Here it is, the final season power ranking. Soak it in, bathe in, absorb its grandeur.
What did we learn from Week #7:
--- Here are the tiers:
Mapping out Big Sky Tournament Scenarios in Week #8:
-- As a reminder:
--
Games of the Week #8:
Thursday Game: Idaho State @ Idaho: For Idaho State their hopes to finish 3rd probably begin and end how they start the road trip. Idaho State hasn't played well on the road all conference season, and like Portland State, it presents as the greatest barrier between them being actual contenders in the conference versus the team who to date has 7 conference losses. Idaho struggles a ton defensively and Idaho State isn't the same offensive team on the road. Idaho has a ton to play for as well heightening the intensity of a game that already means a lot to both teams as they want to position themselves for the conference tournament.
Saturday Game: Montana at Portland State: This might be the game that determines the Big Sky Conference title. Portland State hasn't lost at home, and aside from one bad half, Montana has been one of the better road teams in the conference in 2025. The problem is that Portland State is a wholly different team at home. They have only allowed more than 70 once (71) and have had only 1 game where the margin wasn't double digits. They've just throttled every one at home. No team has shot higher than 43% in any of their home games and force nearly 13 turnovers a game at home. Montana has been only held to less 43% on the road in conference and one of them was the debacle in Pocatello and haven't had more than 12 turnovers on the road in conference all season. For Montana to win they need to shoot well, have a positive net assist/turnover margin than PSU. Tough task for the Griz to go to PSU where over the past few years, Montana just hasn't played well.
Monday Game: Everyone plays on Monday. My vote for the most important game is going to be for Northern Colorado @ Weber State. Northern Colorado has to make a brutal end of the year road trip between Flagstaff and Ogden. Ask anyone who has to fly into Flagstaff, what that does to a person's psyche. But I digress. NC has a ton to play for, and they simply haven't played well in Ogden. Weber is better than their record shows, they've played teams competitively (12 of their 15 games have been under 10 points) and Ogden is always a difficult place to win. This absolutely is a game that NC should win, they are more talented and deeper, but it does have all the smell, stench, odor of an end of season trap game.
Thanks for reading.
| Rank | Team | Conference/NET | Last Week | Week 8 schedule: | Random Factoid of Significance for Week#8 |
1 | Montana | 13-2/20-8 NET: 153 (+9) | Rank: #1 1-0: W: @ #5 Montana State | 2/27 (T): @ #10 Sacramento State 3/1 (S): @ #4 Portland State 3/3 (M): v. #8 Eastern Washington | SS, PSU and EWU are the three worst TO teams during conference play, and Montana is the lowest. |
2 | Northern Colorado | 12-3/19-8 NET: 125 (+14) | Rank: #2 1-1: Win: v. #9 Eastern Washington Win: v #6 Idaho | 3/1 (S): @ # 7 Northern Arizona 3/3 (M): @ #9 Weber State | Northern Colorado has struggled in Ogden. One win over the last decade. While WSU is down, winning in Ogden is rarely easy. |
3 | Idaho State | 8-7/13-13 NET: 196 (+14) | Rank: #4 2-0: Win: v. #4 Portland State Win: v. #10 Sacramento State | 2/27 (T): @ #6 Idaho 3/1 (S): @ #8 Eastern Washington 3/3 (M): v. #7 Northern Arizona | Idaho State has one win in conference play where they didn't out shoot their opponent. They are 1-7 in games in which they don't. |
4 | Portland State | 8-7/16-12 NET: 205 (-9) | Rank: #3 0-2: Loss: @. #3 Idaho State Loss: @ #9 Webver State | 2/27 (T): v. #5 Montana State 3/1 (S): v. #1 Montana 3/3 (M): v. #10 Sacramento State | Portland State has only beat Montana and Montana State at home once in the same year over the past ten years. That was 2018-19 season. |
5 | Montana State | 7-8/12-16 NET: 195 (-8) | Rank #3: 0-1 Loss: v. #1 Montana | 2/27 (T): @ #3 Portland State 3/1 (S): @ #10 Sacramento State 3/3 (M): v. #6 Idaho | Montana State has 8 losses in conference. In 6 of those, they shot worse than their opponent. They do not have a single victory in conference play where they shot poorer than their opponent. |
6 | Idaho | 7-8/12-16 NET: 261 (-1) | LW: #8 1-1: Win: @ #8 Eastern Washington Loss: @ #2 Northern Colorado | 2/27 (T): v. #3 Idaho State 3/1 (S): v. #9 Weber State 3/3 (M): @ #5 Montana State | Idaho is good in conference on Thursday (5-1), Saturday not so much. Of their 8 games on Saturday they are 2-6. |
7 | Northern Arizona | 7-9/16-13 NET: 250 (+3) | LW: #5 1-1 Loss: v. #6 Idaho Win: v. #8 Eastern Washington | 3/1 (S): v. #2 Northern Colorado 3/3 (M): @ #3 Idaho State | Northern Arizona has won just twice conference game all year when they've shot less than 42.5% from the floor pair that with they've only won one game in conference giving up 47.0% from the floor. |
