State of the Big Sky

[n.ogdencat]

Right now the state of the Big Sky Conferece, basketball wise, at least, is atrocious. Thankfully, the Sky has Weber and Montana who have solid programs, but the rest of the Sky is terrible. Is there any hope that things will change? At the end of last year, there some excitment among Big Sky basketball fans, that maybe, just maybe, the conference was getting better. Wow!! How wrong we have been. hno:

Is there any hope for next season?

 

[Skippy]

There's always hope, depending on recruiting, coaching changes, etc. Bottom line, though, is the Big Sky is a one-bid league, with one or two other teams having possibilities to get into the NIT or CBI in any given year. Programs rise and fall over time (NAU was excellent under Ben Howland, EWU had a good run with Giacolleti, and UNC rose up last year with Tad Boyle's leftovers). Then the coaches leave, and the programs get to start all over again.

The only constants are that Weber and Montana typically are competitive. After that, it's all very fluid. Some years there is more depth and talent from top to bottom, other years, like this year, eh, not so much. But the end result will always be the same -- a 12, 13 or 14 seed for the conference tournament winner, an NIT and/or CBI invite for Nos. 2 and 3, first-round loses for all three (with the rare upset thrown in for good measure), and everybody else goes home the first week of March and starts recruiting.