PABLO - For the first time in school history, the Salish Kootenai College men's basketball team will play a NCAA Division I opponent. The Bison will face the Eastern Washington Eagles on Nov. 19 in Cheney, Wash.

"It will bring a lot of attention to our program," SKC men's basketball coach Zach Camel said. "It's a way to shine a light on the program."

Usually SKC, an independent school, tries to schedule the toughest colleges they can for their 30-game regular season schedule in order to get ready for the AIHEC National Championships.

"We probably play the toughest schedule out of any of the schools at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium," Camel said.

Generally a lot of schools call SKC looking to set up a game, Camel said, and Eastern Washington was no different, as they contacted SKC about the oppourtunity.

"We were fortunate that we had the weekend open," Camel said.

The Bison play a lot of schools from Washington and Idaho, but this is a great opportunity to face a high-caliber opponent like Eastern. The Eagles are a member of the Big Sky Conference, and have made the NCAA Tournament once in men's basketball, in 2003.

"This will be the biggest game of our program's history," Camel said.

The Bison have won five out of the last six AIHEC national championships and recently helped form a basketball league for tribal colleges that will begin play in November. Carmel said the game will be a good recruiting tool as well.

In the future, SKC would like to play another Big Sky Conference member, the University of Montana.

"There's been conversations with the University of Montana," he said. "I don't know why we dont have an annual game with them."

Camel said that a lot of students from SKC transfer to UM, it's only an hour down the road and he's even an UM alumni.

"There's a lot of connections," he said. "There would be a lot of fans from both schools."

Practice starts for the Bison on Sept. 17.

Lady Bison release schedule for 2011-2012

The SKC Lady Bison have released their schedule for the upcoming regular season.

They will play eight home games and eleven away games. SKC will open up the season on Nov. 11 against the University of Great Falls JV team, in Great Falls. Their home opener will be on Nov. 12 as the Lady Bison will host the University of Montana-Western JV team.

The regular season will conclude with a tournament in College Place, Wash., on Feb. 12-19.

The Lady Bison have won three of the last four AIHEC national championships.