Why Northern AZ in the BSC?

[Spanky]

Where they should be....along with most of the other Big Sky teams. :thumb:

 

[MT Jack]

Geographically, the Big Sky is as good of a fit for NAU as there is unless the Big West magically transforms itself into an FCS football conference. NAU having a closer travel partner (Southern Utah) should make NAU seem like less of a desolate outpost to Big Sky traveling teams.

Re: the Big Sky Conference's geographical footprint...Boise State and San Diego State are now part of the Big ...uh...East so why not UND in the Big Sky. I welcome UND with open arms. They have a good academic reputation with decent community support and field a few competitive athletic programs. Other than the significant distance to travel, it's a win adding them to the conference.

 

[WyomingGrizFan]

...considered the most important contributors to higher education in their states,..

Yeah, I can dig that. "Higher education." Right on; don't bogart that J any.

 

[moose/squirrel]

Wow. David2's question has been more than answered...

I suppose I should be flattered you always think of me, Lake. :roll: I just eyeballed a map & it looked like NAU is closer to schools in Texas & LA, which it turns out they are not. There is another angle on why NAU is in the BSC. It seems the BSC is about the Rocky Mountains, north & south. My bad.

Geography is your friend, try it on some time :shock:

 

[BigSkyBears]

NAU makes way more sense in the BSC than UND does. Besides, if NAU was in the Southland their nearest opponent would be 1100+ miles away.

If distance is the only issue, sure UND doesn't make sense. If you want schools that are flagship schools, draw fans, have a history of expanding and improving their facilities, are considered the most important contributors to higher education in their states, then UND makes more sense than most Big Sky Conference members.

If it's all about distance and geography, then the Montana schools are big losers in the eyes of the West Coast conference members. If you've ever been on a flight out of Montana with athletes from PSU or Sac State, you know how they feel about traveling to Montana to play the Griz and 'Cats, win or lose. They hate it.

In some ways yes, but UND (and NDSU) are the only tickets in town, they have no FBS or pro teams to compete with yet they don't even get close to averaging 10k for the football games. Hockey, a sport the BSC doesn't have, is the most important sport at that school and most of the funds go to that sport. Not b-ball and football. I'm not sure if that's a good thing for our conference.

 

[UNDfan]

NAU makes way more sense in the BSC than UND does. Besides, if NAU was in the Southland their nearest opponent would be 1100+ miles away.

If distance is the only issue, sure UND doesn't make sense. If you want schools that are flagship schools, draw fans, have a history of expanding and improving their facilities, are considered the most important contributors to higher education in their states, then UND makes more sense than most Big Sky Conference members.

I'm certain that Montana and Montana State leadership - past and present - have long been pushing for Dakota schools. It's the other schools that didn't want the Dakotas in. When O'Day attended the fall 2010 WAC meetings as an invited guest, the other Big Sky Presidents suddenly changed their tune on Dakota schools and gave UND and USD almost immediate invites after the WAC meeting. O'Day was a sly AD - Montana and the Big Sky will miss him. UND fans should be ever grateful to him.

Economically, what's going on in North Dakota is really incredible. There's talk that North Dakota will exceed Montana's population in 10-15 years (a lot of them transplants from western Montana and Idaho). Williston and Minot will grow to +100,000 populations and a bunch of small towns of under 1000 will be 10,000 within a decade. With ND approaching a $2 billion surplus, don't think you have to worry about budget/scholarship cuts for a while like at every other Big Sky school. UND is the school for geology, geological engineering, and petroleum engineering in ND: all those programs are growing like crazy. One of the most valuable libraries in the country is at UND: the core library, which contains all cores from all wells ever drilled in the state. There are at least four different layers of oil in western North Dakota (maybe as many as eight), and really only one layer is partially tapped right now.

 

[UNDfan]

In some ways yes, but UND (and NDSU) are the only tickets in town, they have no FBS or pro teams to compete with yet they don't even get close to averaging 10k for the football games. Hockey, a sport the BSC doesn't have, is the most important sport at that school and most of the funds go to that sport. Not b-ball and football. I'm not sure if that's a good thing for our conference.

