Travis Merten

[sultan]

Dan...did you catch the Sioux Men's and Women's basketball shows on TV this season? I never did see the bison shows.

[Oxbow6]

Did I miss it or didn't the herald cover Mertens signing? The reason the Forum gave May's the coverage is he's from Fargo. If Mertens would have went to NDSU it would have been covered more by the Forum because it's NDSU. I can't help it that the sports media in gf sucks and coverage of UND is poor. Did you catch the KX4 special on our spring game?

Yeah...wow??? 3000 attended. Last time I checked the Redhawks average more than that night in and night out. The "special" was nothing more than the Fargo media trying to inflate Bison FB. Trust me when I say the town of Fargo isn't a "buzz" about the NDSU FB team. Contrary to some Bison fans and Fargo media, there is not this constant year round "water cooler" talk about Bison FB as some would have you believe.

[Bison Dan]

Yeah...wow??? 3000 attended. Last time I checked the Redhawks average more than that night in and night out. The "special" was nothing more than the Fargo media trying to inflate Bison FB. Trust me when I say the town of Fargo isn't a "buzz" about the NDSU FB team. Contrary to some Bison fans and Fargo media, there is not this constant year round "water cooler" talk about Bison FB as some would have you believe.

Lets see 600 vs 3000 plus - full rides vs walk ons -- season ticket sales for fb already 500 more than last year and will reach over 8000 by fall -- Yea we're doing okay. Trust you - That's funny!! -

[Oxbow6]

Lets see 600 vs 3000 plus - full rides vs walk ons -- season ticket sales for fb already 500 more than last year and will reach over 8000 by fall -- Yea we're doing okay. Trust you - That's funny!! -

Make a point BD. Your 3000 doesn't make you the Gator's spring game. It is great for NDSU that season tickets are up. GF is a hockey town. UND is a hockey school. UND has had down years in hockey and still drew as well as they did this year. Do you want me to cue the tapes of the Babich years and the Bison "faithful"? My SU buddies were giving away their tickets a few years ago. Now is it pathetic that UND could only draw 5000+ for a playoff FB game the past couple years. Absolutely. But you are drinking the Hallstrom Kool-aid if you think SU will sell out if they struggle in the Gateway for a couple of years. Every town loves a winner though.

[Blackhawk19]

I don't get what your argument about NDSU has to do with any of this. Go back to BisonVille and all 50 of you can obsess over your DI AA football team.....

[sultan]

Let's see. Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo have apopulation of 180,000. Grand Forks and East Grand Forks have a population of less than 60,00. We average just under 10,000 for football games. NDSU averages 16,000 for football games. By comparative populations we show up better than your residents do. And to top that...when you add up the numbers of people that pass through the gates at home games for Bison athletic events in Fargo in all their sports it isn't even close to the total that pass through the gates for Sioux games in Grands Forks. Oh that is right.. NDSU doesn't have Hockey. That is your problem. UND fans supports our programs better than NDSU fans. Our total ticket sales(which is larger than NDSU) are just divided over more sports.

[sultan]

On second thought... Even though UND sells a lot more tickets for all their sports than NDSU, our lead might not be as large as I think it is. I forgot there are a lot of Bison fans that make the trip to

Grand Forks to buy tickets for Sioux Hockey games. Thanks again for all the support. NDSU fans are real troopers.

[UND92,96]

You are right Sultan, we will never know and I guess it really doesn't matter much too be honest. He'll receive a good education at UND and he'll get to continue playing basketball on a full scholarship. So did he receive scholarship offers from Weber St and Montana St.? Or was UND the only DI school to offer him? Just for the record, from what I've heard, I think Travis can play, so that is not a slam against him, just an honest question.

I don't specifically know to what extent Montana State was recruiting Mertens, but I'd have a hard time believing they would have only been interested in him as a walk-on. For what it's worth, another North Dakotan, James Hennessy from Williston, played 16 minutes per game for Montana State this year, and IMO he's nowhere near the talent Mertens is.

[star2city]

That is great news for a lot of reasons: 1) He is a very talented player who should contribute a great deal immediately, 2) it would have been difficult to lose him to SU as a walk-on and 3) it may help in the recruiting of ND kids in the future. There are supposed to be 2-3 talented underclassmen in the state who will be able to play DI ball.

Who are the underclassmen?

[SooToo]

Let's see. ... We average just under 10,000 for football games...

Not that it matters, but if you consider regular season only -- drop the lousy play off -- we averaged something like 10,700. Not that anybody's counting ...

