Idaho State interim coach Deane Martin has guided the Bengals to a spot in the Big Sky Tournament.
2012 Tournament Bracket
The Idaho State men’s basketball team didn’t play on Wednesday night, but the Bengals have reason to celebrate.
Idaho State clinched a spot in the Big Sky Championship on Wednesday night, becoming the third team to claim a bid in the six-team tournament. The 37th Big Sky Championship begins on Saturday, March 3 with quarterfinal games at the home sites of the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.
Idaho State is currently 7-6 in conference play, and can finish as high as third or as low as sixth. The Bengals clinched a spot thanks to Eastern Washington’s 79-76 win over Northern Colorado on Wednesday. Idaho State swept Northern Colorado and could not lose a tiebreaker to the Bears if both teams finish league play at 7-9. Northern Colorado is currently 5-9 in conference.
The Bengals were picked to finish ninth in the preseason polls by the coaches and media. Following a 2-8 start, head coach Joe O’Brien resigned. Assistant coach Deane Martin was named the interim coach, and has led the Bengals to a 7-8 record.
Idaho State’s run included a four-game winning streak highlighted by a stunning 64-62 upset of Weber State on Jan. 28 in Pocatello.
Idaho State (9-16) won a combined eight conference games the previous two seasons, and failed to qualify for the Big Sky Championship. The Bengals play a non-conference game at Pacific (10-15) of the Big West Conference on Saturday, before resuming league play on Feb. 23 at home against Eastern Washington. The Bengals are at home on Feb. 25 against Sacramento State, before closing out the regular-season on Feb. 28 at Eastern Washington.
Weber State (13-1) and Montana (12-1) have also clinched spots in the Big Sky Championship. The two schools will be the top two seeds and receive byes to the semifinals on Tuesday, March 6. Either Weber State or Montana will host the semifinals and championship, but that likely won’t be determined until the teams square off in Missoula on Feb. 28, in a game that will be televised live on Altitude Sports & Entertainment.
Five teams remain in contention for the final three postseason bids. Only Northern Arizona has been eliminated. Portland State is 7-6 in league, tied with Idaho State for third place. The Vikings can finish as high as third, but could be on the outside looking in if they are tied with Montana State for sixth place at 7-9. MSU swept the Vikings in regular-season play.
Eastern Washington, Montana State, Northern Colorado and Sacramento State also remain in the hunt. Sacramento State needs to win its final two games and get help to secure a bid to the tournament for the first time since 2006.
Eastern Washington, under first-year coach Jim Hayford, could still finish as high as third, as could Montana State. The Bobcats were 6-2 at the midway point of the conference season, but have lost six straight to fall to 6-8. The Bobcats close out conference play at Montana on Feb. 25, and at home against Northern Arizona on Feb. 27. Eastern Washington (6-7) has two games remaining against Eastern Washington, and one at Portland State.
Defending champion Northern Colorado plays host to Weber State on Feb. 25, and is at Portland State on Feb. 28. The Bears could still make the tournament with a 6-10 league mark, but likely need to win both of its remaining games to make the field.
The Big Sky semifinals will be televised live on Altitude on March 6. The championship on March 7 will be televised live on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Mountain.
All nine Big Sky teams play non-conference games on Sears BracketBusters Saturday.
Weber State (21-4) will play host to Texas-Arlington (20-5), which brings a 16-game winning streak to the Dee Events Center. That game will be available on ESPN3 starting at 6 p.m. Mountain. Weber State has won 15 straight conference games. The Mavericks’ winning streak is the second-longest in the nation. The squad is 12-0 in Southland Conference play.
Montana (19-6) plays host to Hawai’i (15-10). Portland State (13-12) travels to Idaho (15-11), Eastern Washington (12-14) is at UC Irvine (9-17), Montana State (11-14) is at Cal State Fullerton (17-7), Northern Colorado (8-17) plays host to Cal Poly (15-12), Sacramento State (9-16) welcomes San Jose State (8-17), and Northern Arizona (5-21) takes on UC Davis (3-22) in Flagstaff. That game will be televised on NAU-TV, Fox College Sports, and Fox Arizona Plus.
Big Sky TV will have coverage of the games at Montana, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, and Sacramento State.