next season

[dlsiouxfan]

UND 92,96 is just a little faster than me this morning

[WYOBISONMAN]

Next Years Schedule anyone have any ideas of who we will play? Any Div 1 A schools like a duke or kansas teams that arnt good Div1A teams. I'd say we'd get Northern Iowa up here at The Al! and how many home games i say 3 or 4 tops!

I-A schools won't play you until you count towards Bowl eligibility. To be a counter you have to have a minimum number of scholies for a certain period of time. I can't remember the exact criteria, but this year was the first year NDSU was a counter for Bowl eligibility. So for next year, I would be shocked to see a DI-A on your schedule.

[SOONERbeaSIOUXfan]

Next Years Schedule anyone have any ideas of who we will play? Any Div 1 A schools like a duke or kansas teams that arnt good Div1A teams. I'd say we'd get Northern Iowa up here at The Al! and how many home games i say 3 or 4 tops!

Please keep in mind that next year we will still be playing and competing for a D-II title. Your thought of 3 or 4 home games could be very likely for the following year.

[Bison Dan]

Obviously the UND men's basketball team has a new coach, and the play is already improved over recent years despite not having much of a chance to recruit yet. Two programs that SHOULD be cause for concern for their fans are the NDSU women's basketball program, and the SDSU men's basketball program.

If I was you I'd wouldn't be concerned about any of the DI programs at NDSU - all are doing better than expected with womens bb getting a slower start. I'd worry about UND's programs that perennially do poorly in dii. Like Womens SB, Volleyball, and track, and men's bb and track.

[sultan]

If I was you I'd wouldn't be concerned about any of the DI programs at NDSU - all are doing better than expected with womens bb getting a slower start. I'd worry about UND's programs that perennially do poorly in dii. Like Womens SB, Volleyball, and track, and men's bb and track.

NDSU 's womens basketball being off to a slow start is an understatement. There much worse than when they were DII. For all practical purposes they lost by about 20 to Moorhead except for some poiints very late in the game. That game was at NDSU too. The Sioux could of beat Moorhead by over 30 or 40 that night. The game was that one sided. Your men's basketball team has done great. Your football team has done fine even though there schedule wasn't any where near as strong as you guys have portrayed. Our football team will do just as well as your football team given time and the increased scholarships. The rest of the sports most fans don't care about anyway. I am just talking about the sports that really matter.

[sultan]

And by the way, UND has ten times the tradition in men's basketball than NDSU has. We obviously have some work to do, but given some time we will be back ahead of ndsu in men's basketball where we have always been.

[SOONERbeaSIOUXfan]

If I was you I'd wouldn't be concerned about any of the DI programs at NDSU - all are doing better than expected with womens bb getting a slower start. I'd worry about UND's programs that perennially do poorly in dii. Like Womens SB, Volleyball, and track, and men's bb and track.

I swear sometimes that I'm reading a note being passed around in Junior High! Not all programs are good at every school! I believe the real crime here as far as the move to D-I is with the NCAA. I will not pretend to know the programs at NDSU but I think your Men's basketball and Football were ready to make the move to D-I. The rest of the programs are likely going to struggle for some time. I hope as a North Dakotan that all of your programs will thrive eventually. As for UND, I think it only made sense for Football to make the move. The rest of the programs will struggle for some time. I think the NCAA has lost sight of their purpose. The moral on campus and the ability to raise funds at the institution would be best served if the individual sports could have some say in their move or not. While I understand that this would be very difficult to accomplish I think it would be best for everyone.

[iramurphy]

If I was you I'd wouldn't be concerned about any of the DI programs at NDSU - all are doing better than expected with womens bb getting a slower start. I'd worry about UND's programs that perennially do poorly in dii. Like Womens SB, Volleyball, and track, and men's bb and track.

I disagree that the WBB team there is "getting a slower start". These last two years are some of the worst teams they have fielded in the last 15yrs. Baseball learned the difference between D1 and D2 pretty fast. They have a good coach and a great facility but the best kids are almost always going to go somewhere that they can play year round. MBB and FB are both far exceeding expectations. FB should remain a D1AA power. MBB will do well as long as Miles is there and then it depends on the next coach. BB can change so fast with injuries and a kid getting homesick. WBB will improve. Wrestling should be OK but Minnesota's emergence as a national power has slowed them a little.

