2007-2008 Season

[UND92,96]

With a probable recruiting budget of about $100, Mayville State again found two or three really good players in the off season. The Sioux had all they could handle tonight. Little and Youmans were both huge again.

On an unrelated note, I saw Travis Mertens at the game. I believe he's been at two or three UND games so far this year.

[CDog]

With a probable recruiting budget of about $100, Mayville State again found two or three really good players in the off season. The Sioux had all they could handle tonight. Little and Youmans were both huge again.

On an unrelated note, I saw Travis Mertens at the game. I believe he's been at two or three UND games so far this year.

I was thinking the exact same thing. How is it that Mayville State is able to find a couple of guys each year that can play like that? They had 2, possibly 3 guys that could play for the Sioux. If you add those three guys to UND's roster and remove Hoy (I'm sorry, he's not good) and Josh Doyle, you would have a team that could go 9-10 deep with very little drop-off.

I didn't see Travis Mertens, but my unrelated note for the night is this: For the love of God, please keep the ball boys from shooting baskets during every single stoppage in play. It is unbelievable. It couldn't look more tacky, then to have four kids out there shooting baskets during timeouts. And then a full-court game at halftime? There is no way I'm the only person who thinks this. Please UND, put an end to this.

[UND92,96]

For the love of God, please keep the ball boys from shooting baskets during every single stoppage in play. It is unbelievable. It couldn't look more tacky, then to have four kids out there shooting baskets during timeouts. And then a full-court game at halftime? There is no way I'm the only person who thinks this. Please UND, put an end to this.

It is tacky, and I wish somebody would tell the ballboys not to do it anymore. It's funny, I was saying the exact same thing to my wife last night.

[UND92,96]

Bakken blog:

The lack of buzz about UND basketball is defeaning...And the men? I don't care if you win by 12 or not. If you trail Mayville State by 11 at halftime, something's wrong. Remember the days when UND routinely beat the NDCAC teams by 40, not 10? Like I mentioned earlier, if your only two scoring threats are seniors, what will that mean next year in D-I?

Thoughts? I think he's being a little harsh with the men's team. Mayville isn't a bad team, and they shot lights-out in the first half. I suspect Mayville is getting some players who are in NAIA not because of lack of talent, but due to the less stringent eligibility requirements. Playing/shooting like they did last night, I'm not sure anybody in the NCC or NSIC would have beaten them by 40. And regarding having to replace Little and Youmans, it won't be easy, but if I'm not mistaken, doesn't UND still recruit under dII rules at least through the end of the school year? If so, that would seem to make the possibility of signing a couple more juco studs easier than it will be in the future.

[The Walrus]

Bakken blog:

Thoughts? I think he's being a little harsh with the men's team. Mayville isn't a bad team, and they shot lights-out in the first half. I suspect Mayville is getting some players who are in NAIA not because of lack of talent, but due to the less stringent eligibility requirements. Playing/shooting like they did last night, I'm not sure anybody in the NCC or NSIC would have beaten them by 40. And regarding having to replace Little and Youmans, it won't be easy, but if I'm not mistaken, doesn't UND still recruit under dII rules at least through the end of the school year? If so, that would seem to make the possibility of signing a couple more juco studs easier than it will be in the future.

What paper does this "Bakken" guy write for....I've never heard of him....?

[dakotadan]

I'm at home visiting my parents for the holidays and I had to check online and see what the score of the UND/UIU game was. I was extremely happy to see that UND had just won it's 9th game in a row. And then I read further into the game summary and ralized that UND had just beaten a winless NSIC Upper Iowa team by 13 points. While I am extremely happy that the guys have won 9 in a row after starting out 0-3, I am still trying to figure out if we should claim a NSIC championship or a DAC championship.

I'm sitting here scratching my head trying to figure out how anyone could be against the move to DI. Especially for all of the people who are complaining about our schedule. All we have to do is look at the last 4 years and see why the move was going to eventually be a given.