[FargoBison]

Dan did have a point and that is May is from Fargo and thus he gets more coverage. Mertens went to high school in Devils Lake and also played JUCO ball there, Devils Lake High and the JUCO school up there just don't get a lot of coverage in Fargo. I don't think this has much to do with somebody in the BSA being pissed about the May coverage but instead Mertens just isn't a big deal. He would have gotten a blurb for walking on at NDSU but nothing too extensive.

I also think Mertens was smart for going to UND, he would have faced a lot of competition at the small forward position and might not have gotten a lot of playing time.

[siouxhockeyfan11]

Dan did have a point and that is May is from Fargo and thus he gets more coverage. Mertens went to high school in Devils Lake and also played JUCO ball there, Devils Lake High and the JUCO school up there just don't get a lot of coverage in Fargo. I don't think this has much to do with somebody in the BSA being pissed about the May coverage but instead Mertens just isn't a big deal. He would have gotten a blurb for walking on at NDSU but nothing too extensive.

I also think Mertens was smart for going to UND, he would have faced a lot of competition at the small forward position and might not have gotten a lot of playing time.

I have to agree even though I think it is rediculous this agruement came up in the first place if say a juco player came from Whapeton or wherever to play at NDSU i dont think the herald would run a piece saying that he didn't commit to UND.

[sultan]

The Fargo Forum didn't need to have a major article on the story. But the main point is that I feel it is a little odd that Channel 4(5:30) , Channel 11 , and WDAY sports didn't even put one line in their sports broadcasts about the signing. He was a Mr. Basketball in North Dakota who was being recruited by four Division I schools. Two of those being UND and NDSU. I beleive that warranted an acknowledgement on sports. Was that JUCO player from Wahpeton a native North Dakotan or a former Mr. Basketball.

[siouxhockeyfan11]

The Fargo Forum didn't need to have a major article on the story. But the main point is that I feel it is a little odd that Channel 4(5:30) , Channel 11 , and WDAY sports didn't even put one line in their sports broadcasts about the signing. He was a Mr. Basketball in North Dakota who was being recruited by four Division I schools. Two of those being UND and NDSU. I beleive that warranted an acknowledgement on sports. Was that JUCO player from Wahpeton a native North Dakotan or a former Mr. Basketball.

Hypothetically speaking so I leave it up to you to decide his pedigree

[TheBisonator]

Let's see. Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo have apopulation of 180,000. Grand Forks and East Grand Forks have a population of less than 60,00. We average just under 10,000 for football games. NDSU averages 16,000 for football games. By comparative populations we show up better than your residents do. And to top that...when you add up the numbers of people that pass through the gates at home games for Bison athletic events in Fargo in all their sports it isn't even close to the total that pass through the gates for Sioux games in Grands Forks. Oh that is right.. NDSU doesn't have Hockey. That is your problem. UND fans supports our programs better than NDSU fans. Our total ticket sales(which is larger than NDSU) are just divided over more sports.

*sigh*, I can't believe I'm wasting a few minutes of my time responding to this, but OK, if you insist...

Grand Forks Metro Area Population - GF/Polk counties (2007 estimate) - 97,691

UND football average attendance in 2007 - 9,887

9,887/97,691 = 10.12 percent of metro population

Fargo-Moorhead Metro Statistical Area Population - Cass/Clay counties (2007 estimate) - 192,417

NDSU football average attendance in 2007 - 18,141

18,141/192,417 = 9.43 percent of metro population

DIFFERENCE: LESS THAN 7/10 OF A PERCENT

(Never mind that Bison football averaged 8,254 more per game than UND last season.)

I now await your feeble attempt at spin to say I'm wrong. But the numbers don't lie.

[TheBisonator]

BTW, one more thing: If all that UND fans have to smack at NDSU's football attendance is "Ha-Ha!! You guys only average about twice as much as us per game, but you should be averaging three times as much as us!! Naa-naa-na-boo-boo!!!", then I guess the situation at UND's football program is worse than I thought.

If you want to make fun of our men's basketball team for ONLY averaging 80 percent more per game than your men's team, please be my guest.

[sultan]

I was talking about the populations of the metro area or cities where the stadiums are located. I am sure if you want to start figuring counties a person could come up with very interesting statistics. Gosh if you want to look at populations of cities within 60 or so miles it might show different figures. We could count Grafton and Crookston and you could count Detroit Lake, Fergus Falls, Wahpeton and Valley City. Blah, Blah, Blah. Go ahead and spin the figures however you want. I'm sure you can come up with something that works for you. I was waiting for you to spin the figures on how doesn't UND have more people pass through the turnstiles for our sports programs than NDSU does. Go ahead and fire away. You bison fans sure spend a lot of time on Sioux sites. You just can't get us out of your system. Once again, thanks for caring. Don't you have anything to talk about over there?

