don't try to marginalize, categorize, criticize how I support my school. I don't like being referred to as sheep. First, UND has provided a great platform for many of us alumni in our lives. Each one of us can choose to give or support however we see fit. I am proud to have received my degrees at UND and I am proud to support however minor it may be (as opposed to others) in regards to academics and sports from which both myself and my family gain so much enjoyment from- name, no-name or some other name. If you feel that I am somehow less worthy of an alum- because I refuse to jump on board something that you feel is the ultimate issue- I don't know what to tell you. My closesest friends in this world (all UND alum) are all disappointed in the loss of the nickname, but we are far more concerned with where this university will be down the road irregardless of the name.

Who's to say that they voted in favor of us joining. Does it have to be unanimous? If not I would have been shocked if we got yes's from Sac St., Portland St. and N. Arizona. Now getting voted into a conference without those 3 probably not a big issue, but if those 3 all started to tell the conference that they would no longer play us due to the nickname---then that provides a problem and headache for those who were our allies and were in favor of us joining. This is all speculation on my part, but I'm just trying to read between the lines like anybody else.

I guess I read the column like this. Sacramento St. is concerned with the travel costs to ND within conference play. I'm willing wager that they along with a number of other far west schools in the Big Sky would be more than thrilled to show us the door under the disguise of the nickname situation, to get the end result of getting out of travel to ND. Even though it proves that it's not really about the nickname...its the travel--by having the nickname it gives them the ammunition and an actionable item to vote on.

I echo your sentiment- this is embarrasing, there is no way around it. And unfortunately now it's going to raise the question about other players on the current roster- fair or not. Whether they are done at players is inconsequential to me. The mark they will have left with this program will unfortunately linger and it will give our rivals/enemies plenty of fodder for a long long long time. Shameful.

That was really well said and laid out Bin. Listen we may not be a "Basketball Town" but just because the rivalry is being played on a Tuesday night should not mean people can't go or won't. Many teams around the country play their rivalries on Monday's Kansas-Missouri. Neither Columbia nor Lawrence are big cities they are college towns and they get there if the game is on a Monday. The obvious big difference being is that they are "Basketball Towns" and Kansas City is just down the road. Another example is Florida is entertaining Florida State this Thursday night in Gainsville. All the students are home for break even and do you think any of those schools are worried about attendance for that game because it's on a Thursday before Xmas and the students are gone? I'm thinking no. I understand that we all would rather have it on a Saturday, but unless this game in future years can be scheduled before Xmas that will be the only chance either team will have to schedule it on a Saturday. Because once we get into January next year and the same can be said for the Ag School, as they have been for the last several years and will for the forthcoming both will have conference games scheduled during weekends next year. All I'm trying to point out is-- moving forward, the window will be real small for Saturday games when UND & NDSU meet on the court. So we'd better get used to it. Honestly, I don't like having to play a rivalry game on a neutral floor. There is no homecourt advantage when we move games to the Ralph. I would much rather sellout the Betty but raise ticket prices enough to recoup some of the cost. If it's $75 or $100 a seat for that game so be it. I'm thinking it would be a hot ticket- keep it out of Season ticket packages- however they have priority- to get their seat. But I'm thinking tickets would sell and we would have a full venue and on the home floor. Play it in the Betty---that's where the heart of Sioux basketball is right now.

Thank you--you're helping me prove my point. You're saying that UND Marketing has already did a campaign like this within the last 2 or 3 years. You & friends liked it.. that's great. Obviously they (UND Marketing) aren't as dim as some of us are making them out to be. But according to you that was a few years ago. It sounds if they're guilty of anything it's not continuing that campaign or doing it again sooner-- as it proved poplular. We're the signs free or were they sold? Honestly, I can say that I missed out on this marketing campaign. Which is funny cause I really, do pay attention to this stuff, cause I'm always working it seems, but I apparently did miss the sign campaign. It's still not going to make me put signs of any kind in my yard, but I'm curious.

