North Dakota State Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Bison

By Austin Hamm | Sep 21, 2019

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Jordan Horn #33 and Vinnie Shahid #0 of the North Dakota State Bison react against the Duke Blue Devils in the second half during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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DAYTON, OHIO – MARCH 20: Head coach David Richman of the North Dakota State Bison looks on against the North Carolina Central Eagles during the first half in the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament First Four game at UD Arena on March 20, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Non-Conference Schedule

@Kansas State

Vs. Cal Poly

Islander Invitational@ Corpus Christi

UT Rio Grande Valley
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Stony Brook

Vs. Utah Valley

@ Idaho

@ Indiana State

Vs. East Tennessee State

@CSU Northridge

Vs. Montana St.

@ Marquette

When you’re a mid-major with a track record of success, it can be difficult to get high major programs to schedule you. But, with a former NDSU athletic director in Manhattan, a relationship with the Wildcats likely helped the Bison secure a game that has a chance to be a real resume builder if they can pull the upset.

Beyond that and the non-con bookend with Marquette, two standouts on this schedule are East Tennessee State, Stony Brook and Utah Valley. All three of those teams won over 20 games last season. Maybe not the strongest resume builders from an NCAA tournament standpoint, but for teams looking to take strides, the chance to claim wins over quality opponents can be huge.

Overall, it’s a reasonable slate for a good mid-major. I’d expect to see the Bison enter Summit League play with a record a few games over .500.