As we get further into March, the big time conference tournaments will start to really ramp up. One conference tourney that may struggle to get attention is the Big Sky. This is not a conference loaded with NCAA Tournament hopefuls, and the team that makes it out of the conference tourney into the NCAA tourney will more than likely be bounced in the first round. That said, no conference deserves to be completely ignored, so let’s take a closer look at some of the teams and players from this conference.
The best regular season team in this conference is pretty clearly Montana State, who went 16-4 in conference and 24-7 overall. They go into the conference tourney as the one seed and the only team projected to make the NCAA tournament, which would be their first trip to the big dance since 1996. In recent years, the Big Sky is usually dominated by Montana and Weber State, with Eastern Washington and Montana State being the only other schools to play for a Big Sky Tournament title since 2016. This year, Montana and Weber State will battle in a 4/5 seed showdown in the first round.
Eastern Washington, who won the conference tournament and earned the automatic bid last season, has lost a lot of players from that championship winning team and struggled especially early this season. It will take an improbable run from the Eagles, who enter as the sixth seed, to be repeat champions.
The usual frontrunners in the conference historically, Montana and Weber state, both started the season very well and looked to be the formidable frontrunners they usually are. Webster State started the season 9-1 overall, and won their first three conference games. They then lost three games in a row and four out of six in December, then rattled off eight wins in a row. Then, the calendar turned to February. They lost six of their last eight games, all in-conference, including losses to Montana State, Eastern Washington, Southern Utah, and a bad loss to a bad Idaho squad.
You will see a similar story with Montana, who lost seven of their last 10 games once the calendar turned to February, including a terrible 23 point defeat by Idaho State, which was their 4th total win of the season to that point. Oh, they also lost to Idaho by six. By contrast, Montana State has only lost twice since the beginning of the new year, a total of 17 games.
Key Players: With the setup of this conference tournament covered, let’s take a closer look at some key players to key in on as the games in this tournament tip off.
Northern Arizona: Jalen Cone (18.8 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.6 APG) – Cone is a transfer from Virginia Tech, and he’s the second leading scorer in the entire conference. Cone is a bucket-making magician, able to create his own space and open looks. He shoots 35.5% from downtown, and even though the Lumberjacks may be a long shot to make the championship as the 11 seed, Cone does make this team dangerous if he can put together a great shooting night and start to take over offensively.
Northern Colorado: Daylen Kountz (20.9 PPG, 4 RPG, 2.6 APG) – Kountz is the Big Sky’s leading scorer, and he will certainly make the Bears a tough matchup for any team in this bracket. He is incredibly effective, as he shoots at a 50.9% FG rate and is a 39.5% 3-point shooter. He scored 33 points against Arizona earlier in the season, and will be a headache for whichever teams has to face him in this tournament.
Montana State: Jubrille Belo (13.5 PPG, 7 RPG, 1.9 BPG) – Montana State has very solid depth, and Belo is the teams leading rebounder and one of the top rebounders in the conference as a whole. Montana State has three players who average over 10 points a game, although their best player overall, Xavier Bishop, went off with a boot in the team’s win against Northern Colorado to end the season. Still, this team has depth and Belo may have to step up without Bishop in the lineup.
Southern Utah: John Knight lll (14.5 PPG, 4 RPG, 4.2 APG, 2.1 SPG), Maizen Fausett (12.1 PPG, 8.2 RPG): While I haven’t talked much about Southern Utah, they are deep and the #2 seed in the Tournament. Their leading scorer, Tevian Jones, may not be able to play in the tournament, but this is a team with good solid players around him. Knight is a talented shooter and facilitator for the offense, and shoots 52.5% from the field and leads the team in assists by a large margin. He will have to play well and step up even more in Tevian Jones’s absence. As for Fausett, the 6’ 6” forward leads the team and is fourth in the conference in rebounds.
Predictions
Ah yes, the part many of you have been waiting for. This is a hard conference tournament to predict, as when I previously covered the Big South Conference, it was pretty clear who the top 2 teams in the conference were. This conference has teams who are pretty equal in talent level, and there are some major injuries to take into account.
I actually predict the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks to beat Eastern Washington (purely because Cone could take over the game), but the most important first round matchup is Weber State vs. Montana. They both had struggles to end their season, and there is a solid likelihood either could beat Montana State in the second round. In the end, I have Weber State taking that game and shocking the #1 seed in a close game against Montana State, mainly because of the Xavier Bishop injury.
Championship Game: #4 Weber State vs #2 Southern Utah
In my Big South preview, I made the mistake of picking Winthrop, mainly because they had more experience in big games. Then, they lost by 21. In a similar situation, Weber State has much more conference and NCAA tournament experience. They have even had a couple incredible and historic tournament upsets, including defeating three seeded Michigan State in 1995 and three seeded North Carolina in 1999. But I won’t fall for it this time, as I like Southern Utah’s depth and think they are the better team overall. I’m going with Southern Utah to win their first ever Big Sky championship and potentially make it into their second ever NCAA tournament game, having last appeared in 2001.
Pick: Southern Utah 79, Weber State 73