SWSiouxMN

I thought Hurst would have filled that role but I guess not yet.

They win 79-73 Kacie had another huge game.

So I know it might be difficult to fix ALL the issues on the defense for next year, but if there was one position group (DLine, LB, secondard) that would go the furthest in improving the defense, what would that be?

They need to win this game by mucking it up for Portland Would love to see some efficient offense tonight. No updates for me tonight due to a prior obligation, you are on your own tonight.

UND could not overcome the Cyclone defense and couldn't get the upset against Iowa State. It is on to the West Coast for game 2 of their 3 game road swing. They get the Pilots of Portland, who is coming off a impressving showing at the Phil Knight Invitiational About the Pilots For much of the 2010s, the Pilots where consistenly in the bottom of the WCC conference. While they did have a couple of visits to the CIT tournament, this program found itself struggling to win even a conference game towards the end of the decade. It was clear that something needed to change. Enter Shantay Legans Legans made a name for himself in the BSC with Eastern Washington, winning a BSC regular season title in 2020 and and BSC tournament title in 2021. In his first year in Portland, it produce their best season in nearly a decade. 7-7 in the WCC and 19 wins. In year 2, things continue to be an upward direction for the Pilots. The best evidence of this was at the Phil Knight Invitational. While they did go 1-2 in this tournmament, they easily could have gone 3-0. They lost by 8 to then #1 North Carolina, beat Villinova by 12, and lost against #12 Michigan State by a single point. This was a bit of a statement to the rest of the WCC that perhaps the Pilots are ready to take the next step in the conference. While the Zags and the Gaels of St. Mary's will still be the class of the conference, these results could means that if the Pilots made a strong run the rest of the way in non-conference (they have a game against Oregon) and perhaps pick off the Zags or Gales at some point... could they find their way to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 1996? Even if they can't, the program is going in the right direction. And that could mean bigger things for Mr. Legans About Shantay Legans (100-68 overall, 7-7 WCC) The 41 year old has made a name for himself in the small school world. After spending 8 years as an assistant under Jim Hayford at Eastern Washington, he took over the program after Hayford went up to Seattle. In his 4 years there, the Eagles finished no worse than 3rd in the BSC and made an NCAA tournament appearance. Now at Portland, led them to their best season in quite some time and is now looking for more. The performance of the team at the PKI has started to get some notice that Legans might be on to bigger and better things in the future, but for now, a climb up the WCC stadnings will do. Key player: Tyler Robertson (6'6 Junior) The Aussie with a big guard but man can he do it all. He can score, rebound and distribute the basketball. He had a 22-24 performance from the free throw line against Portland State. He nearly had triple doubles against Nova and MSU. He doesn't shoot too much from 3 but is quite capable of hitting it from outisde. UND will face a tough test with this guard, backcourt better be ready. Averaging 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. Keys: 1) No long droughts 2) Crash the boards hard 3) No track meets The call: This will be a good team for UND to play to prepare them for both Seattle later in the year and then Oral Roberts. This is a very efficient offense that the Pilots run and they can score. UND is going to have to play their best offensive game of the year and their defense is going to have to be on top of their as well. If they can play this game in the 70s, they will have a chance. With that said, I think Pilots will be too much on the offensive side of the basketball for UND on this one. Portland 83-71 Game is on ESPN+

If UND had hit a few more shots in the first half, especially from 3, that might have made things interesting. Two dry spells in the 2nd half doomed them.

Um....

Matt Norman on the year from 3: 46.8% That will get the job done

1) Trent really needs to start looking to score because the book is out that he will look to pass first (I never thought I would complain about a pass first PG), and teams will just clog the passing lanes. Even if he could perfect a 10 foot jump shot in the middle of the paint, that alone with open things up. He really does bring it on the defensive side of the basketball and it is rubbing off on the team. 2) T is getting better and it is good to see that improvement. He does seem to still get pushed around in the post a little bit but compare to last year, he is a different player. Would love to see more of the CS-Fullerton version of T on a nightly basis That's the tough thing about Mathews, if he wasn't healing up from his back injury over the summer he might have been able to work on his offensive side more. It sucks because he does have a few good moves in the post that he can perform. I think an offseason where he spends training and not rehabbing will be wonders for him. He probably is the best post defender that we have. He is starting to move a lot better than he did in the beginning of the season. Wonder if Sueker is just overthinking things a little bit. 3) I like the starting lineup as is right now and they should run with it. The one issue I have is how they will rebound against a taller lineup (see NDSU) in the frontcourt. That is going to be tough to go from 11 players to 8-9 regulars and the other getting a few minutes. Of course other things can help solve this issue (although we don't want that). Nice to have this problem instead of the other one we had last year. Everyone needs to be ready because you don't know when your number gets called and a good performance here or there could mean more time (see Levias).

The big picture takeaway is your second sentance. The improvement on that part of the team is legit and it isn't just with the insertion of Trent. Is it a finished product on that end of the ball? No, there is still more to be done but steps are being taking in the right direction. Still have to remember that Omot is a freshman and will play like one from time to time. I'm not too worried about him.

Watching Seattle-CS Fullerton right now Seattle gets up a lot of 3s looks like

63-44 ISU 1:18 left timeout ISU

Woof. Lots of 3s that looked.... well... bad

T for 3 61-44 ISU

Yup, this team is far from a finished product... But it is steps ahead of last year team.

Damn. Nice block

Nero 2 FTs 58-41 ISU

I feel that he will

Shots arent falling .

55-39 ISU

ISU hitting from 3 now 53-39 ISU

UND needs to find one push on offense to make this interesting. Just one push

47-39 ISU

ISU has been awful from the free throw line

Wow. Norman to Omot 46-37 ISU