GRAND FORKS, N.D. - There is a lot of excitement building around the North Dakota men's basketball program and the upcoming 2011-12 season. And, it all goes center stage on Saturday as the Fighting Sioux open their regular season at home against Waldorf College at 3 p.m.

All 14 home contests will be streamed live on www.FightingSioux.com with Paul Ralston calling the action. Fans wanting to watch the video stream will need a UNDInsider subscription. Ralston's broadcast will also cover the airwaves as fans can listen on their radio dial at 96.1 FM Cat Country.   
UND VS. WALDORF SERIES

All-time 2-0

In Grand Forks 2-0
UND Head Coach Brian Jones vs. Waldorf 2-0

Waldorf Head Coach Nigel Jenkins vs. UND 0-0

• This is the second straight season UND has opened its campaign against Waldorf College. The Sioux defeated the Warriors 77-46 as Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) and Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) led the way with 18 points apiece a season ago. 

• The 31-point margin of victory was the greatest among the 19 wins secured the 2010-11 club, who went 11-3 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center last season.

• The Warriors will be under the direction of a familiar face for Fighting Sioux fans as Nigel Jenkins embarks on his first year as head coach for the NAIA school in Forest City, Iowa. Jenkins played two seasons at UND for former head coach Rich Glas and was a senior captain on the 2001-02 team that went 19-10.

• UND Head Coach Brian Jones has all five starters back from his 2011 Great West Conference Tournament championship team. The squad earned an automatic berth to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament where they fell at Air Force 77-67.

• Jones is 2-3 all-time in season openers at UND. The Sioux are 6-4 in their last 10 season openers.

• The Sioux played their lone exhibition game of the season at Minot State on Oct. 30 in a contest to raise support for the state's flood victims. UND built a 42-20 advantage at the break and coasted to the 80-60 victory. Sophomore Aaron Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) led a quartet of UND players in double figures with 12.

• The sixth-year head coach only lost 9.4 percent of his team's scoring as senior captains Derek Benter (4.0 ppg, Crosby N.D.) and Chris Clausen (3.1 ppg, Adelaide, Australia) were the only departures.

• The conference crown was the first for the Fighting Sioux at the Division I era and first overall since winning the 1994 North Central Conference tournament title (Division II).

• Mitchell was named the GWC Tournament MVP after averaging averaged 13.3 ppg and 5.7 rpg during UND's run to the three-game run to the title. He scored 14 points and had four blocks in the double-overtime victory over South Dakota in the championship game.

• Mitchell's final block of the season against Air Force in the CIT moved him into sixth place on UND's single-season chart for that category with 56. He enters this season with 114 for his career, which is the fifth highest total in the UND record books.

• Mitchell was joined on the GWC All-Tournament team by Huff, who led the Sioux in scoring in each of their three GWC tournament victories (14.3 ppg in the tourney). Both players finished the season with 25 double-digit scoring efforts.

• Huff earned second team All-Great West honors after leading the team with a 13.3 ppg average during the season. His 452 points also broke the UND freshman scoring record held by Scott Guldseth (418, 1989-90). 

• Huff finished the season with five 20-plus scoring efforts, including a career high 31-point outing in a road win at Houston Baptist (March 3). He also earned Mid-Major Freshman All-America honors from CollegeInsider.com.

• Two fellow classmates joined Huff on UND's top 10 list for freshman scoring last season. Point guard Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.) was eighth with 316 points (9.3 ppg) and shooting guard Josh Schuler (Urbana, Ohio) finished tenth with 300 points (8.8 ppg).

• Huff, Schuler and Webb teamed with Anderson and fellow freshmen Brandon Brekke (East Grand Forks, Minn.) to be the highest-producing rookie class in Division I basketball last season. The freshmen quintet accounted for 65.4 percent of UND's scoring a season ago (1,517 points). The freshmen at Memphis finished second, scoring 63.9 percent (1,615 of 2,524 points) of the Tigers' buckets and the rookies at Kentucky were third, producing 60.5 percent (1,721 of 2,845 points) of the Wildcats' scores.

• Anderson was the only freshman not in the starting lineup, but he averaged over 22 minutes a game and scored 260 points (7.6 ppg) in his first collegiate season. The 5-foot-10 point guard led the team with an 80 percent clip from the free throw line. He sank 116 freebies out of a team-high 145 attempts.

• The 11-game tournaround from an eight-win season in 2010-11 was the third best in program history.

• Junior Mitch Wilmer will return to the playing rotation after having his 2010-11 season prematurely cut short with an injury. Wilmer appeared in nine games off the bench, but was lost for the season after suffering an injury in the second half of the North Dakota State tilt (Dec. 11).

Only defending Great West Conference regular season champion Utah Valley was ahead of the Fighting Sioux men's basketball team in the 2011-12 preseason coaches' poll released by league officials on Monday. The Wolverines topped the poll with 34 points and received five of six first-place votes, while North Dakota secured the remaining one to finish second in the poll with 28 points.

The Great West Conference Tournament champions were one point ahead of NJIT (27), who was picked third after being the preseason favorite in 2010-11. Texas-Pan American finished fourth in the voting with 15 points, while Chicago State and Houston Baptist shared fifth with 11 points apiece.

Each team will play a 10-game conference schedule this season capped by the league tournament, which will make its debut in the Windy City at Chicago State March 8-10.

Great West Coaches' Preseason Poll

1.  Utah Valley (34)

2.  North Dakota (28)

3.  NJIT (27)

4.  Texas-Pan American (15)

5.  Chicago State (11)

6.  Houston Baptist (11)

Four UND starters from last year's Great West Conference Tournament championship team were named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-Great West teams released in mid-October. Sophomore guard Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.), who broke the UND freshman scoring record in 2010-11, was named to the first team. He averaged a team-leading 13.3 ppg and upped that to a 14.8 ppg clip in GWC games. 

Senior forward Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) and sophomore point guard Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.) were both named to the second team. Mitchell, who earned GWC Tournament MVP accolades, and Huff shared team-high honors with 25 double-digit scoring games during the 19-win campaign. Mitchell also led the league in blocks with 46 and led the Sioux in rebounding at a 5.8 rpg.

Webb led the GWC in assists with 139 (4.1 apg) and was the league's top rebounding guard after corralling 183 boards (5.4 rpg). He also averaged 9.3 ppg and his 315 points scored were the eighth most by a UND freshman. Sophomore forward Brandon Brekke (East Grand Forks, Minn.) rounded out the quartet being honored with a spot on the fourth team. Brekke averaged 9.2 ppg and 6.1 rpg in GWC action after starting 11 of 12 league contests.