SWSiouxMN

And despite that, and Kacie not scoring. Only down 4. I'd take that in a hearbeat.

Is it me, or is the camera really zoomed in?

Looks to be in the starting lineup

That will go a long way. Two of these 4 need to score 12-15 points today to help Kacie: Orth, Gordon, Daninger, Hurst. If anyone else wants to join that list, go right ahead.

WBB looks to be heading in the right direction. So there's some hope there.

They can play well enough defensively but the question will be can they get the secondary scoring behind Kacie today. If they can get that, they have a great chance to win.

Big game today in Fargo. Chance to make a big statement with a win. Time to end the streak

I didn't watch because I was entertaining family. I saw the score, I saw the stats Presented without comment

I'm excited for this one.

A untimed offensive drought in the 2nd half combined with the difficulty of stopping Riley Miller and Parker Bjorklund prevent UND from getting to the winners circle. UND has stewed about this for a while since they didn't play on Wednesday in Malcomb. So now, they have a 3 game homestand. First up, the hated Bison of NDSU who is having a season.... to forget About the Bison: In a typical NDSU basketball season, you would see them win around 20 games, finish in the top 3 of the conference, get really hot in the 2nd half of the season, and make a deep run in Sioux Falls. Last year was the perfect example of this, falling just short of the NCAA tournament. With the departures of Rocky, Griesel, and Eady, things might have been a little tougher but with Nelson and Morgan anchoring a tough frontcourt, why would it be any different. Well......... The Bison have been on the struggle bus since the beginning of the year. They only have 1 D1 win and 3 wins total. The conference season also began rough for the Bison with 2 losses on the road to St. Thomas and Western. So what's going on? Grant Nelson is still averaging nearly 16 points and 8 rebounds, but his shooting horribly from 3. Andrew Morgan is averaging 10 points and 5 rebounds, but for whatever reason isn't getting the minutes he deserves. However, the biggest issue is the guards and the outside shooting. Outside of Hastreiter and White, no Bison is shooting about 32% from 3. They don't have THAT guy to help the bigs down low and until they do, it might be a long year in Fargo. About Dave Richman: 9th Year (162-108 overall record, 82-48 Summit) The 44 year old from Wahpeton is now in his 9th year as a head coach at NDSU but as been a lifer. This is his 20th season as a coach for NDSU (spent 11 years as an assistant or GA). Has lead NDSU to 3 NCAA tournament apperances and 2 wins in March Madness. However... it just seems like there are a lot of NDSU fans who just don't like Dave and will be happy if a bigger program snaps him up. This season has been frustrating for Bison fans. Could this be the year they don't finish in the top 3, the first time since 17-18? Key Player: Grant Nelson (6'11 Junior) The Junior from Devils Lake is now adjusting to being the man after the graduation of Rocky. While the outside shot isn't falling, he still has been dangerous on the inside, dropping a 35 point, 16 rebound performance against Western. He had big games against UND last year and is looking for another one on Friday. Other Summit Action (Thursday Games) WIU (1-0) @ SDSU (0-1) Western got off on the right foot with a 79-60 win over NDSU at home before having their game snowed out vs UND. SDSU had a night to forget at ORU, losing by 39! The Bunnies are looking for this weekend to get right before heading North, can they shake it off? Or will WIU pull a stunner and continue the Non-Dakota trend of success. Massner vs Mayo should be a dandy of a matchup. UST (2-0) @ USD (0-1) The Tommies find themselves on the top of the Summit standings after a sweep of the NoDak Schools, while USD just couldn't score against KC. Will the time off help to settle down USD? Can UST keep the good times rolling? AJ vs Riley Miller? Tasos vs Bjorlund? ORU (1-0) @ Omaha (1-0) ORU made a LOUD statement last week, beating SDSU by 39! at home. Now can they carry that into Omaha and avoid the toe stub against a Mavs squad coming off a nice win at home against DU. Can the Abmas show roll on? KC (1-0) @ DU (0-1) The Roos threw up a defensive gem, holding USD to 45 points while their 1-2 punch of Mitchell and Allen combined for 41 points in the win. DU had a rough go of it in Omaha, dropping their conference opener. Can DU avoid an 0-2 start and blunt some of their non-conf momentum or can KC steal one on the road and establish themselves as a early season threat? Keys: 1) Does UND shut down Nelson/Morgan or their guards? 2) Who will step up and score for UND? 3) Can UND play a clean game? The Call: UND has 3 games at home against the Dakota schools, and they are ALLLL winnable. UND needs this one badly against NDSU to gain some positive momentum. UND had a game plan against NDSU last year in Fargo that worked pretty well (double Rocky, double Nelson and make the guards beat you) for 30 minutes. Wonder if they go back to that with a much better team. T needs to play like last year Fargo T. Norman needs to hit outside shots. Omot needs to play awesome. If they can get that, UND wins. UND ends the losing streak against the Bison. UND 73-67 Game is on Midco and ESPN3 *Per the usual request: Keep it clean people!

