The Big Sky Conference welcomes back Idaho this season, expanding to 12 members. It also says goodbye — to Montana head coach Wayne Tinkle who took the job at Oregon State. The Grizzlies also lost two of their top three scorers from last season’s team and look to be taking a step back in the conference standings after battling Weber State for the top spot in the conference the last few seasons. Weber State, who won the conference regular season and tournament titles last season before losing to Arizona in the Round of 64, looks to be among the favorites this season again. The Big Sky’s three other postseason participants from last season, North Dakota, Northern Colorado and Portland State (all in the CIT) may slide back this season as well while a few other schools look to take a step up in the standings.
Our preseason pick to win the Big Sky is the Eastern Washington Eagles. The Eagles are led by one of the conference’s best players in Tyler Harvey, who averaged over 21 points per game last season. They also have a ton of pieces around him, including three other returning double digit scorers and a deep bench. In addition to being challenged by defending champion Weber State, Northern Arizona and Sacramento State may both also contend for the conference’s top spot.
While Idaho does not appear to be a team that will factor into the conference’s title race, the expansion of the Big Sky to 12 teams has led to a change in the conference tournament. The Big Sky has expanded its conference tournament field, starting this year, from 7 teams to 8. The regular season champion will continue to host the tournament, though the conference will no longer re-seed in the semifinal round. In other words, the only advantage left to the regular season champion is the ability to host the tournament games (still a huge advantage). They will, however, no longer get a bye into the semifinals and get the right to face the lowest seeded quarterfinal winner.
Predicted Order of Finish:
1. Eastern Washington: Harvey is going to score a ton, but will be helped by Venky Jois, Parker Kelly, Drew Brandon, Ognjen Milijokiv and more.
2. Weber State: Joel Bolomboy is a big time talent, and may be the best frontcourt player in the conference. There are enough other pieces here to have a chance at a repeat.
3. Northern Arizona: Quinton Upshur and Kris Yanku lead a deep team. Keep an eye on 7-1 Geoffrey Frid down low too.
4. Sacramento State: Everyone returns from a team that was fun and exciting to watch last season. This could be one of the Hornets’ best seasons ever.
5. Portland State: Iziahiah Sweeney is a freshmen with huge potential. If he is ready to play, when added to the likes of Gary Winston and DaShaun Wiggins, this team could be dangerous.
6. North Dakota: Their best players from last season are all gone, but the addition of transfer Estan Tyler (UMKC’s top scorer two years ago) will help the rebuild process.
7. Montana: Jordan Gregory is the only significant returnee as the post-Wayne Tinkle era begins.
8. Northern Colorado: Tevin Svihovec and Tim Huskisson will need to lead the way for this team to compete.
9. Idaho State: Chris Hansen and Jeffrey Solarin will score points, but the Bengals will have to rely on a freshman point guard this year.
10. Idaho: With Stephen Madison gone, this could be a long first season back in the Big Sky for the Vandals.
11. Montana State: Brian Fish takes over as the new head coach, but he needs to rebuild this program from the ground up.
12. Southern Utah: The good news is that the entire starting lineup is back. The bad news is this starting lineup only led them to two wins last season and does not appear to be ready to win many more than that this year.