sioux2013

I disagree on that UND has not been successful. Regardless of the .500 record the last 4 years prior they have won 2 championships and been more successful than any new Big Sky team in history and again without Brekke, Schuler and Webb in last years championship we could have been dancing. Most may not like the .500 record but as far as doing well in the conference championships the last 4 years I'd say we've been fairly successful and exceeded expectations. This years team is fun to watch as they work their *sses off on defense but just don't have the experience to get over the hump. As many agree the next couple of years will be the defining moments for Jones and I do agree with that.

So many of you live in some sort of dream world. Yes, I would like to see UND win 20 games every year but it's just not going to happen with whoever you have coach this team. UND constantly plays one of the most difficult out of conference schedules every year for money and most all of them are on the road and even with a very good team road wins are hard to come by no matter who you are. We are not Weber nor Montana yet and even if we become that power, which I hope we can, look at Weber this year and Montana last year we are still going to have down years. Our first 2 years in the Big Sky are the best in history of any new comer to this league. Don't know about you but that is impressive and the future looks extremely bright over the next several years and hopefully we have established ourselves like Weber and Montana better players will come to us and more consistently. My expectations are competing for the conference championship on a consistant basis as I know we will not be a 20 win team every year.

I have to agree with green team on most all of this. I'm not sure what everyone was expecting this year as we had to replace what was 75% of our scoring for the past 4 years. We were picked 9th for a reason and we stand at 9th. Our current players play hard and yes lack some of the basics that appear simple to us but I know for a fact they work on these things everyday in practice. They should be intelligent enough players to bring what they practice to the game but in most cases don't. I fully expected us to be like we are this year and to be honest think they have played better than what I expected. Five of our 8 loses in Big Sky have been by 7 or less which to be honest they could have just as easily won with a little more experience. I don't necessarily agree with what Jones does at times especially the 3 short guards with little or no rotation for rest but the turnovers, boxing out etc during the games falls on the players. Next year I expect a whole lot more and the year after even more. It's getting old that every time we lose in a sport a certain few what that coach fired. You think teams are struggling now , replace a coach in every sport every 2 or 3 years and see what we have.

Huge upsets tonight as the bottom three teams all won with 2 of those on the road. SUU won at Weber tonight. What is going on with Weber this year. The talent in the league this year is not good which allows any team to win regardless of where or who. The 8th place team has a chance of doing damage in the tournament this year, too bad it won't be us.

Such a funny guy.

The drive was fine as he got fouled. If the guy didn't foul him he had a layup. Ref should be fired on that call.

This is a must win as well as Saturday. Looking at the remaining schedule after these 2 games and I would say we are favored in only 1 of the remaining games ( Southern Utah). If we win both games this week and beat Southern Utah and the remaining games play out as they should we end up 7-11. I don't see us beating Portland St, Sac St. and N. Colorado on the road. Then the only other game at home besides S. Utah is N. Arizona and I don't see us beating them. We must steal at least a game against these other teams to have a chance to make the post season. With what Idaho has remaining also we could sneak in with only 7 wins however. 7 now may be the number but 8 I believe gets us in.

That's good. No telling where this topic could have gone if we had lost. Odds are we will find out after tomorrow.

Yes the goal last year was to win the BSC and once again a healthy Brekke all year and then Webb and Schuler totally out of the championship game was devastating. I don't think all these injuries is a fault of Jones or an excuse, just a fact that when 2 or 3 of your top 6 players are out, you have a serious issue to overcome. Then in the CIT you again had Webb, Schuler and Nash out so you can't even consider this as a major loss. Let's see Bubba win with 1/3 of his top players out, wont happen. A very dark black cloud hung over last years team for the entire year and it all started when Brekke could not play at all and yet they found themselves one game away from the dance. Only Weber and Montana has done better than UND the last 2 years and they are the big names in this conference year end and year out so I'd say we've done OK our first 2 years.

