jdub27

Ignore the guy, he has a personal issue with the coach.

You stated Jacksonsville used to be a Final Four team. I provided some context to your comment which (surprise) came off very misleading. In 1970, they made the Final Four and it was the only year they have ever won a game in the NCAA tournament. They have never been anything near a perennial basketball power and haven't made the tournament in over 30 years. You mentioned a single flash in the pan moment from 50 years ago to make it sound like they are looking to return to the glory days.

1970 was the only year they have ever even won a game in the tournament out of their 5 appearances, none being in the last 30+ years.

I think most would prefer to get back to the Thursday/Saturday that was the norm in the Big Sky. Obviously an odd number of teams and facility issues can make some of that a challenge, but it was nice to know, for the most part, that VB, MBB and WBB would be playing those nights. UMKC re-joining should help push that towards a reality, at least until the next domino falls.

This is the correct answer.

Labor Day Saturday is tough to get people to give up. I know quite a few people who skipped the opener against Drake because of it this year. You're going to lose some fans either way you do it.

Valpo on a Thursday to open the season. SDSU - 2nd home game not until 1st weekend in October MSU - Back to back home games, hope October is nice next year USD - Halloween game SIU - Regular season finale Will be interesting to see how attendance shapes up next year. South Dakota school should help out a bit but Thursday game won't help to start the year.

And based on history, he's probably right. These are the exact questions that need to be answered and probably shed a ton of light on why the bid was put in where it was. Based on UND's bid, the NCAA would have been paid $75K after all of UND's expenses were paid. Without knowing what makes that up, pretty hard to make an actual judgement of the situation. Regardless, I'd be willing to bet it was a top 3-5 bid for the first round without much doubt. UNI is the only one that was likely higher for sure. Who knows where SELA was, not sure if there is truth to the Southland putting in money to help raise bids of member schools.

What would be your response if you found out UND outbid Albany, which I'd be pretty confident on betting on.

Considering any NCAA sponsored tournament is required to offer autobids to conference champions and there are 10 conferences that utilize their autobids, what you're advocating for is 6 at large teams (not 8 but I digress). Not happening. Note - there are actually 13 autobids available but the SWAC, MEAC and Ivy choose not to use the ones they are offered. However SWAC and MEAC teams that don't play in the Celebration Bowl are still eligible to make the field as an at-large.

Which part? The one where he has a budget to work with? I know fiscal responsibly isn't a required course in fargo but....

It was meant as a jab at Nicholls St, who owns their facility, except for the tents and "facilities" they need to rent, meaning their overhead is lower. I'd be really curious to see what the other bids were. Originally I would have guessed UNI would be the only ones to outbid us but wouldn't be surprised if SELA threw out a pretty big number as well considering they are hosting Villanova.

Just to clarify, the Alerus Center isn't free (and it apparently costs a hell of a lot more than renting a tent and some mobile showers/bathrooms). UND didn't slap a number together and call it good. Plenty of time was spent putting it together. They bid the max they knew they would be able to cover, after expenses, which included raising funds to increase it 50% more than UND originally authorized and 2.5x the minimum bid for the round. There were people who stepped to the plate to cover shortfalls that could have happened, which is pretty damn common in the Thanksgiving weekend games.

Found a more recent photo for you.

Part of the hosting requirements are having adequate facilities. I'm not exactly sure how in the hell this qualifies? I guess they allowed it last year for the playoffs and it has been that way for going on for two seasons now but still....yikes.

By many magnitudes..... I mean they just got held to half their season average scoring by a non-playoff team...

Drop it on this one. The last person losing any credibility in the locker room on their decision is Holm. He's made a ton of sacrifices for the team and he's lost over a full season of games to injury in his career. And comparing it to Wanzek's situation is straight garbage. They are in no way comparable. Not going to blame a kid if he wants to be healthy and play a full year to finish his career instead of half of a season, delaying his his life after football for a year. Also not going to blame him if he gives it a go against huge odds and ends his career by playing a fifth game. It will be his call. Having him back in the secondary would be pretty damn nice next year, he'll be all conference if he comes back.

Considering Skokna was coming of a major knee injury, I think you should rethink it.

Bracket is set. Bids are open. Highest bid hosts. Nothing more, nothing less. Nicholls managed to outbid us. Nothing can be done at this point. All luck of the draw on who you get matched up against. UND bid well above the minimum. The staff was confident there were only a one or two teams that would exceed UND's bid. Turned out to be wrong, but again, it's done. Nicholls will be taking a bath to hopefully what amounts to buying a home loss.

100% this. The only at large there was concern about was UNI. No clue what Nichols did or how they backed it. What's done is done. Let's go down to Louisiana, take care of business and see what happens from there...

Are you sure about that? They had 3,000 attendance for their home playoff game last year and that wasn't even Thanksgiving weekend. They only had an announced attendance of 7,000 last week against UNI and half of that being there is probably generous. Also possible they may have also been assuming a seed and not put in much more than the minimum, especially considering they would be in the hook for the difference and a minimum bid keeps you at home when you are a higher seed. UNI would be the team that we may get matched against that would have outbid us.

A bid was made and it was over the minimum. At that point, whether it is enough are not all depends strictly on what the team opposite of you bid.

So UND was 6-5 last year and #38 in the SRS and was still one of the first three out, despite having no representation in the room. UND will get a fair shake on Sunday if they take care of business on Saturday.

Not that it matters, but at this point in the season, why would a team like NDSU ever bid over the minimum (assuming their current position in the polls for the year)? As long as they bid the minimum and meet the qualifications, they are going to get their home game if they are the higher seeded team. Probably semantics and they aren't leaving money on the table but would seem to be a waste if you feel like you are guaranteed a seed. If you are on the seeded team bubble, then I could see why you might want to go above the minimum in case you match up against another unseeded team.

Bennett, Turner and McKinney all expected to play in some fashion. Gee will be out.