Common small-talk debate at the local Fargo bars centers around the North Dakota State football team moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Everyone has their own opinion about the topic, but I’m not here to break down all the scenarios for the Bison football team to make the leap.

I am here to make you choke on that Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse hot dog. NDSU’s women’s basketball team should consider moving back to the Division II level.

Before you try to strangle me through your computer screen, let’s just take a little journey down statistics lane.

In the last five years the NDSU women’s basketball team has recorded 45 wins. That includes the seven wins the Bison have under its belt this season.

The Bison have been at the Division I level for eight seasons, and have only had two seasons above the .500 mark, with an overall winning percentage sitting at 0.386.

And the conference tournament hasn’t been kind to the team either.

NDSU hasn’t won a Summit League Tournament game since the 2008-2009 season but has managed to lose seven straight tournament games — and that number could move to eight after this season.

However, there is hope. Last November seven national letters of intent were signed. Seven freshmen will be added to NDSU’s roster next season.

“I’ve got hope (that) this class will elevate our program,” head coach Maren Walseth said at the press conference a few months ago. “This class has an opportunity to be a class to be remembered.”

But even with those incoming student-athletes, this team is going to be too young to compete in the Summit League and at the Division I level.

First off, the Bison will lose its leading scorer in Marena Whittle after this season is over, leaving just four seniors on next year’s roster. Two of those to-be seniors are averaging two points or less this season.

Incoming talent is great, especially for this program, but letting freshmen run wild and free on the basketball court trying to compete with the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State isn’t who the Bison should be playing.

Moving down a level in competition may show weakness, but it’s better for the program’s future.

Heck, the Bison played two Division II teams this season winning one and losing one, and also lost to a Division II team transitioning to Division I.

But the reasons for moving down the competition ladder aren’t just those above. It’s the losing streaks; it’s the average of nine wins a season; it’s the blowouts losses to the South Dakota schools and the early Summit League Tournament exits.

A few years ago Matt Brown of Sports Blog Nation wrote an article about college basketball teams that made the mistake of moving up to the Division I level.

Brown laid out six variables to look at when evaluating a basketball program. Proximity to other Division I schools, proximity to recruits, conference affiliation and stability, budgets, athletic success and attendance, were the six variables.

It certainly can’t cost as much if a NDSU athletic team takes a step backwards, but there may be stipulations that if one athletic program is Division I at the university than all the other sports must be as well. I was unable verify this.

Almost ever other sport at NDSU is competing within its conference except the women’s basketball team.

The move is highly unlikely but when 450 fans on averaging are showing up inside a building that holds just over 1,200, it may be time to explore other options, even if it takes some time.

The move is better in the long run, even though it seems like shocking idea right now.

When your shoelaces don’t work, get velcro. When you can’t compete on the basketball court, it’s time to evaluate where the program is at among other schools.