Bismarck State women's basketball coach Len Stanley isn't one who pays close attention to his own accomplishments.

After this past weekend he was congratulated by a colleague for picking up his 500th career basketball win. Stanley didn't realize he'd hit the milestone.

"My wife says it just means that you're a dinosaur," Stanley joked. "It tells me I've been blessed with awfully good athletes."

Stanley's coaching career began at the high school level in Washburn a program he coached for 23 years and turned into a juggernaut.

He coached at Williston State for seven years and has been at BSC for six years. His coaching resume also includes several head baseball stints, including teams at Washburn and Williston. Stanley is the baseball coach at BSC and for the Mandan Chiefs.

Stanley refuses to take full credit for Washburn's successful seasons on the court.

"Ihad kids and parents who bought into the system," Stanley said. "They were willing to pay the price. You've got to have kids. There was no shortage of girls basketball players or baseball players at Washburn."

Of all Stanley's victories, he labeled two as his most special. He cited the 1983 Class B state championship game as a special win. Stanley's Cardinals ousted a talented Lidgerwood team before defeating Esmond in the title game.

Stanley's first year at BSC will remain etched in his memory bank. Stanley's Mystics beat North Central Missouri to qualify for the NJCAA national tournament.

Mon-Dak coming to town

For those who like to follow junior college basketball, it would behoove them to attend the three-day Mon-Dak tournament, which begins today.

Women's games will be played at United Tribes and men's games at Bismarck State.

The tournament won't return to Bismarck for awhile. Williston State made a bid to host the tournament for the next three years.

"Williston has a nice facility,"Stanley said. "You need a place that has two gymnasiums. With their old gym, they can run games concurrently with the other. Nobody has to be traveling across town."

Last year the men and women split sites with one playing in Glendive and the other in Miles City.

"It works better having the tournament in the same town," BSC men's coach Buster Gilliss said. "The only places that can do that are Williston and Bismarck."

By having the tournament in one town, schools can cut down on travel expenses by having the men and women travel together.

Gilliss isn't big on the idea of a conference tournament. In most years his squad could end up playing United Tribes or Minot State-Bottineau four times.

Gilliss pointed to other conferences, such as the NCC, that scrapped their conference tournament.

"I've always spoke against the conference tournament," Gilliss said. "I don't like playing teams four times during the year."

UTTC men's coach Gerry Geistler echoed Gilliss' viewpoint. Geistler said his team could probably pick up games against other Native American schools, such as Turtle Mountain, Sitting Bull and Little Big Horn.

"Idon't begrudge the tournament,"Geistler said. "But we could end up playing BSC or Bottineau four times. That's a few too many times."

Stanley says he'll gladly take the Mon-Dak tournament. With North Dakota being in a remote location, it's difficult to schedule games.

"It's hard enough to find games," Stanley said. "The fact that we're playing conference teams this early, we will not see these teams until January anyway. A lot of things can happen between now and January."

Gilliss and Geistler will both be looking to find different playing combinations during the tournament.

"We start to look for combinations we can use later in the year,"Geistler said.

Stanley uses the conference tournament as a measuring stick for how well his team is conditioned.

"We will play back-to-back-to-back," Stanley said. "It's nice to play three games in three days and not travel all over the United States."

Short shots

3 The Dickinson State volleyball team swept its opponents in the Dakota Athletic Conference.

3 The Dickinson State men's cross country team is ranked 21st in the final NAIA national poll. The national championships will be held Nov. 17 in Kenosha, Wis.

3 Bismarck native Lindsay Kirchoffner scored her first goal of the season for the University of North Dakota women's soccer team on Sunday against Minnesota State-Mankato.