First off, When Morningside left I thought it was a blessing. Bring in UM-Duluth and the conference is stronger than ever. Brings in name recognition and a WCHA hockey school on top of it. But then UNC, NDSU and SDSU decided to make their move. Not a big deal, we will just find replacement schools. Winona has had football success. Unfortunately not against NCC schools, regular season or playoffs. Their men's basketball team grew into a national champion and runner up. But I can't imagine the casual Sioux football, hockey or basketball fan in Minot, Bismarck or Dickinson had WSU at the top of their NCC wish list (let alone knows who they are compared to SDSU, NDSU and UNC).

Add on top of that the fact that once these 4 schools left, we had to look to the NSIC EVEN MORE for regional games in all sports. Alot of fans already hated to see NSIC games on the schedule. With the loss of these 3 schools, it was a given that we would see even more NSIC schools on the schedule. However, at the same time the NSIC was adding 2 schools itself (Upper Iowa and UMary for those who don't follow college sports as close). Not only do Sioux fans not want to see too many NSIC games on the schedule, with a fuller conference schedule in the NSIC and a smaller schedule in the NCC, it makes it even harder for us to schedule the few NSIC schools we want to. Enter the DAC. There is a reason we are now seeing more and more home and homes with NSIC schools that used to just come to Grand Forks for one game a year.

Not to make this post any longer but the point is even though with our move to DI we may still be competeing with NSIC or DAC schools in basketball, baseball or volleyball for the next year or two, in the long run it will be worth it.

(End of Rant! Go Sioux! Go Comets!)

[coach daddy]

I'm at home visiting my parents for the holidays and I had to check online and see what the score of the UND/UIU game was. I was extremely happy to see that UND had just won it's 9th game in a row. And then I read further into the game summary and ralized that UND had just beaten a winless NSIC Upper Iowa team by 13 points. While I am extremely happy that the guys have won 9 in a row after starting out 0-3, I am still trying to figure out if we should claim a NSIC championship or a DAC championship.

We could claim a DAC title, beat em all so far. We would NEVER win the NSIC. Northern beat us handily and they might be the third best team in the NSIC. This team has proven nothing in the pre-season. I can't talk about it though (Deep breath and all). 9 in a row against the worst/smallest schools in the tri-state area, whoopeeeee.

[UND92,96]

We could claim a DAC title, beat em all so far. We would NEVER win the NSIC. Northern beat us handily and they might be the third best team in the NSIC. This team has proven nothing in the pre-season. I can't talk about it though (Deep breath and all). 9 in a row against the worst/smallest schools in the tri-state area, whoopeeeee.

I understand your frustration with regard to the home schedule. It's been bad. But at least UND is beating the teams they are supposed to beat. Obviously that hasn't always happened over the past several years. As for how UND would do in the NSIC, I'd say probably second or third. I think the Northern game was a bit of an aberration for a couple of reasons. One, it was on the road shortly after a long and difficult trip to Colorado. Two, the new offensive scheme simply wasn't being run very well at that point. I think UND would beat Northern if the two teams played now at the Betty, but I guess it's a moot point. In terms of athleticism, UND is probably as good or better than anybody in the NCC or NSIC. It's the lack of size and interior scoring that will likely prevent them from reaching the post season.

[GeauxSioux]

I will not throw Rich under the bus, because he was a friend and I feel a Great Coach with Integerity and Morals.....His teams may not have been as sucessfull as any of us would have liked, and he did indeed miss Greg Mac, but you have to admit it was enjoyable watching the likes of Kyle Behrens, Tom Jacobson, Hunter Reinke, Jerome Beasley and the most exciting couple of games against the storied University of Kansas even tho we lost by 30 were fun, enjoyable, and exciting to watch, all of which happened in his last 5 years at UND....

