Big Sky Basketball power rankings: Wild 2 weeks of 2019-20 conference play
2. Northern Colorado Bears (9-5, 2-1) NET: 107
The Bears dropped a tough conference in Portland to the Vikings 69-65, before returning home for an impressive sweep of the Montana schools.
Northern Colorado is solid defensively as they take away opponents’ three-point game, forcing them to 29.2% shooting from beyond the arc. The Bears like a slower tempo on offense going to 6’6 sophomore Bodie Hume (16.3 ppg) and 6’3 senior Jonah Radebaugh. Radebaugh, one of my Big Sky favorites, knows how to fill a stat sheet with his 15.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 5.3 apg, and 1.5 steals.
UNC was able to slow down the running Vikings in the loss to Portland State. But the Vikings press caused them fits early, causing the Bears to fall behind 17-4 coming out of the gate.
The Bears will be at or near the top of the Big Sky standings all year. Next, they travel to play Weber State on Jan. 9.
1. Montana Grizzlies (7-8, 3-1) NET: 152
I have got to put the Griz at the top. They are the only team with three conference victories. They are the defending two-time champs, and the Big Sky media poll had Montana in first place, while the coaches had them in second. The Grizzlies also sport the two Big Sky Players of the Week for the first two weeks of conference play.
Senior Sayeed Pridgett took away the honor by averaging 20.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg, and 2.5 steals in the first week wins at home over Northern Arizona and Sacramento State.
Fellow senior Kendal Manuel was named the following week. Manual averaged 23.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg, and 2.0 spg in the tough split on the road at Southern Utah and Northern Colorado.
Montana are in for a tough game at Eastern Washington on Jan. 9. The Griz match up pretty good with Eastern’s offense. They just need Pridgett and Manual to keep on their pace for Montana to get the ‘W’ and stay on top of the Big Sky.
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The Big Sky Conference is still wide open. The top four teams still need to protect their home court while stealing some wins on the road. There were a lot of close games in the first two weeks of conference play and there is no reason for that not to continue. It will be a lot of fun to watch over the next two months.