Actually, you can listen to the games if you have a smart phone-anywhere- It's called Iheartradio. Secondly, as mentioned the fact that we are getting any games on the radio in Fargo at all is a huge step up from having 0 broadcast over the past 30 plus years. Even if it is only 4 or 5 games a year. How many Bison games are on actually Grand Forks stations, ever? I believe the answer is 0. The second answer to your thoughts is money. Let's put it this way- my business has X amount of sponsorhip dollars right now. In regards to spending it on UND sports the smart play is on hockey...it has the biggest draw. Until basketball has a bigger draw-it doesn't have to be hockey sized, but average at least 2500 to 3000 a game, you won't get more sponsorship dollars. And if you want more games on WDAY in Fargo you'll have to buy the time- it's not like its free airtime. They carry every Hockey and Football game already-- along with select women's and men's basketball games and women's hockey games. They have been a good partner. But if I'm UND's Athletic department- am I worried having to make ends meet to send teams around this awful Great West Conference for travel or am I worried on spending it on more games broadcast in Fargo when we already have more than we've ever had? Also, "why can't we air every game?" what do you do when there is hockey on at the same time as basketball with WDAY. UND is no dummies in that hockey is a major draw and has been for a long time they at this time- need the network. As far as yard signs. I guess I can't argue with you there. I guess UND is perhaps not passing out signs to stick in peoples yards...really? Can't people make there own signs. Personally, I want no signs in my yard period. Political, Sports or otherwise. But yes you are right UND Marketing is certainly guilty in not providing me a sign for my yard. Shame on you UND Marketing

Again with people throwing out marketing as the explanation. I'm sorry but since the transition UND has marketed Basketball & Football way more than Hockey probably 100 fold. Why? Because hockey doesn't really need to be marketed--(this is not a knock on hockey-it's a compliment). Winning markets itself. What do you mean by bad marketing? In fact in my travels comparatively, UND uses more avenues and more frequency when trying to bring attention to their non- #1 sports such as Basketball and Football in comparison to other schools. Other than sending people out to hold peoples hand and walk them up to the ticket window, I'm not sure what else they are suppose to do. They've even tried changing simple things such as game day- We never used to run into the Alerus for football with the lights out, but now we do. We never had bouncy places for the kids at tailgating...now we do. We never had a kids activity center at Basketball...now we do. They never had a thing such as Sioux Crew (which is a reward system for attending) when I attended...now we do. And yet the attendance continues to slide. I guess we look at things way differently- because I look around I see all these things that have been developed and say wow- there are alot of positives in marketing- comparatively from where we were and in comparison to other peer schools. The reality is the blame lies with all of us, because we apparently are not doing a very good job of getting our neighbors excited. Taking a collegue out to a game. We've also developed a fan base where, it's really only concerned about 1 sport and the rest be damned. Unfortunately, I know a lot of people who only like hockey- definitely their perogative & I'm ok with that-(I figured I better qualify that statement)- but we don't have enough people living in this part of the world where we can afford to have people be fans of only 1 team. If we were a metro area of 400,000 then there would be plenty of fans to go around but with families having to divide their time with youth & high school sports- you really don't have much left in this area to have a large corp of game in and game out fans. I will agree with the transition argument. I believe many of our fans really haven't embraced this move to D1 especially since victories have been hard to come by. Winning cures a great many things. When the football team was in bad shape in D2- 80's it took a long time before fans started coming back out to Memorial, with the exception of the Bison game- we started winning- the fans started coming. I guess having to market my business the way I do, I actually find myself sticking up for UND Marketing when it gets constantly attacked in these forums. Because I see lots of effort- far more in the last 5 years than ever before. Many of the things, I like and I can see what they are doing and who they are trying to draw. I tip my cap to them. Because marketing through this transition has not been easy.

