jdub27

Exactly. Except you want one fired and are putting the other on a pedestal. I noticed you ignored every other comment I had though. You still haven't said what philosophy or mentality that Jones has and needs to change. Question - How much of the SUU game that you keep harping on did you watch?

Not asking for expert analysis or anything near that. I want to know what his opinion of why he thinks Jones needs to go. Looking backwards at his record and saying it isn't acceptable or not saying a word while the team is winning but as soon as they lose firing up the old "Fire Jones" thread is a pretty cowardly way to call for someone's job. Not sure I've seen any actual insight except for apparently Huff needs to pass more because some other people posted he was selfish. As far as I can tell, UND and NDSU have interest in one or maybe two similar players for the next two classes. UND doesn't go head to head with them all that much in basketball recruiting (and UND has won the two most recent times they have, Hooker and Shanks). What they have done this year has been good for their program, it will help them out. If they start making the dance multiple years in a row, then it will become a significant advantage. My comment about Saul not caring about road OOC was a jab him allowing his team to lose to lowly UND on the road. A coach like him shouldn't allow that to happen.

If they were missing 1 or 2 guys, no. When you're missing 3-4, its a problem on any team.

Those are pretty vague answers. Pass more, rebound more, win on the road. Great insight. What philosophy or mentality is it that Jones has? Oh, and Huff is currently the 11th most efficient player in the NCAA per Hollinger's PER. He wasn't perfect by any means but if you are going to use that as reasoning, then your arguments are worse than I thought. And I could care less about NDSU. Since Jones is such a bad coach, tell me how UND ran them out of the gym? Saul didn't care about an OOC road game? I've never said I was pro-Jones. I'm just not running around with pitchforks and torches. Maybe you think differently, but calling for another person to lose their job is kind of a big deal. In the conference races, Jones has finished at minimum where they have been picked his first two years in the Big Sky. Weber State, historically the best basketball team in the league, just went 6 years between conference tournament victories and a NCAA berth. UND doesn't get to win just because you or the fans think they deserve it. They actually have to play against other schools who are good and have high expectations as well. Part of the problem was this class. They were great to watch and I appreciate everything they did for UND. But like most players that end up at mid-majors, they have flaws. They were talented but did not play well as a team. Think it is a coincidence that the second unit was competitive and gave the starters trouble during practices including beating them? Not sure if you paid attention, but Jones tried multiple things to get their attention over the past few years. They didn't start at Wisconsin, including Huff, who was playing in his home state in front of a ton of friends and family. Guys got the quick hook multiple times and spent an extended period of time on the bench (but then Jones got railed for playing some of the non-starters). But at some point, you have to roll the dice with your most talented players and hope they get it. Some times they did, some times they didn't. Some of the other guys who have graduated in recent years have been fundamentally sound with Jones as their coach. And this is not an excuse but a fact, the injuries over the last couple years have been borderline ridiculous for what a basketball team normally faces, including two of the guys who probably had the best fundamentals of any of them (Schuler and Brekke). And the NCAA can get bent for not giving Nash a waiver last season.

Since you are so against Jones, please specifically explain what you think he should have done differently this year other than "It's his fault, fire him".

Sounds like the women will be playing Sunday night at 7pm. Game will be ESPN2.

Heck of a game. Nice come back by OU only to let the Bison back in it and they took advantage. Congrats to them.

Live stats for the game anywhere? Edit: CBSSports has it

Couple questions/comments. I understand that Smith would like to be a head coach again, but being hitched to Tim Miles for a few more years seems like it would be a pretty good idea professionally and financially. He's making almost as much as Phillips is at NDSU as the 3rd assistant coach (the other two make more than Phillips) and wouldn't be surprised if he saw a bump in his salary with how Nebraska did this year. Not like a mid-major job similar to USD or NDSU won't be available in the future, though I suppose if he'd like to land back in Dakotas it is tough to know when an opening will show up if he waits. Second, is it a foregone conclusion that Phillips is moving on? I haven't seen too much media outside of Kolpack and Izzo reporting it, but they both seem convinced. They also thought Bohl was only leaving for a BCS auto-qualifying conference so I'm a little wary on their opinions. Curious what makes him more attractive than where Nagy of SDSU was sitting at this time last year, coming off back to back NCAA appearances. Saul's a very personable guy and a great quote and has had some success, but what conference would he realistically be looking at moving into?

