North Dakota Preps

 The Bison have a good chance to knock off the defending national champions in college basketball, the Florida Gators on November 9th.


So how crazy will things be around the athletic department if they manage to pull this off?  I imagine with every big win Erv Innigers fundraising job becomes a little easier.

Who does Florida have now this year?  I know they lost their starting 5 to the NBA and graduation last year, but you don't win back to back championships and not get good recruits coming in.  I can't see the Bison winning this one because I'm sure Florida has a lot more talent, but wouldn't it be headlines if they did!

walter hodge, marreese speights, and jai lucas is a solid recruit.  Florida will be argueably the youngest team in the country with an 11 man roster containing no seniors and only 1 junior (Hodge). and 7 of the 11 are freshman.  If it were played anywhere but Florida i would bet on NDSU but since its there i have to go with Florida even with their youth.

ndlionsfan wrote:Who does Florida have now this year?  I know they lost their starting 5 to the NBA and graduation last year, but you don't win back to back championships and not get good recruits coming in.  I can't see the Bison winning this one because I'm sure Florida has a lot more talent, but wouldn't it be headlines if they did!

The Bison are going to have a very difficult time matching up with 6-11, 245-pound sophomore Marreese Speights (4.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg), a very big and physical kid in which the bison have had a very tough time containg players like this.  As far as recruits go they have Jai Lucas who averaged 26.3 points and 7.5 assists last season, earning McDonald's and Parade All-American honors.  6-6 Nick Calathes Parade All-American, McDonald's All-American, Gatorade Player of the Year in Florida and Mr. Basketball in Florida, they also have 6-9 Chandler Parsons who was a teamate of Calathes.
What's going to make the difference in this game is the experience that the bison bring in, they know how to play in crucial game situations and Florida is probably going to have at least 3 freshman starting for them this year with no experience.  Another thing is that the bison are not going to let any team blow them out because they come into games and just simply battle against bigger,stronger,more athletic teams and they dont ever quit.

Florida has a big advantage with size and their freshman class is probably the best since Noah, Horford, Richards, Green, and Brewer came. Their freshman talent is very good and should give fits and match up problems to NDSU. But the one thing NDSU has on them is experience and it does indeed help that they've played in big games before. I am expecting a close game the whole way but Florida will pull it out.

I think NDSU has a legitimate chance of winning this game, and i got them in a close one...and not just because i'm a bison at heart

Talk on the Bison board has them looking very good right now in practice. And the guys who will see time for the departed Andre Smith are looking good too. The depth will be better this year, I'm guessing and I think this game is definitely a good chance to catch them before they've had a chance to gel.

More press for NDSU!

There will be highlights on ESPN and if we win, it will be headline news. Huge for the state of ND! Probably not as big as when we were top story on ESPN.com after we beat Wisconsin but HUGE!

Here are some other cool highlights of NDSU hoops. It not cool that we lost a close game to Kansas St but check out the atmosphere at the Bison Sports Arena! THis is big time! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ROHdK3kAhI

NDSportsFan wrote:Talk on the Bison board has them looking very good right now in practice. And the guys who will see time for the departed Andre Smith are looking good too. The depth will be better this year, I'm guessing and I think this game is definitely a good chance to catch them before they've had a chance to gel.

i agree, while 4 of the 5 starters for the bison have played together for 2 years, the young florida team probably won't be as "together" as the bison.

Game is on Friday anybody got some predictions on how it goes? I don't think Florida comes in to over confidnent knowing some of the teams NDSU has knocked off the past couple years and the young guys are gonna wanna make a good impression. I think Florida wins by 10 to 15 points

Sorry folks, but the Bison go down by 20+. This is freakin' FLORIDA for cryin' out loud! In Florida. Much as I'd like to see it, the upset just ain't going to happen.

Hinsa wrote:Sorry folks, but the Bison go down by 20+. This is freakin' FLORIDA for cryin' out loud! In Florida. Much as I'd like to see it, the upset just ain't going to happen.