Other points well taken. There is no excuse for UND's traditional poor showing in track, VB, Women's hockey. MBB should get better but it isn't as easy to turn things around once those bigger programs slip. It will come. The poor showing in track has been a cultural attitude that we don't have the resources and we make some sort of half hearted effort to recruit a few kids but no one is going to bust their butts to improve things. They work hard with the kids they have. Right now there are enough kids on the FB team to make them a decent track team. Womens hockey needs to get better fast. That is too much money to spend just to meet title IX requirements. They swimming teams are D2 powers but will struggle to compete at the elite level of D1. They will need to get nearly every D1 kid in this area.

UND's D1 move will go well and it will take time. The traditionaly poor programs will either need to improve or changes will have to be made. That should have happened regardless of the D1 move. The learning curve should be improved based on the lessons learned in Fargo and SDSU.

[bogeyboge50]

Please keep in mind that next year we will still be playing and competing for a D-II title. Your thought of 3 or 4 home games could be very likely for the following year.

Thanks i was just wondering about next year and the schedule! you really filled in the holes in my head about the schedule things! Any Idea when the new will be out??

[Bison Dan]

I disagree that the WBB team there is "getting a slower start". These last two years are some of the worst teams they have fielded in the last 15yrs. Baseball learned the difference between D1 and D2 pretty fast. They have a good coach and a great facility but the best kids are almost always going to go somewhere that they can play year round. MBB and FB are both far exceeding expectations. FB should remain a D1AA power. MBB will do well as long as Miles is there and then it depends on the next coach. BB can change so fast with injuries and a kid getting homesick. WBB will improve. Wrestling should be OK but Minnesota's emergence as a national power has slowed them a little.

Other points well taken. There is no excuse for UND's traditional poor showing in track, VB, Women's hockey. MBB should get better but it isn't as easy to turn things around once those bigger programs slip. It will come. The poor showing in track has been a cultural attitude that we don't have the resources and we make some sort of half hearted effort to recruit a few kids but no one is going to bust their butts to improve things. They work hard with the kids they have. Right now there are enough kids on the FB team to make them a decent track team. Womens hockey needs to get better fast. That is too much money to spend just to meet title IX requirements. They swimming teams are D2 powers but will struggle to compete at the elite level of D1. They will need to get nearly every D1 kid in this area.

UND's D1 move will go well and it will take time. The traditionaly poor programs will either need to improve or changes will have to be made. That should have happened regardless of the D1 move. The learning curve should be improved based on the lessons learned in Fargo and SDSU.

I wasn't smacking the "other sports" at UND but I like how some can pick and choose which sports they think are important. NDSU has usually been more "well rounded" thoughtout all the sports they play. Some seem to delight in the fact women's bb is struggling. Well that's one program, how many programs will be struggling at UND when you have a full DI schedule?

[SOONERbeaSIOUXfan]

Thanks i was just wondering about next year and the schedule! you really filled in the holes in my head about the schedule things! Any Idea when the new will be out??

No. It will take some time to finalize the schedule. I don't remember when the schedule came for this past season.

[sultan]

I don't think people are just picking the sports that they feel are important. There are really only four sports that really have any chance of having major ticket sales. The sports are hockey, football, women's basketball and men's basketball. Wrestling and volleyball can sell some tickets but very minor compared to the major sports. Those are just the facts, not personal opinion.

[iramurphy]

I wasn't smacking the "other sports" at UND but I like how some can pick and choose which sports they think are important. NDSU has usually been more "well rounded" thoughtout all the sports they play. Some seem to delight in the fact women's bb is struggling. Well that's one program, how many programs will be struggling at UND when you have a full DI schedule?

That is why I said points well taken. (maybe you missed that part). I don't know how many programs will struggle at UND and for how long. What difference does it make at this time? Why would anyone want to waste their time speculating? Anyone can figure out we will struggle with baseball, track, VB etc. As I said we will need to get better.

UND will put the necessary resources into making this a successful transition and time will tell. Our transition has to do with UND doing it the best way we can. If someone wants to compare with you guys or SDSU more power to them, but most of us will focus on what we are doing and the things we can control. For those of us who are alumni and boosters, that means writing a bigger check and making an effort to get to the games. For students, it means get to the games and take some friends to the games. For the coaches and athletes it means keep getting better. For the president and faculty it means continuing to make UND the best intitution of higher learning in this area and getting even better.

