Editor’s Note: This year of 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of Skyline Sports. In celebration, Colter & Brooks Nuanez along with Andrew Houghton will compile a variety of Top 10 lists of players, teams, coaches and moments from the last decade throughout the Big Sky Conference.
No. 10 – 2018 Idaho
Record: 22-9 (14-4 Big Sky), point differential of 6.4
Honors: 1x Big Sky first team (Brayon Blake), 1x Big Sky second team (Vic Sanders)
Strengths: 3-point shooting, swagger, confidence, edge
Weaknesses: Forcing turnovers, getting to the free-throw line
Cast and crew: Vic Sanders, Brayon Blake (superstars); Perrion Callendret, Nate Sherwood (wingmen); Arkadiy Mkrtychyan, Jordan Scott, Chad Sherwood, Trevon Allen (role players)
Standout wins: vs. Washington State, 91-64; at Western Michigan, 82-52; at Eastern Washington, 58-51; vs. Montana, 79-77 (OT); at Weber State, 68-62
Big Sky Tournament: lost 92-78 to No. 10 Southern Utah
NCAA Tournament: N/A
Signature moment: They spanked Palouse rival Washington State 91-64 early in the season, holding future NBAer Malachi Flynn to nine points while BJ Blake poured in 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds. But their best win came a few games before the end of the regular season, when they exactly matched that year’s juggernaut Montana team with 35 points in the first half and 36 in the second before outsourcing the Griz 8-6 in overtime for a 79-77 win. Blake went for 27 and 11, Vic Sanders poured in 21 points, and Chad Sherwood handed out eight assists without scoring or turning the ball over. It was one of two times the Griz lost to a Big Sky team all year.
Year after: All five starters – Blake, Sanders, Perrion Callandret, Jordan Scott and Nate Sherwood – left, as did Chad Sherwood and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan. Altogether, the Vandals lost their top seven returning scorers and cratered to 5-27 with two Big Sky wins, sounding the death knell for Don Verlin’s tenure in Moscow.
Why they’re here: Sure, they finished second in the league and didn’t win a conference tournament game. They also finished second during perhaps the toughest, top to bottom, league of the Skyline era. That year’s Montana team, which won both titles, finished (spoiler alert) very high up on this list. Weber State with peak Jerrick Harding finished third, and Big Sky MVP Bogdan Bliznyuk could only drag Eastern Washington into a tie with the Wildcats. Hell, Northern Colorado with peak Andre Spight and emerging Jordan Davis – a team that beat South Dakota and Wyoming in the non-conference – only finished *fifth*. In that context, going 14-4 in conference, beating the Griz the only time they played and doing it all with Sanders and Blake being a peak 1-2 punch gets you on this list.
No. 9- 2020 Eastern Washington
Record: 23-8 (16-4 Big Sky), point differential of 8.0
Honors: Big Sky MVP (Mason Peatling), Big Sky Coach of the Year (Shantay Legans), 1x Big Sky first team (Peatling), 1x Big Sky second team (Jacob Davison), 1x Big Sky third team (Kim Aiken Jr.)
Strengths: Toughness, coaching, pace, depth
Weaknesses: Free-throw shooting
Cast and crew: Mason Peatling, Jacob Davison (stars); Kim Aiken (super wingman); Casson Rouse, Ellis Magnuson, Jack Perry, Tanner Groves (role players)
Standout wins: at Seattle, 74-66; at Weber State, 79-77; at Montana State, 71-58; at Southern Utah, 69-51
Big Sky Tournament: Cancelled
NCAA Tournament: Cancelled
Signature moment: After a 74-71 home loss to a bad Idaho team on February 13 – their worst loss of the Big Sky season – the Eagles fell to 16-8 overall, although they were still in Big Sky contention at 9-4 in conference play. They won 89-81 at Portland State to right the ship, then eked out a 77-76 win against Sac State in Cheney. After that, they were rolling – seven straight wins to close the regular season, including a 100-77 demolition of Idaho State – to clinch the regular-season title before the COVID pandemic canceled the Big Sky tournament.
