Glenn Junkert of GrizzlyJournal.com is the RTC correspondent for the Big Sky Conference. Click here for all of our 2009-10 Season Preview materials.

Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Weber State (22-9, 12-4)
2. Montana (20-8, 11-5)
3. Montana State (16-12, 11-5)
4. Idaho State (13-16, 10-6)
5. Portland State (14-15, 9-7)
6. Northern Arizona (11-17, 8-8)
7. Northern Colorado (12-18, 5-11)
8. Eastern Washington (8-21, 3-13)
9. Sacramento State (7-22, 3-13)

All-Conference First Team:

• Anthony Johnson, Montana
• Damian Lilliard, Weber State
• Steve Panos, Weber State
• Phil Nelson, Portland State
• Bobby Howard, Montana State

All-Conference Second Team:

• Amorrow Morgan, Idaho State
• Will Bynum, Montana State
• Dominic Waters, Portland State
• Brandon Moore, Eastern Washington
• Shane Johannssen, Northern Arizona

MVP: Anthony Johnson, Montana

Impact Newcomers:

• Franklin Session, Weber State
• Eric Platt, Northern Arizona
• Raason Young, Montana

What You Need to Know.  Last year Weber State senior point guard Kellen McCoy earned his Big Sky MVP medal by shaping his young teammates into a cohesive unit early. The Wildcats shrugged off a home court loss to Montana State and promptly forged a commanding conference lead with a league-wide road sweep, a rare feat in the Big Sky, though three other stellar guards — Montana’s Anthony Johnson, Montana State’s Will Bynum, and McCoy’s teammate, frosh Damian Lilliard — had second-half performances equal to McCoy’s, the Wildcat senior was a shoo-in for directing his cats to a rare 15-1 record in league play.

Predicted Champion.  Weber State (NCAA Seed: #14). Weber State basketball IS coach Randy Rahe, and what Rahe has done best in four years at WSU is: 1) Recruit a balanced combo of quality junior college and freshman talent; and, 2) Demand the utmost in ensemble discipline and teamwork from his players on the court. The result? Deuces wild: two league titles and two “coach of the year” awards in his four years at WSU. The Wildcats graduated seniors Kellen McCoy and Daivin Davis, but Rahe will rely on the leadership of sophomore guard Lilliard, who’s expected to get support from highly regarded JC transfer Franklin Session. Otherwise, Rahe’s stellar coaching should be enough to earn the Cats a second straight league title.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan Freemyer is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12 and Big Sky Conferences.

The non-conference season is winding down in the Big Sky, and teams throughout the league have had a varying degree of success in their tune-ups for the all-important conference season. Four teams in the Big Sky still hold winning records.

Conference Standings:

1. Portland State (7-1)
2. Eastern Washington (6-2)
3. Montana State (4-3)
4. Montana (5-4)
5. Weber State (3-4)
6. Northern Colorado (2-4)
7. Northern Arizona (2-5)
8. Idaho State (2-7)
9. Sacramento State (1-8)

Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan Freemyer is the RTC correspondent for the Mountain West and Big Sky Conferences.

(ed. note: this post was originally scheduled for publication on Friday 11/28, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to delay publication until today.  Please accept our apologies.)

In the early going this season in the Big Sky, there are only four teams with less than three losses. Two of them are preseason favorites proving themselves and the others are teams picked near the bottom of the conference but have surprised.

Portland State was the preseason favorite in the Big Sky, and they are showing everyone why that is. The Vikings are 4-0 on the season, with wins over quality opponents including a 76-75 win over Cal State Fullerton.  Senior guard Jeremiah Dominguez is scoring 14 points per game, an average helped by a 24 point effort in PSU’s opener at Rice.

Read the rest of this entry »