ArtVandalay

Turnovers were 23-4 in this game. Wow!

That is more than a respectable showing. UNI is a good, veteran MVC team. We shot 35% from field and lost our starting big early. Didn't have Stefan or Tyler and UNI was at full force. A lot of positives to take from this game.

A really, really ugly night for the Big Sky last night. Didn't think Xavier would do that to NAU. expected better showing from Sac State. Weber 2nd half collapse at Utah State was epic.

UNI might be the best team we play this year. They are loaded this year.

Video board....in HS gym.....in South Dakota. http://twitter.com/jhoeck/status/529788391135518721

The size of the Betty is fine. See St Mary's University which is one of the best mid major programs in the country. They play in a 3500 seat gym. But, they fill it up. Great environment. All we need is improved seating on the baselines and a nice scoreboard with video hanging from the ceiling. Figure out a way to get students in the seats and you have a great D1 basketball gym. The current scoreboard/video situation is pretty bad.

You would think with all the money games they are required to play that someone would throw em a bone. Slap a video board up. Maybe they are saving up for a cold tub.

D2 gym. Bummer.

He's playing this year.

Again, what was the indicator on a relative basis (big sky caliber) that this was a talented group?

Why is it assumed he had great players last year? Just because they were seniors doesn't make them great. Just makes them old. Those seniors were recruited during Great West days when UND was firmly planted at the bottom of the D1 chain. these players had minimal D1 offers at the time, if any. Fast forward to today and Jones is getting kids with multiple D1 offers. That alone is a signal of great progression of this program. Looks like job well done to me.

I think Jones decided he didn't want to play home games against D1 schools. Prefers to play them on the road. It was challenging since his phone was ringing off the hook from D1 schools trying to come to Grand Forks this winter. Not to mention how full the basketball coffers are with money. Makes the desire to play money road games even more puzzling.

I think it is safe to say that given UND constraints, the body of work is respected within coaching community. Some folks might look at 2nd place finish in Big Sky reg season and conference tournament as a pretty good accomplishment. Especially considering your chief rival in recruiting had such a jump start in D1 transition.

Because that is the market.

It's a huge problem when you pay your assistants 38k and they can make a "lateral" move for 60k.

Coach Jones is required to play money games on the road. Playing on road is not easy especially when you consider how this team has to travel (buses, etc,). You can draw a parallel with UNI which finished the year 16-15 and 10-8 in MVC. Jake's record in ooc road games is not so hot either. The difference is UNI "gets" to play home games. Not an easy place to recruit to. Limited resources. I could go on.

UND was 4-6 on road in Big Sky this year. Weber was 5-5.

A more accurate comparison for UND is probably USD. USD transitioned about the same time as UND with a similar scenario as us in that their rival transitioned first (SDSU). I would argue that Coach Jones has managed the transition better than USD despite USD having a very well respected coach amongst his peers. The SUU game was unfortunates but that stuff just happens sometimes. A 2nd place finish in our 2nd year in The Big Sky is admirable. Coach Boots would have taken that in a heartbeat. I also think it's interesting that people think the talent in this senior class is so great. What is that being based on? Just because they are seniors and a lot of em doesn't mean they are talented above and beyond everyone else in the conference. You could make a case that the talent in this team is middle of the conference talented.

I am at the game. They stopped counting fouls on the scoreboard at 10. Can someone tell me how many team fouls we have?

Arguably a misleading stat. Big Sky probably has more parity than any league in D1. 25% of top 12 come from Big Sky. Everyone beats everyone. Shows as inconsistency. We aren't the only fan base in big sky screaming about inconsistent play I would bet.

Will still be 4 years behind I believe.

If it was still 64 teams with no play-in games. UND would be in. Big sky auto qualifier. Play-in game IS The Dance.

1st post. What this guy said.