MSU Men and Women prepare for postseason
by Danny Waldo
With just over two weeks remaining in the Big Sky Conference basketball regular season, both the Montana State men and women are locked in races to secure opening-day byes at the conference championship in Boise beginning March 11th (women) and March 13th (men).
Women
Following their season sweep of rival Montana, the Montana State women currently sit alone in 5th place in the conference standings at 9-7, one game ahead of 6th place Eastern Washington, with four games left to play.
However, three of those four games are against teams in the bottom of the conference standings, and their game versus Portland State, who currently sits in third place, is in the friendly confines of Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, meaning the Lady ‘Cats are positioned well to finish the regular season in the Top 5 of the conference standings.
That is important for Tricia Binford and her squad because it means the difference between having to open the conference tournament in Boise on Monday, March 11th, versus getting an extra day of rest and not beginning play until Tuesday, March 12th.
No team has won the conference tournament in its current format when having to play on the opening day.
If the current standings were to hold, Montana State would enter tournament play as the No. 5 seed and would take on the No. 4 seed, Northern Colorado on Tuesday, March 12th at 2:30pm at CenturyLink Arena in Boise. The winner of that contest would move on to the semi-finals on March 13th, while the loser would go home.
The women’s Big Sky Conference championship is set for Friday, March 15th at 1pm.
Men
For the men, the picture is somewhat similar in that MSU currently is holding down the No. 5 spot, tied with Eastern Washington at 9-7, and in position to earn a bye into the quarterfinals.
However, the run to the finish line of the regular season could see much change as three of MSU’s final four opponents are within a game or two of a Top 5 finish, meaning MSU could finish anywhere from 5th to 8th in the final standings heading into tournament play.
Much like the women, no men’s team has won the Big Sky Conference tournament when having to play all four days.
As it stands right now, should MSU hold onto the No. 5 spot, they would open tournament play versus Eastern Washington on March 14th at 2:30pm, with the winner moving onto the semi-finals on March 15th at 5:30pm.
The men’s conference championship is slated for Saturday, March 16th at 6pm and can be seen live on ESPN. •