Home and conference openers await men's basketball

Week 4: Colorado State, at Montana State and Montana
Northern Colorado notes | Big Sky Conference notes | Colorado State notes

GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado (6-0) will finally get to play before its home fans on Tuesday, Dec. 1, when instate-rival Colorado State (4-2) comes calling at 7:05 p.m. inside Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion. The Bears will then begin conference play on Friday and Saturday, against Montana State (2-3) and Montana (4-2).

NORTHERN COLORADO BASKETBALL 'DID YOU KNOW?'

• Northern Colorado coach Tad Boyle is in his fourth season with the Bears and holds a 37-58 record.

• The Bears began their transition to the NCAA Division I level in 2003-04 and were postseason eligible for the first time in 2007-08.
  

• Northern Colorado is off to a 6-0 start to a season for the first time since the 1963-64 campaign and third time overall (1930-31) since it began playing collegiate basketball in 1901.

• The Bears started 7-0 in both 1964 and 1931 but then lost their eighth contest. A win Tuesday and Friday night would be historic.
  

• Northern Colorado just completed an undefeated November (6-0) for just the fourth time in program history. The Bears previously were perfect in November in 1984 (4-0), 1978 (1-0) and 1976 (1-0). So, the Bears have been undefeated on Dec. 1 just four times since 1901.

• Northern Colorado received 112 points and the #23 national ranking in this week’s CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll after debuting at #25 last week, marking the Bears’ first apperance in aNCAA Division I national poll.

• The Bears are 6-0 in road or neutral contests this season after finishing 4-14 in those games last season.

• The Bears are one of just 15 college basketball teams (out of 346) in the nation that didn’t play a home game in November. Northern Colorado, which has its home opener Tuesday, Dec. 1, against Colorado State, is the only one of those 15 teams to be undefeated.

• NC’s Dec. 1 home opener is its latest since 1990, when the Bears defeated Doane College 101-92 on Dec. 1.

• Northern Colorado will start its 2009-10 Big Sky Conference schedule on Friday night, Dec. 4, with a game against Montana State. That will be the earliest a Bears team has ever started a conference season. The previous earliest mark came on Dec. 8, 2001.

• Northern Colorado is 36-65 all-time against Colorado State. The Bears are 24-25 against the Rams in Greeley.

• The Bears are 14-31 all-time against Montana State, after spending time as RMAC rivals. NC is 3-3 against the Bobcats in the Big Sky.

• Northern Colorado is 3-8 all-time against Montana and 1-5 against the Grizzlies in Big Sky games. The Bears got their first win against Montana last season (67-57) since 1977-78.