Everyone that is disapointed in UND basketball, under Rich, Should compare stats with the years under Dave Gunther.....Their careers are almost indentical in wins, losses, playoff apperances, and championships......However Dave is considered a "Legend"

I liked Glas as well, but the real story wasn't in his overall win/loss record. The real difference between Gunter and Glas was conference wins. Glas won 56% of his conference games, while Gunther won 65% of his. Gunther won conference championships, Glas did not. I liked Rich, but the program wasn't growing with him. Attendance was dropping. It was time for a change.

I'm hopeful that Jones' new system (Princeton) will be successful. Honestly, I'd rather watch that than a bunch of big guys banging around. I like old time basketball where skill, hustle and brains were more important than muscle and bulk.

[coach daddy]

I understand your frustration with regard to the home schedule. It's been bad. But at least UND is beating the teams they are supposed to beat. Obviously that hasn't always happened over the past several years. As for how UND would do in the NSIC, I'd say probably second or third. I think the Northern game was a bit of an aberration for a couple of reasons. One, it was on the road shortly after a long and difficult trip to Colorado. Two, the new offensive scheme simply wasn't being run very well at that point. I think UND would beat Northern if the two teams played now at the Betty, but I guess it's a moot point. In terms of athleticism, UND is probably as good or better than anybody in the NCC or NSIC. It's the lack of size and interior scoring that will likely prevent them from reaching the post season.

There is no waaaaaay this team finishes 2nd or 3rd in the NSIC. Northern, Winona, Conc. ST. Paul are all better than UND. As far as beating Northern if we played them today, anywhere, not going to happen. Starting w/coaching and working to players who play harder and have more talent, UND can't compete with Northern St. Not for a long time.

[UND92,96]

There is no waaaaaay this team finishes 2nd or 3rd in the NSIC. Northern, Winona, Conc. ST. Paul are all better than UND. As far as beating Northern if we played them today, anywhere, not going to happen. Starting w/coaching and working to players who play harder and have more talent, UND can't compete with Northern St. Not for a long time.

UND can't compete with Northern? Since when? The Sioux are 6-4 vs. Northern since 1998, and obviously that time period hasn't exactly been the glory days of UND men's basketball. UND nearly beat Northern last year in GF (lost by four in OT), and I doubt Northern is that much better this year than they were last year. Northern also very nearly lost at home to Jamestown, who definitely isn't that good. I think it was probably a fluke that Northern struggled to beat Jamestown and Black Hills, and I think it was a fluke that they beat UND by as much as they did. And Concordia-St. Paul? Please. They lost to UMC at home, and are just 1-3 vs. the NCC. I'm not sure why you think UND is so bad. Winona is better, but IMO UND, Northern and Southwest State are all pretty comparable.

[coach daddy]

UND can't compete with Northern? Since when? The Sioux are 6-4 vs. Northern since 1998, and obviously that time period hasn't exactly been the glory days of UND men's basketball. UND nearly beat Northern last year in GF (lost by four in OT), and I doubt Northern is that much better this year than they were last year. Northern also very nearly lost at home to Jamestown, who definitely isn't that good. I think it was probably a fluke that Northern struggled to beat Jamestown and Black Hills, and I think it was a fluke that they beat UND by as much as they did. And Concordia-St. Paul? Please. They lost to UMC at home, and are just 1-3 vs. the NCC. I'm not sure why you think UND is so bad. Winona is better, but IMO UND, Northern and Southwest State are all pretty comparable.

I'll take near wins over near losses any day. I guarantee you Northern is better than they were last year. And I retract my Conc.-St. Paul and replace it with Southwest St.; still puts UND no better than 4th in the NSIC and, to me, that's not good enough for a school with the basketball history UND has. I've lived here for over 40 years and remember em all. This team hasn't proven anything!!!

[UND92,96]

I'll take near wins over near losses any day. I guarantee you Northern is better than they were last year. And I retract my Conc.-St. Paul and replace it with Southwest St.; still puts UND no better than 4th in the NSIC and, to me, that's not good enough for a school with the basketball history UND has. I've lived here for over 40 years and remember em all. This team hasn't proven anything!!!

