UND-FB-FAN

To consider the next two weeks a success, UND (13-12, 8-6, 6th BSC) needs to go 3-1 and finish in the top 4. Final four games: vs. Portland State (9-16, 5-9 BSC) vs. Sacramento State (11-14, 4-10 BSC) at Montana (17-8, 12-2 BSC) at Montana State (12-14, 7-7 BSC) Defeating Montana in Missoula will be difficult, but UND cannot afford to lose the other three. If UND goes 2-2 or worse, they will not receive a top 4 seed for the Big Sky Conference tournament. If UND falters down the stretch, Coach Jones' job status needs to yet be questioned. There is a lot of young talent on this team; they all deserve to be properly coached.

Yes, and also the University of Minnesota's pro day. If NDSU doesn't want to help out, there's always the U of M (Ratelle is from the Twin Cities). Do not take what I said out of context; I was simply implying that hosting a UND pro day in the HPC without NDSU would not be perceived as a bad thing by most UND fans (i.e., cooperation with NDSU is not needed for a pro day). Pro scouts regularly make their way up to Grand Forks throughout the football season to watch UND players practice and/or play games.

Two major observations from yesterday's ball game and, unfortunately, they both are negative: 1) Shanks is not a good basketball player right now. He should not start and should be demoted to a low-minutes bench player. He looks horribly uncomfortable when he touches the ball and is a huge turnover liability. Sit him down, Jones. 2) What is with Jones' teams not knowing how to finish? Saw it against NDSU. Saw it against Montana. Saw it against UNC on the road. And, now again, see it against UNC at home. Fortunately, this time UND pulled it out, but just barely. I'm sorry, but all this does is yet fortify by belief that Jones is not a top DI basketball coach; however, some of this players (Hooker, Crandall, etc.) fortunately are more than capable. I will add in one positive to even the observations a bit: The atmosphere in the Betty was tremendous. The recent home wins obviously help, but so does the "fun atmosphere" produced by the students and football players. Countless times yesterday the crowd was entertained by the football players just as much as the action on the court. This shows how important the little things are to general crowd building. The Alerus Center is where this is desperately lacking. Hopefully next football season this is improved with quality effort from the UND marketing/game day staffs.

And that's just fine. We could careless if UND hosts other institutions' players. Thanks for the pointless clarification.

it's painful to bring back bad memories, but let this serve as a reminder to what UND needs to work on this off-season and spring ball. This right here is some of the worst 1-on-1 pass defense I've seen... This needs to improve ... and i would like to think it will because all of these players will have the opportunity to learn from this and come back next year better and prepared also, UND QB play was atrocious in this game...emphasizes the importance of QB depth and QB play Studsrud's last three games of 2015 were very good, so spring ball should really have the spotlight on: 1) defensive secondary coverage technique and execution 2) QB play and QB depth - Studsrud, Bartels, and Heidlebaugh need to work on decision-making and chemistry with receivers .... HPC should help with this 3) offensive line play... obviously 4 of 5 2015 starters are gone which will make the offensive line a key position group in spring ball

i am thinking the same thing UND needs to start producing a few pro prospects every season....then, its time to bring scouts to the campus of THE university of north dakota fortunately, bubba has several talented young players who could be in the running for the next level if they keep working

Again, my thoughts exactly in terms of football, go to a Vikings game, gophers football game, or even NDSU football game and just pay attention to the little things that the marketing/gameday staffs do. UND does very little to none of it, and the stuff they do actually do is done with very little effort. It's all about the amount of work UND just wants to do. They are lazy with non-hockey sports and it can't continue if und wants div I success thankfully bubba is building a winning program...if UND marketing can't pick up on this current momentum then that's piss poor

Agree 100% und athletics and marketing needs to step up

Agree. Winning is the most important factor in producing large crowds. With that said, UND football marketing and game day presentation can certainly still improve.

I agree with all of this; however, why not host the spring football game at the Alerus Center where all amenities already are present?

