Wisconsin will play UND in DI

[bincitysioux]

Despite their policy of not playing schools with American Indian nicknames, the U of Wisconsin says they would play UND in the future because thay are traditional rivals.

A mixed bag for Sioux

Walter Dickey, chair of the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board, says the Badgers would play the Sioux because of their previous games in hockey.

"We have an exception in our policy for what we call a traditional opponent, and you're a traditional opponent," Dickey said of the Sioux. "The policy is under review. We're considering stuff. One of the things we're looking at is what the NCAA is doing."

Wisconsin's athletic department policy says: "We discourage the use of Indian images and mascots on our campus, and we refuse to schedule games with teams, other than those to which we have longstanding commitments, that use Indian mascots, images or team names."

"The policy certainly doesn't tell us that we can't schedule North Dakota not as I read it," Dickey said.

Wisconsin school officials say teams are discouraged from bringing their American Indian mascots to the school's athletic facilities. Bands are asked to not play war chants and the cheerleaders-pompom squads are asked to not use American Indian gestures and chants.

The policy also says Wisconsin will not schedule any team with a Native American mascot or nickname during the regular season unless the team is a traditional rival or a conference member. That's why the Badgers would play the Sioux in sports such as football and basketball, Dickey said.

Minnesota and Iowa still say no.

[Gothmog]

Despite their policy of not playing schools with American Indian nicknames, the U of Wisconsin says they would play UND in the future because thay are traditional rivals.

A mixed bag for Sioux

Minnesota and Iowa still say no.

I'm trying to find "Wisconsin WILL play UND" somewhere in that article. It's not there. Don't forget what happened to Maturi when he asked for official clarification of the policy.

[jimdahl]

I would think a Bison fan would be more worried about reading this in reference to the Sioux:

"you're a traditional opponent," Dickey said of the Sioux.

Like I said here:

UND's athletic department rolodex already contains a lot of D-I AD's. Those relationships can help in all sorts of subtle ways. See Maturi's recent attempts to get additional permission to play UND in other sports; there's little doubt Minnesota and Wisconsin would be getting UND on their schedules in the big sports on the first possible day if they were allowed to. While they're not on the table for now, there are quite a few other I's and I-AA's with whom we have similar relationships.

The warning that the games don't exist until they're scheduled is a fair one; the Minnesota crackdown came when Maturi was actively trying to schedule additional sports against UND. However, when the name issue gets resolved (hopefully before the end of our transition), our traditional hockey rivals' interest in playing UND in other sports will be a tremendous boon for decades.

[bincitysioux]

Read the first sentence in the quote.

will: auxiliary verb and verb, present singular 1st person will, 2nd will or (Archaic) wilt, 3rd will, present plural will; past singular 1st person would, 2nd would or (Archaic) wouldst, 3rd would, past plural would; past participle (Obsolete) wold or would; imperative, infinitive, and present participle lacking.

[Gothmog]

I would think a Bison fan would be more worried about reading this in reference to the Sioux:

Like I said here:

The warning that the games don't exist until they're scheduled is a fair one. The Minnesota crackdown came when Maturi was trying to schedule additional sports. My point is that however the name issue gets resolved (hopefully in the next year or two), a lot of big name regional schools are very interested in playing UND in other sports because of our long histories of competition.

I certainly would expect Wisconsin and Minnesota to be interested in scheduling UND. After all NDSU has had no difficulty scheduling the same schools. Minnesota, at least, pretty much begged NDSU for a football game.

That said, the traditional rivalry angle certainly will play into UND's ability to schedule its WCHA rivals. However, NDSU's proven ability to deliver fans AND provide a competitive game seems, to me, to be more important. At least until UND shows that they can do the same. That may be difficult given the present uncertainty surrounding WI, MN and IA's policies regarding nicknames.

[Gothmog]

Read the first sentence in the quote.

[Stromer]

I certainly would expect Wisconsin and Minnesota to be interested in scheduling UND. After all NDSU has had no difficulty scheduling the same schools. Minnesota, at least, pretty much begged NDSU for a football game.

That said, the traditional rivalry angle certainly will play into UND's ability to schedule its WCHA rivals. However, NDSU's proven ability to deliver fans AND provide a competitive game seems, to me, to be more important. At least until UND shows that they can do the same. That may be difficult given the present uncertainty surrounding WI, MN and IA's policies regarding nicknames.

When WI and the U of M first scheduled the bison, did they know that they were going to be competitive? Did they know they were going to bring lots of fans? No! They scheduled the team because the states are close. That should be the same with UND. I also beleive that if these schools look at how many fans NDSU brought and how the teams played, they will beleive that UND is capable of doing the same things. Plus both schools already know that UND brings lots of fans for hockey and it would be reasonable to assume they would do the same for other sports.

[MplsBison]

Minnesota and Iowa still say no.

Why would you be expecting to schedule Iowa?

You've never played them in hockey and you have no Iowans on any of your teams.

[Gothmog]

When WI and the U of M first scheduled the bison, did they know that they were going to be competitive? Did they know they were going to bring lots of fans? No! They scheduled the team because the states are close. That should be the same with UND. I also beleive that if these schools look at how many fans NDSU brought and how the teams played, they will beleive that UND is capable of doing the same things. Plus both schools already know that UND brings lots of fans for hockey and it would be reasonable to assume they would do the same for other sports.

Regardless, NDSU has already proven its potential. You may think it reasonable to assume that UND would do the same, but that is still just your assumption. I would expect that most ADs would prefer proven results.

[UND92,96]

Why would you be expecting to schedule Iowa?

You've never played them in hockey and you have no Iowans on any of your teams.

Brian Jones was an assistant there for several years, so it would seem to be a strong possibility for men's basketball games against the Hawkeyes if it weren't for their policy of not playing non-conference games against schools with Native American nicknames. UND has pretty strong connections with all three of the primary Iowa dI schools with Jones and Alford having coached together, Ben Jacobson and Rich Glas being at Northern Iowa (and Jones being an alum), and Mac now at Iowa State.