GREELEY — Most of the time, midmajor life means no matter how much of a breakthrough basketball season you’ve had, NCAA Tournament eligibility still comes down to being perfect in your conference tournament.
Northern Colorado, which at 24-6 has enjoyed its best season since transitioning to Division I status in 2003, faces that reality today when it plays Montana in the semi-finals of the men’s Big Sky Tournament in Ogden, Utah.
The equation is simple for the Bears: Win the Big Sky Tournament and they’re in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
To do that, however, the Bears need to start by beating fourth-seeded Montana (20-9), which UNC split with during the regular season.
While a nine-day layoff since its last game may create some rust, UNC remains confident.
“The guys really believe in each other,” Bears coach Tad Boyle said. “They obviously feel good about what they’ve done in the regular season. But we’re trying to get in their heads that this is a new season.”
That new season begins without the Bears’ second-leading scorer, Devon Beitzel, who has missed the past four games because of a broken foot. Beitzel, UNC’s top 3-point shooter, is not expected to be available this week.
The Bears went 4-0 without Beitzel, mainly because senior guard Will Figures stepped up his play. Figures, the son of former CU football star Deon Figures, was selected to the all-Big Sky team with averages of 16.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals.
Also helping the Bears, freshman guard Elliott Lloyd and sophomore forward Mike Proctor provided career-high scoring in the team’s last game, a 78-66 victory over Sacramento State.
“It’s the focus and the toughness of the guys that are playing behind (Beitzel),” Figures said. “Coming off the bench, they handled it mentally so well. They were able to come in and give us tremendous minutes to this point. That’s just the chemistry that the team has.”
Still, there is pressure. There is no more margin of error. But the Bears have been able to stay loose.
“We trust each other and we know what we’re capable of,” said senior guard Yahosh Bonner, the Big Sky’s defensive player of the year. “We play together, we play hard and we play well.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Big Sky Tournament
At Ogden, Utah
Today’s semifinals
No. 2 Northern Colorado vs. No. 4 Montana, 4:35 p.m.
No. 1 Weber State (host) vs. No. 6 Portland State
Wednesday’s championship
Semifinal winners, 7:05 p.m.
