Montana State earns March Madness berth with improbable championship 

By Colter Nuanez SKYLINE SPORTS 

BOISE, IDAHO—Matt Logie has cut plenty of nets down in his lifetime, from a championship high school career playing for his grandfather to a standout college run as a player and assistant coach at Lehigh.

Since becoming a head coach, Logie touts one of the top winning percentages in all of NCAA college basketball. He led Point Loma to the NCAA Division II regional perennially and coached in three regional final games.

But nobody thought Logie would be cutting down the nets here at Idaho Central Arena after his first Big Sky Conference tournament, following a tumultuous first season that started with one of the most challenging rebuilds in all of college basketball. It’s even more wild when one considers Montana State basically didn’t have a team when former head coach Danny Sprinkle bolted for the Mountain West Conference.

As confetti poured from the rafters of the arena usually inhabited by the Idaho Steelheads hockey team, and Logie’s team celebrated as exuberantly as any in this tournament’s nine-year history being played at a neutral site, a wide-eyed, almost stunned Logie stood with Big Sky Conference media personality Alex Eschelman waiting to do his post-game interview.

When the camera man said they still had 90 seconds, Logie turned around and saw his family. His daughter, Addy, ran up and leaped into her father’s arms. Logie began to weep, the magnitude of the moment washing over him.

The completely unlikely run was complete. Montana State, unpredictably and inexplicably, was headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. And in the most unpredictable — and arguably most enjoyable — story in all of college basketball, the Bobcats did it under a first-year head coach who was the last man hired to lead a Division I basketball team this previous calendar year.  

If that’s not rich enough, Sprinkle is the front-runner for national coach of the year honors and has Utah State ranked in the Top 20 in his first year at the helm for the Aggies. He remains one of Montana’s favorite sons, making time to come on ESPN MT radio and SWX Montana television to keep his home state on the inside of one of the great runs in the nation.  

And if THAT’S not rich enough, Logie’s team completed one of the most unbelievable runs in the history of the Big Sky Tournament by scoring 119 second-half points combined in complete decimations of the most storied programs in the conference in Weber State and the Montana Grizzlies.  

And if THAT’S not rich enough, Logie earned his first trip to the NCAA Tournament with an 85-70 beatdown of the Griz that also serves as his first rivalry win, his first win over one of his oldest basketball mentors, and marks the first time Montana State has advanced to the NCAA Tournament without Sprinkle’s influence—as either a player or a coach—in nearly 40 years.  

“I can’t say enough about this group of Bobcats,” Logie said. “To go through this journey and what we’ve gone through, starting last spring to start to write this next chapter, these guys believed that anything was possible and if you stuck to the process that we could be playing our best basketball when it mattered most. That’s what we saw this week.” 

The loss of Sprinkle, a charismatic yet salt of the earth personality that galvanized the entire MSU athletic department, could have been drastic and devastating. When Montana State lost to Rocky Mountain College, an NAIA team from the Frontier Conference, many believed the devastation was real and would bottom out Bobcat basketball.  

Instead, MSU kept fighting and growing, culminating in the first Big Sky Tournament three-peat since 1980.  

“It’s surreal,” said MSU junior Tyler Patterson, who scored 12 points and hit two of MSU’s six triples. “It’s a testament to the hard work we put through the whole year.” 

After each of MSU’s first two wins, Robert Ford III hardly cracked a smile while he or Sam Lecholat moved the sticker on the Big Sky bracket at mid court.  

But as the clock wound down on Wednesday, Ford chucked the ball so high into the rafters, it got stuck in the scoreboard and never came back down to earth. It seemed symbolic of both the mercurial point guard and his sky-high team.  

“This is unreal, to be ranked seventh in the preseason, predicted to do nothing, and to come back, do this, show everyone we are here, if you believe in it, you can,” Ford said.  

Montana head coach Travis DeCuire played his high school ball at Mercer Island Prep in Seattle. His coach was Ed Pepple, a Washington high school coaching legend who passed away in 2020. Pepple is Logie’s grandfather.  

Leading up to the matchups against Montana State during the regular-season, DeCuire spoke of how he reveled in beating the rival — he’s 14-5 against the ‘Cats as Montana’s head coach after Wednesday — but also how it was hard for him to compete against someone he considered as close as family.  

On Wednesday night as he took the podium well after midnight, DeCuire expressed similar emotions.  

