THIS WEEK: Minot State plays three games in four days as the Beavers travel to Valley City State Thursday and Jamestown College Friday for the Dakota Athletic Conference opener, before returning home for a nonconference game against Brandon University (Manitoba) Sunday. Game times for the conference matchups are 7:30 p.m. both nights and 6 p.m. for the Brandon game.

RECORDS: The Beavers come into the week's games 2-4 overall and 0-0 in DAC play. Valley City State has a 3-6 (0-0) record to start the season. Jamestown College is 5-2 (0-0) so far this year. Brandon is 4-6 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's head coach is Peter Stewart, who is in his first season with MSU. Stewart's record is 2 wins and 4 losses overall with the Beavers. Jeff Kaminsky is in his fourth season at VCSU and has a 66-60 record with the Vikings and a 335-295 record overall. Matt Murkin is 5-2 overall in his first season as the Jimmies head coach. Brandon's head coach is Gil Cheung, who is in his first season with the team.

RANKINGS: MSU was not ranked in the latest NAIA Division II Coaches' Top 25 Poll. VCSU is also unranked in the latest poll, while Jamestown College comes in at No. 22.

RECENT HISTORY: The Beavers fell 70-51 to Montana-Western in its only game last week. VCSU was topped 88-59 by NCAA Division II Upper Iowa Saturday in its only contest. JC fell 75-60 in exhibition play to NCAA Division II Bemidji State Monday. Brandon earned a split of two Canada West games at the University of Manitoba, falling 88-78 in the first game before rebounding for an 88-84 win.

LAST SEASON: MSU split with Valley City State, winning 92-67 at home before falling 83-74 in Valley City. MSU had trouble with the Jimmies as Minot State lost all three times, including a 70-64 defeat in the first round of the Dakota Athletic Conference Tournament. The Beavers and Bobcats did not play last season.

OVERALL SERIES: The Beavers have a slight edge against Valley City State 39-37 since 1977 and trail Jamestown College 45-34 since 1978. MSU is just 8-21 against Brandon all time dating back to 1982.

NOTING THE VIKINGS:  Valley City State's Calvin Kraft has been tough to stop so far this season as he is averaging a team-best 18.6 points per game, while ranking second in the country in 3-pointers made at 38. Kraft is also No. 3 in 3s made per game at 4.22 and 43rd in points per game… The Vikings have punished their opposition from the foul line as they have hit 74.4 percent of their free throws… VCSU has won and lost games in bunches this season. The Vikings lost four straight to start the season, then won three straight and now are on a two-game losing streak.

NOTING THE JIMMIES: Jamestown College has been the toughest team in the Dakota Athletic Conference to make 3s on as the Jimmies have held their opponents to just 28 percent shooting from beyond the arc … C.J. Peters, the Jimmies leading scorer at 15.3 ppg., is knocking down 51.7 percent of his 3-pointers to be ranked nationally in the category (11th)… JC has done a good job holding on to the ball, averaging just 13.7 turnovers per game.

NOTING THE BOBCATS: Brandon University has given up a lot of points so far this season as they have allowed over 80 points in seven of 10 games. Brandon has won just two of those games… BU has four players averaging at least 10 points led by O'Brian Wallace's 18.5 average. Kyle Vince is scoring 12.9 per game, Kyrie Coleman 10.5 and Isaiah James 10.1… Wallace and Vince have hit 41 combined 3-pointers, making 41 of the team's 55 overall.

BLOCK PARTY 2010-11 EDITION: Minot State junior forward Kelvin Fraser (Brooklyn, N.Y.) has picked up right where former Beaver Shawn Johnson left off and that's leading the conference in blocked shots. Fraser ranks third in the country in blocks per game at 3.17 and fifth in total blocks at 19. Fraser is part of the reason the Beavers are fifth in the NAIA in blocks per game overall.

STRONG START: Beavers junior guard Anthony Enriquez (Tacoma, Wash.) leads the team in scoring with a 14.3 average and is second in the Dakota Athletic Conference in field goal percentage at 57.9. Enriquez has a team-high 29-point game so far this season.

SHOOTING WOES: MSU ranks last in the conference in both field goal percentage (40.5) and 3-point field goal percentage (30.5) so far this season. The shooting percentage has led to the Beavers problems scoring as MSU ranks second to last in points-per-game at 71.67.

GUARD DUTY: Minot State's top four scoring averages come from the Beavers backcourt foursome of Anthony Enriquez, Kal Bay (Sr., Chandler, Ariz.), Jason West (Sr., Lompoc, Calif.) and Jonas Pollard (Jr., Mesa, Ariz.). Enriquez (14.3), Bay (11.8) and West (11.0) all are averaging in double figures.