Year after: Eastern went 16-8 and tied for the league title with Southern Utah & Weber State the following pandemic-impacted year, winning the conference tournament and taking Kansas to the wire in the first round of the NCAAs. That team shows up later on this list.
Why they’re here: Like the 2019-20 Montana State women, this team takes an unfortunate hit on their resume because they were unable to defend their regular-season title in the conference tournament. Still, by closing the regular season on that seven-game unbeaten run, they had clearly established themselves as the favorites going in. Peatling and Aiken were bruisers who didn’t back down from anybody, but they won with skill as much as toughness. Peatling was an underrated passer, everybody in the rotation except point guard Ellis Magnuson could shoot and they averaged over 80 points a game.
No. 8 – 2022 Montana State
Record: 27-8 (16-4 Big Sky), point differential of 7.2
Honors: Big Sky MVP (Jubrile Belo); Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year (Belo), Big Sky Top Reserve (RaeQuan Battle); Big Sky Coach of the Year (Danny Sprinkle); Big Sky Tournament MVP (Xavier Bishop); 2x Big Sky first team (Belo, Bishop); 1x Big Sky honorable mention (Amin Adamu)
Strengths: Size, depth, versatility, shooting, coaching
Weaknesses: Rebounding
Cast and crew: Xavier Bishop, Jubrile Belo (stars); Amin Adamu (wingman); RaeQuan Battle, Great Osobor (future stars); Abdul Mohamed, Tyler Patterson, Nick Gazelas (role players)
Standout wins: at North Dakota State, 69-49; at St. Thomas, 72-65; vs. Montana, 66-59; vs. Eastern Washington, 69-65; at Weber State, 78-57; at Southern Utah, 76-71; vs. Northern Colorado, 87-85
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 8 Sac State, 83-61; beat No. 4 Weber State, 69-66; beat No. 3 Northern Colorado, 87-66; total point differential of 239-193 (15.3 points per game)
NCAA Tournament: Lost 97-62 to No. 12 Texas Tech in San Diego.
Signature moment: After losing at Montana on February 20, the Bobcats closed the regular season with three straight home games. After wins over Southern Utah and Sacramento State, the regular season finale against Northern Colorado came down to the final seconds. Montana State led by four with 22 seconds after a Nick Gazelas 3-pointer, but Daylen Kountz, who finished with 26 for Northern Colorado, made a layup. Still down by two, the Bears came up with a steal that led to a Bodie Hume 3-pointer with just four seconds to go. Staring at a brutal loss heading into the conference tournament, the ‘Cats had one more answer left, and RaeQuan Battle’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave them an unlikely 87-85 win. Exactly a week later, they matched up with the Bears again in the conference title game and did away with the drama, putting together a comprehensive performance in an 87-66 win that sent them to March Madness.
Year after: Belo and Bishop left, but Battle and Osobor turned into all-conference players, the Bobcats reloaded with a few key transfers and they won the Big Sky tournament for the second year in a row. That team appears higher on this list.
Why they’re here: Although he stayed in Bozeman for another year, it was obvious by the end of this season that Danny Sprinkle would be heading down the trail to something bigger before too long. The Bobcats’ march to the league title was a triumph of talent and coaching as Sprinkle managed the minutes of league MVP Jubrile Belo, got an exceptional final year from quicksilver transfer point guard Xavier Bishop and kept future stars RaeQuan Battle and Great Osobor – perhaps the two most obviously talented players on the roster – happy coming off the bench. The result was an obnoxiously deep roster and an accomplished season that ended with a dominant Big Sky tournament run.
