North Dakota announces 2009-10 men's basketball schedule

Men's Basketball UND Athletics Media Relations

Great West men?s basketball tournament champion to receive automatic postseason berth

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The University of North Dakota men's basketball team found out on Tuesday that it has a little more to play for this season than originally anticipated as the Fighting Sioux embark on their second year of transition to the Division I level.

All transitional teams have to wait through a five-year period before playing in the NCAA postseason, but Collegeinsider.com officials announced today that the inaugural Great West Conference tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to its postseason tournament (CIT) in March.

UND, along with Chicago State, Houston Baptist, New Jersey Tech, South Dakota, Texas Pan-American and Utah Valley, will all have a chance to earn that coveted post-season berth by winning the Great West Tournament championship, which is being held March 10-13 in Orem, Utah.

“We are extremely excited and thankful to Collegeinsider.com for giving our teams a chance to compete in the postseason,” UND head men's basketball coach Brian Jones said. “It gives our kids the same chance to play beyond our conference tournament as all the other Division I schools, which had not been the case for transitional teams in the past.”

The field for the 2010 CIT will be announced on Sunday, March 14, following the announcements of the fields for both the NCAA and NIT championships. First round action will begin on March 16. The championship game, which will be televised nationally by Fox College Sports, will be played on March 30. Old Dominion defeated Bradley to win the inaugural CIT last season.

“So much of college athletics is about opportunity,” Joe Dwyer, co-founder of Collegeinsider.com, said. “Awarding the Great West Conference an automatic bid to the CIT guarantees the league the opportunity to participate in the postseason. This is a great addition to our tournament.”

UND will play its inaugural Great West Conference game on the road against Utah Valley (Jan. 14). The tilt with the Wolverines will be the first of 12 league games the Sioux play in 2009-10.

                                                                               – Go Sioux –
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