“If I’ve got to lose in the championship game, the rivalry doesn’t matter to me as much as relationships, I’ll be honest with you so I’m happy for Matt, the journey he’s been on,” DeCuire said. “If I can’t go, I would just as soon it be him.” 

The respect was mutual. 

“First of all, I want to tip my hat to Montana for a great season. They have a lot of tradition and we knew with their experience level coming in, it was going to be a battle,” Logie said. “I have so much respect for Travis. We go way, way back in this game as part of the Mercer Island basketball family. As joyous as I am for our group, it’s a little bittersweet because he’s one of the reasons I got into coaching: to pay it forward.” 

The last time the Bobcats played the Griz for a right to go to the NCAA Tournament, the Big Sky Conference was the first league in men’s college basketball to employ the 3-point line.  

The experimental rule evened the playing field for some Big Sky teams against the mighty Montana Grizzlies, a team led by giants who roamed the paint like Larry Krystkowiak and Wayne Tinkle.  

The 1986 title game between UM and MSU featured a Bobcat team pouring in nine 3-pointers to ensure Krystkowiak, the only three-time MVP in BSC history, would be denied a trip to the NCAA Tournament once again.  

It also ushered in a new era in college basketball. Some would argue there’s no bigger advantage in terms of scoring in a team sport than having 3-pointers in a game filled with twos.  

Veteran laden Grizzlies come up short 

The Grizzlies entered Wednesday’s championship game with the reputation of a team and program that had finally caught up with the times. The Griz played in four championship games in five seasons under DeCuire, including going to the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years in 2018 and 2019 thanks to an athletic, efficient team that played with tremendous pace.  

But since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Griz offense and the Griz program had fallen in a rut. UM hadn’t been to a title game since 2019 before Wednesday and the three seasons leading up to this one could be described as flatly as a slog.  

But entering this year, DeCuire embraced the 3-point line, revamping his lineup and putting shooters all over the floor. Dischon Thomas emerged as the best stretch post in the conference, earning second-team all-league during his senior year. Aanen Moody further solidified himself as an unforgettable figure in Griz lore with his shooting barrages and blown kisses to Griz faithful echoing chants of “Mooooooody” every time he tickled the twine.  

And Josh Vazquez, the rare fifth-year senior, paired with Brandon Whitney, the rare four-year starting point guard, formed one of the steadiest two-way back courts in the West.  

Those four, plus seniors Laolu Oke and Giordan Williams, gave Montana one of the most veteran teams in the country. Add in that every single one besides Williams was in at least his second season playing for DeCuire and staff, and the Griz have a more old-school rotation than most teams in America.  

That continuity, chemistry and offensive team balance helped Montana win 23 games leading up to Wednesday, including beating the Bobcats twice, each time putting on offensive clinics that vanquished the memories of the last several years of offensive deficiency or rivalry game struggles.  

After tip-off, Montana again looked like a well-oiled machine for most of the first 23 minutes of the game, particularly during the end of the first half and beginning of the second that helped the Griz stretch their lead to double figures against a below .500 ‘Cats team over which UM was favored by 6.5 points entering the championship.  

But Montana State’s barrage became real, conjuring up recent memories of Monday night when they ran Weber State off the court. Once MSU culminated a  41-9 run, Montana had no gusto to rally back.  

“Tough one,” DeCuire said after his third championship game loss and the tenthin 21 appearances for the Griz program. “Our group worked very hard to get to this point for this opportunity. To see this group of seniors fall short on the last night is tough to swallow. I felt that they put the energy, the commitment, loyalty to the program that is deserving of the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament.  

“Unfortunately, we got out-played tonight. We didn’t shoot the ball as well and our defense wasn’t as good as it was the first two nights. [The Bobcats] caught fire in the second half and the adjustments weren’t necessarily the answer to slowing them down.” 

DeCuire, who said he feels his senior class is one of the best in UM’s storied history because of their ability to “fight for and resurrect the culture,” said his team is not done. They will play in a postseason tournament if they receive an invite.  

“It’s my pleasure to go to battle with them, which is why a while back, we made a commitment to keep playing,” DeCuire said. “We will go to Daytona to the CBI and enjoy each other’s company a little longer.” 

‘Avalanche basketball’ 

During the first half, Logie methodically and manically paced the Bobcat sideline, notating verbally to his staff every nuance he was picking up in the way Montana was guarding his team.  

At one point, assistant coach Zach Payne — a star player for Logie at Whitworth before spending the last several seasons on DeCuire’s staff at Montana — started emphasizing to Logie that lobs down the lane and on the back side were wide open.  