No. 7 – 2021 Eastern Washington
Record: 16-8, (12-3 Big Sky), point differential of 7.9
Honors: Big Sky MVP (Tanner Groves); Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year (Kim Aiken Jr.); Big Sky Top Reserve (Tyler Robertson); Big Sky Tournament MVP (T. Groves); 2x Big Sky first team (T. Groves, Aiken); 2x Big Sky all-tournament team (T. Groves, Jacob Groves)
Strengths: Free-throw shooting, defensive rebounding, Tanner Groves being a brutal matchup
Weaknesses: Offensive rebounding, turnovers
Cast and crew: Tanner Groves (superstar); Kim Aiken Jr., Tyler Robertson, Michael Meadows (wingmen); Jacob Davison, Jacob Groves, Jack Perry, Ellis Magnuson (role players)
Standout wins: vs. Southern Utah, 75-63; vs. and at Montana by identical scores, 90-76
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 10 Northern Arizona, 66-60; beat No. 6 Montana, 78-50; beat No. 4 Montana State, 65-55; total point differential of 209-165 (14.7 points per game)
NCAA Tournament: Against No. 3 Kansas in Indianapolis, the Eagles led 46-38 at halftime and held the lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half. But a grinding Kansas run slowly erased the lead, and a DaJuan Harris 3-pointer with 9:48 to go gave the Jayhawks the lead before the favorites closed out a 93-84 win.
Signature moment: That Kansas game was the signature moment, as the Eagles grabbed the attention of the nation for nearly 40 full minutes during the first and only single-location March Madness tournament. Tanner Groves stamped his Big Sky MVP award with 35 points, and his brother Jacob added 23 and nine rebounds as the Groves brothers and their lumberjack beards fleetingly became minor national celebrities.
Year after: Head coach Shantay Legans left for Portland, taking Meadows, Robertson and Perry with him to play for the Pilots. The Groves brothers transferred to Oklahoma and Aiken transferred to Arizona, leaving David Riley with an almost completely bare roster. The first-year coach still got the Eagles over .500 at 19-18, setting the stage for their back-to-back regular-season conference titles the last two years.
Why they’re here: In a weird, truncated, COVID-influenced season, Eastern Washington didn’t dominate all year. The Eagles finished a half-game behind Southern Utah in the conference standings, were tied with Weber State and had a worse overall record than either. But their resume masked a brutal non-conference schedule – EWU lost by five or fewer points to Washington State, Arizona and St. Mary’s – and set them up for an easy run through the conference tournament. Even before they put up the most credible and competitive NCAA Tournament performance by a Big Sky team in the decade, it was clear they were the best team in the conference that year. The Kansas game only cemented their spot on this list.
No. 6 – 2017 North Dakota
Record: 22-10 (14-4 Big Sky); point differential of 6.9
Honors: Big Sky Coach of the Year (Brian Jones); Big Sky Top Reserve (Cortez Seales); Big Sky Tournament MVP (Quinton Hooker); 1x Big Sky first team (Hooker); 1x Big Sky second team (Geno Crandall); 2x Big Sky all-tournament team (Hooker, Corey Baldwin)
Strengths: Transition offense, secondary fast break, shooting
Weaknesses: Protecting the rim, depth
Cast and crew: Quinton Hooker, Geno Crandall (superstars); Corey Baldwin, Drick Bernstine (wingmen); Conner Avants, Cortez Seales, Carson Shanks (role players)
Standout wins: vs. Cal State Bakersfield, 57-55; at North Dakota State, 74-56; swept Weber State, 83-77 and 77-68; vs. Eastern Washington, 95-86
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 8 Portland State, 95-72; beat No. 4 Idaho, 69-64; beat No. 3 Weber State, 93-89 (OT); total point differential of 257-225 (10.7 points per game)
NCAA Tournament: 15-seed; lost 100-82 to No. 2 Arizona in Salt Lake City. Hooker had 25, Bernstine had 20 and 15 (against Lauri Markannen, no less)
Signature moment: The Fighting Hawks trailed by double digits in both the first and second halves of the conference title game against Jeremy Senglin’s Weber State, and were still down by six with under a minute to go. Two buckets by Quinton Hooker and a layup by Geno Crandall tied it with under 10 seconds to play, sending UND to overtime against the team that had knocked them out in each of the previous three conference tournaments. This time it was different, as Hooker and Crandall combined for 10 of North Dakota’s 12 points in OT and each made a pair of crucial free throws in the final minute to send the Fighting Hawks to the Dance.