Those are the same things all schools that are trying to move up need to do. The AD and school officials and coaches need to work out the details but the mission is clear. If someone feels better because they made the move sooner or think they will be better than someone else, then go ahead and feel better and have a Merry Chritmas.

[BigGame]

Anyone who has seen the mens basketball team knows what I am talking about. One has to wonder about the level of committment UND has to going D1.

Only time will tell, I think UND will be fine. I think things in the UND basketball program have already started to change for the better. It may not show this season, but I think you will see it next year.

[BigGame]

The moral on campus and the ability to raise funds at the institution would be best served if the individual sports could have some say in their move or not. While I understand that this would be very difficult to accomplish I think it would be best for everyone.

Wouldn't Title IX make moving football up, but leaving everything else D2 almost impossible? Even if it were allowed, I don't think it could be done.

[iramurphy]

The purpose of this thread was next FB season. UND 92,96 sums things up pretty well. The big question offensively will be who replaces Manke. Freund should enter spring ball as No. 1. Landry is big strong and one of the best athletes in the state of ND his senior year. It is tough to be ready as a freshman. I don't know much about the other returing QB's. We will likely run more with the experience at O-line and the depth at RB and athleticism at QB. The contributions of Reed were tremendous and it will be tough to expect someone without experience to be able to run that short passing game as efficiently and still have the abvility to throw deep. Had he not been hurt I think he would have broken most single season passing records. (It would have been fun to see how good we might have been with him at QB as a Soph and Jr).

Defensively, the corners should be good and Manke at safety should be one of the best we have had. Line and linebackers are good athletes. We might even be better at LB next year but it will be tough to replace Wolf and Enger. We have number of promising DL who are good athletes. It will depend on what kind of work they do in the off-season. We need to replace Greenwood and Desuatel. It will be tough to find someone as smart as Greenwood to help get people in the right spots but Rory Manke is also one of the kids with or close to a 4.0 GPA and knows the game . Depth at DB and Dline and the QB situation are the biggest questionmarks.

We should have great RBs and good depth there. We have great receivers and good depth there. We have a great O-line with good depth there and 3 great tight-ends coming back.

One of the improtant things we have had and will need to maintain are the kids like Beatty, Loegering etc. who have been willing to play their roles so when they were needed we were able to insert them and didn't seem to miss a beat. Championship teams have those guys and their teamates know how valuable they are. Beatty always came in and ran hard and stayed positive. Strouth got himself healthy again and was playing well when he got hurt. Loegering made some key blocks against UNO and a great catch against GVSU should have had a lot more playing time this year but didn't complain and went about his business as a pro but delivered whenever they called on him. The media and many fans don't realize how much those guys contribute over their careers by making others around them better and those ahead of them on the depth chart better.

The contribution of Belmore can't be over looked. He was beat out by Manke yet stayed postive and filled in when Reed was hurt and did enough to win. He seemed to handle the situation with class.

One area I would like to see improved is getting these guys more playing time when the situation allows. Loegering played a lot last year yet didn't get on the field until the end of the year. He is an excellent student and works hard. He was a senior and the coaches need to reward that or those kids won't stick around in the future. I ahve a lot of respect for him for hanging in there. Beatty and Brady needed more reps but with Stouth and Chappel doing well I know it is hard. Belmore could have gotten earlier time in the early games. When Manke broke his collarbone he should have been on the sidelines drinking Gatorade and checking out the co-eds rather than running from the fat guys when we were ahead by 30+. (he also shouldn't have let those fat guys catch him).

On the positive side we usually get kids in on defense with the rotating system and that is one reson I think we have been so good defensively. You can't do that with the QB or O-line but should be able to with the backs, TE's and receivers and they ahve been doing that pretty well the last couple of years.

Lastly, we still have great coaching and hopefully we can keep these guys around to take another run at a National title next year and then transtion to D1AA.

[UND92,96]

Considering the uncertainty at quarterback and the major graduation losses on defense, would it be a good idea to schedule another I-AA (I'm not ready to start calling it by that other name yet) team next year? I'm thinking no, but I'll admit there are good arguments on the other side.

[SOONERbeaSIOUXfan]

Wouldn't Title IX make moving football up, but leaving everything else D2 almost impossible? Even if it were allowed, I don't think it could be done.