BSBears: you're sounding like an NDSU fan with the anti-hockey talk covering up for the jealousy. The last winter Olympics and the last Stanley Cup had former UND players as stars for both teams in the finals. How's that a bad thing? Look up UND's total ticket revenue and you will find that it's larger than the Griz, more than double Montana State's, and about ten times of NoCo's. How exactly is that a bad thing? Don't think we'll go begging to the Big Sky office for a loan, like the Bears have done in the past. Both men's and women's hockey should be challenging for national championships this year: how's that a bad thing for the Big Sky to be partially associated with? What makes less sense is for UND to sponsor other non-Big Sky sports like M/W swimming, baseball, softball (although that will be an optional BSC sport), and men's golf, but UND's athletic budget is enough to cover all those "extra" non-BSC sports that bring in no ticket revenue.

There's a hunger for football and even basketball at UND - the transition took a lot of air out of those programs. Football used to draw over 10,000 routinely before the transition. Basketball, both men's and women's, used to draw very well in the 90's when both programs were at the top of their game. UND football is probably two-three years away from challenging for a BSC title, UND men's and women's basketball probably one more season away, and UND volleyball will probably dominate this year. How's that a bad thing? Or should the Big Sky have offered CSU-Pueblo and Colorado Mesa U to make Northern Colorado more at home?

When UND and Northern Colorado were last in a conference together, the Bears were actually very competitive in most sports except basketball. The difference now is that UND is much better financed than Northern Colorado ever was and has vastly improved facilities from our DII days.

 

[UNDfan]

Seems to me it would be better in the Southland Conference. Nothing against the Jacks, but their travel & ours would be a lot less. NAU vs. PSU, et al.? Maybe I'm missing something? With UND & SUU coming into the BSC, it seems the BSC is taking on more of a northern orientation. That's why I raise the question.

One of the attractions for UND is actually to be part of a conference with a footprint in Arizona and Colorado. Phoenix and Denver have large numbers of UND alumni who moved there when ND's economy was absolutely horrible in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Conferences like the MVFC and the Summit have no cities that have UND alumni in appreciable numbers (except for Fargo alumni, and they stay connected easily).

 

[BigSkyBears]

In some ways yes, but UND (and NDSU) are the only tickets in town, they have no FBS or pro teams to compete with yet they don't even get close to averaging 10k for the football games. Hockey, a sport the BSC doesn't have, is the most important sport at that school and most of the funds go to that sport. Not b-ball and football. I'm not sure if that's a good thing for our conference.

BSBears: you're sounding like an NDSU fan with the anti-hockey talk covering up for the jealousy. The last winter Olympics and the last Stanley Cup had former UND players as stars for both teams in the finals. How's that a bad thing? Look up UND's total ticket revenue and you will find that it's larger than the Griz, more than double Montana State's, and about ten times of NoCo's. How exactly is that a bad thing? Don't think we'll go begging to the Big Sky office for a loan, like the Bears have done in the past. Both men's and women's hockey should be challenging for national championships this year: how's that a bad thing for the Big Sky to be partially associated with? What makes less sense is for UND to sponsor other non-Big Sky sports like M/W swimming, baseball, softball (although that will be an optional BSC sport), and men's golf, but UND's athletic budget is enough to cover all those "extra" non-BSC sports that bring in no ticket revenue.

There's a hunger for football and even basketball at UND - the transition took a lot of air out of those programs. Football used to draw over 10,000 routinely before the transition. Basketball, both men's and women's, used to draw very well in the 90's when both programs were at the top of their game. UND football is probably two-three years away from challenging for a BSC title, UND men's and women's basketball probably one more season away, and UND volleyball will probably dominate this year. How's that a bad thing? Or should the Big Sky have offered CSU-Pueblo and Colorado Mesa U to make Northern Colorado more at home?

When UND and Northern Colorado were last in a conference together, the Bears were actually very competitive in most sports except basketball. The difference now is that UND is much better financed than Northern Colorado ever was and has vastly improved facilities from our DII days.

But my point is that we took a school that emphasizes college hockey more than any of their other sports. I have nothing against hockey, it's not my game though. Why do you think the transition took the air out of football and basketball? Honest question. And yes, UNC used to draw pretty well with football too in the '90's. I know what you mean. I've said it many of times before that it's nothing against your athletics or academics or facilities, but you just don't match up geographically.

 

[UNDfan]

But my point is that we took a school that emphasizes college hockey more than any of their other sports. I have nothing against hockey, it's not my game though. Why do you think the transition took the air out of football and basketball? Honest question. And yes, UNC used to draw pretty well with football too in the '90's. I know what you mean. I've said it many of times before that it's nothing against your athletics or academics or facilities, but you just don't match up geographically.