8 | Eastern Washington | 6-9/10-18 NET: 253 (-6) | LW: #6 0-2 Loss: @ #2 Northern Colorado Loss: @ #7 Northern Arizona | 2/27 (T): v. #9 Weber State 3/1 (S): v. #3 Idaho State 3/3 (M): @ #1 Montana | Eastern is a hard team to get a handle on. As much they have struggled to handle the basketball, you'd think they'd lose most of the games where they have the most turnovers. The statistic that is the most predictive, is they simply don't win games where they don't win the assist battle. They are 2-8 when they lose. |
9 | Weber State | 4-11/10-19 NET: 312 (-6) | LW:#9 1-1 Loss: v. #10 Sacramento State Win: v. #4 Portland State | 2/27 (T): @ #8 Eastern Washington 3/1 (S): @ #6 Idaho 3/3 (M): v. #2 Northern Colorado | Weber State is 2-11 in conference when losing the rebounding battle. This is in part a result of injury and some need to play different defenses (ie Zone). |
10 | Sacramento State | 3-12/7-21 NET: 341 (+5) | LW: #10 1-1: Win: @. #9 Weber State Loss v. #3 Idaho State | 2/27 (T): v. #1 Montana 3/1 (S): v. #5 Montana State 3/3 (M): @ #4 Portland State | In Big Sky Conference play Sacramento state is 2-10 when losing the assist battle. In their 3 wins, SS is 3-0 in the turnover battle. |
What did we learn from Week #7:
--- Here are the tiers:
- Tier 1: Montana, Northern Colorado
- Tier 2: Idaho State, Portland State
- Tier 3: Idaho, Montana State, Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona
- Tier 4: Sacramento State and Weber State
Mapping out Big Sky Tournament Scenarios in Week #8:
-- As a reminder:
- Seeds 1 and 2 get a 1st day bye, and play Day #2, Day #4 and Day #5 (if they win)
- Seeds 3 through 6 get a Day 1 and 2 bye, and then play Day #3 through 5 (if they win)
- Seeds 7-10 Play Day #1, #2, #4, #5 (if they win)
- #1: Montana
- #2: Northern Colorado
- #3: Idaho State
- #4: Portland State
- #5: Idaho
- #6: Montana State
- #7: Northern Arizona
- #8: Eastern Washington
- #9: Weber State
- #10: Sacramento State
- 1. Head to Head record.
- 2. Record against other opponents in conference descending from best to worst record.
- 3. Net Ranking
- 4. Coin Flip
- 5. Act of a Holy Figure
- Montana of course wins the conference if they go 3-0 or 0-3 and Northern Colorado does the same.
- Montana wins with a 2-1 record and NC goes 2-0 if:
- Montana wins against PSU and PSU finishes above Idaho State in the conference.
- Montana loses against PSU and Idaho finishes above Idaho State in the conference.
- Portland State finishes with a 1-2 record, loses to MSU/UM at home beats non-mid team SS on the last game of the season.
- Idaho State finishes with a 1-2 record, beats Idaho but loses to EWU and NAU.
- Montana State finishes with 2-1 record, beats PSU/SS and loses to Idaho.
- Idaho wins two games: Beats MSU and WSU but loses to Idaho State.
- Northern Arizona beats UNC and ISU.
- Eastern Washington beats ISU, WSU and Montana to finish 3-0 and 9-9 overall.
--
Games of the Week #8:
Thursday Game: Idaho State @ Idaho: For Idaho State their hopes to finish 3rd probably begin and end how they start the road trip. Idaho State hasn't played well on the road all conference season, and like Portland State, it presents as the greatest barrier between them being actual contenders in the conference versus the team who to date has 7 conference losses. Idaho struggles a ton defensively and Idaho State isn't the same offensive team on the road. Idaho has a ton to play for as well heightening the intensity of a game that already means a lot to both teams as they want to position themselves for the conference tournament.
Saturday Game: Montana at Portland State: This might be the game that determines the Big Sky Conference title. Portland State hasn't lost at home, and aside from one bad half, Montana has been one of the better road teams in the conference in 2025. The problem is that Portland State is a wholly different team at home. They have only allowed more than 70 once (71) and have had only 1 game where the margin wasn't double digits. They've just throttled every one at home. No team has shot higher than 43% in any of their home games and force nearly 13 turnovers a game at home. Montana has been only held to less 43% on the road in conference and one of them was the debacle in Pocatello and haven't had more than 12 turnovers on the road in conference all season. For Montana to win they need to shoot well, have a positive net assist/turnover margin than PSU. Tough task for the Griz to go to PSU where over the past few years, Montana just hasn't played well.
Monday Game: Everyone plays on Monday. My vote for the most important game is going to be for Northern Colorado @ Weber State. Northern Colorado has to make a brutal end of the year road trip between Flagstaff and Ogden. Ask anyone who has to fly into Flagstaff, what that does to a person's psyche. But I digress. NC has a ton to play for, and they simply haven't played well in Ogden. Weber is better than their record shows, they've played teams competitively (12 of their 15 games have been under 10 points) and Ogden is always a difficult place to win. This absolutely is a game that NC should win, they are more talented and deeper, but it does have all the smell, stench, odor of an end of season trap game.
Thanks for reading.