I think the Vikings win because they finally need to make a statement of: we are tired of everyone calling us frauds and what better way of making that statement then going into Lambeau and basically ending A-A-Ron season. They lose next week in Chicago because... well they always do.

They are, however... Tell me what happenes if they ever trail to a point where Purdy HAS to make THAT throw. That is the biggest questions that SF needs to answer. If Purdy can make THAT throw... they are winning it all. Not a knock on him, but it is an unanswered question right now.

Could UND do more by following the K.I.S.S principal?

I want to ask a question (this might have been discussed before on this board and I don't remember), but anyone can chime on this. How much say does a player have when changing a position? Can it be a simple as going up to Bubba and saying: Hey, I want to play this because x, y, and z.

Hackett fired by Denver this morning. Patton next?

2 home games left for Washington and odds are the Cowboys will be resting starters. Win and in. Simple as that. Fair or unfair: Carson needs to win both to get them in... or he is looking for another job next year.

Is the Russell Wilson trade in the top 5 worst trades of all time list?

Dream ends next Sunday. Skol

Maybe UST is the 2nd best team in the Summit this year? Or winning on the road is going to be hard for ANYONE in this league this year?

I think some spots were addressed that needed to be addressed. But more plugged in/smarter people can better answer this question.

I have my reasons as to why but they boil down to this: 1) I would think this be a cheaper sport to run that M/W Lax* 2) would add another team for the Summit league to strengthen that conference in that sport. 3) Decent enough talent pool to grab in the cities (and maybe a few players in ND?) And... could easily monoplize the soccer market in the Dakota Schools. Now, are they going to add sports anytime soon? Nope, but that's the direction I would go. *I don't like the fact that right now, UND would have to travel quite a bit for M/W Lax. That is my big hangup on that sport.

Wish there was a way for them to get a game next week because that is going to be a long layoff between games. Even if it was playing Valley City or Jamestown or even Mayville again. A game to knock the rust off before playing the Bison. They are really on a roll.

Thoughts after the two games -The Defense is legit, they are making it very hard for teams to score. They held UST to 29% shooting and WIU to 23% shooting. They are also continuing to turn teams over. This is helping to negate their turnovers that they might have on the other end. The turnover battles have been pretty even on both nights. It didn't used to be like that, so credit the staff for working hard with these girls to ramp up their defense. Won the rebounding battle both nights, hope they can keep that part up. -UND was dominate in the 2nd quarter both nights. Against UST, it was their offense. Against WIU, it was their defense. -Kacie is a very strong contender to win Summit League Player of the Year. She is putting up big numbers and last night 25-8-5. Only played 30 and 32 minutes in those games. Keep saving those minutes. -The offense was very good against UST and was okay against WIU, the WIU game there were some bunnies missed that really could have buried this game early. -3 point shooting has looked good and not so good, needs to get more consistent. -Orth was solid in both games -Hurst had her best two games in a UND uniform, steps in the right direction. I would love to see her bang more down low with her strength and size. Wonder if she gets more minutes if Hoskin is going to be out with an injury. Her growth in the conference season is going to go a long way in UND reaching their ceiling this year. Now the tests for the next two weeks: In Fargo, In Verm, and In Brookings. Dakota School are all 2-0 (3 games are in progress but they are going to win) in conference. If they want to get to the top of the conference? Steal 1 or 2 of these on the road.

If UND is ever going to add another sport, it should be mens soccer. That's it. BB and WIH aren't coming back.

Big one coming up in Fargo on the 31st. Time to end the streak