I'm not going to do the full blown stats for this preview. It's not really worth it to be honest. North Dakota is a horrible basketball team in D1. It makes sense as they have just moved up, and they play in the same powerhouse conference (Great West) as Chicago State,  Houston Baptist, Texas - Pan Am, and others.

North Dakota is 1-11. They got blown out by UNI by 23 points, and lost to Drake by 9 points. They are the 340th ranked team according to Ken Pomeroy, who has them going 7-23 on the year, and losing to us by 31.  Jeff Sagarin has them as the 341st team, and also has them losing to us by 30-31 points. The only positive thing I can say about this team is that they were good when they were DII, but there's a big gap between elite DII and mediocre BCS.

I don't understand why we have this team on our schedule, other than maybe there is a McDermott connection with the staff there? Still, I'd rather see us play a team with a pulse, like a TCU, or a DePaul. North Dakota seems like a team you'd want to scrimmage with.

The challenge for the Cyclones will be to not play down to North Dakota's level, and continue the intensity. I have a feeling we will see almost everyone play, and hopefully we can win by 40 points. Honestly, this is the worst team we're going to play all year.

Tipoff is at 7pm tomorrow night at Hilton. I believe the game is also on Mediacom, along with Full Court.