Yes, but these are all roadblocks as designed by the NCAA. My point was purely hypothetical. I would like to see the overall health and wellbeing of the athletic department considered rather than forcing the entire department to make a move when it realistically is only practical for one or two programs.

[Siouxfan06]

Anyone who has seen the mens basketball team knows what I am talking about. One has to wonder about the level of committment UND has to going D1.

I have seen the Mens basketball team and, frankly, they have done a 180 from the past few seasons. Yes, they need a bit of fine tuning, but as Coach Jones' first season, I believe he has done a very good job in making the games at least somewhat exciting. I no longer feel the urge to leave after the womens game because I know I am in for a boring game. The team has added a spark this year. They have beat teams this year that last year kicked the heck out of them. I would say that's improvement. Of course they're not going to be a top calibur team in the first year with a new head coach and a new assistant coach, what do you expect with all new staff? Give them a break and let them make their own way without your judgement already. The pre-season isn't even over.

[bogeyboge50]

For Womans Basketball how many years till they can play for an NIT championship!! cause i heard the bison men are making a run for An NIT championship after they beat Marquette#9

[HasaanJones84]

Just two notes I have while scrolling through this thread.

1. BisonDan, has anyone ever told you that you are a wet blanket?

2. UND fans should be concerned about the qb issue for next year. We saw in Bellmore what poor quarterback play can do to a pretty good all around offense. I like Landry, but is he ready as a frosh? Danny Fruend seems athletic, but is he ready to make all the right reeds?

[Lefty - UNO Fan]

Just thought I'd pass along a little information for anybody who is curious. UNO returns 9 starters on that offense that gave the Sioux fits including all 5 offensive lineman although 1 graduates with a year of eligibility left and may not return. Unfortunately 3 of the 4 DBs that gave up all those completions against the Sioux are back too. Should be more fireworks next year.

[Bison Dan]

Just two notes I have while scrolling through this thread.

1. BisonDan, has anyone ever told you that you are a wet blanket?

2. UND fans should be concerned about the qb issue for next year. We saw in Bellmore what poor quarterback play can do to a pretty good all around offense. I like Landry, but is he ready as a frosh? Danny Fruend seems athletic, but is he ready to make all the right reeds?

You need to go back to all the 2003-4 posts and see what all your friends were posting about NDSU's move up. Then we'll talk.

[The Sicatoka]

I'm more than comfortable with the returning offense even though QB is a big question mark. That seems rather strange to say, however, eight of the top ten of the two-deep offensive line return and the returning skill position people allow for the QB position to be a ball manager and not need to be a dynamic playmaker. That will give time for any QB to adjust. (And why no mention of Setness? Isn't he in the running with Freund and Landry?)

As far as defense, we're going to be relying on another Manke for leadership. It's going to be a youngish set of LBs and DBs and Rory is going to have to play his position (very well) and help others adjust to and learn theirs. The other guy that needs to play a big role is Holinka in the middle. (It would really help if Donovan Alexander can shut down the receiver on his part of the field alone like he did in the South Dakota game.)

[UND92,96]

I'm more than comfortable with the returning offense even though QB is a big question mark. That seems rather strange to say, however, eight of the top ten of the two-deep offensive line return and the returning skill position people allow for the QB position to be a ball manager and not need to be a dynamic playmaker. That will give time for any QB to adjust. (And why no mention of Setness? Isn't he in the running with Freund and Landry?)

As far as defense, we're going to be relying on another Manke for leadership. It's going to be a youngish set of LBs and DBs and Rory is going to have to play his position (very well) and help others adjust to and learn theirs. The other guy that needs to play a big role is Holinka in the middle. (It would really help if Donovan Alexander can shut down the receiver on his part of the field alone like he did in the South Dakota game.)

Konrath, Gudmunson and Setness are all in the running, I'm sure, but I think the reason people are speculating that it's mostly a Freund vs. Landry competition is because Lennon himself indicated as much on one of the coaches' shows a month or two ago.

I know a lot of people are understandably skeptical about a freshman potentially starting at quarterback, since it hasn't happened in recent history at UND, but keep in mind that Shepard at USD was a freshman this year, and he did pretty well. Also, Reilly at CWU was quite good in 2005 as a freshman, and they didn't even have a running game to take some of the pressure off. Ditto for Schlafke from UMD in 2005.