When Tyler Patterson drained his second straight 3-pointer to extend a run that reached 19-3 and totally erased Montana’s 11-point lead, the floor was spread. When Robert Ford III and Eddie Turner II took advantage of that spacing by penetrating with fervor, the lane opened. And when Montana State’s guards started throwing lobs to jumping-jack center John Olmsted, the flood gates opened for the Bobcats’ second unyielding offensive onslaught in three days. 

“Our staff has done a really good job throughout the year of reading situations and being able to make some adjustments at the half,” said Logie, whose team made 14 straight shots and scored 66 points in the second half of Monday’s 91-82 win over Weber State to spark this tournament run. “Our players have been able to execute those things and go out with a lot of confidence coming out of the locker room. We have continued to grow. 

“The second halves we had this week were special. We talk about avalanche basketball and trying to create avalanches for our team and it started to roll down hill and the momentum swung our way.” 

Olmsted has been a revelation since finding a role. The former Arizona State walk-on came to Montana State for a final season and maybe some elevated minutes. The 6-foot-10 rim runner played 22 minutes in a loss at Washington then 47 minutes TOTAL the next 14 games.  

During that time, Montana State rode a roller coaster, beating Southern Utah in overtime only to get ripped 86-64 to start Big Sky play 11 days later. MSU won five of seven to start league play, the lone losses coming in the Purple Palace to Weber State and to the Griz in Bozeman. 

A blown lead in an eventual 94-91 loss at Portland State came five days before a 70-60 win over Eastern Washington, handing EWU its first league loss of the season and one of just five Big Sky losses over EWU’ last two years. 

MSU lost five of its next six and six of its next eight overall, including an embarrassing 66-63 home loss to last-place Sacramento State that helped the Hornets end an 11-game losing streak. 

Seven days later, a heart-breaking 108-104 overtime loss to Eastern Washington could have derailed the Bobcats. 

Instead, MSU rallied back, beating Weber State twice in a week and ending WSU super star Dillon Jones’ career in disappointment. And perhaps the key factor in unlocking adequacy defensively and momentum-igniting lobs in the lane offensively has been the sudden, surprising emergence of Olmsted.  

He played 29 minutes in the overtim loss at EWU, scoring 15 points and grabbing five rebounds. He’d scored 34 points all season before that. He followed it up with 15 points against Weber and combined to shoot 13-of-15 from the floor in those two games.  

He gave 21 solid minutes the first two rounds of the Big Sky Tournament, although he only scored six total points. But Wednesday, he again looked like the second coming of DeAndre Jordan, pouring in 16 points in 25 minutes and giving the Griz fits on both sides.  

“He makes them a better defensive team,” DeCuire said. “Scoring on them was a lot easier when he wasn’t on the floor. His length around the rim, his activity around the glass made it difficult for us to get offensive rebounds. And he’s an abovthe-rim finisher in the ball screen, which makes guys like Turner and Ford more productive. Their ability to score is one thing but when you have someone you can throw it up to when you get into the paint disrupts defensive schemes.” 

Then there’s Ford, who will forever be compared by Bobcats of a certain age to Tony Hampton. Ford’s a monstrous on-ball defender, harassing and pickpocketing opponents like no other point guard in Montana State history. His steal to seal the victory Wednesday was his one-hundredth, a Montana State single-season record and the most in America this year.  

All week and all season, Ford’s ability to play with absolutely no regard for his 6-foot body while displaying irrational, beautiful confidence and grit is what made him the tournament MVP.  

“He plays with so much confidence,” Vazquez said after chasing Ford around all night. “He is a quick guard who plays within himself. He’s hard to shut him off when he gets going.” 

Back in 1986, Hampton became the first Bobcat to ever win Big Sky Tournament MVP honors as he helped MSU to that unforgettable 81-77 win over Krystkowiak’s Griz. Hampton had 26 points and six assists to help Montana State qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1952 and the first time as a Big Sky Conference member.  

It took the Bobcats a decade to get back to the Big Dance. And it took a precocious freshman from Helena, Montana drilling seven 3-pointers on national TV to lift MSU into March Madness in 1996.  

Then it took 26 more years until the prodigal’s son returned for Montana State to go back to the dance. Sprinkle led the ‘Cats to the Big Sky Tournament championship game in his second season at the helm before cutting down the nets each of the last two years.  