Personally, I was shocked that UNC didn't do better in football immediately after the transition. The Bears seemed to do reasonably O.K. in transition, but then fell off the wagon once they joined the Big Sky.

If you've never been to the Ralph Engelstad Arena for a hockey game, you really need to go just to experience it - the crowd combines the college spirit of a Duke basketball games with the amenities of a modern world class arena. A lot of people go there to be seen and experience the spectacle - talent that is often destined for the NHL, hot cheerleaders on ice, introductions that are like movie productions, intense rivalries. Hockey starts in October, so there are often football/hockey home doubleheaders in October/November.

Football fell off during our transition for a number of reasons: Lennon left for Southern Illinois with much of the football staff, recruiting success had dropped when NDSU and SDSU could offer full scholarships to many of the athletes that we would formerly get at the DII level, our AD at the time stupidly cut the football budget, the Sioux teams up to 2006 were exceptional (for DII) at the skilled positions and suddenly those slots were rather bare on talent, our fans knew the transition games were meaningless because we were playoff ineligible. At SDSU and NDSU, their fans had nothing else to latch onto during the transition, so they kept going to football.

Men's basketball even as late as 2003 was rather decent but lacked coaching (had a player that was drafted by the NBA, just missing the first round). If we had had a decent coach, UND could have easily won two DII championships in that sport during his tenure. With the transition pending, no reasonable recruit had any interest in going to UND and have no shot at the Dance. That has changed in the past two years. Women's basketball had won 3 championships in a row, often with Minnesota players (Lindsay Whalen almost signed with UND before Minnesota grabbed her at the last second). But during the transition, there really wasn't a break-through women's player. Some of the recruits coming in from the Twin Cities area will change that.

UND and NDSU have tried to get into the Big Sky at least three different times: later 1970's, early 1990's but the Big Sky chose Portland St, Sac St, and Cal St Northridge instead, and in the last five years (UND was successful, but NDSU was not). The South Dakota schools had much less interest in joining that North Dakota schools, as South Dakota schools see themselves more tied to Iowa and Nebraska. Because of the way the railroads go on the plains (east-west, not north-south), there isn't that much people movement or commerce between ND and SD, but there is much more between ND and MT. Half the people in ND seemingly have relatives in MT, but few have them in SD. North Dakota is also becoming increasingly becoming a western state in outlook due to oil. For UND, playing in the Big Sky is very important in western ND markets like Bismarck, Minot, and Williston (all of which are growing like crazy). If we played in the Summit or MVFC, those markets would feel somewhat excluded and a bit alienated by playing Indiana and Illinois schools that aren't very relatable.

 

[BigSkyBears]

But my point is that we took a school that emphasizes college hockey more than any of their other sports. I have nothing against hockey, it's not my game though. Why do you think the transition took the air out of football and basketball? Honest question. And yes, UNC used to draw pretty well with football too in the '90's. I know what you mean. I've said it many of times before that it's nothing against your athletics or academics or facilities, but you just don't match up geographically.

Personally, I was shocked that UNC didn't do better in football immediately after the transition. The Bears seemed to do reasonably O.K. in transition, but then fell off the wagon once they joined the Big Sky.

If you've never been to the Ralph Engelstad Arena for a hockey game, you really need to go just to experience it - the crowd combines the college spirit of a Duke basketball games with the amenities of a modern world class arena. A lot of people go there to be seen and experience the spectacle - talent that is often destined for the NHL, hot cheerleaders on ice, introductions that are like movie productions, intense rivalries. Hockey starts in October, so there are often football/hockey home doubleheaders in October/November.

Football fell off during our transition for a number of reasons: Lennon left for Southern Illinois with much of the football staff, recruiting success had dropped when NDSU and SDSU could offer full scholarships to many of the athletes that we would formerly get at the DII level, our AD at the time stupidly cut the football budget, the Sioux teams up to 2006 were exceptional (for DII) at the skilled positions and suddenly those slots were rather bare on talent, our fans knew the transition games were meaningless because we were playoff ineligible. At SDSU and NDSU, their fans had nothing else to latch onto during the transition, so they kept going to football.

