It was just a few months ago that the Big Sky Conference basketball tournaments wrapped up in Boise, but hoops took the spotlight again on Thursday with the release of full conference schedules for the upcoming season. Here’s 10 games — five each on the men’s and women’s side — that Skyline Sports is looking forward to this winter.
MEN’S
The Championship Preview
Weber State at Montana State, Jan. 14
The Bobcats went 27-8 and claimed both the Big Sky regular-season and tournament titles in a historic year. Star point guard Xavier Bishop, along with Abdul Mohamed and Amin Adamu, are gone, but MSU returns league MVP Jubrile Belo and Top Reserve RaeQuan Battle, along with key role players Nick Gazelas, Tyler Patterson and Great Osobor. Danny Sprinkle, one of the hottest young coaches in the West, added transfers Caleb Fuller, Darius Brown II and Robert Ford III to that core, which should make the Bobcats preseason favorites to repeat. Their only home loss last year came 85-75 to Weber State on Dec. 30. This year, the rematch comes a couple weeks later in the calendar. The Wildcats, consistent contenders, posted another 20-win season in 2021-22 but fell to Montana State in the tournament semifinals and replaced stalwart head coach Randy Rahe with longtime assistant Eric Duft in May. They’ll still return plenty of talent, led by former conference Freshman of the Year Dillon Jones and transfers from San Diego State (Keith Dinwiddie Jr.), Southern Illinois (Steven Verplancken Jr.) and Tennessee (Handje Tamba).
The Superstar Showcase
Eastern Washington at Northern Colorado, Jan. 19
After flirting with going pro, Daylen Kountz withdrew his name from the NBA Draft in early June to return for his senior year at Northern Colorado. The former Colorado transfer led the Big Sky in scoring a year ago with 21.2 points per game, leading the Bears to a tournament championship game appearance. A smooth three-level scorer, Kountz is comfortable with the ball in his hands and can score from behind the arc (59 made 3s in 2021-22 on 42.1 percent shooting) or using his athleticism at the rim.
Midway through Northern Colorado’s conference schedule, he’ll take on Eastern Washington and Steele Venters, the best off-the-ball weapon in the league. As a redshirt sophomore, Venters averaged 16.7 points per game, running through a maze of screens to shoot 43.5 percent from 3-point range, the top percentage among qualified shooters in the Big Sky.
The Rivalry
Montana State at Montana, Jan. 21
Montana State hit a surprising roadblock late in the regular season on Feb. 27, trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half of an 80-74 loss to Montana. In a topsy-turvy year, the Griz finished fifth in the conference and lost to Weber State in their first game at the conference tournament, but for one day in front of a baying Dahlberg Arena crowd, they outmatched the league’s best team. In fact, Montana went 14-3 at home in 2021-22, a mark only bettered by the Bobcats. With all-conference power forward Josh Bannan and lockdown guard Brandon Whitney returning, joined by Colorado State transfer Dischon Thomas, the Griz hope to enjoy more consistent success. This year’s home edition of the Brawl of the Wild, an important event no matter the occasion, gives them an early opportunity to make a statement.
Questions Answered
Northern Arizona at Sacramento State, Jan. 14
Sacramento State moved on from interim head coach Brandon Laird after one year and took a big swing to replace him, hiring David Patrick away from his assistant job at Oklahoma. Patrick was a scout for the Houston Rockets early in the 2010s and has stops as an assistant at LSU, TCU, Arkansas and the Australian national team, among others, recruiting several NBA players including Ben Simmons, Desmond Bane and Patty Mills. Patrick immediately brought his recruiting bona fides to bear, securing reported commitments from a bevy of transfers including Akol Mawein (Oklahoma), Isaiah Lee (UC Irvine), Gianni Hunt (Oregon State) and 7-1 center Callum McRae (UC Riverside). They’ll join Zach Chappell, the team’s second-leading scorer from a year ago — but besides Chappell, it’s impossible to guess how the rest of the nearly completely new roster will translate to the Big Sky. Northern Arizona, meanwhile, returns sharpshooting point guard Jalen Cone, the second-leading returning scorer in the Big Sky at 18.8 points per game, plus versatile forwards Nik Mains, Keith Haymon and Carson Towt — their top four scorers, but for a team that finished 5-15, dead last in the conference. It’s yet to be seen whether that experience will translate into improvement.
Pure Fun
Northern Colorado at Portland State, Jan. 14
For the most aggressively average team in the league a year ago — 10-10 with a scoring margin of 0.2 points per game in Big Sky play — the Vikings gained a cult following in Boise, winning their first two games at the conference tournament including an upset of No. 2 seed Southern Utah. First-year head coach Jase Coburn was a show unto himself on the sidelines, and the Vikings copied their animated leader’s energy with a swarming, pressing style that was overwhelming enough to get them into the conference semifinals. Despite losing primo athlete Khalid Thomas and plenty of other contributors — their top eight scorers, in all, won’t be back next year — it’s a good bet they won’t play any less hard. Two weeks into the new year, they’ll get a chance to avenge that semifinal loss against Northern Colorado, which attempted by far the most 3s of any team in the conference and had the Big Sky’s best offense — and its second-worst defense. Cue fireworks.