I have been on both sides of the fence with Jones and company depending on the game and situation. You have to break Jones's tenure down by the process UND had gone thru. It's hard to look at the first 5 years and come to any conclusion due to the transition from D2 to D1, hardly any school has success during this time. Then came the nickname issues and whether or not we were even going to be in a conference had some impact on recruiting . Once the transition was over and I'd have to say our results were not that bad winning back to back GWC titles and placing 3rd and 2nd our first 2 years in the Big Sky is nothing to frown about. Last year I really believe we could have been dancing had we had a healthy Webb, Schuler, Nash and Brekke. Last years seniors did more than what was expected of them and not for injuries and lost years that team would have won so many more games. Now we start a new era this year with so many new faces and the ups and downs are evident. UND will always have these types of years cause we will never be able to re-load like a Duke, Kentucky etc. I believe next year we will be at a place we were 2 years ago competing for a shot at the NCAA and the year following will be similar to last year with a very experienced well balance team. I don't always agree with Jones but at the same time he has had descent results in the last 4 years, maybe not so much in wins and losses due to all the injuries but tournament results. I still wonder what could have been with a healthy Brekke, Schuler and Webb for the past 2 years.

Yup, he wore Hooker down that first half. At this point he has nothing in the tank.

Nice first half so lets finish this early in the 2nd. Hope not resting Hooker doesn't come back to bite Jones as he looked very tired at the end of the first half. Not sure if this place is at altitude but no reason to not give him a breather.

Tonight's game is a must win as Southern Utah is below us in the standings and Saturday's game will be much tougher game for UND. If we lose this one then this road trip could spell 0-2 and then the uphill climb to make the tournament will be a cliff.

Does 8 wins get a team into the conference championship? It's looking like 8 may be the number and we are 2-5 and only 1/2 game out of the 8 spot but only 1 game from being in last place. Need both wins this week at home as we are walking on very thin ice.

No way he slides down to the 4 because he could not guard a typical 4 that may be 6'6 to 6'8 or smaller that can shoot from the outside and drive quick to the hoop. I hoping he adds at least another 20lbs which should not be too hard with working hard with the trainer over the next couple of years.

Nice. I was skeptical when I first saw him play because he appeared very weak and was pushed around a lot but he is going to be a very good player in the years to come once he puts on some muscle and weight. This team plays very hard, which is fun to watch the effort but are still lacking in some areas which will probably keep them around the 7-9 mark in the league. Next year and the year after is when things can really begin to happen once again for UND.

Maybe many years ago this was how it was but not today. I know for a fact in talking to some players of the past couple of years that the teams were very divided amongst the players and virtually no interaction at all unless on the court and even then with the selfish play of some it made things even worse. Players room with the same person each road trip and outside meetings/eating and practice they kept to themselves. Was hoping this years team would be better and it may be as I've not had much of a chance to talk to any players being the fact they virtually have been gone this entire season.

Coaches do this all the time when teams are on the road. They do this in an attempt to get the players to get some rest instead of being up all night on phones, computers, ipads, etc. Most players can easily work around this with dummy phones and other means.

No partials in D1 basketball just full scholarships.

Lets see, we have 3 point guards all 6' and under playing all but 3 minutes and our 4 and 5 men dont know how to box out. That's why we can't rebound. Don't start all 3 point guards and rotate them in and out. They are worn out by the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half every game.

That would be a shame. I'm almost sure he does not have a red shirt year so his playing days would be over. Excellent talent wasted between 3 different schools.

This game should be over by half just like against Mayville State. Would also like to see Stefen play along with Shanks.

Totally agree. If Hooker is hurt and not practicing others need to share more minutes, especially Antwi. Antwi currently is our only outside threat but I do believe Tyler will be a force from the outside anytime. Anyone hear about Stefen, he could make a huge difference in our rotation and bring another outside threat into the lineup which we desperately need. The lineup could look very good with Hooker and Tyler at the point, De Rouen and Antwi at the 2 and Coleman and Stefen at the 3. Just run wild and rotate and wear down the opponent. Looks nice on paper but I don't think Jones will do this as he has a love for certain players he refuses to take out.

Eastern Washington went on the road and handed San Francisco their first home loss of the year. I would have to think Eastern Washington is definitely the team to beat in the Big Sky if they stay healthy. Big Sky teams seem to be doing a lot better this year in out of conference games.

We are not much different. We are ranked 325th in assists ( worse than NDSU) , 263rd in FG% and 288th in rebounds and 262 in points. Like I mentioned earlier it could easily come down to our bench making the difference in this one.