Wow, I was going to post last night but wanted to enjoy this one, and take some time to formulate some thoughts. First off this was a great response to an absolute embarrasment- it showed character and pride in the program. I know some on here wonder about our defense, but I thought it was very good. Remember the other team has college athletes too, and they sometimes will get themselves open. But let's look at it, SDSU was averaging about 78 points a game- we held them to 70. And yes they may have helped themselves too by missing some shots but there were far fewer easy baskets conceded in this game then there was even in the Montana game by our defense. My hope is that they build off this defensive performance and continue to get better on that side of the ball. Defense will win us a lot of ball games. Individually, positives all around- especially nice to see Mitchell unleash what we know he's capable of, Allard, I was about ready to come out of the stands and smack you after passing up a wide open layup in the first half, but you were tremendous in the 2nd- in all phases. Wilmer, you gave us solid minutes when you were on the floor. Archer, that was great back to the basket turnaround over the defender in the 2nd half. Webb, Anderson, Schuler, Huff- goes without saying they were all there to make a play when we needed them-the backbone of our team. Lastly, I was glad I got to see Wolters. He indeed is the real deal. How many did he hit over a defender, with a hand in his face? He is so smooth with his game, and last night may not have even been his best game. But wow the guy can play. Wasn't sorry to see Callahan have mediocre to poor game. Don't get me wrong, I hope he has a great rest of the season and harbor no ill will long term for him. But he was on this campus and chose to leave UND, probably ended up being the right decision for him as he's had a very good career, but I can't help but think what could have been. So maybe there was a little sweet justice for 1 night anyway. Finally the crowd, ok not great numbers attendance wise but goodness, don't just sit back and take it all in. My biggest complaint is- I wonder if our fans are even into the game. Get out of your seat once in a while. Don't be afraid to make some noise- it's ok to be a little crazy every once in awhile. I'm guessing their crowd was all over us when we were down there. Get after that opposing team, bring down the roof when we go on runs. It's almost like our fans have to learn how to be college basketball fans. My message to this team would be...Don't be satisfied with this- you should be confident that you can perform at this level but don't get satisfied and content- attempt to bring this to the floor every game. Home and Away.

WDAY last year and this year have done select Men's & Women's Basketball games. Considering that is the first time that any Fargo station has ever carried Sioux Basketball... I would say that is a big step forward. I know the Montana game was on WDAY. When KFGO was an affiliate we never had a basketball broadcast on their stations. So on at least speaking for myself, because I don't want to speak for everyone - but I wish to say thank you WDAY for taking a huge step forward and beginning to air some basketball games. That's much appreciated.

If you have a smart phone- download the iheartradio app and you can get 100.3 the station for Sioux Basketball anywhere in the country.

So they're taking their Men's BBall program which has been steadily becoming stronger and stronger and putting it in a conference with a basketball rank mostly in the 20's where it had been in a conference that was around 4,5,6 or 7 ranking wise depending on the season. Wow, Football dictates and the rest must capitulate is how it goes I guess.

I know we butt heads occasionally here, but I definitely respect your last post. While I think of some of the things we disagree about- we may always agree to disagree...it is that its nice to know that our program is in a place where people are interested, have differing opinions, and it matters whether the team is successful or not. That really couldn't be said 3 years ago. 2 players to me that need to get better, if the team is to get better are Allard's offensive game- Wilmer, just overall. We have to be able to get something out of him with the size that he offers. We don't have a lot of size otherwise, so it's imperative that when he's on the floor that he produce something of value.

When the new men's jerseys arrive late in the season, will replicas be made available for sale in the Sioux Shop? I've got to get me one.

I hope he does play (Wolters), because I wanted to have the chance to see him. I've heard he is a tremendous player. Hopefully, the stomping we incurred on Saturday night did a little to dent our egos. I hope our young guys who I think have the ability to be very good- have to understand that just because you beat Montana doesn't necessarily make a season. The last time I saw them was the Jamestown game and it appeared to me even though we had just come off the loss to Western Illinois that there were certain players who were more concerned with their swagger and that the opponent wasn't good enough to be on the floor with them. What happened, Jamestown was allowed to hang around. We have then went on to 3 straight road losses, the last being an embarrasment. Let's get it together and put in the effort when on the floor that is supposed to be the trademark of UND Men's Basketball. If we put in the effort and lose- oh well there is a lot of season left but if we put in the effort and pull out the upset--then that would show a great deal of maturing character on this teams part.