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Fighting Hawks vs AZ. Wildcats


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1 hour ago, WildcatGuest said:

Yeah I figure the realistic strategy for the Hawks would be for the guards to hit the three and slash to the hoop, while limiting touches for the Cats down low.    We play your Big Sky mates NAU every other year or so.  The times they've come close is with a slow, guard dominated, low possession game,  shooting 3s and running a zone.  But the fast tempo is what both schools seem to want.  Many programs that don't normally run zones have tried it. No matter level of opponent, it usually causes about 4-5 plays of bricks and confusion for the Cats, before adjustments happen.  We have no idea why the zone confuses even temporarily.     The guard play could be a draw, but unless fouls are called oddly, the bigs will be UND's critical weakness I don't think they'll be overcoming, unless Bernstine and Avants really come of age. Players like Shanks are usually eaten alive, and as stated more of a liability as a foul magnet.    

Defensively, if you haven't seen Arizona play much, there is really no single defensive super stopper (Kadeem Allen at 2 is the closest).  Taken individually the front line isn't that dominant defensively, but the packline defense is very much a system and team effort. 

A few school cultural questions:  Who is your arch rival?  I notice a sudden upswing the past few years in all the Dakota schools regarding basketball.  Do you normally refer to yourselves as the Fighting Hawks?  Other fans tend to refer to us as Zona, which is fine and liked, but the vast majority of our own find it awkward to call ourselves Zona. 

Thanks for the welcome.  I normally am not a "opposing board visitor" except during tourney time.  I notice non-conf visitors on boards are always greeted warmly, but I am likely to get glib comments and slights on another Pac-12 board.

Avants is a very high motor hard working undersized post but can barley jump over a phone book. Shanks' last name might as well be his nickname. Bernstein is a smooth point forward type who has an ok mid-range game and a really good handle. We are very vulnerable to teams with quality size down low. Our guards can ball with the best of them. Like others have said, if they're knocking down 3s we can stay with anyone but if you guys can get the big fellas rolling we are screwed. I'm very excited for this game as it's a long time in the making but the two 7 footers you guys have seem to be exactly what we don't need. Hopefully we can catch you guys on an off night and make it interesting. If we can somehow get the big boys in foul trouble it could make it a great game but I won't hold my breath. 

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9 hours ago, UNDBIZ said:

North Dakota state university would be our arch rival. Ndsu and sdsu both moved up to D1 around 5 years before UND and UND just completed its transition to D1 in 2012. That's probably why you didn't hear much about the Dakota schools prior to the past several years. They're both in the Summit Conference while UND is in the Big Sky, where we'd probably claim Weber St and Montana as rivals, though they may not claim us. We'll be joining the other Dakota's in the Summit beginning with the 2018-19 season. 

As for nicknames, UND was one of the schools that got hammered by the ncaa around a decade ago for having a Native American nickname, the Fighting Sioux. We fought the ncaa for several years and eventually conceded defeat in 2012, as we were having issues in our transition to D1 due to the nickname saga. The Fighting Hawks name was selected a little over a year ago and is slowly gaining steam, though the vast majority of the fan base still prefers Sioux. UND, North Dakota, Nodak, Fighting Sioux, and Fighting Hawks are all acceptable, though some will throw a tantrum if you refer to us as Fighting Hawks. 

Wow.  you just summed up 80% of the posts on this site in the past 10 years in 1 post.  Impressive!!

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ESPN Insider Best and Worst case scenero's.....

15. North Dakota

155.png?w=110&h=110&transparent=true

Best case: Brian Jones' squad keeps the game against Arizona within 15 points.
Worst case: The Wildcats' Allonzo Trier and Lauri Markkanen flow early with an inside-outside attack that the Fighting Hawks can't handle

2. Arizona

12.png?w=110&h=110&transparent=true

Best case: More confetti after the Wildcats win the national championship.
Worst case: Freshman forward Lauri Markkanen's slump from the 3-point line returns as Arizona loses in the Sweet 16 to a squad with the size and athleticism on the perimeter to disrupt the Wildcats.

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15 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

Avants is a very high motor hard working undersized post but can barley jump over a phone book. Shanks' last name might as well be his nickname. Bernstein is a smooth point forward type who has an ok mid-range game and a really good handle. We are very vulnerable to teams with quality size down low. Our guards can ball with the best of them. Like others have said, if they're knocking down 3s we can stay with anyone but if you guys can get the big fellas rolling we are screwed. I'm very excited for this game as it's a long time in the making but the two 7 footers you guys have seem to be exactly what we don't need. Hopefully we can catch you guys on an off night and make it interesting. If we can somehow get the big boys in foul trouble it could make it a great game but I won't hold my breath.

Just a simple question.  If Avants can barley jump over a phone book why do the coach's have him take the opening tip?

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21 minutes ago, siouxfantastic said:

Just a simple question.  If Avants can barley jump over a phone book why do the coach's have him take the opening tip?

Avants has ok hops for 6'6'' 230lb big sky kid...jumps better than he did last season....I notice seales got the tip in an ot. jump ball...he gets up quick with excellent timing...Bernstine does not do jump balls I guess Avants is better than him.  I would try letting Shanks jump and then pull him ASAP

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1 hour ago, UNDColorado said:

Anyone do online sports betting? I don't but if the odds of us winning are 5000/1 I want to throw $20 down. I have spent $20 in way dumber ways so I figure why not.

I use oddsmaker.ag, they have UND...

odds of winning the championship:  1 to 1000 (meaning bet $1 to win $1000)

odds of winning the regional:  1 to 500

odds of winning vs. Arizona:  11 to 10 with the line at +17pts.

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16 minutes ago, 2TRU4U said:

I use oddsmaker.ag, they have UND...

odds of winning the championship:  1 to 1000 (meaning bet $1 to win $1000)

odds of winning the regional:  1 to 500

odds of winning vs. Arizona:  11 to 10 with the line at +17pts.

Thanks!

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49 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Taking the tip is more about timing. The guys can barely dunk.

I think you're ripping on his jumping ability a little much. Does fine dunking but isn't going to wow anyone with his athleticism. If you're going to talk about somebody that can barely dunk, you could look at our 7 footer. 

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On March 12, 2017 at 9:08 PM, Shawn-O said:

Let's hope the guys are looking past UA on their way to the sweet 16.  True or False: Sweet 16 would be the biggest story in ND athletics history.  I'd say true. Sorry UND hockey and NDSU football.  

Not even close.  Would need  to win it.  Beating Arizona would be biggest upset in ND athletics history but not biggest story.

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