Year after: The next year was North Dakota’s last in the Big Sky. Crandall came back and averaged 17 points a game, but without Hooker, the Fighting Hawks fell to 12-20 overall.
Why they’re here: A year before leaving the Big Sky, North Dakota put together a season to remember and a resume that absolutely stuffed the Fighting Hawks on this list. Good record and point differential in a competitive year? Check. A star who could measure up against anybody in the last decade? Quinton Hooker, check. A great conference tournament run? Check (beating senior Jeremy Senglin and freshman Jerrick Harding in the title game is as good a scalp as anyone has ever claimed on that stage).
They had an identity in their fast-paced offensive running, plenty of talent around Hooker and even a credible NCAA Tournament performance, forcing Allonzo Trier and Markannen’s Arizona Wildcats to give up on defense and just go for triple digits. I’m not sure they could be any lower on this list, and they have an argument for at least a few spots higher.
No. 5 – 2016 Weber State
Record: 26-9 (15-3 Big Sky); point differential of 9.1
Honors: Big Sky MVP (Joel Bolomboy); Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year (Bolomboy); Big Sky Top Reserve (Kyndahl Hill); Big Sky Tournament MVP (Jeremy Senglin); 2x first team all-Big Sky (Bolomboy, Senglin); 2x Big Sky all-tournament team (Bolomboy, Senglin)
Strengths: Rebounding, rim protection, offensive efficiency, basically all the things you’d assume a team with an NBA center would be good at
Weaknesses: Forcing turnovers
Cast and crew: Joel Bolomboy, Jeremy Senglin (superstars); Kyndahl Hill, Zach Braxton (wingmen); Ryan Richardson, McKay Cannon, Cody John, Dusty Baker, Richaud Gittens (role players)
Standout wins: vs. Central Michigan, 63-60; vs. South Dakota State, 99-95; vs. Montana, 60-54
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 8 Portland State, 78-74; beat No. 5 North Dakota, 83-78 (OT); beat No. 2 Montana, 62-59; total point differential of 223-211 (4.0 points per game)
NCAA Tournament: No. 15 seed; lost 71-53 to Xavier in St. Louis
Signature moment: In the semis of the Big Sky tournament, the Wildcats matched up with a North Dakota team they’d knocked out each of the previous two seasons. What ensued was an all-time classic. The score was tied 30-30 at halftime, and neither team led by more than five in the second half. With 12 seconds left in regulation and Weber down three, Jeremy Senglin drilled a 3-pointer to send it to overtime. He canned another triple in the first minute of the extra period to put the Wildcats ahead, and then another with just under a minute left to put Weber up six and all but seal the game. That capped a torrential scoring duel with North Dakota’s Quinton Hooker, who had 38 points and made all 14 of his free throws. Senglin had 31. Joel Bolomboy had 17 points and 19 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Year after: Bolomboy was a second-round NBA Draft pick. Senglin returned for his senior year and became Weber’s all-time leading scorer. The Wildcats finished 20-14 and went all the way to overtime in the conference title game against the North Dakota team they’d knocked out the year before, but this time Hooker, Geno Grandall and the Fighting Hawks prevailed.
Why they’re here: Given that Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis had been retired from football for 70 years by 2016, it might have been appropriate to re-bestow their “Mr. Inside” and “Mr. Outside” nicknames on Bolomboy and Senglin. More than their considerable talents, it was their fit that made the Wildcats so devastating. Bolomboy was the best interior defense/rebounding big man of the last decade, bar none. Senglin, who shot 43.3% from 3 that year on seven attempts a game, is on a very short list of the best perimeter scorers in that time frame. The combination of the two, plus the experienced Kyndahl Hill – all three were from Texas – and a young Zach Braxton made Weber State very hard to stop at both ends of the court. Their Big Sky Tournament run wasn’t as dominant on the scoreboard as some others, but the Wildcats had to go through North Dakota – which won the conference title the year after – and Martin Breunig’s Montana, so it’s difficult to turn that into a negative given who they played.
