I think the Herald has a fine sports writing staff, but I can tell you as a friend of a former Herald employee, HOCKEY stories are what drive subscriptions, ads, etc. Now, we could argue about a chicken and egg thing (i.e. does the Herald need better basketball coverage to drive fan interest or does UND need consistently better basketball teams to force the Herald to place their stories more prominently? I would say if UND had BBall programs more interesting to follow, fan interest AND more accessible Herald coverage would follow.)