Can we at least wait until UND has played some NCC games before we proclaim them no better than a fourth-place NSIC team? You can't just look at one game in isolation--in this case the UND vs. Northern game--and draw definitive conclusions about how good or bad teams are. I think Jones more or less has the UND program on the right track. I would have liked to have added a bit more immediate help in the off-season, but in general the team has been playing pretty well since the awful 0-3 start. I have no problem criticizing the scheduling, but I think you're off-base if you think the team is under-achieving right now.

BTW, excuse me if I'm not super impressed with Southwest. They won at home vs. Augie and a suddenly struggling SCSU team (who lost by nearly 30 at Mary), and won on the road vs. a pretty bad UMD squad. I think UND can and will do the same. As for Northern, I will give them credit for having won at Augie and at Southwest. Of course, they also got smoked by 27 on their home court by Winona, so who knows how good they really are? Not sure how you can "guarantee" that they're better than last year at this point. That seems as premature as saying UND is no better than a fourth-place NSIC team.

[bincitysioux]

Yes, with the schedule we've played, it is pretty hard to determine what to expect from this team when the conference season starts, as well as difficult (and pointless) to predict where they'd finish in another leauge whether it be the NSIC, DAC, or Big 12. From what I've seen so far this year, this team has improved as the this season has progressed, and they are playing better basketball than they did last year.

It is safe to say that this team came into the season with pretty low expectations from a fan perspective. With that in mind, to me, the first half of the season has pretty much been a success. UND has beaten every single team that they were fully expected to win against going into the game and even the season. They beat Mary in Bismarck (no huge accomplishment, but we lost there last year) and beat a 5-2 Western Oregon team that we lost to last year. So that is an improvement over last year. They were competetive and had a chance to win on the road against Colorado Springs (who is 5-5 and beat DI Southern Utah). They were competetive and had a chance to win on the road against Adams St. (who is 9-2 and has a win against Minnesota St). And those were the first two games of the year, when we finished last season playing some of our worst basketball in years. And I firmly believe that the outcome of the Northern St. game (or at least the point differential) would have easily been alot different had that game not been on the back-end of a brutal week long road trip.

The team is winning games that they should and they've been competetive in their losses save for the Northern St. game, who I do think is a very good program. Let's wait a couple weeks and see how the team competes against some conference foes, and even see how they play against Iowa St. before we condemn them to hell. I still think that if they continue to limit their mistakes and execute this new offense efficiently, they can finish in the top half of the NCC.

[coach daddy]

"Can we at least wait until UND has played some NCC games before we proclaim them no better than a fourth-place NSIC team? You can't just look at one game in isolation--in this case the UND vs. Northern game--and draw definitive conclusions about how good or bad teams are. I think Jones more or less has the UND program on the right track. I would have liked to have added a bit more immediate help in the off-season, but in general the team has been playing pretty well since the awful 0-3 start. I have no problem criticizing the scheduling, but I think you're off-base if you think the team is under-achieving right now."

I never said they were "under-achieving". I think they are what they are; very athletic with no post play and questionable shooters, and a short bench. To me, that wins against NAIA schools from the state but wouldn't get it done in the NSIC or the NCC throughout an entire season. We'll see in the long run but I believe that the shortcomings I mentioned will get you beat on the road and hurt you against good teams. The game is still won in the paint and on defense. Not sure this group can get it done in those areas.

[UND92,96]

"Can we at least wait until UND has played some NCC games before we proclaim them no better than a fourth-place NSIC team? You can't just look at one game in isolation--in this case the UND vs. Northern game--and draw definitive conclusions about how good or bad teams are. I think Jones more or less has the UND program on the right track. I would have liked to have added a bit more immediate help in the off-season, but in general the team has been playing pretty well since the awful 0-3 start. I have no problem criticizing the scheduling, but I think you're off-base if you think the team is under-achieving right now."

