Bison Host Valley City State Friday, Travel to Top-Ranked Indiana Monday

THIS WEEK:  North Dakota State (0-0) opens its 114th season of men's basketball Friday, Nov. 9, when the Bison host Valley City State (2-1) at 7 p.m. at the Bison Sports Arena (5,830) in Fargo.  It's a roller-coaster first week for NDSU, which opens the Progressive Legends Classic against the No. 1 team in the nation - the Indiana Hoosiers - at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, Nov. 12, at Assembly Hall (17,472) in Bloomington, Ind., before returning home to host another NAIA opponent Mayville State at 5 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 17.

LISTEN/WATCH:  KFGO-AM 790 of Fargo will carry the Valley City State and Indiana games live with Scott Miller calling the play-by-play.  Coverage begins 20 minutes before game time and continues with a 20-minute postgame show.  Live stats and live audio streaming will be available on GoBison.com and the NDSU Bison mobile app for Android, iPhone and iPod Touch.  Monday's game at Indiana will be video streamed live on BTN.com with Greg Murray calling the play-by-play.

THE SERIES:  Friday will be the 47th meeting between North Dakota State and Valley City State dating back to 1901-02.  NDSU leads the series 39-7 and has won 15 in a row including an 88-55 win in the team's last meeting Nov. 29, 2010.  VCSU hasn't won since 1963-64. ... Monday will be the first meeting between North Dakota State and Indiana.  NDSU is 1-6 against Big Ten opponents including a 62-55 win at No. 13/15 ranked Wisconsin in January 2006.

ABOUT VALLEY CITY STATE:  The Vikings were ranked 24th in the NAIA preseason poll after a 20-10 finish last year and are 2-1 this year after a 66-50 home win over Minnesota-Crookston on Tuesday.  Sophomore guard AJ McDonald leads the Vikings with 17.3 points per game and is followed by returning NAIA All-American Sekani Milligen who is averaging 15.3 per contest. Seniors Dillan Ostrom and Gus Kueber lead the Vikings on the boards averaging 6.7 rebounds per game.  Head coach Jeff Kaminsky (Grand Valley State, 1985) is in his eighth season at Valley City State with a 114-95 record and a 383-318 career mark.

ABOUT INDIANA:  The Hoosiers are the preseason No. 1 pick in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll and Associated Press poll heading into Friday's season opener against Bryant.  Indiana has 11 letterwinners and all five starters back from a 27-9 team that placed fifth in the Big Ten with an 11-7 record and lost in the Sweet 16 to eventual national champion Kentucky, 102-90.  The top returner is 7-foot sophomore forward Cody Zeller, who was named the Preseason National Player of the Year by Sporting News and CBS Sports.  Zeller averaged 15.6 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 62.3 percent from the floor last year.  Tom Crean has a 245-171 record in his 14th year as a head coach, including a four-year mark of 55-75 at Indiana where he has resurrected the Hoosiers from a three-year NCAA probation and a 6-25 record his first year.

SEASON OPENERS:  North Dakota State has a 69-44 record in regular-season opening games including last year's 73-65 triumph at San Francisco.  The Bison are 3-5 in season openers since beginning Division I play in 2004-05 with their other wins coming at Idaho (2006-07) and at home to Mayville State (2008-09).  Friday is only the second regular-season opener at home for the Bison as a Division I program.

HOME OPENERS:   North Dakota State has won eight straight home openers since beginning Division I play in 2004-05 including last year's 65-61 win over Green Bay.  NDSU's last loss in a home opener was November 2003 when Northern Michigan beat the Bison 60-55 on the first night of the U.S. Bank Classic.

BISON AGAINST TOP 25 TEAMS:  North Dakota State has a 2-2 record against Top 25 teams in Division I play, including a 64-60 win over Tom Crean-coached Marquette at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on Dec. 2, 2006, when the Golden Eagles were ranked 8th in the Associated Press poll and 9th in the USA Today coaches poll.

NON-CONFERENCE EVENTS:  Non-conference tournaments have been a success for the Bison in recent years.  North Dakota State went 3-0 last year at the University of San Francisco's Hilltop Challenge and 2-1 in the Basketball Travelers Invitational at Oregon two years ago.  NDSU has a 14-6 record in non-conference tournaments since 2005-06 including championships at Montana State (Dec. 2005), Marquette (Dec. 2006) and San Francisco (Nov. 2011).

TOP FIVE SCORERS BACK:  North Dakota State returns its five top scorers from last year led by junior guard Taylor Braun, averaged a team-high 15.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.  The others are guard Lawrence Alexander (12.8 ppg), forward Marshall Bjorklund (11.6 ppg), guard Mike Felt (9.6 ppg) and forward TrayVonn Wright (7.7 ppg).

