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THE OPENING TIP: The University of Minnesota Duluth begins the 2017-18 season with a pair of games at the MIAA/NSIC Classic in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. The Bulldogs will square off against the University of Central Missouri on Friday starting at 7:30 p.m. before facing Lindenwood University on Saturday with the start time slated for 3:00 p.m. Both games will be held at the JustAgame Fieldhouse. 

SCOUTING REPORT ON CENTRAL MISSOURI: The Mules went 21-9 last season and advanced to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship game, before falling to Northwest Missouri State. UCM finished in second place in the MIAA at 13-6.The Mules received votes in the NABC poll and were picked to finish second in the MIAA in the preseason coaches poll.
Spencer Reeves is the player to watch as he returns for his senior season. He led the Mules in scoring last year. His 17.1 points per game was seventh in the MIAA. Reeves reached double digit points in 29 of 30 games and had 20-plus points in 13 games. He was good from all parts of the floor shooting 51.1 percent from the floor, 41.7 percent from three and 84.8 percent at the free throw line. Reeves is also the team leader in assists and steals from 2016-17. UCM also brings back DJ Richardson, the team's third leading scorer. The Mules lost their second scoring option Kyle Wolf  and their interior defensive big man in Marquiez Lawrence who paced the team in rebounds and blocks.

SCOUTING REPORT ON LINDENWOOD: The Lions finished  last season 21-12 and had their season end in the first round of the MIAA Tournament. LU placed eighth in the MIAA at 10-9. The Lions were selected to finish ninth in the MIAA preseason coaches poll. 
Lindenwood returns three starters including the Lions' leading scorer Chandler Diekvoss with 15.2 points per game. Diekvoss had 24 games with double-digits points.  Jackson Price was an assassin from behind the arc hitting a team-high 72 threes for a team-leading  .411 percentage. Dominique Dobbs averaged 10.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Dobbs also paced the Lions in blocks. Adam Pohlman started half the games but played a large number of minutes each game and ended up being the team's lead assist man. 

THE SERIES: UMD has only played Central Missouri twice each of the past two seasons. This will be the third meeting between the two clubs. The Mules came away with victories in both matches. UCM beat UMD 78-60 at its place in Warrensburg, Mo. in 2015. The Mules came away with a 68-65 victory last season in the same MIAA/NSIC classic.
UMD played Lindenwood last season for the first time ever and the Lions came away with a 78-72 win over the Bulldogs. LU had a 10-point lead erased by UMD in the closing minutes but was able to hang on and make its free throws in the final minutes. 

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and their opponents this weekend stack up in their respective standings last year and in the National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) poll.
TEAM        CONF        NABC
UMD           15th            NR
UCM            2nd            RV
LU                9th             NR

THE BROADCAST: The matches this weekend will be carried live through a video stream and is available for a fee at:
http://www.justagamefieldhouse.com/page/show/1734609

SEASON OPENERS: UMD is 2-3 in season openers during Matt Bowen's tenure as head coach. The Bulldogs, dating back to the 2001-02 season, are 10-6 in their openers.  

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs had two scrimmages and a lone exhibition game to tune up for the start of the 2017-18 season. UMD travelled down to River Falls, Wis. to take on Wisconsin-River Falls last Saturday. Trevor Entwisle played all but two minutes as he logged 10 points, 4-for-9 from the floor, and three assists in 38 minutes. Luke Harris scored a team-high 17 points off the bench as the Bulldogs got 60 percent of their production from its bench. UMD shot better from the field in the second half from both inside and outside the arc. 

BALL SECURITY: Holding on to the rock was a big component of the UMD offense in 2016-17. The Bulldogs turned the ball over the fourth fewest times in the nation last year and sixth fewest per game. Minnesota State Moorhead was the only NSIC team to best those numbers, which was tops in the nation. 

FROM DOWNTOWN: UMD launched 688 three-balls last season and they depended on the long shot more than most teams in the NSIC or the nation. Of those 688,  256 were drained from long distance. UMD was third in the NSIC and 69th overall in three pointers per game with 8.8. The Bulldogs have room to improve, however, as they hit only 37.2 of those shots.

