3MW’s All Conference Team:
Player of the Year: Tanner Groves, R Jr., Eastern Washington
Coach of the Year: Todd Simon, Southern Utah
Newcomer of the Year: Isiah Brown, R Sr., Weber State
Freshman of the Year: Dillon Jones, Fr., Weber State
Season Storylines:
The conference title contenders are clear here: Southern Utah, Eastern Washington, and Weber State. These three teams thoroughly dominated the Big Sky all year long, each one winning 12 conference games, four more than the 4th and 5th place finishers.
E Wash and Weber have yet to square off, so that second semi-final matchup is highly intriguing. Look for lots of scoring and fun. SUU feels a bit fraudy to me, but the T-Birds did split the season series with both EWU and Weber. Todd Simon appears to have finally ascended past “talent acquirer” and is producing actual results. Talent-wise, SUU is the best team in the league.
I’m a semi-believer in Montana State. The Bobcats are well-coached under Bozeman legend Danny Sprinkle and have a dynamic inside-out duo in Xavier Bishop and Jubrile Belo. As much as I love Idaho State and Ryan Looney, I cannot see them taking down MSU in round one — but major props to them for finishing 4th in the Big Sky.
Portland State wildly underperformed its talent level, but a lot of that can be blamed on the Vikings’ awful COVID-related offseason. This team is chock full of transfers but barely practiced together heading into the year.
Montana was uncharacteristically poor. DCH, one of the Griz’s best players last season was oddly absent and SJSU transfer Michael Steadman left the team midway through the year. There is no hope here unless you believe heavily in program pedigree.
Sac State performed as expected but Northern Colorado was a major disappointment. UNC has a strong roster with several All-League caliber players, but for some reason the Bears couldn’t finish higher than 8th in the standings. Perhaps the conference tourney will awaken their potential.
NAU is a deeeeep dark horse to win a game or two. I love betting on good guards in March and NAU has a great one in Cam Shelton. Idaho was arguably the worst team in the country this season.
Tournament Preview
Tournament Predictions
(8) Northern Colorado over (9) Sacramento State
(7) Portland State over (10) Northern Arizona
(6) Montana over (11) Idaho
(1) Southern Utah over (8) Northern Colorado
(5) Montana State over (4) Idaho State
(2) Eastern Washington over (7) Portland State
(3) Weber State over (6) Montana
(5) Montana State over (1) Southern Utah
(2) Eastern Washington over (3) Weber State
(2) Eastern Washington over (5) Montana State