IowaBison

Who cares if 90 percent of the teams aren't playing for a playoff spot? This isn't elementary school gym class (or DII football playoffs). There is a tradeoff between the number of playoff spots and the differentiation between playoff/non-playoff quality teams (a good parallel is all the no-name bowls for DI-A teams that go just over .500). I don't see the need a fourth of the teams making the post-season. I understand that UND wants to have its cake and eat it too (everyone does). Fortunately, most folks aren't delusional enough to think it's going to happen.

#1 Sioux Fan. NDSU does have a conference (which could use a few more members) for football. We definitely need a conference for basketball (NCAA $$$), we will have one in wrestling soon possibly as part of the Big XII, and the other sports could definitely use one. Not having a conference has been tough on recruiting and balancing the books, but I think SU has done quite well. I have seen nowhere that a conference is interested in UND (unless you want to count the letter from the BSC sent out last Fall which is a heck of a stretch in my book). The UND administration and its fans have repeatedly stated that they will only move if they have a conference affiliation in place. Hence, their most recent actions must mean that they have received a unpublicized invite (I doubt it). I think the mitigating factor is the need to keep up with NDSU; I think that public perception is the reason. Finally, UND's delusion of the NCAA changing the classification rules because of the needs of their team and at most two or three others in DII makes no sense. If something does happen to the classification rules (and it could, possibly) it will be to meet the needs of all the folks who don't fit (financially troubled DI-A schools, the non-scholarship DI-AAs, DI-AAA), DII is an afterthought.

Perhaps they are. I would be happy to see UND move DI and get a conference invite because I believe (vindictive thoughts aside) that it would help NDSU considerably. I just don't see a conference interested in UND right now, if you have anything tangible I love to know about it. Your previous posts referring to comments about Division I, conference affiliation, and UND make about as much sense as John Nash's highlighted passages from Time and People magazines.

Three thoughts. 1. From Bunning's comments in the last week, I think that there will be a "decision" on reclassification by the end of the school year. In other words, at the conclusion of the study there will be a big press conference to say Yes or No to the DI question. Yes it's fast (especially given the University's and its fans repeated slow, deliberate process comments), but there are certain factors that make a decision sooner rather than later advantageous to the University. 2. Kupchella's cryptic and confusing comments from last November's letter to Fighting Sioux backers "ultimately it may make no otherwise logical or financial sense to ..." makes more and more sense ! 3. I don't think that UND has a conference invite waiting for them, unless they are considering the Sun Belt.

I agree jim, there seems to be a lack of interest, but that doesn't surprise me as the hockey season has begun and the Sioux football team is doing great (and something about your nickname).

I look forward to knowing when that the study becomes newsworthy. Though it is arguable that the Forum article last week was a story about a non-event, I felt that after Bunning starting making a number of comments about the process that it was newsworthy.

I missed your post, Jim, sorry about that. I do see news in it, probably not front page news though (damn that Fargo Forum for putting local news on the front page AND stirring the pot at the same time!).

The reason I posted it here, in the Fargo Forum thread was due to previous posts that stated that the Forum spent too much of their front page covering local issues. The UND decision to initiate a(nother) formal committee to study a possible conference switch seems like important news to me. The fact that the Forum printed the story on the front page (heaven forbid!) and the Herald had to pull it from the AP seemed to merit a comment. (The snideness was in response to many posters' criticisms of the Forum, not UND's recent actions)

Not to be overly snide, but the Fargo Forum broke the story on UND beginning its formal study of a move to division I. I know this is a local story , but I thought you guys might find it interesting.

UND to DI? From the Forum this morning.

Institutional funds are discretionary dollars that a university spends in a particular area. NSF dollars is a relatively objective way to compare the research arm of a modern university, I see it having little, if any, positive impact in the classroom. The use of US News and World Report on the other hand is completely ridiculous, google it and see a number of scholarly articles on the subject. I'm pretty sure that there was a book that just came out written by the President of Reed College in Portland, OR (one of the best liberal schools in the nation) arguing the point. I also like material presented by the association of law school deans that also dismantles the subjective methodology used for rankings. I do like the Princeton Review, Barron's does one also, because it actually speaks about the unique experiences one could expect when attending a given university. If I'm still in North Dakota when my children are deciding among institutions of higher learning they'll have about ten choices: UND or NDSU (which both provide a quality undergraduate education AND experience), or a Harvard/Princeton/Yale/Stanford school (actually I'd prefer a Cal Tech/MIT). I'm not paying for them to go to a more expensive private or out-of-state public school, the value isn't their in my opinion. Anyone who says that school A is better than school B is trying to sell you something and in this case its magazines.

Forum 55,000 daily; 70,000 Sunday Herald 34,000 daily, ? Sunday

Thanks, UND92,96. I forgot that was on its way out.

The difference is that a relatively large amount of the Herald's stories are pulled from the wire.

What points has the Myra brought up? She won't return phone calls? By political, I meant personally politically which is not good imo. I agree that this is between folks who have a dog in the fight and that excludes me. Just thought I'd bring the information to the forum.

The reason to ramp up the scholies is two-fold. First, people want to see quality, competitive athletics. Second, you need to average 60 scholarships per year to be a 'counter' for money games with DI-A teams. SDSU has a fantastic men's basketball schedule this year, NDSU's is much improved over last year's.

The falling a decade behind comment makes no sense. We're not talking about the Stonecutters.

Congratulations. Lennon is a class act and a winner. Hopefully the Bison will see him again.

One last time/ No one at NDSU may comment public about recruiting other than saying he/she verbaled until the signing date (Nov. 9th?).

on wday as well.

The Maughan story is slightly different than Ruley's, as according to NCAA rules (which I brushed up on after screwing up yesterday) can talk about enrolled students changing schools immediately.

Not a lawyer or a compliance officer, but my own rule after reading the rules is that I will not talk to anyone age 14 to 20 until I die, including my own children when they reach that age (which was already a plan ).