Men's basketball even as late as 2003 was rather decent but lacked coaching (had a player that was drafted by the NBA, just missing the first round). If we had had a decent coach, UND could have easily won two DII championships in that sport during his tenure. With the transition pending, no reasonable recruit had any interest in going to UND and have no shot at the Dance. That has changed in the past two years. Women's basketball had won 3 championships in a row, often with Minnesota players (Lindsay Whalen almost signed with UND before Minnesota grabbed her at the last second). But during the transition, there really wasn't a break-through women's player. Some of the recruits coming in from the Twin Cities area will change that.

UND and NDSU have tried to get into the Big Sky at least three different times: later 1970's, early 1990's but the Big Sky chose Portland St, Sac St, and Cal St Northridge instead, and in the last five years (UND was successful, but NDSU was not). The South Dakota schools had much less interest in joining that North Dakota schools, as South Dakota schools see themselves more tied to Iowa and Nebraska. Because of the way the railroads go on the plains (east-west, not north-south), there isn't that much people movement or commerce between ND and SD, but there is much more between ND and MT. Half the people in ND seemingly have relatives in MT, but few have them in SD. North Dakota is also becoming increasingly becoming a western state in outlook due to oil. For UND, playing in the Big Sky is very important in western ND markets like Bismarck, Minot, and Williston (all of which are growing like crazy). If we played in the Summit or MVFC, those markets would feel somewhat excluded and a bit alienated by playing Indiana and Illinois schools that aren't very relatable.

I would disagree about your last paragraph. But, I don't live in ND so take that for what it's worth. I would think you would want your regional rivalries with the other Dakota schools. When the NCC existed I liked watching ND and NDSU battle it out and I knew it had conference title implications many times. Why wouldn't you want that again? That would continue in the MVFC. No offense, but ND seems pretty isolated geographically and I can tell you most around Colorado don't know anything about North Dakota as a state itself nor anything about its sports. Please don't take it as smack, it's not intended that way. I wouldn't take a poll or anything, but most around here wouldn't consider ND as a Western state, probably a Mid-West state. Again, not smack but just how I perceive things.

 

[Bison Dan]

But my point is that we took a school that emphasizes college hockey more than any of their other sports. I have nothing against hockey, it's not my game though. Why do you think the transition took the air out of football and basketball? Honest question. And yes, UNC used to draw pretty well with football too in the '90's. I know what you mean. I've said it many of times before that it's nothing against your athletics or academics or facilities, but you just don't match up geographically.

Personally, I was shocked that UNC didn't do better in football immediately after the transition. The Bears seemed to do reasonably O.K. in transition, but then fell off the wagon once they joined the Big Sky.

If you've never been to the Ralph Engelstad Arena for a hockey game, you really need to go just to experience it - the crowd combines the college spirit of a Duke basketball games with the amenities of a modern world class arena. A lot of people go there to be seen and experience the spectacle - talent that is often destined for the NHL, hot cheerleaders on ice, introductions that are like movie productions, intense rivalries. Hockey starts in October, so there are often football/hockey home doubleheaders in October/November.

Football fell off during our transition for a number of reasons: Lennon left for Southern Illinois with much of the football staff, recruiting success had dropped when NDSU and SDSU could offer full scholarships to many of the athletes that we would formerly get at the DII level, our AD at the time stupidly cut the football budget, the Sioux teams up to 2006 were exceptional (for DII) at the skilled positions and suddenly those slots were rather bare on talent, our fans knew the transition games were meaningless because we were playoff ineligible. At SDSU and NDSU, their fans had nothing else to latch onto during the transition, so they kept going to football.

Men's basketball even as late as 2003 was rather decent but lacked coaching (had a player that was drafted by the NBA, just missing the first round). If we had had a decent coach, UND could have easily won two DII championships in that sport during his tenure. With the transition pending, no reasonable recruit had any interest in going to UND and have no shot at the Dance. That has changed in the past two years. Women's basketball had won 3 championships in a row, often with Minnesota players (Lindsay Whalen almost signed with UND before Minnesota grabbed her at the last second). But during the transition, there really wasn't a break-through women's player. Some of the recruits coming in from the Twin Cities area will change that.