WOMEN’S
The Championship Preview
Montana State at Montana, Jan. 21
The screams of everybody who doesn’t live in Montana can be heard all the way up in Missoula. But in a year without a clear second contender behind Montana State, their in-state rivals have the highest ceiling as a possible threat to the Bobcats. The Lady Griz damn near got to 20 wins in head coach Brian Holsinger’s first year and handed conference tournament winners Montana State a 71-57 loss in Dahlberg Arena. That was the Bobcats’ biggest Big Sky setback of the season, but Montana also suffered inexplicable late losses to Northern Arizona, Idaho and Northern Colorado, and got blown out by 18 points by NAU in its first conference tournament game. In Holsinger’s second year, the Lady Griz replace point guard Sophia Stiles with Idaho’s multiple-time all-conference star Gina Marxen — possibly an upgrade, and at the very least not a downgrade after what could have been a crushing loss when Stiles transferred to Florida Gulf Coast. Marxen plus experienced scorers Sammy Fatkin and Carmen Gfeller and another year of development from young forwards Haley Huard and Dani Bartsch gives the Lady Griz a very dangerous core — if everything clicks in a way it didn’t quite last year.
The Superstar Showcase
Sacramento State at Montana State, Jan. 28
The two most dominant players in the conference have a strikingly similar magnetic attraction given how different their styles are from each other. Ironically, both Darian White, Montana State’s Mercury-fast 5-foot-6 point guard, and Isnelle Natabou, Sac State’s unstoppable 6-foot-5 center, were overshadowed last year by Hornets point guard Lianna Tillman, who beat out White for the regular-season MVP award and held Natabou to under 10 shots per game. The freshman transfer from Iowa Western still averaged 14.7 points per game and led the Big Sky in rebounds (10.9 per game). White was second in scoring with 15.6 points per game – second to Tillman – first in steals and third in assists, and easily won the tournament MVP as the Bobcats rolled to an NCAA Tournament berth. With Tillman gone, White enters the season as the clear frontrunner for MVP, but if fully unleashed, Natabou has the chance to put up historic statlines on the regular.
The Rivalry
Idaho at Idaho State, Jan. 28
Bengals vs. Vandals, the best rivalry in the league the last couple years, will lose some shine in 2022-23. Idaho State returns only leather-tough Australian Callie Bourne from the spine of a team that won back-to-back regular-season conference titles. Idaho returns all-conference forward Beyonce Bea, but was brutally inconsistent last year with young guard Sydney Gandy replacing Marxen at the point. The Vandals are closer, but neither are likely to contend for the conference title. There’s still enough fun stuff here — the rivalry between Idaho’s Jon Newlee and Idaho State’s Seton Sobolewski, two of the three longest-tenured head coaches in the conference; the clash of styles between Newlee’s free-shooting Vandals and Sobolewski’s physical, grinding Bengals; the open question of who can step up as running mates for Bourne and Bea — to make it worth watching anyway.
Questions Answered
Northern Colorado at Eastern Washington, Jan. 19
Eastern Washington stumbled to a 7-13 conference record but brings back two of the top 10 scorers in the league, sophomore Jaydia Martin (15.2) and junior Jacinta Buckley (12.9, plus 8.5 rebounds, fourth in the league). The Eagles have a long way to go, but having two players of that caliber is a good start. Going into her second season as head coach, Joddie Gleason has also added former Arizona State sharpshooter Jamie Loera. Northern Colorado finished 9-11 in conference play a year ago but upset No. 1 seed Idaho State in the conference tournament and could return Hannah Simental (14.9 points per game, 42.3 percent 3-point shooting) and low-post matchup nightmare Kurstyn Harden (12.4 points, 7.8 rebounds). Both have a chance to rise out of the uncertain, muddled middle of the conference behind Montana State.
Pure Fun
Northern Arizona at Idaho, Jan. 19
Northern Arizona was the highest-scoring team in the Big Sky a year ago, and despite losing plenty of talent in Khiarica Rasheed, Nina Radford and Lauren Orndoff, the Lumberjacks should be right up there again with point guard Regan Schenck, now a senior and one of the best in the Big Sky, running the show. Loree Payne’s team, fresh off its first conference title game appearance, also returns stretch forward Emily Rodabaugh and poached long-range shooter Montana Oltrogge from the wreckage of Idaho State’s great title teams. Idaho, unsurprisingly for a team that shot by far the most 3-pointers in the league at just a 31.4 percent clip, is capable of being on either end of some wild scorelines depending on which way shots are falling that night. In a four-game stretch a year ago, the Vandals scored over 80 points in wins over Southern Utah and Weber State, went over 80 points for a third time but still lost against Montana State, and gave up 103 to Idaho State. Both Idaho and Northern Arizona were in the top four on offense in the Big Sky a year ago — and in the bottom three on defense.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