Here's something that I read and you can chew on: Dustin Hobaugh played 23 minutes last night (and actually looked pretty good shooting). Prior to that, he had played less than 30 minutes not counting D-II games this entire year. UND a few days prior had lost out on what they had been aiming towards the last 4 years and again only ended up in the CIT. UNO got a chance to play some extra basketball and were excited about it. We didn't have the horses last night, they were all in sitting on the bench in street clothes or playing on one good leg. They played like the wanted to be there and flat out beat the lineup UND was able to play, no point on dwelling on it anymore.

Care to elaborate on the difference? Would love to hear the logic on that statement.

Interesting. I guess I'm not familiar with the original talks on seat locations, but know people who worked with the REA the first couple of offseasons on it and that is what was relayed to me.

To go even further with that Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating on ESPN.com had Huff listed as the 11th most efficient player in the nation before tonight's game (hasn't been updated yet). Take it for what its worth, but Troy gets a bad rap more often than he should.

Will be interesting to see the Tyler/Hooker/Stefan/Antwi combo next year. Think they will surprise some people. The last two have impressed me towards the end of the season. Still need an athletic 3/4 guy though. Nash getting a 6th year would help with a lot of the questions on the offensive end, but thinking its a long shot.

Congrats on 2000 Troy. Came on a nice hustle play.

Not defending our effort, but this reffing is brutal.

Video on www.WatchCollegeInsider.com Audio on 100.3 Cat Country in Grand Forks and on IHeartRadio

There are still a ton of rooms available downtown Minneapolis, including near the Target Center. Difference is, there is a significantly larger amount of hotel rooms in Minneapolis than there are in St. Paul. But agree on rooms in St. Paul. During the Final 5 you had to book them well in advance to be anywhere near the Xcel.

I believe those are the sections that were originally chosen by the students. I also believe there was discussions in the first few offseasons about the student section moving, but the agreement every time was that they stayed where they currently are.

Interesting tidbit for the Bring Back Dean Blais fan club:

MPG on the season: Huff - 29.4 Anderson - 29.3 Webb - 25.1 Nash - 23.3 Schuler - 21.0 Hooker - 17.6 Traylor - 16.6 Stefan 13.8 Calcaterra - 11.9 Antwi - 9.9 Salmonson 9.3 That's a lot of minutes to replace on short notice.

It should also help that UNO also plays a pretty uptempo game, they are top 20 in the nation at just over 80 points per game. While it plays into what they do, playing a small line-up rather than 2 bigs should also helps UND have a better line-up on the court.

I was thinking that as well, but at the rate the Traylor/Calcaterra/Salmonson trio picks up fouls, I think you are playing with fire if you have two of the three in there for an extended period of time. Probably going to see a lot of 4 guard line-up with Antwi/Stefan. Thinking Benton will get some good minutes tonight as well. He's capable of guarding players bigger than him, but 6'8" might be pushing it.

Game is at 7pm tonight. UND currently a 6.5 point underdog on UNO's home court. Not counting out any team that has Huff and Anderson but having a hard time seeing this one fall in UND's favor without 2 of their top 3 defenders and by far their most athletic big man on top of all the traveling they've done. Disappointing that 4 of the 7 seniors will likely be watching in street clothes.

I didn't argue any of the above. Just pointing out that when games were actually played on the court, not on paper, the Big Sky was better on the court twice, the Summit once. The Big Sky was inconsistent this year, that's not a secret and it is why their rankings are where they are. But when they played to the level they were capable of, there were multiple good teams. NDSU better be careful on Thursday, this game might be OU's Super Bowl and apparently NDSU is 0-1 in other team's Super Bowls this year.