jdub27

Get over NDSU. They were 4-10 on the road this year including 1-7 in conference. Related to UND, they have the 3rd most road wins in Big Sky conference play since joining. Its not an easy league to win in the road on. They are in the second tier, a clear step behind UM and Weber and you'll get no arguments from me that they need to make improvements to move up as equals as those two teams, but put things into perspective a little bit.

Average to above average teams struggle on the road against good teams? Who would have thought?! That's not a recurring theme with UND, that's a recurring theme in all sports. All kidding aside, not a good performance last night regardless of who gets the blame. The best game plan in the world doesn't matter when the teams can't hit the side of a barn.. Montana was smarting from Weber handling them last weekend and came out a lot better than UND. Not sure why, UND had been playing very well as of late. Hoping the can bounce back Saturday, get the 4 seed and go from there.

Not going to win any games when your two best players shoot 3-20 and have 10 turnovers combined and your two sharpshooters go 2-7 on 3 pointers. Hopefully it was just an off night for Q and there isn't something else wrong, this team goes as he goes. Ugly game, turn the page and on to Bozeman. UND still can get the 4 seed if they win and ISU loses in Idaho.

No. I like the rest of your suggestions though.

NDSU fans claim the only reason that SDSU has such big fan support at Summit basketball tournament is because its in SDSU's backyard (completely ignoring the part where NDSU fans just don't bother to show up). Now you're trying to say that Brookings:Sioux Falls = Fargo:Grand Forks? Do you get dizzy with all the spin you repeat from board to board?

UND currently an 8 point underdog and at +315 to win outright.

I agree to a point but your examples are quite a bit different than Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan/Michigan State in a whole lot of ways. The money, facilities and now FCOA are there even when the fan support is down plus they still carry the B1G clout that matters to people regardless of the reality on how the teams or conference are actually doing. The fact a couple of the B1G have fallen so far and aren't even competitive is pretty mind-blowing.

Where did he mention the Big Sky in the post you quoted? He was talking about the MVC.

I'd argue he's been overshadowed courtside by the opposing coach quite a few times this year. NAU, PSU and Sac State come to mind just off the top of my head.

There is zero decision to make UND wins the Big Sky tournament especially considering the current roster make-up. It is already sitting at a tough decision because of what he has done with a young squad. Now it is just a matter of how much has he earned. I previously stated with how this season has gone, he should get a 1 year extension with a small bump in salary for next season in exchange for a reduced buyout on the extension year. This is mainly because I'm not a fan of letting a coach go into a lame duck year.

I can agree with the majority of that. I think player development was somewhat stunted by players themselves the past handful of years. I also think that this team has improved quite a bit from where they were at the beginning of the year, which shouldn't be a surprise when 6 of your top 7 players didn't play a single minute for UND last year and the 8th only played the second semester. The way this team has been playing lately is incredibly encouraging. Hopefully the trend of playing their best basketball in March continues. Thursday is a big test to see where this team is heading into the conference tournament.

They need to continue to improve on how they use the main scoreboard and side panels. Got better last year but much room for improvement. I know its been mentioned here and the reasoning for why it isn't done has also been put forward, but the lights absolutely need to be turned off during the pre-game intros.

But there is a lot of things going on behind the scenes! Details are completely unnecessary even if you happen to be doing things like asking for more money, breaking previous agreements or updating your budget with the state. How can you not see that an explanation like this should be good enough? Haven't they suffered enough being expected to honor agreements they made and mandates passed down by the governor?

I don't think he's the world's greatest coach and think he still hasn't necessarily fully proven himself, which isn't a where you want to be after 10 years, but: -It was pretty much all Jones' fault for the struggles during the transition, even though its obvious a large part of it had to do with the players and how they played, which he obviously recruited -Yet any turnaround isn't attributed to him even though the team is finally back to doing fundamental things that were being done his first few years and then seemed to disappear with the transition group I just can't see how one can be all his fault but yet he gets no credit on the other. He did a few different things to greatly improve the locker room chemistry this year because it was a huge problem over the last few seasons. He also is finally able have a better chance at getting the kind of players he wants and appear to be very coachable instead of getting guys that are talented but have deficiencies in other areas. I have no clue what is going to happen with the coaching situation and it will be a tough decision but this team is fun to watch and I'm excited to see what they can do in the postseason.

Actually over 22% more (or just about 1.6x the amount women will get!!). Men currently get 61.1% of scholarship funds, while women get 38.9%. But nothing to see here, NDSU "diligently monitors its students' interests so its athletic offerings can continue to meet its students' needs", just disregard that they include club, intramural and recreational sports in their "offerings".

It is? What was the resolution?

1 year extension and then add a buyout clause that is worth less than 1 year's salary? Probably have to give a little bump in exchange for that but could be worth it. The lame duck year is not an attractive option.

You can see a Title IX nightmare down the road for UND yet you don't see any issue with how it is handled at NDSU? It was obvious you were delusional but this is taking it to a new level...

The same type of comments were made about Ralph and the nickname. Then Earl Strinden came out and said the complete opposite. Again, anyone who says they know exactly what someone who is no longer alive would have done isn't speaking in facts, they are stating their opinion. We aren't going to agree on it. You think that high school kids should have priority over UND in the REA, I don't agree. The management at the REA didn't either and the NDHSAA was fine with the accommodations made. It wasn't the first time it has happened yet somehow its the end of the world this time around not to mention many other state championships are played early in the morning.

Good one. NDSU still has around $1.5 million left to be raised/paid for from the Fargodome coach's offices and locker room renovations done in 2004 that the NDSU Foundation had to take out bonds on.

It's a UND facility, they have priority (technically private but the priority thing stands). It was set up that way intentionally, not sure why that is a hard concept to understand. Almost if not all of these other facilities are public facilities, big difference. A lot of people seem to think they know how someone isn't around any more would think, I'll take your comments with a grain of salt. As for practice, I'd guess the women's hockey team has class at 10 am, because you know, student-athletes and stuff. I didn't dismiss class for the high school kids because it didn't matter, Grand Forks didn't have school and any schools that did, would have traveled that morning or the night before, it would have had zero effect on the amount of classes they attended. I hope that Grand Forks keeps it, next year's Fargo numbers will tell the story. I'm just pointing out that if the numbers are important, than they need to improve in Grand Forks or fall off in Fargo. Do suite holders in Scheels Arena get tickets? Not as big of a number but if you're going to use it an excuse for one, then make sure you apply it to the other.

Are private donations now a code word for student fees?

I'm sure coaches in all the other sports have opinions too but I'm not sure how that matters because it doesn't change the fact that the start times are what they are. However, considering the teams aren't staying over night, that dampens the economic impact that people are putting out there. And as I proved (despite your instance it had never happened), this isn't the first time the tournament has been set up like this, nor is it the first time there have been games at the times they were at, across the board during all rounds. However, I'm sure that Idalski and Faison were happy with the way the weekend turned out, so that is a positive. As to your comment about what Kevin Fee has to say, again, I'll differ to the management team at the Ralph who's job is to run the arena in a way Ralph would approve and report to a board of directors who ensure that. If it is imperative that Grand Forks keep the tournament maybe the REA isn't the correct venue for it and if the NDHSAA is bent on making the most money, maybe Grand Forks isn't the correct location because it becomes a pretty tough argument to permanently have it in Grand Forks if the gate is that much larger in Fargo.

Just curious, did you attend the tournament this weekend?

Just want to point out that even Ben Brien was aware of this as his mock-up doesn't have the headdress look.