BISON PICKED SECOND IN SUMMIT LEAGUE:  North Dakota State was picked to finish second out of nine teams in The Summit League according to a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media.  Defending Summit League tournament champion South Dakota State (27-8 overall, 15-3 league) was the unanimous pick to win the league title with all 30 available first-place votes and 390 points.  North Dakota State had 321 points and got SDSU's vote for first place, Oakland was third with 310 points and Western Illinois fourth with 274 points.  IUPUI edged Fort Wayne by two points for fifth place.  Kansas City, South Dakota and league newcomer Omaha filled out the seventh, eighth and ninth spots in order.  NDSU had three players named to the preseason all-league teams.  Junior guard Taylor Braun was voted to the first team and junior forward Marshall Bjorklund and sophomore guard Lawrence Alexander landed on the second team.

SECOND POSTSEASON APPEARANCE:  Last year's College Basketball Invitational presented by Zebra Pen was NDSU's second postseason appearance since beginning Division I play in 2004-05 and the first since the 2009 NCAA tournament when the Bison won the Summit League tournament and lost to No. 3 seed Kansas 84-74 in the first round of the Midwest Region.  NDSU's first year of postseason eligibility was 2009 after a five-year reclassification from Division II that left the Bison out of the playoffs from 2005 through 2008.

BEST START IN 11 YEARS:  North Dakota State started 2-0 for the first time since since November 2002 and its 6-0 start last year was NDSU's best since the 2000-01 season when the Bison won seven straight under current Creighton coach Greg McDermott.  NDSU was 13-4 overall in mid-January before losing 10 of its last 14 games.

STATISTICAL LEADERS:  North Dakota State's scoring defense of 68.4 points allowed per game last year ranked fifth overall in The Summit League but was the 12th best mark in school history over a span of 62 seasons dating back to 1950-51.  NDSU led the league in field goal percentage defense at .434 and field goal shooting at .488, which ranked seventh nationally.  Junior guard Mike Felt ranked 14th nationally in 3-point percentage at .431.

BRAUN ON PACE FOR 1,000:  North Dakota State junior Taylor Braun enters the season with 717 career points and is on pace to become the 28th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark.  Braun is averaging 12.0 points over 60 career games.

PHILLIPS SEVENTH IN WINS AT NDSU:  Saul Phillips enters his sixth season as head coach at North Dakota State seventh on the school's all-time wins list with an 84-67 record.  Phillips directed NDSU to its first Summit League championship and NCAA Division I tournament appearance in 2009, and was one of 10 finalists for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year award.  A Bison assistant for three seasons, Phillips came to NDSU from Wisconsin, where he was director of basketball operations for three years under Bo Ryan.  He was an assistant for two seasons each at Milwaukee and Lake Superior State and a graduate assistant at Wayne State in Nebraska for one year.

NDSU COACHING HISTORY:  NDSU's four previous head coaches have all gone on to bigger jobs and are all still actively coaching.  Tim Miles (2001-07) went to Colorado State and is now the head coach at Nebraska.  Greg McDermott (2000-01) went to Northern Iowa and Iowa State, and is now the head coach at Creighton.  Ray Giacoletti (1997-00) went to Eastern Washington and Utah and is currently an assistant at Gonzaga.  Tom Billeter (1992-97) went to St. John's and Texas A&M as an assistant coach and is now in his 10th year as head coach at Division II Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.

BISON IN THE PROS:  Five former Bison have played professional basketball since the school began Division I play in 2004-05.  Forward Andre Smith (2005-07) is playing in Russia, guard Ben Woodside (2005-09) is in Turkey, and forward Michael Tveidt (2007-11) is in Spain.  Forward Brett Winkelman (2005-09) played in Italy and guard Mike Nelson (2005-09) played with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the NBA Development League.

FIVE SUMMIT TEAMS IN POSTSEASON: A record five Summit League men's basketball teams made postseason appearances last March, eclipsing the high of three teams in 1990 and tying for third-most among mid-major leagues in 2012.  South Dakota State was in the NCAA, Oral Roberts made the NIT, North Dakota State and Western Illinois were in the College Basketball Invitational, and Oakland played in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

THE SUMMIT LEAGUE:  This is North Dakota State's sixth year in The Summit League after reclassifying from Division II and spending three seasons as a Division I independent.  Other members are Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI); University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC); University of Nebraska-Omaha; Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.; University of South Dakota; South Dakota State University; and Western Illinois University.  The Summit League dropped from 10 teams to nine this year with the addition of Omaha from Division II and the departure of Southern Utah to the Big Sky Conference and Oral Roberts to the Southland Conference.