UND and NDSU have tried to get into the Big Sky at least three different times: later 1970's, early 1990's but the Big Sky chose Portland St, Sac St, and Cal St Northridge instead, and in the last five years (UND was successful, but NDSU was not). The South Dakota schools had much less interest in joining that North Dakota schools, as South Dakota schools see themselves more tied to Iowa and Nebraska. Because of the way the railroads go on the plains (east-west, not north-south), there isn't that much people movement or commerce between ND and SD, but there is much more between ND and MT. Half the people in ND seemingly have relatives in MT, but few have them in SD. North Dakota is also becoming increasingly becoming a western state in outlook due to oil. For UND, playing in the Big Sky is very important in western ND markets like Bismarck, Minot, and Williston (all of which are growing like crazy). If we played in the Summit or MVFC, those markets would feel somewhat excluded and a bit alienated by playing Indiana and Illinois schools that aren't very relatable.

Half of this is BS and the other is half truths. They are in love with themselves.

 

[UNDfan]

I would disagree about your last paragraph. But, I don't live in ND so take that for what it's worth. I would think you would want your regional rivalries with the other Dakota schools. When the NCC existed I liked watching ND and NDSU battle it out and I knew it had conference title implications many times. Why wouldn't you want that again? That would continue in the MVFC. No offense, but ND seems pretty isolated geographically and I can tell you most around Colorado don't know anything about North Dakota as a state itself nor anything about its sports. Please don't take it as smack, it's not intended that way. I wouldn't take a poll or anything, but most around here wouldn't consider ND as a Western state, probably a Mid-West state. Again, not smack but just how I perceive things.

By being in the Big Sky, non-conference scheduling gets much easier because of the other regional Dakota teams. If we were in the Summit Conference for basketball, getting enough DI home opponents for a decent schedule would be a nightmare. NDSU can hardly find home non-conference opponents, so they resort to scheduling the maximum number of NAIA and DIII opponents in basketball.

Because UND has hockey (and the other Dakota schools don't), were much more comfortable stepping out on our own and succeeding.

Eastern ND is definitely midwestern, but the general migration of North Dakota is west (except for Minneapolis).

UNC was in a conference with ND for 25 years, which goes to show you how much publicity UNC gets in Colorado. Most Coloradan's probably aren't even aware that UNC is DI - they still think of it as DII. What will happen though is that UND alumni on the Front Range will go to UND-UNC games in Greeley, so UNC attendance will be helped.

 

[UNDfan]

Half of this is BS and the other is half truths. They are in love with themselves.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Says the nerdy 40 year old playing the internet tough guy. NDSU fans on these message boards have to be the most insecure fan base around. Half of them seem to have psychotic disorders. They constantly tell everyone else how much they suck, but then want to be kissed in the ass whenever they do anything positive.

NDSU fans used to be so convinced that the Big Sky was dieing to invite them and were going to throw the biggest party Fargo had ever seen once the invite came. But when news came that UNC was selected over NDSU, the entire NDSU fan base should have been placed on suicide watch. It was gloriously ugly. :lol:

Then when UND was invited to the Sky, NDSU fans began trashing the Big Sky like a jilted jealous lover. Get some counseling Dan.

 

[Spanky]

What do you average....3,000?

 

[BigSkyBears]

I would disagree about your last paragraph. But, I don't live in ND so take that for what it's worth. I would think you would want your regional rivalries with the other Dakota schools. When the NCC existed I liked watching ND and NDSU battle it out and I knew it had conference title implications many times. Why wouldn't you want that again? That would continue in the MVFC. No offense, but ND seems pretty isolated geographically and I can tell you most around Colorado don't know anything about North Dakota as a state itself nor anything about its sports. Please don't take it as smack, it's not intended that way. I wouldn't take a poll or anything, but most around here wouldn't consider ND as a Western state, probably a Mid-West state. Again, not smack but just how I perceive things.

By being in the Big Sky, non-conference scheduling gets much easier because of the other regional Dakota teams. If we were in the Summit Conference for basketball, getting enough DI home opponents for a decent schedule would be a nightmare. NDSU can hardly find home non-conference opponents, so they resort to scheduling the maximum number of NAIA and DIII opponents in basketball.

Because UND has hockey (and the other Dakota schools don't), were much more comfortable stepping out on our own and succeeding.

Eastern ND is definitely midwestern, but the general migration of North Dakota is west (except for Minneapolis).

UNC was in a conference with ND for 25 years, which goes to show you how much publicity UNC gets in Colorado. Most Coloradan's probably aren't even aware that UNC is DI - they still think of it as DII. What will happen though is that UND alumni on the Front Range will go to UND-UNC games in Greeley, so UNC attendance will be helped.

