jdub27

Agree with the long shot odds, but this may be the healthiest the team has been all year assuming Anderson is able to go. Not sure on Brekke's conditioning but he's played 14, 16 and 20 minutes the last 3 games and Schuler looked pretty good Saturday despite his layoff.

I thought Huff was forcing a little too but it seemed that part of the reason was Anderson being out and the offense not having the flow it should.

That is huge. They adjusted and played pretty good without him on Saturday, but you could notice a drop-off in how the offense was being run.

Do I remember correctly that all UND players were eligible for Newcomer of the Year?

Kristo from Knight, Forbort

One of the worst officiated games I've seen in a while and that was both ways, not just against UND. I'm guessing that contributed to the sloppiness of the game, they players had no clue what they were and weren't going to get away with. I'm guessing/hoping there was not much benefit to Anderson coming back and playing, the 3 seed was locked up. He looked to be moving around fine at the game. Decent crowd, not much for students, but with spring break, not a big surprise.

I was actually thinking this morning the Summit has to be disappointed about this. I mean, DU fit perfectly into their new marketing plan without having to change their name.

True, but Denver is a private school, spends a lot of money on and has had relative success with basketball and doesn't have football to worry about. And while it isn't the closest option, getting to Denver by plane is pretty easy. They aren't perfect but I think them being a private and non-football school is a huge deal for the balance of the MVC and them being picked wouldn't surprise me.

Denver was my second guess behind ORU. Not sure why they weren't listed more originally as a possibility other than they had just moved to the Summit. They seem to be switching conferences yearly anyway, so no big deal to them. Plus being a private university is a definite plus to half of the MVC.

Gonzaga spends 6x the amount of money UND does on basketball. They spend 3x what UND and NDSU do combined on basketball. It takes money to compete. Unless a huge donor is going to step up, not sure where that money is going to come from. UND has struggled to finish getting the funds for their IPF (though it looks like they finally have). NDSU has been stuck on the last $2MM of their BSA renovation for how long now? They would need double that $2MM every year on top of their existing basketball budget and they would still be $1MM short of what Gonzaga spends on basketball.

I agree 100% with this. The top level of FBS is going to start realizing how much money they are leaving on the table once their "playoffs" start and are going to have no desire to share it.

Yes, it is too bad that all scandals have been relegated to the B1G. No academic scandals or booster abuse in the Big 12, ACC, SEC, Pac12, etc. I guess Auburn, USC, FSU, SMU, Miami and Oregon (just off the top of my head) are all clean as a whistle. If you don't consider the B1G as one of the premier conferences, I'd love to see your list.

So one conference is better than them in football and one is better than them in basketball and now they are a second rate conference? And to declare their academics as a non-factor in the conference profile is a pretty shallow view, not to mention money, which is what is driving the majority of realignment. I can only hope UND can some day would even be considered for what you declare is a second-rate, wanna-be conference. To everyone else who looks at the whole picture, the B1G is one of the premier conferences.

I'm not real excited about the B1G hockey conference or other developments, but are you serious? The academic profile of that conference alone is enough to make your statement a joke (hint: Rutgers and Maryland both have AAU designations), let alone the money that their TV network can command and bring in. They are currently rated 2nd in both MBB and WBB and ended the season as the 4th best football conference. That company, in both academics and athletics, is one that UND can only wish that it could keep. If you want to make this strictly about hockey, that is one thing. But to declare the whole conference as "second-rate, wanna-be" is just absurd and makes you look petty.

Schools in their conference? No Money? Yes

Seems believable. Even so, the bolded above does not compute...

I see that now. Seems strange. I guess if that is the case, it is a good thing to have in your back pocket in case an injury or something were to come up. No doubt he's seeing the field this year.

My understanding was that he enrolled at Parkland College in Champaign last fall, which I believe started his eligibility clock, meaning he will have used 1 of his 5 years to complete his 4 years of eligibility. I could be wrong though. On a related note, here is an article from the Chicago Tribune that he is mentioned in that talks about grades and eligibility and partially explains how he ended up at UND. Touches on the coaches at UND staying on top of the student athletes and working with them on their academics.

I only see the MVC adding one new team. They like the balanced schedule of 10, with 18 conference games and there is less schools to split their NCAA MBB money with. Unless they are expecting to lose more teams, I don't see them going to 12. Not sure if it will affect the Summit. They need to be concerned about Oakland moving to the Horizon or Denver being the team that the MVC picks. My best guess is ORU or Denver.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he will be playing right away and won't have a red-shirt year available to him.

Also, there has not been a large amount of "new" members either. Regardless, UND has fared better, particularly on the road, than a lot of people had thought they would.

Wonder if is there the possibility of each team having the logo in their team colors similar to what the Big Sky does.

I would guess that the student organization NoDak Nation (formerly Sioux Crew) is the group that runs the trips. I believe they were the ones they were in charge of the Omaha trip with the infamous stop in Summit, SD.

Eagle's Crest (King's Walk) has a pretty good Sunday brunch buffet as well.

I didn't purchase tickets, but from the e-mail: