FARGO — First it was the rebirth of the metro matchup with Minnesota State Moorhead. Now North Dakota State has added another tasty regional men’s basketball game with the University of Minnesota.
It’s an exhibition contest Oct. 16 at Williams Arena, but a trip to Minneapolis to play a familiar Big Ten Conference opponent nonetheless. Credit a change in NCAA rules and NDSU’s connections to the Gopher coaching staff and new head coach Niko Medved.
Medved was an assistant at Colorado State under former NDSU head coach Tim Miles. Minnesota assistants Brian Cooley and Dave Thorson also have connections to NDSU head coach Dave Richman, with Thorson also being a Fargo South graduate.
“Very appreciative of Niko and his willingness to play the game,” Richman said. “Certainly plenty of connections on that staff. For exhibitions/scrimmages for us, for a lot of reasons we like to do them as close as possible so we reached out to schools within driving distance.”
A change in NCAA rules that allows Division I programs to schedule each other in exhibitions was paramount. Previously, Division I programs were only permitted to play lower division teams with the exception of closed-door scrimmages.
“Great step by the NCAA to allow these games for us to get a test against a Big Ten school on the road,” Richman said.
The last time the Bison and Gophers played was 2012 in the regular season, a 70-57 Minnesota victory. That was a Bison team that a year later went on to upset Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Gophers will play the University of North Dakota in a second exhibition game nine days after NDSU.
“I do love the opportunity of getting challenged early in the season against the Power 4,” Richman said. “Is it something we’ll continue to pursue with Minnesota, Creighton, Iowa, Iowa State or Nebraska? Absolutely. Can I guarantee it’s something they want to do? Obviously I can’t.”
Pro basketball success continues
The run of former Bison players in the professional ranks will continue this season. Guard Vinnie Shahid signed with Champagne Basket in France, which will be his sixth pro season. Champagne plays in the Pro B League.
Guard Sam Griesel will join Alba Berlin of the Basketball Bundesliga and Basketball Champions League in Germany, the top league in the country. Griesel is entering his third pro season.
It comes on top of former Bison players Grant Nelson signing as a free agent with the Brooklyn Nets and Jackson Moni playing in the NBA summer league.
“We’ve had a tremendous, tremendous spring in that regard,” Richman said.
That includes Tyson Ward, who signed with one of the top teams in Europe with Olympiacos in Greece.
“Just a notch below the NBA,” Richman said. “Tyson is doing extremely well for himself both professionally and personally.”
Shahid, Ward and Griesel were standouts on NDSU’s 2019 and 2020 Summit League tournament title teams, the latter which had its NCAA tournament canceled a week later because of the pandemic. Shahid continued to improve over the course of two college seasons and hasn’t stopped since, capturing back-to-back player of the year honors in France and Iceland. He averaged 16.6 points and 3.8 assists last year playing for HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim in Germany.
Griesel averaged 10.0 points and 3.9 rebounds last year for Bonn in the same German league.
Former Bison forward Rocky Kreuser is coming off a successful season in Europe. Taylor Braun finished last season on the Chicago Bulls’ G League team. Tyree Eady and Deng Geu are coming off overseas seasons as well.
“I’m not going to hide behind it, we have a track record of those guys developing and getting better and knowing what it takes,” Richman said.
Jeff Kolpack, the son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995. He has covered all 10 of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written four books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough,” “Covid Kids” and “They Caught Them Sleeping: How Dot Reinvented the Pretzel.” He is also the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.