Lots of pub when we went to the Big Dance. Hell, we made the lead-in story on Sportcenter.

 

[MT Jack]

UNC-UND-NDSU fans displaying the type of passion that's normally reserved for UM-MSU fans here. I'll give you all commendations as you're generally playing nice and not merely resorting to threats and middle school tactics.

Hockey is king in Grand Forks and the rest of their sports are put on the back burner. I don't see that changing anytime soon. It's the same with football in Missoula. Though, it would be neat to see NAU resurrect their hockey program and see other Big Sky schools get in the mix. I'm guessing that hockey facilities are a grand investment?

I stand by my thoughts that UND will be a beneficial addition to the Big Sky conference. Hope to get up to Grand Forks in Oct. for the NAU football game.

 

[UNDfan]

Lots of pub when we went to the Big Dance. Hell, we made the lead-in story on Sportcenter.

Don't disagree with that at all. The Bears had some very good players and a good coach. Saw them once in Grand Forks and was impressed. Far cry from D2 days when UNC football was almost always good, while basketball was usually at the bottom even in D2.

When we were together in the NCC (old D2 conference), the Minnesota schools and fans would constantly bitch about UNC being in the conference. UND fans and the school always defended UNC being in the conference, even though we probably had the furtherst distance (so we flew even then).

Have you ever thought about who would be UNC's travel partner if UND wasn't in the Sky and only SUU was added? It wouldn't be Weber because Idaho St is their closest school. It wouldn't be SUU or NAU, because those two are natural partners. It wouldn't be UM or MSU, for obvious reasons. Whether you like it or not, UND is UNC's most natural travel partner. UND has fans on the front range that travel to Greeley, the two fan bases are familiar with each other, the Big Sky has designated us as permanent rivals, United now has direct flights to Grand Forks from Denver, not sure what more you want.

 

[UNDfan]

UNC-UND-NDSU fans displaying the type of passion that's normally reserved for UM-MSU fans here. I'll give you all commendations as you're generally playing nice and not merely resorting to threats and middle school tactics.

Hockey is king in Grand Forks and the rest of their sports are put on the back burner. I don't see that changing anytime soon. It's the same with football in Missoula. Though, it would be neat to see NAU resurrect their hockey program and see other Big Sky schools get in the mix. I'm guessing that hockey facilities are a grand investment?

I stand by my thoughts that UND will be a beneficial addition to the Big Sky conference. Hope to get up to Grand Forks in Oct. for the NAU football game.

Thanks for the kind comments, MT Jack.

It's too bad that NAU couldn't continue hockey, but using the Dome for all sports plus hockey just wasn't going to work longer term plus your conference died. Does Flagstaff have any plans for a city-owned arena? That's probably the only way it would work again. Then you'd also need a conference. UND's hockey conference isn't going to accept NAU until it could prove it draws. The conference situation makes adding hockey real tough, especially in the west. Two schools close together would probably need to start hockey at the same time and hope that the new WCHA (will be mostly DII schools that play DI hockey) with the Alaska schools would accept them, so a western division could be formed. Eastern Washington probably has the best situation: practice rink on campus then play games in Spokane. Maybe Portland St maybe could make sense too. A college hockey rink really needs to be at least 4000 seats to make it economic, especially in the west. That size rink would generally cost $30 or more. Seem to remember that Montana State-Billings once studied the idea of adding hockey and then playing in the Metra. But for it to happen at any school, a big sugar daddy is needed.

 

[Bison Dan]

Half of this is BS and the other is half truths. They are in love with themselves.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Says the nerdy 40 year old playing the internet tough guy. NDSU fans on these message boards have to be the most insecure fan base around. Half of them seem to have psychotic disorders. They constantly tell everyone else how much they suck, but then want to be kissed in the ass whenever they do anything positive.

NDSU fans used to be so convinced that the Big Sky was dieing to invite them and were going to throw the biggest party Fargo had ever seen once the invite came. But when news came that UNC was selected over NDSU, the entire NDSU fan base should have been placed on suicide watch. It was gloriously ugly. :lol:

Then when UND was invited to the Sky, NDSU fans began trashing the Big Sky like a jilted jealous lover. Get some counseling Dan.

The only one needing it is delusional UND fans. You guys get a 1000 season tickets holders yet? :lol: