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Wanless may be under fire at Sac State...


WYOBISONMAN

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The Sicatoka,

While things don't look rosy for Sac State, they might be for NDSU and SDSU. It has been reported that the Big Sky wants more then 8 teams in the conference. If Sac State leaves, there is an opening to get to 9 with NDSU and SDSU.

I am not saying it will happen but Sac State's loss might be NDSU's (and SDSU's) gain.

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I can't figure UNC out either....I think that if they were interested they would have the best shot at the BSC because of geography. I would think UNC would leap at the chance to get into the BSC.

By the way, on some of the other boards it is interesting to see the Sac State fooball supporters (I think there are only about two or three of them) spin this thing as positive. It is interesting to watch....not much stability in any conference these days.....from D1A to D2. Who kbnows where it will all shake out. One think for sure is it give those of us that are FB fans a lot of entertainment in the off-season....

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The Big Sky can be hard to figure out.  I think if geography is really that important to them, they would have taken SUU by now.  Also, I've heard (message boards are great, aren't they) that UNC has absolutely no interest in the BSC (why I don't know).  I think the only thing that I do know is that absolutely no one on this message board or Bisonville has no idea what will happen.

I also have heard that UNC isn't interested in the Big Sky, which further supports my opinion that their administration is out of their collective minds. Any school that goes division I despite poor attendance overall and a horrible basketball program in a horrible facility, and then thumbs their noses at the ONLY conference that makes any geographic sense for them, has to be nuts.

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... fans a lot of entertainment in the off-season....

Off-season?

We go from an amazing run to the DII National Championship football game straight into a #1 DI college hockey ranking.

There is no "off-season" for UND fans. It's all good. :(

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Basketball is the winter sport of the USA, not hockey.

I don't believe anybody is trying to say that hockey is more popular than basketball in the United States. Obviously, that's not the case. The point, in my opinion, is that no matter what NCAA division UND is in, or NDSU is in for that matter, college basketball in the state of North Dakota will never approach the attendance levels or national success that UND has enjoyed in hockey. And I say that despite the fact that I am far more of a basketball fan than a hockey fan. We're talking about an average of somewhere between 10,500 and 11,500 per game for approximately a 22-game home schedule.

To put it in perspective, UND's hockey average per-game attendance would put it approximately 35th in the country in basketball attendance. That's ahead of schools like Michigan, Duke, UCLA, Purdue, Florida and countless others. Sure, that has a lot to do with the size of the venues, but who cares? Hockey is a cash cow at UND, and regardless of whether you are interested in it, or whether it's as popular as basketball on a national level, it is a huge asset for UND. Any school would be quite happy to have a sport which allows it to sell something in excess of 230,000 tickets per year at roughly $20 a pop in a world-class arena which was gifted to it, and which allows it to play several nationally known schools every year.

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Wanless has certainly struggled as a pro-football AD. He did great things for UND, bringing our football program back to the top of the NCC and one of the top few in the country, yet struggled and made some enemies because he was a football guy at a hockey school.

Now, he's in a bit of a similar situation at Sac State, trying to save football at a basketball school. Sac State can only hope his tenure at their institution produces as much positive growth as did his tenure at UND.

WYOBISONMAN - no doubt Lennon dodged a bullet there. I recall reading at the time that the instability in the administration at Sac State was a factor. Edit -- here it is:

Wanless said Lennon was excited about the opportunity but that family concerns and the uncertainty of Sac State's next president factored into his decision.

...

Lennon earlier this week said he wondered whether the university will employ a president partial to athletics.

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I don't believe anybody is trying to say that hockey is more popular than basketball in the United States. Obviously, that's not the case. The point, in my opinion, is that no matter what NCAA division UND is in, or NDSU is in for that matter, college basketball in the state of North Dakota will never approach the attendance levels or national success that UND has enjoyed in hockey. And I say that despite the fact that I am far more of a basketball fan than a hockey fan. We're talking about an average of somewhere between 10,500 and 11,500 per game for approximately a 22-game home schedule.

To put it in perspective, UND's hockey average per-game attendance would put it approximately 35th in the country in basketball attendance. That's ahead of schools like Michigan, Duke, UCLA, Purdue, Florida and countless others. Sure, that has a lot to do with the size of the venues, but who cares? Hockey is a cash cow at UND, and regardless of whether you are interested in it, or whether it's as popular as basketball on a national level, it is a huge asset for UND. Any school would be quite happy to have a sport which allows it to sell something in excess of 230,000 tickets per year at roughly $20 a pop in a world-class arena which was gifted to it, and which allows it to play several nationally known schools every year.

Did you know that UAF (Alaska Fairbanks) is a national powerhouse in riflery?

Probably not. Who cares?

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