The UMD men's basketball team (3-1) landed at No. 14 in the first NABC Division II Coaches Poll of the regular season, which was released on Tuesday. The Bulldogs were at No. 7 in the NABC's Preseason Poll. 

Besides UMD, there is only one other NSIC squad in the top 25, Minnesota State making the rankings at No. 21. However, there's heavy representation from the Central Region in which the Bulldogs reside. For example, top-seeded Northwest Missouri State, which received all but one first-place vote, is a Central Region squad. Excluding that team and UMD, three other Central Region schools made the top 25 (Minnesota State at No. 21, Southern Nazarene at No. 16 and Central Oklahoma at No. 8) . Five others still received votes (MSU Moorhead, Winona State, Emporia State, East Central and Wayne State). 

This past weekend, UMD traveled to Aberdeen, S.D. to take part in the inaugural Small College Basketball Champions Classic. There, the Bulldogs faced off against Point Loma and Ferris State, two teams that had received votes in the NABC Preseason Poll. UMD went 1-1 on the weekend, defeating reigning PacWest Champion Point Loma 89-85 in overtime on Friday before dropping a 71-64 contest to Ferris State on Saturday. 

The Bulldogs will continue their season on Tuesday, Nov. 22 with a road contest against NSIC foe St. Cloud State at 5:30 p.m. This weekend, UMD will host both Michigan Tech (Saturday, Nov. 26 at 1 p.m.) amd Northern Michigan (Sunday, Nov. 27 at 1 p.m.) in Romano.