Men’s Basketball has a new look

Following a period of success that saw the MSU men’s basketball team win the Big Sky Conference Tournament in 2022 and 2023, the program entered a time of uncertainty. 

Head coach Danny Sprinkle left for Utah State in April, mainstay Jubrile Belo graduated and is playing professionally in France and RaeQuan Battle transferred to West Virginia University after his 26-point scoring effort wasn’t enough to propel the team past Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Sprinkle’s departure sparked a spring that saw a number of players and assistant coaches leave the program. Only six players and one member of the coaching staff remain from last year’s roster. Matt Logie was hired as Sprinkle’s successor and came highly decorated — sporting a 0.826 winning percentage over 12 years as a head coach during stints at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington and Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California.

Once he took the job, Logie spent the summer filling out a depleted roster, but had to assemble a coaching staff first. “I think any time you're going through a transition, in large part due to success, you want to try to have as much consistency as possible and carryover, that can only help you moving forward,” Logie said. “We had six guys from last year’s team that decided to stay here at Montana State and that was super appreciated and exciting for our staff because those guys have been in the NCAA Tournament before, they know what a Big Sky championship team looks like. They have their best basketball in front of them.” 

Three assistant coaches, all with previous ties to Logie, were hired before the focus turned to recruiting players. After a summer of additions to the roster, the team is almost unrecognizable.

Over the course of the summer, eight players elected to come play for Logie using the transfer portal. The transfer portal is an online database that athletes wishing to transfer between colleges must go through. One of these eight, Robert Ford III, returned to MSU for his senior season after initially entering the transfer portal. Another of the transfers, Brian Goracke, spent two seasons playing for Logie at Point Loma prior to transferring to MSU.

A common theme among this summer's additions is experience.  The targeted players were seen as ones who could come in and impact winning immediately while still having some time left on their eligibility after this season.  “I think the last four years of Coach Sprinkle’s tenure have really provided proof of concept that this is a place where you can win championships,” Logie said. “We didn’t want to take steps backwards.”

While the faces on the court may be different, Logie wants to keep the tenacity that became a calling card of the Bobcat defense over the past several seasons.  “The spirit of Montana State teams, the toughness that they play with, the defensive intensity, those are things that don’t come with a size prerequisite,” Logie said.  

On the other side of the ball, fans can expect a different style of offense than they’ve become accustomed to. This new roster has added proven 3 point shooters, with Goracke shooting 38.5% from the three point line in his final season at Point Loma and fellow newcomer Aiden Gair shooting 40.5% from the three point line during his last season at Frank Phillips College. 

“The game itself is really trending that way in many ways, so we hope to be able to capitalize on that shooting ability, some of the versatility that these guys bring to the table,” Logie said.

With so many newcomers, the excitement to play in front of the home crowd is already building.  The team opens the season at home on Nov. 6 against Northwest Indian College. 

“I think one of the things that makes this place special is its fan support and the passion. We want the Brick to be rocking in January and February when conference play matters most and get these students behind this group of guys because we have a core who bleeds blue and gold,” Logie said.