From an outsider’s perspective, it could’ve been worse for Montana, but a No. 15 seed is nothing to relish.
The Grizzlies, however, couldn’t be happier about playing Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament today at 2 p.m. in Sacramento’s Arco Arena.
“I figured we’d be a No. 16 seed,” Montana guard Brent Cummings told The Missoulian. “So I was expecting to play a No. 1, a powerhouse. Oregon seems like a team we can match up with better.”
At 16-14 overall, Montana (7-7 Big Sky Conference) has the worst record of the 65 teams in the tournament.
In fact, the Griz had one of the worst records in the Big Sky heading into the conference tournament. Montana was the fifth seed — out of six teams.
Somehow, though, the Griz pulled out three victories in three days to take the Big Sky’s automatic bid to the Big Dance.
Now the Griz face their biggest challenge of the season: the Pacific-10 Conference champion Ducks.
But don’t expect Montana to lay down and die. The Griz head to Sacramento with confidence and a sense of familiarity after being able to watch some Oregon games on cable TV this season.
“It’s somebody we know,” Montana head coach Don Holst told The Missoulian. “It’s Northwest. We have an Oregon player in Ryan Slider, and we have some guys from Washington. We’ve played Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State within the last five to 10 years. You watch Fox Sports Northwest and get acquainted with their players ,and you’ve watched the Pac-10 style of play.
“You respect them, but compared to playing a Cincinnati or a Kansas, we got a heck of a seed I think.”
The Ducks and Griz have met 25 times, and the last time was in 1995, when Oregon pulled out a 66-64 win in Missoula. Montana’s last victory over the Ducks came in the 1991-92 season, an 78-39 rout in Montana.
There’s also familiarity in personnel, as Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos was the athletic director at Montana in the early 1990s, and Moos interviewed Holst for the Oregon coaching job five years ago that went to Ernie Kent.
“What else could you ask for?” Holst said. “I know we respect the heck out of (Oregon), but we don’t fear them because they’re not an unknown entity.”
Montana is led by forward Brent Cummings’ 10 points per game, but the key for the Griz, much like the Ducks, is a balanced offensive attack. Four players scored in double figures for Montana in the Big Sky Tournament championship game — a 70-66 victory over Eastern Washington — led by David Bell’s 16 points.