Or better yet, the battle of ISUs. Idaho State goes by "ISU" as well, and their website is even www.isu.edu. Whomever wins this, can have pride in knowing that they are the superior ISU team (spoiler alert: it's us.... if not, then we're in for a LONG season).

It's hard to believe that Men's Basketball is here already. Over the past few years, it has seemed like it couldn't come sooner. Football was brutal to watch, and by mid-October I was ready for some basketball. While I'm excited about this 2009-2010 season, I'm not going to lie in that most of my attention is still around the football team as they try to become bowl eligible.

That said, who's ready for some Idaho State tomorrow night??

• Time and Location: 7pm, Hilton Coliseum
• TV: Mediacom Connections (locally), ESPN Full Court, and ESPN360.com.

The Idaho State Bengals play in the Big Sky Conference. While they are not a powerhouse, I think they are a respectable opponent, especially for a first game. They have 8 Seniors on their roster, including returning top scorer, #1 Amorrow Morgan (SG, 13.5ppg), so he's a player to watch for along with JUCO-Transfer #2 Broderick Gilchrest. There's something to be said about teams that have an experienced roster, in that you know they are going to be ready and play hard.

Other interesting things about this team is that they're located in Pocatello, Idaho, with a student body about half the size of Iowa State... They haven't reached the NCAA tournament since 1987, but probably their biggest moment in their history was beating UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen in 1977.

Turning the attention to Iowa State, I would expect to see DG, Lucca, Gilstrap, Brackins, and Hamilton starting, with Dendy likely coming off the bench, but getting more minutes than Hamilton. Based on how the playing time went during the exhibitions, I would expect to see a lot of Christopherson,  and Colvin as well.

What I'm most interested in seeing is what the rotation looks like in a "real" game. I think McDermott may have commented that he's comfortable playing 10-11 guys right now. It will be interesting to see if he tries to keep the rotation that deep, or if guys emerge and get more PT. Personally, I'm up for whatever means more Ws at this point.

With the lack of Idaho State knowledge out there, combined with this ISU team having more than a handful of newcomers into the fold, it's hard to go in depth as far as what to expect and how things would go. Exhibition games are evaulation periods for coaches, while I really don't want to rehash 2008-2009 as a part of this preview.

I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow, and getting Hilton going! This should be a fun season, and I have high hopes for this team. It all starts tomorrow! Can't believe it's already here!

Go Cyclones!