Strike 3: With Colorado Rockies owner and University of Northern Colorado alum Dick Monfort cheering wildly from the stands at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion (now Bank of Colorado Arena), the top-seeded UNC Bears toppled second-seeded Montana back in March of 2011 to advance to the school’s first, and thus far only, NCAA men’s basketball tournament appearance.
Could history be repeated in 2025?
The stage is set. After finishing with identical 15-3 conference records, UNC and Montana will be on a collision course in Boise that could see them once again meeting to determine which squad will get the Big Sky Conference’s lone bid to March Madness. The Bears will be the top seed in the conference tourney this coming weekend by virtue of winning the tie breakers, as well as being one game better than the Griz overall. Not that seeding will mean all that much. A No. 1 v No. 2 tournament finale matchup is almost a certainty.
Back in 2011, the UNC squad put together by Greeley native Tad Boyle – who left for his current job at Colorado after a nice 25-8 season as the head coach of the Bears in 2010 – and then coached by BJ Hill toppled the Grizzlies and got to face Kawhi Leonard and San Diego State in the first round. The Aztecs prevailed 68-50.
Fast forward 14 seasons and the situation is eerily the same – the two hoops rivals finished at the top of the conference standings after having split the season series, and just like 2011, each won on the other’s home court. Unlike most other conference tournaments, this one really is for all the marbles. It’s now held at a neutral site, and the Big Sky will once again get just a single tournament bid, that going to the conference tournament champ.
This Bears team under head coach Steve Smiley didn’t land at the top of the conference by accident. UNC finished 19-14 a season ago, finishing second in the Big Sky. Coming off that solid 2023-24 campaign, confidence was high. For good reason.
“We’ve got a good team. A really good team. We’ve got a chance to do some really special stuff,” Smiley said after the Bears won their final home game of the season over Idaho back on Feb. 22. “We’ve just got to take it one day at a time.
“We’ve asked them to sacrifice from day one and they have. The guys have done a good job of staying focused. It’s a pretty important thing having the one two bye, us and Montana, if you’re trying to win the whole thing.”
Guard Jaron Rillie, a graduate student from Australia, got hot down the stretch to help UNC win their final four games and clinch the regular season crown. That included pouring in 24 points in the title clinching win over Weber State. He’ll be counted on, along with fellow grad student guard Isaiah Hawthorne, to lead the way for a Bears team that for a good portion of the season has been at or near the top nationally in shooting percentage.
Both Colorado and Colorado State will have to win their respective conference tournaments to make it to March Madness as well. But only the Bears will go into conference tournament play as at least a co-favorite to capture a bid. While it’s still technically winter, UNC will need to stay hot in Boise to ensure our state is going to participate in March Madness.