No. 4 – 2019 Montana
Record: 26-9 (16-4 Big Sky); point differential of 7.6
Honors: Big Sky Top Reserve (Kendal Manuel); Big Sky Tournament MVP (Ahmaad Rorie); 2x Big Sky first team (Rorie, Sayeed Pridgett); 1x Big Sky third team (Michael Oguine); 2x Big Sky all-tournament team (Rorie, Oguine)
Strengths: Depth, shooting, versatility, point-guard Play, coaching
Weaknesses: Free-throw shooting
Cast and crew: Ahmaad Rorie (superstar); Sayeed Pridgett (star); Jamar Akoh (half-season star); Michael Oguine (ultimate wingman); Kendal Manuel (wingman); Donaven Dorsey, Bobby Moorehead, Timmy Falls (role players)
Standout wins: vs. Georgia State, 81-74; vs. Miami (Ohio), 73-71; at South Dakota State, 85-74; at Northern Colorado, 88-64; at Weber State, 83-80
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 9 Sacramento State, 79-73; beat No. 4 Weber State, 78-49; beat No. 3 Eastern Washington, 78-72; total point differential of 235-194 (13.7 points per game)
NCAA Tournament: No. 15 seed; lost 74-55 against Michigan in Des Moines, Iowa
Signature moment: Jamar Akoh, the Grizzlies’ imposing, athletic center, was lost for the season on February 7th in a 100-59 win against Idaho, the Grizzlies’ sixth victory in a row. Two nights later, Montana nearly blew a double-digit second-half lead at home against Eastern Washington, but Michael Oguine scored the final seven points for the Griz, including the winning free throw with 29 seconds left, in a 75-74 nail-biter. The next week, they went on the road to Weber State and pulled out another close one, 83-80, with Sayeed Pridgett and Kendal Manuel making the plays down the stretch. The Griz eventually ran their winning streak to 10 games, establishing themselves as contenders even without Akoh.
Year after: Without Rorie, Oguine and Akoh, Pridgett and Manuel had the Griz at 18-13 and a definite contender going into the Big Sky Tournament before the season was canceled by COVID.
Why they’re here: This was a fantastic team – likely better, on pure talent, than the Grizzlies’ 2018 conference champions. Ahmaad Rorie and Michael Oguine were two iconic Montana stars in their final seasons. Sayeed Pridgett, the unorthodox, efficient 6-foot-5 post scorer, was one of the most difficult matchups in the league and outscored them both. Jamar Akoh, before he got hurt, was the league’s dominant big man, and the Griz had multiple former Pac-12 players coming off the bench in Donaven Dorsey and Kendal Manuel. Rorie, Oguine, Akoh, Dorsey and 3-and-D wing Bobby Moorehead were seniors. This is about the point of the list where teams start to be separated by what-ifs. If Akoh hadn’t gotten hurt, the 2019 Griz might have been No. 1 on this list. As it is, they weren’t far away.
No. 3 – 2023 Montana State
Record: 25-10 (15-3 Big Sky); point differential of 7.0
Honors: Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year (Darius Brown II); Big Sky Top Reserve (Great Osobor); Big Sky Tournament MVP (RaeQuan Battle); 1x Big Sky first team (Battle); 1x Big Sky second team (Jubrile Belo); 1x Big Sky third team (Brown); 2x Big Sky all-tournament team (Battle, Belo)
Strengths: Top three players, coaching, defense, free-throw shooting
Weaknesses: Shooting, depth
Cast and crew: RaeQuan Battle (superstar); Jubrile Belo, Darius Brown II (stars); Great Osobor (super wingman); Caleb Fuller, Patrick McMahon, Tyler Patterson, Robert Ford III (role players)
Standout wins: at Long Beach State, 70-57; at Southern Utah, 86-83; at Montana, 67-64; at Eastern Washington, 79-74
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 8 Northern Colorado, 84-73; beat No. 3 Weber State, 60-58 (2OT); beat No. 9 Northern Arizona, 85-78; total point differential of 229-209 (6.7 points per game)
NCAA Tournament: No. 14 seed; lost 77-65 to Kansas State in Greensboro, North Carolina. Battle scored 27 points.
