Bradley's November 19 game vs. North Dakota

North Dakota has been in the news because they are now being forced by NCAA and other political pressure to retire their team nickname, The Fighting Sioux. Never mind that other schools (Seminoles, Fighting Illini, etc..) are facing no such similar pressure....
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2011-08-11-north-dakota-fighting-sioux-NCAA_n.htm

North Dakota was 18-15 last year and 8-4 in their Independent conference they call The Great West -- even tho they a thousand miles from the west coast.
But they are just one year removed (2009-2010) from an 8-23 season where they only beat 5 D-I teams -- all who were at the bottom of Division I.
Their schedule was pretty weak and contains several non-D-I's, so those 18 wins is misleading....Longwood, Chicago State, UTPA, Houston Baptist, Minot State, Mayville State..etc..
The only teams on their schedule that are above the 300 RPI range they got thumped by (Wisconsin 85-53, UNI 65-52, Nebraska 77-46..)
A full 16 of their 2010-2011 opponents were 300 RPI and above, and 24 of them were above 170 - the lower half of D-I.
They lose only one senior for this upcoming year, so almost all their production returns. They are still transitioning to D-I so they will not play in the post-season.

By now just about everyone knows that NBA legend Phil Jackson played for North Dakota..but they have three other players who have played in the NBA - John Haaven, Chris Fahrbach, and Jerome Beasley - meaning they have more NBA players than ISU has!
Their long history in D-II was noted as the 4th winningest program at the D-II level, but even playing D-I now, they still draw only about 1500-1700 per home game.