Unlike my last two home cities (South Bend and Knoxville), Denver isn’t much of a college-sports town — pro sports definitely rules the roost here. But, depending on how things play out in the Big Sky Conference, we could end up with some March Madness up in Greeley, 60 miles north of town, on the 9th and 10th of next month.
You see, whoever wins the Big Sky’s regular-season title hosts the semifinals and finals of the conference tournament. As things stand now, that would be Weber State, which has a 8-1 record in conference play. Northern Colorado is in second place, two games back, with a 7-3 record. Montana and Montana State are tied for second at 6-4.
But here’s the thing. Northern Colorado — which is currently ranked #11 in College Insider’s Mid-Major Top 25 — has already completed the difficult part of its schedule, with one exception: a trip to first-place Weber State on February 13 (i.e., next Saturday). And we know that game is winnable, because Northern Colorado already handed Weber State its lone conference loss, 84-75 on January 7. Weber State, meanwhile, has road games on consecutive nights coming up this Friday and Saturday at Montana and Montana State, the aforementioned third-place teams. So Northern Colorado is still very much alive in the conference race.
If Weber State loses to at least one of the Montana teams, and NoCo wins its next two vs. Northern Arizona (5-5) and at Idaho State (3-6), the game next Saturday between the Bears and Wildcats would be for first place in the conference, with home-court advantage in the Big Sky Tournament potentially at stake.
Why do I care? Because, needless to say, if Championship Week Fortnight is going to include a game in Greeley with an NCAA Tournament bid at stake, I will most certainly be trying to get tickets and go. 🙂 So: GOOOO BEARS!!! And GOOOO ASSORTED MONTANA TEAMS, BEEEEAT WILDCATS!!!