Signature moment: By the time the second overtime of MSU’s Big Sky semifinal against Weber State rolled around, the evening was dragging on towards midnight and the exhausted players were dragging themselves around the court. Neither team got to 50 points in regulation, then they matched each other with four points – one bucket and two free throws apiece – in the first overtime. In that context, RaeQuan Battle’s game-winning alley-oop dunk at the buzzer was less signature moment and more heaven-sent miracle. Darius Brown II got into the lane, Battle cut in from the weakside for the lob and the Bobcats were 60-58 winners. Postgame, Battle and head coach Danny Sprinkle revealed that the play call was Battle’s idea. It was the latest in a long line of iconic moments for the high-flying wing that season, joining his game-winner at Southern Utah, his winning free throws at Montana, numerous other highlight-reel dunks and, finally, his 27 points against Kansas State that kept the Bobcats in their NCAA Tournament game until the end.
Year after: Sprinkle left, Battle, Brown and Osobor all transferred out – with the latter two joining Sprinkle for a magical NCAA Tournament year at Utah State – and Belo graduated. In Matt Logie’s first year as head coach, the Bobcats entered the NCAA Tournament under .500 – but, led by holdover point guard Robert Ford III, won three straight games in Boise to make their third straight March Madness.
Why they’re here: In Sprinkle’s third year, the Bobcats improved on their NCAA Tournament team from the year before. Xavier Bishop was an exceptional player, the tournament MVP in 2022 – but Darius Brown II was better, a wizard with one of the top assist/turnover ratios in the country. Unleashing RaeQuan Battle and Great Osobor, the two most talented players on the team, took pressure and minutes off of Jubrile Belo. They went a game better in conference play than that 2022 team and were way better in their March Madness appearance. Also, they had a level of talent validated by what happened after this season. Brown and Osobor were both All-Mountain West players and made the NCAA Tournament at Utah State, while Battle averaged a team-high 16 points at West Virginia. Brown and Battle then both got NBA Summer League shots, while Osobor is set to be one of the highest NIL earners in the country this season at Washington.
No. 2 – 2015 Eastern Washington
Record: 26-9 (14-4 Big Sky); point differential of 6.7
Honors: Big Sky co-Coach of the Year (Jim Hayford); Big Sky Rookie of the Year (Bogdan Bliznyuk); Big Sky Tournament MVP (Tyler Harvey); 2x Big Sky first team (Harvey, Venky Jois); 2x Big Sky all-tournament team (Harvey, Jois); 1x AP honorable mention All-American (Harvey)
Strengths: Shooting, rim protection, tough Australians
Weaknesses: Rebounding, kind of
Cast and crew: Tyler Harvey (super-duper star); Venky Jois (superstar); Drew Brandon, Ognjen Miljkovic (wingmen); Bogdan Bliznyuk (future star); Parker Kelly, Felix Von Hofe (role players)
Standout wins: at Indiana, 88-86; at San Francisco, 81-76; at Montana, 75-69
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 7 Idaho, 91-83; beat No. 3 Sacramento State, 91-83; beat No. 1 Montana, 69-65; total point differential of 251-231 (point differential of 6.7 per game)
NCAA Tournament: No. 13 seed; lost 84-74 to Georgetown in Portland
Signature moment: If you beat Indiana at Assembly Hall, that’s going to be your signature moment. Eastern trailed by six at halftime and by 12 with under 15 minutes to go, but Tyler Harvey hit back-to-back 3s and the game was on. Drew Brandon’s layup with just over a minute to go gave EWU a 79-78 lead, and Parker Kelly made the dagger 3 after an offensive rebound on the Eagles’ next possession. Yogi Ferrell had 27 for Indiana, but Brandon matched that and added eight rebounds, five steals and four assists for Eastern. Harvey had 20, and Venky Jois had 20 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.
Year after: Harvey left, a second-round draft pick of the Orlando Magic. Austin McBroom tried to fill the role alongside Jois, Van Hofe and Bliznyuk, but Eastern fell to 18-16 and fifth in the conference.
