Bobcat basketball teams build on success to conquer the Big Sky

Editor’s Note: This article is the third and final installment of a three-part series covering the athletics department’s success. Part one and two can be found at msuexponent.com.

It wasn’t long ago that Big Sky Conference titles seemed out of reach for both Bobcat basketball teams. In the 2018-19 season, the men’s basketball team went 15-17 and was dismissed early in the Big Sky tournament by Eastern Washington. The women’s team didn’t fare much better, finishing barely over .500 after being trounced by Portland State in the first round of the conference tourney. Three seasons later, both teams are conference champions.

Tricia Binford and Danny Sprinkle, head coaches of the women’s and men’s teams respectively, assembled championship-caliber talent and led their teams to dual victories not seen in Bozeman since the 1990s. Although neither squad was able to make it through the first round of the NCAA tournament, the 2021-22 season was certainly among the greatest in Bobcat Basketball history.

In the fall of 2019, the Bobcat women’s basketball team was not exactly scaring anyone. They had earned quality wins against UC Davis and Seattle U, but they held a 4-5 record and were on a three-game losing streak heading into conference play. They blew out Sacramento State in their first conference matchup, then beat Northern Colorado two days later. The following week, they crushed Southern Utah before losing to an incredibly tough Idaho team by one. Then they won seventeen in a row. This was not the same Bobcat team that barely squeaked out a winning record the two previous seasons.

To say that then-freshman Darian White was the difference between an average Big Sky team and an unstoppable powerhouse would probably be exaggerating, but it may also be true. 

“I don’t know if people can appreciate how efficient she was as a freshman,” Binford said of White. 

White started all 31 games of her freshman season and was named the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the year. In the Big Sky Tournament, White was the team’s best player, scoring 19 points in both the quarterfinals and the semifinals. 

“She was just exceptionally efficient from day one,” Binford said. “That included practices. She always had a great practice and that’s very unusual for freshmen.” 

Although the Bobcats celebrated a regular season championship after thumping the Lady Griz at home, the 2019-20 squad’s 17 game win streak did not end in a tournament championship. Their opportunity to avenge their only in-conference loss of the season in a title matchup with Idaho was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. What should have ended in jubilation instead ended in heartbreak. Winning the conference this year doesn’t make the disappointment of 2020 nonexistent, but it sure helps. 

“We had a chance to honor [the 2019-20 team] with being able to advance to the postseason. So it was pretty gratifying, of course. It felt really special,” Binford said.

The conference champion Bobcats were again led by White. She was a unanimous All-Big Sky first team selection and the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Junior forward Kola Bad Bear also had a sensational season, leading the Cats in rebounds and finishing second only to White in scoring on her way to an All-Big Sky Third Team selection. Bad Bear and White will both be returning next season, but the Cats will be losing two key players with Gabby Mocchi and Ashley Van Sickle both graduating. Next season, some of the Bobcats’ younger players are going to have to step up to fill those roles. 

“The minutes and the opportunity is going to be there,” said Binford, adding that rebounding will be of utmost consideration after the Bobcats’ struggles on the glass for much of the season.

The MSU men’s basketball team underwent a roster change in 2020 as well, but it was not the story of a single player. The 2019-20 Bobcats who finished the season with a 16-15 record and had their entire conference tournament canceled by COVID-19 shutdowns would add a host of talent to their roster for the 2020-21 season. Xavier Bishop, Abdul Mohamed and Tyler Patterson would all join the starting five for the Cats. Jubrile Belo and Amin Adamu, who started in 2020, rounded out a fearsome lineup for the Bobcats. In their two seasons together, Bishop, Mohamed, Belo, Adamu and Patterson have guided the Cats to consecutive Big Sky Championship game appearances, the latter of which ended in victory. 

Since taking over in 2019, Sprinkle has overseen the improvement of Bobcat men’s basketball even in seasons where the team lost starters to graduation. 

“Even though we won the championship this year, that doesn’t happen without Harald Frey, Ladan Ricketts, Devin Kirby, Sprinkle said. “Those are the types of guys that built the foundation. Now with Xavier Bishop, Amin Adamu and Abdul Mohamed leaving, now other guys have to step up into those roles and continue to get better.”

With Bishop, Adamu and Mohamed moving on, the Bobcats will have a different look next season. The trio averaged 34.3 points and 16.4 rebounds while Bishop accounted for more than twice as many assists as anyone else on the roster. When asked who will fill in for all the lost production, Sprinkle said, “I could go down our whole roster.” He mentioned rising sophomore Great Osobor, a 6’8” forward who averaged six points and 4.2 rebounds over a nightly average of fifteen minutes per game, before literally going down the roster and pointing out the facets of each player’s game that will contribute to the team’s success next season. 

MSU has also worked hard to recruit new players to the program, recently signing Jed Miller, Darius Brown II and Robert Ford III for next season. All three new signings are guards who can be expected to compete for the starting spots left open by Bishop and Adamu. 

“We’re bringing in really good players, so it should be a talented roster. Our chemistry is going to have to come together like this year for us to be special,” Sprinkle said.

Ultimately, both MSU teams earned a berth to the NCAA tournament and were ousted in the first round by national championship contenders. The men fell to two seed Texas Tech, while the women were defeated by all-time winningest NCAA women’s basketball coach Tara Vanderveer and her Stanford Cardinal. 

“We certainly want a better seed so we’re not facing a Stanford in the first round,” Binford said of her goals for the team.