Bison Basketball in ND History.

There has been this on going debate over on siouxsports.com about how Sioux fans should be cheering for the Bison in the NCAA basketball tourney because they represent the state of North Dakota and if you don't cheer for the Bison then you're not pro-North Dakota. Spare us the silly lecture please. That is one of the silliest arguments I have ever heard. First off the Bison are representing North Dakota State University in basketball that's it. On the Bison's roster there are a grand total of three players from the great state of North Dakota, a majority of the players (8) are from Minnesota.

Also, Sioux fans aren't required to cheer for the Bison and not cheering for them doesn’t make one anti-North Dakota. If some Sioux fans decide to cheer for the Bison in the NCAA Division one basketball tourney that is their decision and good for them. I don’t have a problem with that. That is their choice.

Make no mistake about it, there are a lot of Sioux fans like me still look to the Bison as being our heated rival and they will always be, there is no way under any circumstances we could ever cheer for them. To me the Bison logo is as offensive of a symbol is as hated at the Golden Gophers "M" or the Green Bay Packers yellow helmets.

Also, there has been this on going argument if the Bison make the NCAA tourney that it would be the biggest story to ever come out of North Dakota. This argument started over on Mike McFeely's blog. While the Bison making the NCAA tourney it’s first year as a full division one program it is hardly the biggest North Dakota sports story of all-time. This accomplishment is small in comparison to the history of Fighting Sioux hockey. In today’s Grand Forks, Herald former Fighting Sioux Hockey beat writer Virg Foss addresses this subject in his column today. I think his article hits a lot of the important points.

It is an outstanding accomplishment. Kudos to the Bison, let me be clear on that.

But someone had to win the Summit League postseason basketball tournament and earn the bid to the NCAA tournament. NDSU, the most veteran and polished team in the league, was that one, as expected.

The true test of where this NDSU team will rank in state sports history comes in whether it can win a game or two in the tournament. The bet here is that it will be one-and-done for the Bison.

If that’s what happens, the Bison basketball team might be a candidate for a top five place in state history as trailblazers in the sport on the college level in our state. But that’s all.

Who else ranks higher? Phil Jackson might win more NBA championships than any coach in league history. That has to rank at or near the top all-time in the history of state sports.

You can’t overlook the 61 homers for the New York Yankees by Roger Maris in 1961, a major league record for someone not on drugs of some kind. Sure, he’s not a North Dakota native, but he spent his significant years for development in Grand Forks and Fargo, so we claim him.

You can’t overlook Tony Hrkac and Ryan Duncan from UND winning Hobey Baker Awards as the top players in NCAA Division I hockey. Or Mark Taylor being named the nation’s best college player by The Hockey News magazine the year before the Hobey Award came into existence.

How about the 116 points in the 1986-87 season for Hrkac, a national record that may never be broken.

So until the time a basketball team from NDSU or UND wins an NCAA Division I championship, I would rank Fighting Sioux hockey and its seven national championships at the top of my list, along with Jackson’s achievements.

They are accomplishments that have stood the test of time, during a lifetime in Jackson’s case, during the lifetimes of hundreds of athletes in the case of Sioux hockey.

There are those who will say college hockey, with less than 60 schools playing it at the Division I level, should be knocked down a peg or two when 340-some colleges that play NCAA Division I men’s basketball.

That’s a shallow argument. College hockey at UND is played at a truly unique level in the state. The reputation and respect the program has on a national level for excellence is well-earned.

Need proof? UND has placed more players into the top pro league (the NHL) in one sport than NDSU has in all of its sports combined.

So let’s take what NDSU did in men’s basketball this season and honor it for what it is, an outstanding achievement worthy of praise.

But don’t kid yourself. As the biggest sports accomplishment in North Dakota history, it’s not even close — unless the Bison win the whole dang thing.
(read the whole story here)