Travis Merten

[siouxfriend]

I find it odd that bison fans are so concerned about what happens at UND. They spend way too much time on our message boards. Apparently the bison fans that post here are unaware that UND is no longer their biggest rival. Remember, you have moved on. So could you please just move on?

[Blackhawk19]

BisonDan.....best in the nation? You played Oral Roberts which can probably only be considered the "best in the nation" that the Bison competed against. Maybe if the bison played agianst UNC or Kansas or Louisville you could have an argument. Also many great players come from junior colleges (Jerome Beasley). You have to come up with a better argument as to why Mertens went to UND instead of NDSU....

[Oxbow6]

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.

Saw SU in person 1 time this year vs. IUPUI. Winkleman is solid, but he is average athletically when you put him up against "some of the best in the nation". Had difficulty creating his own shot, but boarded well for his size. Can't defend a lick. He is somewhat a product of Woodside, who is the real deal. But when you are up 10+ at home with a few minutes to go and puke it away like they did against IUPUI, there is a reason that they were a slightly better than .500 team in the Summit. And to make a bad anology using a Ford and Lincoln, you must be straight off the farm near Hannaford, ND because there isn't a lot of difference between those two makes of cars--both suck.

[coach daddy]

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.

Totally correct and excellent response. I can tell you all from personal experience that there are plenty of DI players in the juco ranks of Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, and even North Dakota. Travis' last game at Lake Region was against Indian Hills CC out of Iowa. They probably have 7-8 DI players on their team and all he did was get 20 points and 8 rebounds. I guarantee you he has DI talent over the last 2 years.

[FargoBison]

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?

I'll just keep it simple, I'm not convinced Mertens could beat out either Tviedt or Carlson for playing time. Both players have a lot of potential, Tviedt went for 10-8 against Florida in his first game ever. He played well as a freshman and he will only get better. Saul is also very high on Eric Carlson, from what I have seen he is going to be a player. Throwing a wrench further into things is Saul bringing in a athletic 6-8 JUCO into the mix and all of sudden this team has a 4 again.

I don't know what to think about regarding May. I'm not really high on Pennick so I'd say Vaughan has the most potential because of what he has done. He is a good shooter and a decent point guard, he did improve his game over the course of last season and I think that will continue. That said, Vaughan and Pennick would be seniors when May is a redshirt freshman so I don't really get why we are even comparing these players.

[sultan]

I don't particularly think anyone is saying Mertens or May are any worse or better than a player at NDSU. The bottom line is they were recruited by both schools. UND is in the early stages of building a DI program and both players could potentially be nice additions to our program. It is just very interesting that when players make a choice to chose UND over NDSU that those players all of a sudden become very ordinary or untalented players in the eyes of NDSU fans. These are just the early stages of what recruiting is going to be like for NDSU and UND in the future. We will be both be going after the players on a consistent basis. Good luck to both schools.

[sultan]

I don't particularly think anyone is saying Mertens or May are any worse or better than a player at NDSU. The bottom line is they were recruited by both schools. UND is in the early stages of building a DI program and both players could potentially be nice additions to our program. It is just very interesting that when players make a choice to chose UND over NDSU that those players all of a sudden become very ordinary or untalented players in the eyes of NDSU fans. These are just the early stages of what recruiting is going to be like for NDSU and UND in the future. We will be both be going after the players on a consistent basis. Good luck to both schools.

That is, I meant to say is we will both be going after the SAME players on a consistent basis.

[bincitysioux]

Saul is also very high on Eric Carlson, from what I have seen he is going to be a player.

No argument there. But the word on my street is that Saul was also very high on May and Mertens.

[bincitysioux]

Mertens has never played against any DI competition .............

As far as I know, neither has DuJuan Flowers. You all seem to be pretty high on him though, so what gives ?

Mertens has oodles of talent, even I can see that. Apparently so did a couple Big Sky schools and a Summit school.

[CDog]

No argument there. But the word on my street is that Saul was also very high on May and Mertens.

Be careful Bin, you might be getting an angry call from the fabulous BSA.

[Bison Dan]

As far as I know, neither has DuJuan Flowers. You all seem to be pretty high on him though, so what gives ?

Mertens has oodles of talent, even I can see that. Apparently so did a couple Big Sky schools and a Summit school.

Hey if you want to believe that he had offers (scholarships) from those schools fine. You need to able to tell the difference between "interest" and an offer.

[gopherz]

BisonDan.....best in the nation? You played Oral Roberts which can probably only be considered the "best in the nation" that the Bison competed against. Maybe if the bison played agianst UNC or Kansas or Louisville you could have an argument. Also many great players come from junior colleges (Jerome Beasley). You have to come up with a better argument as to why Mertens went to UND instead of NDSU....

Just look towards their game here at the Barn this year...total slaughter

[ndsubison1]

ndsu asked mertens to walk on, there was no scholly offered... end of story.

[Bison Dan]

Just look towards their game here at the Barn this year...total slaughter

You mean like what NDSU did to your FB team or the Sioux to your Hockey program??

[Bison Dan]

BisonDan.....best in the nation? You played Oral Roberts which can probably only be considered the "best in the nation" that the Bison competed against. Maybe if the bison played agianst UNC or Kansas or Louisville you could have an argument. Also many great players come from junior colleges (Jerome Beasley). You have to come up with a better argument as to why Mertens went to UND instead of NDSU....

Played 2007 NC - Florida and then Rutgers on the same weekend. When your in a conference you don't have as many non conference games - oh that's right you wouldn't know that.

[The Sicatoka]

And to make a bad anology using a Ford and Lincoln, ....

Mercury - a Ford with chrome

Lincoln - a Mercury with a hood ornament and $20k higher asking price

But I don't believe Mercury was ever President.

[coach daddy]

Played 2007 NC - Florida and then Rutgers on the same weekend. When your in a conference you don't have as many non conference games - oh that's right you wouldn't know that.

Don't you dare put Rutgers in the league of "Big Games". they are terrible and non-competitive in the Big East. It wasn't their football team, or their womens team you played, it was their mens team.

[gopherz]

You mean like what NDSU did to your FB team or the Sioux to your Hockey program??

And once again Bison Dan shows his clear lack of education and any reading ability. Being that I said at the Barn, means it was basketball. That should be even more obvious since its posted in a basketball section of the forum. What the Sioux did to our hockey program when we were up there? Split?

Figure out how to read what people are saying and then come back to talk to me.

(If we are going to talk about football, feel free to message me any time)

[gopherz]

Played 2007 NC - Florida and then Rutgers on the same weekend. When your in a conference you don't have as many non conference games - oh that's right you wouldn't know that.

Once again your lack of knowledge about college basketball rears its ugly head...just because they are big name schools doesn't mean they are "top teams". In fact, they both failed to make the NCAA tournament, try again.

[Bison Dan]

Once again your lack of knowledge about college basketball rears its ugly head...just because they are big name schools doesn't mean they are "top teams". In fact, they both failed to make the NCAA tournament, try again.

Like the gophers?

[gopherz]

Like the gophers?

Can you please learn to read? I never once said we were a "top team". But then again, we will be this year. Hopefully NDSU can pull off an NIT birth this year, I'm pulling for them. Sadly, it's going to be tough for the Bison seniors to get beat by 30 by a bunch of freshman again this year.

[UND92,96]

Who are the underclassmen?

One could be 6'7" sophomore Bryan Kielpinski from Mandan. I've never seen him play, but he was all-WDA this past year, and he has two sisters who were great high school players so he's evidently got good bloodlines.