Headline: The Big Sky Conference is very competitive this year. There are multiple contenders to win the conference and it was a strong year in non-conference play. Weber State made headlines for upsetting St Mary’s and other teams in the conference came so close to taking down some bigger opponents. The Big Sky Conference is also the people’s conference, with fun rivalries such as the Brawl of the Wild, Idaho/Idaho State where King Spud made a triumphant return, and a Conference battle with the Summit league that will be decided by a commissioner arm wrestling match in March…. seriously this is happening!
Contenders:
Eastern Washington Eagles – Eastern Washington went under the radar to start the year, but they’ve opened conference play very strong with a 5-0 start. The Eagles may have quickly established themselves as the team to beat. Eastern Washington fills it up, they are unselfish and they score a lot of points as a result. If they don’t win the conference it will be because they’re weaker on the defensive end. You can’t count this team out though, they are battle tested. Seriously look at this non-conference schedule, they only had one home game!
Northern Colorado Bears – Northern Colorado is a surprise team in conference play. Not much was expected of the Bears who were voted 9th in preseason, but thanks to a really fun offense they’re contenders to win this conference! The one thing that may prevent the Bears from winning the title is their defense.
Montana Grizzlies – Montana has proven to be one of the best in the conference so far. It was apparent early on when the Griz battled it out with Oregon in Eugene before relenting late in a close loss. Montana is ok defensively, but they are led by…a really efficient offense…sensing a theme here? The Griz take care of the ball and will be a tough out all year.
Weber State Wildcats – As mentioned above, Weber State captured the biggest win in non-conference play when they took down St Mary’s. That wasn’t a fluke, Weber State also beat a good Yale team and won at Wyoming. The Wildcats buck the trend of the rest of the league because they lead the way with defense. They don’t force many turnovers, or block shots but simply play clean defense to put themselves 18th in the nation in points against. Another thing Weber State does well is they play clean and don’t give the ball away. Weber State can win this conference if they can figure out how to win close conference games, they won close games out of conference but since conference play started they lost 3 games by a combined 7 points.
Surprise(s): As mentioned above, Northern Colorado has been the biggest surprise in the conference, contending for the conference despite not much being expected of them. The Montana State Bobcats are another surprise, after losing head coach Danny Sprinkle to Utah State, they were expected to take a massive step back, but the Bobcats are currently 4th in the Big Sky standings. Northern Arizona made a surprise run in last year’s conference tournament to the conference title game and the Lumberjacks seem to be lurking around for another run again.
Disappointment(s): Sacramento State Hornets – Sacramento State was expected to make a step forward and were 4th in the preseason poll but so far that hasn’t panned out for the Hornets who are currently 9th at 2-4 in conference play.
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