[Riverman]

BTW, one more thing: If all that UND fans have to smack at NDSU's football attendance is "Ha-Ha!! You guys only average about twice as much as us per game, but you should be averaging three times as much as us!! Naa-naa-na-boo-boo!!!", then I guess the situation at UND's football program is worse than I thought.

If you want to make fun of our men's basketball team for ONLY averaging 80 percent more per game than your men's team, please be my guest.

Kind of a slow day over on the Bison boards??

I wonder what the ratio is of Sioux posters on a SU sports board are compared to Bison posters on a Sioux board.

Oh right, NDSU posters could careless about UND sports..

[GeauxSioux]

Local hoops star, Travis Mertens, to play for UND next year

Mertens shot over 50 percent from the field. And his decision to go to UND might have surprised some because of strong family attractions to NDSU down the highway over the years.

One of his close relatives, Nick Mertens, is expected to be the starting quarterback for NDSU this fall.

[bincitysioux]

I tend to agree, although my understanding is that red-shirt Pat Mitchell is very good and will contribute a lot this season.

That is good to know, although the last time I saw him, he is pretty skinny isn't he? I feel we need someone that cannot be pushed around on the block.

[UND92,96]

That is good to know, although the last time I saw him, he is pretty skinny isn't he? I feel we need someone that cannot be pushed around on the block.

Yes, he is skinny. I haven't seen him play, but hopefully he's one of those players who plays bigger than he is.

[UND92,96]

Dan did have a point and that is May is from Fargo and thus he gets more coverage. Mertens went to high school in Devils Lake and also played JUCO ball there, Devils Lake High and the JUCO school up there just don't get a lot of coverage in Fargo. I don't think this has much to do with somebody in the BSA being pissed about the May coverage but instead Mertens just isn't a big deal. He would have gotten a blurb for walking on at NDSU but nothing too extensive.

I also think Mertens was smart for going to UND, he would have faced a lot of competition at the small forward position and might not have gotten a lot of playing time.

I don't think Mertens is limited to playing the 3 any moreso than Winkelman is at NDSU. They're pretty much the same size, and if I'm not mistaken Winkelman actually played the 4 most of the time because NDSU didn't really have anybody else to play that position. Which brings up another point--the one and only reason NDSU didn't and couldn't offer a scholarship to Mertens (or May) for next year is because they have a whole bunch of scholarships tied up in players who have shown little or nothing so far. For example, who would be more likely to help NDSU next year--Mertens or Lorenzo Riley? Who would be more likely to develop into somebody who can actually score once in awhile--May or Pennick/Vaughn?

[Bison Dan]

I don't think Mertens is limited to playing the 3 any moreso than Winkelman is at NDSU. They're pretty much the same size, and if I'm not mistaken Winkelman actually played the 4 most of the time because NDSU didn't really have anybody else to play that position. Which brings up another point--the one and only reason NDSU didn't and couldn't offer a scholarship to Mertens (or May) for next year is because they have a whole bunch of scholarships tied up in players who have shown little or nothing so far. For example, who would be more likely to help NDSU next year--Mertens or Lorenzo Riley? Who would be more likely to develop into somebody who can actually score once in awhile--May or Pennick/Vaughn?

The word on the street is both Mays and Mertens would not have been offered a scholarship even if they were available. Both would have had to earn one. Comparing Mertens to Winkelman is like comparing Ford to a Lincoln. Mertens has never played against any DI competition and Wnkelman has played against some of the best in the nation and excelled. I'm happy your happy with the bb team but I think you'll find out what's it's all about when you start playing DI competition.

[GeauxSioux]

The word on the street is both Mays and Mertens would not have been offered a scholarship even if they were available. Both would have had to earn one. Comparing Mertens to Winkelman is like comparing Ford to a Lincoln. Mertens has never played against any DI competition and Wnkelman has played against some of the best in the nation and excelled. I'm happy your happy with the bb team but I think you'll find out what's it's all about when you start playing DI competition.

Are we talking presidents or cars?

[sultan]

Dan..What street were you on in Fargo when you heard that? It is kind of a mute point since there clearly wasn't any scholarship money left for next year. Dan... I see your back for more again today. Once again I guess you just can't get along without us. Mertens might just have played against some good players along the way in the Junior Colleges. Are you famaliar with everyone he played against? It seems like there can be some pretty good players in JC's. Didn't Andre Smith come from a JC.