Basketball Tips Off Against Vaguely-Named Directional School

On Friday night, Sidney Lowe's Wolfpack will play the Northern State University Wolves. Northern State is a small (enrollment ~3,000) public school located in Aberdeen, North Dakota (Terry Francona's home town!). Last season, NSU finished second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, behind only eventual Div-II national champion Winona State. NSU lost to Winona four times (d'oh) in 2006--twice in the regular season, in the conference title game, and in the third round of the NCAAs.

The Wolves are expected to be contenders in the NSIC again this season, and as evidenced by this photo from midnight madness, excitement is high.


Northern State played an exhibition game against Vanderbilt on Wednesday. The scariest thing from our perspective, other than the fact that NSU kept it close against a team that can't be any worse than we are, is how the Wolves rebounded against Vandy. They grabbed nearly 50% of the offensive rebounds and over 75% of the defensive rebounds--those are very good numbers.