When Sprinkle left for Utah State, many wondered what would become of both the Bobcats and the Aggies. USU did not return a single player that scored a single point, rebound or assist at Utah State from last year . And Sprinkle decided to make former Bobcats Great Osobor and Darius Brown II his building blocks, bringing them to Logan, Utah. 

Meanwhile in Bozeman, the mass exodus was real. Jubrile Belo graduated and is now on the United Kingdom national team. RaeQuan Battle took his prodigious talents to West Virginia after tearing up a fellow Big-12 foe in the NCAA Tournament last season 

Luca Colceag, Alex Germer and Nick Gazelas all hit the transfer portal, as did Ford before the star point guard had a change of heart and decided to stay.  

“A huge credit goes to the players for listening to the messages over the year,” Logie said. “We had some tough losses. It was a little bit of a roller coaster at times. But we focused a lot more on the process than we did on the results at that time because ultimately, it really does come down to this week in this conference. 

“We just kept our eyes forward and stayed right here right in the moment. These guys were extremely coachable and allowed us as coaches to coach. That’s really hard to do when you are not getting the results. Really proud of everybody’s attitude. That’s what carried us through those valleys to get to this peak.  

Logie was the last Division I coach hired during the cycle. Many wondered if he could maintain the culture of toughness and family that Sprinkle had cultivated at his alma mater. Many wondered if Logie’s intricate offensive systems that led to hundreds and hundreds of Division II and Division III wins would work at the Division I level. Most predicted Montana State would finish in the bottom half of the Big Sky Conference.  

And while the regular season was a roller coaster, the avalanche came at the perfect time. Between Sprinkle’s freshman year as a player and his first championship season as a coach, Montana State went 10-20 in Big Sky Tournament games. Death, taxes and the Bobcats losing in the Big Sky Tournament – it was a running joke around Reno and then Boise.  

But over the last four years, that narrative has been turned on its head. After Logie finished his on-court interview, he joined his team near center court. Chants of “LOGIE, LOGIE” echoed throughout Idaho Central Arena before the Bobcats started singing along, belting out “We are the Champions” by Queen as MSU Athletic Director Leon Costello and deputy AD Casey Fox celebrated jubilantly.  

A winning culture continues  

For years since taking over as Montana State’s president, Dr. Waded Cruzado has promoted athletics as much as any president in the Big Sky Conference. Much of that focus went into making the football facilities elite and into beating the Griz on the gridiron.  

After a two-year stretch that many in the MSU athletics community refer to as the “Year(s) of the Bobcats” or “the Golden Age of Bobcat Athletics,” the past academic calendar year hadn’t gone as well for the blue and gold faithful.  

Montana ripped Montana State 37-7 in football, one of 10 straight wins last fall for the Griz as UM surged into the national title game for the first time since 2009. The good fortune continued for the Griz as the Montana men swept MSU during the regular season in basketball. When the Lady Griz beat the Bobcats, marking just the third time in the last 14 matchups, Montana had wins over Montana State in Missoula in the same academic year in football, men’s and women’s basketball for the first time since 2014.  

So the objective observers and the Griz supporters, even very many of the Bobcat faithful—who believed that Montana would cruise on Wednesday night could hardly be blamed.  

Instead, Montana State cut down the nets again, marking the first time since Weber State 44 years ago that a team had won three consecutive league titles. MSU takes a 17-17 record into the Big Dance and there’s a shot the Bobcats will play in the first four in Dayton to earn a No. 16 seed and face off against one of the top teams in the tournament.  

But that’s for another day.  

On Wednesday night, Logie, Ford and the Bobcats were the darlings of the Big Sky after completing one of the most thorough, impressive and surprising runs this tournament has seen. When you think of it like that, it’s easy to see why Logie couldn’t help but cry as he hugged his 14-year-old daughter and considered what it might be like to be a head coach in America’s most famed tournament.  

“We are going to celebrate tonight,” Logie said. “I’ve been [to] a couple of these deals during my time at Lehigh.  

“I got into coaching to pay it forward because my family was a basketball family and that set the blueprint for what I believe this should be about. I have been fortunate to be a part of programs that had championship culture. I’m a product of that. All the players I’ve coached at those places who helped me crack into a head coaching gig at a young age, they are all part of this. I talk to those guys a lot. They have been texting me throughout this year and this week.  

“It’s really special and that’s what it’s about at the end of the day: relationships. I am so proud of our basketball family and these guys are a part of that for life.”