I never said they were "under-achieving". I think they are what they are; very athletic with no post play and questionable shooters, and a short bench. To me, that wins against NAIA schools from the state but wouldn't get it done in the NSIC or the NCC throughout an entire season. We'll see in the long run but I believe that the shortcomings I mentioned will get you beat on the road and hurt you against good teams. The game is still won in the paint and on defense. Not sure this group can get it done in those areas.

Frankly, with the goings-on in the football program, I've lost most of my interest in arguing about the state of the men's basketball program, but a couple of points: 1. I don't know how you can say UND has "questionable shooters" when they're shooting 51% from the field, and 40% from behind the 3-point line; 2. I don't believe UND has a short bench. Bledsoe and Koenig are among the leading scorers on the team, plus Harrison, who has a lot ability (although he hasn't produced like I thought he would) and a nice role player in Porter.

I agree that the post defense will likely be the team's achilles heel, but aside from USD and perhaps Mankato so long as Santos is in the game, I don't know that there are too many teams in the NCC in a position to really exploit that weakness.

[coach daddy]

Frankly, with the goings-on in the football program, I've lost most of my interest in arguing about the state of the men's basketball program, but a couple of points: 1. I don't know how you can say UND has "questionable shooters" when they're shooting 51% from the field, and 40% from behind the 3-point line; 2. I don't believe UND has a short bench. Bledsoe and Koenig are among the leading scorers on the team, plus Harrison, who has a lot ability (although he hasn't produced like I thought he would) and a nice role player in Porter.

I agree that the post defense will likely be the team's achilles heel, but aside from USD and perhaps Mankato so long as Santos is in the game, I don't know that there are too many teams in the NCC in a position to really exploit that weakness.

Bledsoe is averaging less than 7 ppg and Koenig is averaging less than 6 ppg. While that makes them our 4th and 5th scorers, I'd hardly call that big time contributions from our "bench". While we are shooting the percentages you say we are, again, I'll reiterate, WE'VE PLAYED NO ONE OTHER THAN NAIA AND, EXCEPT FOR NORTHERN ST, THE WEAKEST OF THE AREA DII TALENT!!!!! Those percentages mean nothing to me until we do it against the conference competition. Sorry to argue but, like you showed, facts are facts.

[UND92,96]

Bledsoe is averaging less than 7 ppg and Koenig is averaging less than 6 ppg. While that makes them our 4th and 5th scorers, I'd hardly call that big time contributions from our "bench". While we are shooting the percentages you say we are, again, I'll reiterate, WE'VE PLAYED NO ONE OTHER THAN NAIA AND, EXCEPT FOR NORTHERN ST, THE WEAKEST OF THE AREA DII TALENT!!!!! Those percentages mean nothing to me until we do it against the conference competition. Sorry to argue but, like you showed, facts are facts.

I really liked what Bledsoe showed late last year. He was hurt to start the season, which I think has really affected him. Anyway, it's true that the Sioux haven't proven anything yet, but by the same token, they haven't proven they can't contend for a playoff spot, either.

[coach daddy]

I really liked what Bledsoe showed late last year. He was hurt to start the season, which I think has really affected him. Anyway, it's true that the Sioux haven't proven anything yet, but by the same token, they haven't proven they can't contend for a playoff spot, either.

I'll give you that. I've watched alot of bball in my time but haven't seen enough of this team to write them off. Great discussion.

[The Walrus]

70-52 Men Win......10 in a row.....

[bincitysioux]

453 in attendance at the Target Center.

[coach daddy]

453 in attendance at the Target Center.

That's 400 more than I would have anticipated!!!!

[GeauxSioux]

At least UND won the game that nobody saw.

[coach daddy]

At least UND won the game that nobody saw.

Or did they? If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a noise?

[GeauxSioux]

Nice little piece on Brian Jones...RI native helps bring North Dakota into D-I

Edited January 4, 2008 by GeauxSioux