Feff

Not looking good this afternoon. Clarkson outplaying us for the most part and now Monique is out with a 5 min major at the end of the second period

The court was designed and installed prior to the changing of the Big Sky logo, hence the old logo. It was a sloppy game, too many turnovers and easy fast-break points for Bemidji. Bemidji had a pretty good player in #3 (not sure her name), but otherwise we were not tight defensively. I'm curious as to why Wall didn't play. Evers looked out of shape and Houdek had her own issues (couldn't catch, played wild). Smart looks like our best offensive player and I was pleased to see Buck start to drive in the second half. Not quite sure what Burck's issue was, but she kept passing up shots in favor of passes (mostly bad). Still it was a win, got playing time for a number of people and revealed some areas that need working. - Free throws - Transition defense - Better passing around the perimeter

Some really ticky-tacky calls in the 3rd period killed any chance of a comeback. The roughing call followed by the tripping were both incredibly weak. What gets me is how they could call that roughing but at the same time not call anything on the UM player actively kicking (blade first) at our player. We certainly had chances against a good UM team, just couldn't finish.

This team is so young, there is no real killer instinct in it at all. Lexi shows it at times, other times she's just as passive as the others. They are often not aggressive at the net, either on sets or on blocks, and there is no belief that this team can go on a run. Noted issues with last night: - Not aggressive at the net - Difficulty returning serve - Too many service errors - Lack of a middle quick set (we tried but way too slow about it) - Lack of energy Good things - Parlich looked good and was dominating on the running backset - Spearman was a nice surprise and should develop into a good attacker - McNallan showed good energy while in Hopefully we see something better on Saturday and can close out this season with some energy.

UND needs to come in with an edge like they are playing SDSU or Fresno, not like how they've been performing against top FCS teams (Eastern Wash anyone?). They need to get on top and maintain pressure. It would also be nice if the defense could make the trip out there for a change. Otherwise this is going to be a baby seal clubbing.

That was an amazing finish, on par with the USD finish last season. Major kudos to the UND offense, despite whatever the hell the coaches were trying to do in the 3rd quarter. 4th quarter we went back to what worked (most of the time, running on 3rd and 3 or 4 still leaves me befuddled) and the players made it happen. Hardin is a beast, enough said there. Hanson showed some balls on that final play, he had to have known he was going to get crushed but he stood in, made an accurate throw, and the rest is history.

What the hell is going on with this playcalling? What are the coaches seeing that none of the rest of us are?

NIcely done ladies, last night was a good night for UND sports, hopefully that continues today!

Two very big missed calls IMO. On the 3rd & 1 play, NAU was trying to run a guy off the field, he didn't make it before the ball was snapped. Should have been an too many men penalty that wasn't called and there's no reason for that. The guy running off was coming directly at the head linesman. Blatant no call. The hit on Hanson was head-hunting, pure and simple. The guy went high with the purpose of doing damage and they did, looking like they knocked him out on the play. With all the emphasis on calling contact to the head, that was a clear no-brainer. Penalty on NAU, UND keeps the ball and picks up 15 yards instead of fumbling the ball and giving a very short field to NAU. Those are two horrible miss-calls that had a major impact on the game. Our defense still sucked, so not saying those calls lost us the game, but they certainly took away chances.

I think a good chunk of fixing this run defense can be accomplished by fixing the defensive line, particularly the nose. On a consistent basis this year our nose guard is getting demolished and pushed 3-4 yards back at least. This mucks up the linebackers (who need to fill better), and gives the opposing running backs a couple yards before they even get touched or have to make a cut. Another thing that would help our defense is tackling! Good gods, I'm not sure I've ever seen tackling this atrocious. Even when the defense does make a nice play to get into position, they flail away and make themselves look foolish trying to make a tackle. How many times did we hit the ball-carrier today only to not wrap up and give them an extra 5 yards (minimum)?

I think it would have been good to have one exhibition prior to the Mankato series. Mankato had already played a weekend and that was the first for UND, could have contributed some to the 3rd period collapse. I think this team will continue to improve over this first month and getting Karvinen back should help that out. Come November I think you'll get a better read on what this team can do.

To me our girls looked a bit sluggish. NAU definitely had some good players but we had a tendency to make them look even better. Possibly fatigue after 3 games in 6 days, but regardless not a good showing tonight. Pretty decent crowd tonight though, 984. Would be good to get that many on a consistent basis and get that over 1000.

Can we get a new defense?

Why is Mackey still starting? He gets burned on every double move

Saunders is huge in net. I'm excited to see the offensive fireworks with all these young players.

Some iffy calls and non-calls. Fact of the matter is that UND didn't control rebounds and gave up the garbage in front of the net. We also missed too many open chances on the offensive end. Hopefully tomorrow has a better result.

One thing that works into our benefit here is that I think, under Mussman, UND plays better while on the road. Not really sure why it is, maybe he has more control over the team on the road and is better able to focus them, who knows. It is definitely a must-win for UND to have any shot at the playoffs this year.

I really liked the call and it came at the right time. Brown had an angle to get to the first down but he didn't trust his speed for whatever reason. His trying to turn it back upfield was what drew the holding penalty. Just a poor decision on the players imo. That would have been huge and swung momentum back.

That 4th set was about as bad and as good as I've seen the girls play this season. It was an amazing comeback and showed a whole lot of character. Watching this team, I really think the team goes as Lexi Robinson goes. When she is pounding the ball, she gives a lot of energy and confidence to the rest of the team. I also think it gives the feeling that if nothing else works, set it for Lexi and she'll get a kill. Once they get confident they get aggressive, and as long as they stay aggressive they showcase the talent that they have.

Now if only we could combine him with the Jake Miller from Fresno last year.

If Hardin eliminates the drops he's been having, then I might agree with you there. Dressler was amazing because he had skill but he was always consistent. You put the ball near him, and he caught it. Didn't matter how hard or easy the catch was, he'd get it.

Is this Mannausau's (SP?) first year as the sole defensive coordinator? Just wondering how we could have regressed this much from last years squad. Yes we graduated some good players, but we're supposed to be filling in with some better recruits right now. Also wondering when the offensive line is going to show up for run-blocking...our top two running backs gained a total of 28 yards between them, which is exactly half of what the quarterback gained on the ground. It's like a weird mirror universe from last year. This year we can pass, but we can't run, and we can't play defense.

They announced the crowd at 700+, can't remember the exact number but in the 700's. They were pretty quiet a lot of the time, but whenever we scored a good point or were on set point they'd get a bit louder. Definitely heard the Betty louder and actually expected a bit bigger of a crowd for the conference opener.

The thing that strikes me about the team this year is the inconsistency. They have stretches where they look absolutely great and could they keep it up, they'd dominate much like last year's team. But then they hit stretches where there is poor communication, no challenge at the net, or just plain old mental errors. One other thing that struck me was that we don't have that one person that can consistently put down kills. Lexi Robinson is the closest we come, in my opinion, but she'll either hit long or directly at someone about a third to a half of the time. Hopefully they improve throughout the year and can fix some of the inconsistencies.

Jumping into the "best RB in the Alerus" conversation, I'm just going to throw a name out there for consideration: Stefan Logan.