Not so fast, remember Wisconsin, how about Marquette? Florida will most likely win but you can never count NDSU out.

Also, this game is on the mid-continent channel around the state.

I think there's a difference though between beating a highly ranked team from the upper midwest that happens to have a high ranking vs beating a 2 time defending national champ. Even though Florida lost a lot to graduation their recruiting power has got to be immense. If they pull off the upset it has to rank up there with the Appalachian/Michigan upset.

ndfan wrote:Game is on Friday anybody got some predictions on how it goes? I don't think Florida comes in to over confidnent knowing some of the teams NDSU has knocked off the past couple years and the young guys are gonna wanna make a good impression. I think Florida wins by 10 to 15 points

Im going to make a bold prediction and say that NDSU comes out on top 74 to 70.

ndfan wrote:Game is on Friday anybody got some predictions on how it goes? I don't think Florida comes in to over confidnent knowing some of the teams NDSU has knocked off the past couple years and the young guys are gonna wanna make a good impression. I think Florida wins by 10 to 15 points

I will take Florida by 5-10 points. NDSU will keep up with them IF they can keep Florida's big guys in check, and will possibly beat them if NDSU do good offensively as well as that.

If Tim Miles is still their coach I predict an NDSU win, but I just dont think they'll get it done. Florida 71 NDSU 66

Gardner Webb (Div I since 2000) beat Kentucky

Finley (Division II) beat Ohio St

Grand Valley State (Div II) beat Michigan in 2OT

Another small DI school beat UCONN

All of these upsets have happened in the last week. Who says small NDSU can't go down to Florida and knock off the big time Gators?!?

[quote="Deuce" If they pull off the upset it has to rank up there with the Appalachian/Michigan upset.[/quote]

Awesome! I better have my VCR programmed to record ESPN.

ndlionsfan wrote:Gardner Webb (Div I since 2000) beat Kentucky

Finley (Division II) beat Ohio St

Grand Valley State (Div II) beat Michigan in 2OT

Another small DI school beat UCONN

All of these upsets have happened in the last week. Who says small NDSU can't go down to Florida and knock off the big time Gators?!?

With all the upsets in college sports this year, who says NDSU cant beat them? Although this win would be a huge one for NDSU and North Dakota, the national media wont make as big of deal as when they beat Wisconson because of all the other upsets

thundercat 99 wrote:

ndlionsfan wrote:Gardner Webb (Div I since 2000) beat Kentucky

Finley (Division II) beat Ohio St

Grand Valley State (Div II) beat Michigan in 2OT

Another small DI school beat UCONN

All of these upsets have happened in the last week. Who says small NDSU can't go down to Florida and knock off the big time Gators?!?

With all the upsets in college sports this year, who says NDSU cant beat them? Although this win would be a huge one for NDSU and North Dakota, the national media wont make as big of deal as when they beat Wisconson because of all the other upsets

Don't agree with you at all that that this wouldn't be a big deal with national media. Beat the TWO time defending national champions, your gonna get a lot more talk then when they beat Wisconsin. ESPN will eat up little guy beating the defending national champs. Also Saul was on PA & Dubay the other day which is a pretty popular sports talk radio show in the Twin Cities said if NDSU won that game they would start Mondays show off talking about the Bison for the first 35 minutes of the show. How big would that be for recruiting near the cities? In my mind it would be huge since NDSU's roster consists of alot of Minnesota kids. Be huge recruiting other places if you can say you beat Florida. This will/could be the biggest win in North Dakota Basketball history in my opinion.

Should be a close game. Florida lost their whole team last year and this year is going to count on their Freshman. Sure they're really good Freshman, but I think NDSU will come out and surprise them.

k for the people saying they wont get as much press as they did when they beat Wisconsin is a joke. Wisconsin was barely a top 25 team who had a long winning streak at home. Florida may not be preseason top 25 but the fact that they are back-to-back defending national championships will get the press itself.

http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/sh ... hp?t=31286

Some predictions by gator fans

not a good first half for the bison

39-25 at the break

Thanks for the update.