I definitely agree that Virgil Hill is usually forgotten in these types of polls.
I don't think the westerners voting has anything to do with it. Last time I checked, Oakes and Carrington were not in western north dakota.
I don't think that Ed Belfour, who only played one year at UND, should be considered one of our greatest athletes ever. He could be considered one of manitoba's greatest athletes, but not north dakotas. If you look at other states, most of the athletes make the list of the state, where they grew up at, or went to high school at, not necessarily what state they played their professional sports at.