Why they’re here: It would be enough to say that this team ripped the heart out of a 21-year-old Andrew Houghton, sitting one row from the top of Dahlberg Arena to watch the conference title game, but that would obscure the accomplishments of one of the most explosive, deep and fun teams to watch of the last 10 years. The Eagles, with baby Steph Curry in the form of Tyler Harvey, finished third in the country in scoring. Their rotation, more or less, consisted of five 38% or better 3-point shooters plus first-team all-conference forward Venky Jois and point guard Drew Brandon, who averaged 4.7 assists and 1.8 turnovers. They beat Indiana at Indiana, won the last home-site conference tournament on the road, and even had a future Big Sky MVP coming off the bench in Bogdan Bliznyuk. I know one thing – they could score with any team on this list. Their title-game in Missoula showed they could win the other way too.
No. 1 – 2018 Montana
Record: 26-8 (16-2 Big Sky); point differential of 8.7
Honors: Big Sky Coach of the Year (Travis DeCuire); Big Sky Defensive of the Year (Michael Oguine); Big Sky Tournament MVP (Oguine); 1x Big Sky first team (Ahmaad Rorie); 1x Big Sky second team (Oguine); 1x Big Sky third team (Jamar Akoh); 2x Big Sky all-tournament team (Oguine, Rorie)
Strengths: Getting shots at the rim, rebounding, defense, turnover margin, coaching
Weaknesses: Shooting
Cast and crew: Ahmaad Rorie, Michael Oguine (superstars); Jamar Akoh (star); Sayeed Pridgett, Fabijan Krslovic, Bobby Moorehead, Timmy Falls (role players)
Standout wins: at Pittsburgh, 83-78 (OT); vs. UC Irvine, 86-68; at Portland State, 92-89; at Northern Colorado, 88-79; vs. Weber State, 75-57
Big Sky Tournament: beat No. 8 North Dakota, 84-76; beat No. 5 Northern Colorado, 91-89 (OT); beat No. 3 Eastern Washington, 82-65; total point differential of 257-230 (9.0 points per game)
NCAA Tournament: No. 14 seed; lost 61-47 to No. 7 Michigan in Wichita, Kansas
Signature moment: In my opinion, the 2018 Northern Colorado team that lost to the Griz in the Big Sky semifinals was the best team that didn’t make the list. The Bears led by six with just over a minute to play, but Jamar Akoh scored inside, Michael Oguine made one of two free throws and Bobby Moorehead hit a 3 to tie it in the final minute. The Griz had to sweat out two missed free throws from UNC’s Tanner Morgan to send the game to overtime. Oguine scored the first four points of the extra period and Montana never trailed from there. Andre Spight had 22 and Jordan Davis 18 for Northern Colorado, but Ahmaad Rorie, Oguine, Akoh and Fabijan Krslovic all had 16 or more for Montana. After that, the conference title game against Eastern Washington was more or less a formality.
Year after: The 2019 Griz are fourth on this list.
Why they’re here: As previously mentioned, the 2018 Griz might not have been as talented as the 2019 version, given that Sayeed Pridgett hadn’t quite broken out yet. But the pieces just fit together better, especially when Travis DeCuire cut the rotation down to seven players. Unlike the year after, when Jamar Akoh missed the second half of the season, the 2018 Griz got lucky – every single player in their top seven played the entire season except for Timmy Falls, who missed one game. Montana had the same starting lineup for all 34 games.
Ahmaad Rorie, the former Oregon transfer, was magnificent, but this was Michael Oguine’s season. The ultimate role player averaged 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and 1.5 steals, and doubled as the best athlete and best defender in the league. Aside from the three stars (Rorie, Oguine and Akoh), Fabijan Krslovic and Bobby Moorehead were rock-solid role players, and Pridgett and Timmy Falls provided juice off the bench. That’s only seven players, but it was the best seven of this era, and they stayed healthy all season, lost just two Big Sky games and stamped themselves in the conference tournament.
When it comes to a pure basketball team that played with one another, knew when to turn it on to pull away and enjoyed putting on a show, this version of the Montana Grizzlies is the best of the Skyline Sports era.
