With the college basketball season kicking off this week teams are finally releasing their schedules, or at least what they anticipate their schedule to be. Less than a week ago NDSU was set to play their opening weekend in a 4 team event in Milwaukee against Milwaukee, Southern Mississippi and Ball St. That was until Ball St dropped out, the event was shortened to 2 games instead of 3 and just like that the NDSU staff was on the phone looking for a replacement. Through those contacts they found not one but two teams to squeeze into the schedule in its place in Loyola Marymount and Minnesota and NDSU was set to start their season with 4 games in 4 days. But just like every TV infomercial ever, “Wait, there’s more!” Over the weekend Milwaukee had to pause all basketball activities due to a positive COVID test leading to the Milwaukee event and it’s 2 remaining games being cancelled entirely. “But wait! If you order in the next 10 minutes you’ll get two additional games for free! (Just pay shipping & handling)” is the line I heard in the background when it was announced just yesterday that NDSU had added a season opening multi team event where they would play Nevada on Wednesday and Nebraska on Saturday. If you’re keeping track, which let’s be honest would be impressive at this point, that means the Bison just scheduled a game on Monday 11/23 that will be played on Wednesday 11/25, a timeframe of which I’m not sure has ever happened in college basketball scheduling in the history of the sport. Welcome to the 2020 college hoops season where the schedules are likely to bounce around like the ball in a pinball machine setting a new high score. These schedules are so fluid that many games still do not have game times attached to the dates. For complete transparency this is my 3rd revision of this article in as many days due to the last minute scramble and I’m still not entirely sure by time I post it all the coverage will be relevant.
11/25 – Nevada
You may remember Nevada is just two years removed from being a top 15 team with the Martin twins leading the way. Last year the Wolfpack was sitting at 19-11 and on the NCAA bubble before losing in the Mountain West Quarterfinals to Wyoming, likely ending their postseason hopes which Covid ended up doing anyway. Like the Bison, the Wolfpack lost a 21ppg scorer in Jalen Harris and a 16ppg scorer in Jazz Johnson so they will be looking for some players to step up the scoring this season as well. Look for more contributions from guards Lindsey Drew and Nisre Zouzoua who shot 39.8% and 41.6% respectively from 3 last season. 3 Star freshman forward Tre Coleman will also likely be in the mix. Nevada plays a similar style to NDSU with tough nosed defense and an offense that likes the 3 ball. With this being the first game of the season for both teams looking to replace their top scoring threats, look for a defensive battle that will likely swing in whatever direction has a better shooting day. Considering coaches Alford and Richman have had all of 2 days notice of their opponent there likely won’t be much gameplanning involved in this one, just two teams excited to play against somebody other than themselves in practice. Nevada is predicted to finish 6th in the Mountain West conference this season by the preseason media poll.
11/28 – Nebraska
Where to begin with this team, shall we start with the me wanting NDSU to pound this team into the dirt for firing former Bison coach Tim Miles? Or maybe that this will be the first of 4 opportunities for Coach Richman to earn his first Power 5 win since becoming head coach of the Bison? Or maybe that this game in any other year would have stands packed full of Sam Griesel supporters as he’s from right there in Lincoln against a team who passed on offering a scholarship to him? Whatever the motivation this is a game the Bison definitely want to win. Gone from Nebraska are 4 of their top 5 scorers from a year ago from a team that went 7-25 (2-18 in the Big Ten). Former NBA head coach Hoiberg is transitioning this team to his style but that takes time. He did sign a top 20 recruiting class this fall but those players will not arrive on campus until next year. To fill the gap he brought in 2 JC transfers in 6’6” guard Teddy Allen and 6’9” forward Lat Mayen. Also new to the team this year is someone the Bison are very familiar with in transfer guard Kobe Webster from Western Illinois. A lot of new pieces in a new style of play typically mean early season struggles that the Bison would love to capitalize on but when it comes down to it they are still a Big 10 team that’s on the upswing even if they are only picked to finish 13th out of the 14 Big Ten teams in the preseason media poll. If Richman can keep this game in NDSU’s wheelhouse of half court basketball and tough defense they could very well pull off the upset. If Nebraska is able to push the pace like they want to, NDSU is going to have to find the scoring to keep up. Can’t wait to watch this one go down.
11/29 – Loyola Marymount
LMU that went 11-21 last season and only 4-12 in West Coast Conference games and while that may sound like the type of team you want to open your season against it definitely does not tell the whole story. Out is coach Mike Dunlap and in is former Marquette assistant coach Stan Johnson. All Johnson did in his first offseason and recruiting season is sign a top 50 recruiting class according to 247 Sports and hire two assistant coaches with previous D1 head coaching experience. If that wasn’t a big enough step in the right direction LMU also returns it’s leading scorer and do everything guard in 6’6” senior Eli Scott and also welcomes back 7’3” monstrous big man Mattias Markusson who opted for a redshirt year last year for personal reasons. While a new staff and new mix of players tends to take a few weeks into a season to hit their stride, I wouldn’t rule out coach Johnson having this team playing at a high level out of the gate. The polls also show slight expected improvement as they have LMU predicted to finish one spot higher this year at 7th in the West Coast Conference. NDSU will need to slow the production of Scott and also have a gameplan around defending and boxing out Markusson in the post as he can absolutely wreck a game with his size alone if not accounted for. Offensively the key to victory will be some consistent shooting from behind the arc which the Bison will be relying on some new faces to provide with Samuelson and Shahid gone this season. NDSU will have its hands full in this one there’s no doubt about it, this should be a great game.
11/30 – Minnesota
Oh the Gophers, a team that despite being just 235 miles down the road hasn’t schedule a game with NDSU since 2012 when then #16 ranked Minnesota beat the Bison 70-57. I think they’re still just upset at the shellacking the NDSU football team put on them the last time they played and they want nothing to do with NDSU anymore. Minimizing travel during the Covid season of basketball is of high importance however and that makes this game a no brainer for this season. While the Gophers did lose Daniel Oturu who went 33rd overall in the NBA draft, they return most of the rest of the contributors, including preseason All Big-Ten guard Marcus Carr, from a team that went 15-16 (8-12 in the Big Ten) last year. In addition to the returning talent Minnesota also brings in 4 star recruit Jamal Mashburn Jr. whose name you might recognize from his father’s 11 year NBA career after being the 4th overall pick in the NBA draft. Jamal Sr. played for Rick Pitino, Gopher coach Richard Pitino’s father, at Kentucky so now the father/son duos are together in Minnesota. The Gophers also signed 3 star recruit Martice Mitchell a 6’10” forward from Illinois and got a transfer from Utah in Minnesota native and 4 star high school recruit Both Gach. Minnesota was only picked to finish 11th in the preseason media poll but they are definitely a talented team that will look to grow as the season moves on. NDSU has struggled with more athletic teams under coach Richman and that’s definitely where Minnesota will have the advantage. By time this game is played I may have a different opinion depending on what we see in the first few games from each team but I think this will be the tallest task of them all in the opening 4 games for the Bison.