That isn't entirely true. After the exciting win vs Montana State, how was the crowd the following home game vs. Northern Colorado? It was poorer than the crowd two weeks prior. Winning doesn't solve all problems, unfortunately. The athletic department and the Alerus Center need to still improve the general gameday atmosphere.

It certainly is important to not conveniently ignore the competive race that NDSU provides in-state. Many want to normalize the status quo, suggesting that NDSU's tremendous success doesn't affect UND football at all; however, UND does need to pick up coverage and support of its football program to keep up with NDSU. North Dakota and Northern Minnesota do not have a population that allows for blatant ignorance of NDSU's success. UND needs to aspire forward progress in football every season, and I believe media coverage is just one such way to facilitate improvement. Of course, consistent winning is also important, but what can be done by fans and UND athletics to help that? Fill the Alerus; improve marketing and game day experiences.

I do agree that hosting the game at Memorial Stadium does offer some positive aspects that would otherwise not be present at the Alerus Center. With that said, downgrading the hype surrounding Spring Games is not the current trend in college football, as the Alerus Center offers the ability for instant replay, in-game interviews, music, tailgating, etc. None of that will be present at Memorial.

Might be a mistake to host the spring game at Memorial Stadium. The facilities and technological capabilities are completely limited. There will be limited streaming capabilities along with additional technological/marketing features. Also, as mentioned in another post, there will be little to no room to tailgate. All in all, why is the Alerus Center with the brand-new video boards being ignored? That is the current home of UND football; it should be utilized as such. I understand that it would be great to have UND football back on campus, and I am for that happening in the future, but not until Memorial is renovated, obviously.

absolutely, leave no doubt. run the table go fighting hawks

Can you imagine how great Kansas, Louisville, Wisconsin, and Michigan would be, then, if they had Nike? Wow! [sarcasm intended]

Saw in the paper that UND was out-rebounded 40-23 in this game... that is horrible. Also, UND shot only 60% from the foul line against Idaho whereas they shot 88% against Weber State and 73% at Eastern Washington. No consistency. All around bad game from UND in Idaho. Also, it looks like the Idaho bench outscored UND's bench 29 to 6. Looking back to the last road game before the EWU/Idaho road trip, they dropped a crucial game to Northern Colorado. This team, under Jones' leadership, does not perform well on the road.

Questionable strategy from Jones. What else is new?

I believe there is a football program deal in place, not a department-wide deal. NDSU football does have a deal with Nike for their uniforms; they are supposedly unique (via font) to only NDSU and not a generic format accessible to other programs. http://965thefox.com/ndsu-reveals-new-green-home-football-jerseys/ Again, in this regard, UND football and Bubba deserve credit because they have a similar deal in place with Adidas. With that said, a department-wide deal with Adidas would definitely be preferential.

As long as this continues at the CURRENT DEGREE, then UND athletics will continue to struggle as a whole. From a rational prioritizing standpoint, the areas of most need should always be addressed first. Right now, considering common logic models and the amount of potential being ignored, UND football and basketball should be the focus areas,. Remember, UND men's hockey is already "maxed out" ($100 M arena, top of the line Reebok uniforms and equipment, great support, ongoing winning tradition, etc.). Unfortunately, UND athletics continues to over-emphasize hockey at the expense of the main sports that every other regional athletic department does emphasize. I am in no way suggesting that UND men's hockey should no longer be the number one sport at UND, but rather more effort needs to be made within the obvious priority sports of this country (football and basketball).

It's ridiculous and it reflects the current ineptitude that exists within the UND athletics department.

Rushed that shot at the end. They made it close, but damn, losing both games on the road trip was not good in terms of competing for 1 of the top 4 BSC spots.

Agreed. UND sure didn't respond too well on this road trip considering all the premature hype surrounding the Weber State win.

Huge 3 pt made there by Q. Hooker

Just stating that this has been a trend with his squads.