Vikings

The shock has been slow to fade. Gotta move on, but I'm more and more finding myself rooting for the Patriots...so in other words, things won't really get better til after the Super Bowl. That hasn't prevented the first foray's in draft season.

Step One

Step Two

Go food, go commercials, go , , , , meh patriots.

Bison

Best thing that can be said about this week in Bison athletics is that all the traveling seems to have been well coordinated. That's how it should be but that's not a given logistically.

The action got under way with the women's basketball team in Omaha. All that came of it was another uninspiring loss and then another even worse loss a couple days later in Macomb.

The men's team fared better with a pair of double digit wins at home against Omaha & Western Illinois. It does nothing to sway my opinion of their fate in Sioux Falls come March but what is sure is that I overestimated the women's team. Not much else to say about the ballers.

The wrestling team can lay claim to much of the credit for the travels and for some of the travails as well. They kicked of their week at Purdue where they routed again. While the heart of the team traveled to Northern Illinois, a few took part in an open that landed four on the podium. When the rest of the wrestlers got to work in Dekalb, things managed to go well for a second day as they did the routing to a tune of 34 points to three for Western.

Last but not least, the track and field teams competed in the Twin Cities, with each having success of different sorts. Most notably was the setting of a new school record in the 600 M by Sioux Falls Jonah Warwick. It'll always be the case that when something big happens and I find out about, it will get mentioned on at least one of the platforms. Setting a school record certainly qualifies as a major accomplishment!

Dragons

The best college Basketball team in the area continued their winning ways with a two more to run their streak to 11. They've got a two week road trip over which time they should get at least two more wins and possibly a sweep of the trip. I'm not going to grand stand any more then to say that they're the best in the area but I'm tempted to!

Beyond that winning bunch, the men's team managed a split of their action and nearly went two in a row if not for a game winning three pointer by Sioux Falls. They've got to manage the kind of production that lead them to that near result for the rest of the season if they are to achieve anything noteworthy this season. Even if their post season falls short, getting some positivity on their side would be a great step!

The Track & Field team, partial thought it was, managed to bring home a trio of wins from the UND Open. Judith Robinson won the 400, Brian Huber won the long jump and Zach Sweep won the 60 hurdles. They also managed to place in a couple other competitions. All in all, a successful couple days in Sioux country!

And finally, the swim team got thrashed by Mankato State on Saturday afternoon.

Timberwolves

Jimmy Butler may not get the votes, but he's the MVP. What he's already done for the Timberwolves to bring about improvement should justify that opinion. But for further proof just consider how dysfunctional the team has been without him! That really should be the refrain from all Timberwolves fans so as to maybe, just MAYBE get that guy some due!

For now we can rest and enjoy the fact that the association is seeing the goings on in the north with the announcement of the all star teams. Both K.A.T. & Buckets were included with the reserves. Over the last couple years, I've only tuned in for the parts of the weekend that included Wolves - so everything leading up to the show out. Now I'll get to skip all that stuff and watch the live highlight reel. It's a fair trade, I'd say!

Cobbers

The corncobs had the busiest week of all the schools. The men's basketball team got it under way with a 1/3 showing on the week. Narrow losses to Hamline and Bethel preceded them hitting a the Benjamin mark in a 19 point victory over Macalester. No injuries reported by Concordia but three of their five top scorers came off the bench and ate significantly more minutes then the starters that they replaced. Without seeing the game in person, I can only imagine that it was a match up play, with Coach Hemmingsen opting for the hot hand. It was the first time since 2005 that their men's team would score 100 or more points in regulation. Too bad I missed it!

The women's team split their games. Similar to the men they lost to open the week before finishing it strongly against Macalester. It wasn't a once in a decade type win but a 12 point victory is nothing to be ashamed of!

The Wrestling team took care of business in their only showdown of the week, 33 - 9 over St. John's.

The Hockey teams skidded to a combined 0-3-1 record for the week...weak.

The Track & Field teams took part in the Sioux open but did not fare as well as their eighth street neighbors. They managed several second place finishes but no top steps. Maybe that's to be expected with some of the schools competing in it but it mean's there is still room for improvement, even with their best competitors!

On a smaller scale, but similarly, the aqua teams had some trouble in the Twin Cities in a three school competition.

And then there was the first signs of spring. Both men's and women's Tennis teams got their seasons started this weekend, successfully. Even if they had lost, it would have been a win - despite the temperature returning to ice box levels - because it means that Spring isn't too far off!