Men’s basketball on the brink of making history

As the MSU men’s basketball team wrapped up its season last spring, it did so with reason to celebrate. For the third season in a row, the Bobcats won the Big Sky Conference Tournament and earned another berth in the NCAA tournament. The ‘Cats will be looking to do so again this season as they begin on the road on Nov. 7 with a game against the University of Wisconsin.

However, no Big Sky men’s basketball program in the history of the Conference has been to four consecutive NCAA tournaments — so these ‘Cats have a legacy on the line.

According to msubobcats.com, the ‘Cats come into the 2024-25 season ranked first by the media and second by coaches in the Big Sky Conference preseason ranking polls. While it would only be natural to feel proud of this accomplishment, second-year Head Coach Matt Logie isn’t letting the team rest on its laurels. Instead, the Bobcats have been working hard to prepare for this potentially historic season.

“It’s been a great offseason. Coming off another NCAA tournament appearance gave us great momentum into the spring recruiting season and finishing out our roster for this year,” Logie said. “I think we’ve seen great, great growth going back to the beginning of last year — my first year — and a stark difference in year two with having a year under our belt and more continuity from one year to the next.”

Logie listed players — including preseason All-Conference selections Brian Goracke and Brandon Walker, as well as guard Tyler Patterson, who has been with MSU his entire career — who have significant continuity with either the coaches or the program.

“All of those guys have a year under their belt with our coaching staff and in our system, and that has paid huge dividends so far,” he said.

The Bobcats website lists Logie as one of only two men’s basketball coaches in NCAA history to earn NCAA tournament berths at the Division I, II and III levels. Logie also boasts the eighth-highest career-winning percentage of all currently active men’s basketball head coaches at four-year schools, standing at .794. His win/loss ratio also ranks 11th among those coaches all-time, and he has reached the NCAA tournament in 12 of his 13 seasons as a head coach.

In other words, there are a few good reasons to be excited about upcoming Bobcat basketball.

Logie said that — because of today’s college basketball landscape — there is a lot of roster turnover each year, so new seasons often feel like starting from scratch. However, the Bobcats will benefit from their depth, and there is already some buzz among the team.

“Seeing those connections form between new teammates has been really exciting for us, and a great challenge for us,” Logie said. “I think how that all manifests itself throughout the course of the year will be key to our success because we do have more depth than a year ago and we have a lot of guys that can contribute at a high level.”

Good depth allows a basketball team to be flexible in real-game situations, as a deep roster will have talented players across and within different positions. While this edition of Bobcat basketball might be fortunate to have such a talent-rich roster, Logie admitted that the team’s length and positional size have room for improvement — a challenge that the ‘Cats have met head-on.

“The guys that we brought in are all very excited and motivated by the opportunity in front of us to carry our successful tradition forward,” he said.

The Bobcats know what is at stake this season and are not taking their opportunity at history for granted. However, they also recognize that they will need help from the fans to make a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

“We have an opportunity to chase history this year. We want the Brick to be the most feared place to play in the Big Sky [Conference]. Not just because of the quality of our teams, which we’ve had in place the last few years, but also because of that fan support, that student body support,” he said.

“[It] is critical to that environment and energy. We’re really looking forward to the product that we can put on the floor, and I know that if our fans, our student body, kind of rally around us and take this journey with us together, they’ll feel a great sense of connection to what we hope is a really historic opportunity,” he said.