CONFERENCE COACHES CORNER: On Oct. 26, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference 2017-18 Preseason Coaches Poll slated UMD to a 13th-place finish. The Bulldogs, which finished eighth in the North Division and a 15th overall a season ago, received 46 points in the poll. The Bulldogs were picked to finish sixth in the North Division ahead of Minnesota Crookston and U-Mary.

Northern State University, who claimed preseason favorites in the North Division, topped out in the overall poll with 213 points sightly edging Southwest Minnesota State University, who was picked to finish first in the south. NSU gathered eight first place votes while SMSU collected seven. St. Cloud State University junior guard Gage Davis was the North Division Preseason Player of the Year. SMSU junior guard Ryan Bruggeman was named the South Division Preseason Player of the Year.

THE LOW DOWN ON SCHALOW: Senior guard Kyle Schalow was named a player to watch for throughout the NSIC this season. Schalow was the lone Bulldog to start all 29 games in 2016-17. The Sherwood, Wis. product posted 7.5 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game and 2.8 assists per game and shot a team-best 88 percent from the charity stripe. His season average for assists per game ranked him 21st in the NSIC.

SPACE TO FILL IN THE MIDDLE: Charles Benson is the lone UMD player from the starting five not returning to the floor this season. Benson gave the Bulldogs a solid 17.6 minutes on the floor with 6.3 points per game and 3.8 rebounds a game. Benson ended the 2016-17 season as the Bulldogs most productive field goal shooter, dropping in buckets at a 55.7 percent clip. The Bulldogs will be relying on Robert Harris, Brandon Myer or a newcomer to fill the void.

NEW DOGS ON THE BLOCK: The Bulldogs bring in four freshmen (Jimmy Vollbrecht, Xavier Cummings, Adam Smith and Jake Paper) and a junior college transfer (Mamadou Ngom) to join the 2017-18 roster and the 13 returners from a season ago.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: Coach Bowen for the second straight season will have to direct a very youthful squad from the sidelines. Only two seniors (Robert Harris and Jake Wilson) are on the roster with a combined nine freshmen and sophomores. The five sophomores tallied an average of  minutes during their freshmen seasons.

BOWEN'S BITS: Entering his sixth season in 2017, head coach Matt Bowen looks to take the next step to bringing the University of Minnesota Duluth to the top of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Armed with a lineup of experienced underclassman and vital leaders, the Bulldogs are set to improve upon the 2016-17 season.

Bowen is no stranger to turning a program around, having taken a perennial Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference underdog in Bemidji State University to a championship level that has not been repeated since he left the program to take over as UMD head coach in the summer of 2012. Bowen, just the third head coach for the Bulldogs since the mid-1980's, succeeded Gary Holquist, who stepped down in April 2012 to take the role of UMD's Athletic Development Director.

Under Bowen, UMD produced its first NABC All-Region selection since 2008-09 in Brett Ervin ('15) during the 2014-15 season as well as NABC Honors Court selection Jake Harder ('16) that season and All-NSIC guard Jordan Reetz ('14) the previous year. Along with an influx of young talent, the future seems bright for the Bulldogs under Bowen's guidance.

Bowen completed his turnaround of Bemidji State in his sixth and most productive year with the program, guiding the Beavers to a school record 22-9 overall mark which included an NSIC regular season championship and the program's second NCAA II playoff berth in the team's 91-year history. In addition to receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll for the first-time ever, Bowen also produced the 2011-12 NSIC and NCAA II Player of the Year in James Ellisor. 

Prior to his appointment in Bemidji, Bowen spent 15 years on the staffs of three NCAA I institutions, working under the likes of Homer Drew (Valparaiso University), Gene Bartow (University of Alabama-Birmingham) and Bob Knight (Indiana University). 

A native of River Falls, Wisconsin, Bowen graduated from Indiana University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in health, physical education and recreation and earned a Master's degree in health education from Alabama-Birmingham four years later. His father, Rick, was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls from 1986-2006 and retired as that school's athletic director in 2010.

ON TAP: The Bulldogs return to the hardwood on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at Michigan Technological University for a mid-week non-conference matchup against the Huskies. Tip between UMD and MTU is set for 5:00 p.m.