Bears Hungry For More After Regular Season Title

Monday, Mar. 3 will go down in the history for the University of Northern Colorado athletics, as the men’s basketball team secured the “first” regular season title in school history.

The Bears flew into Ogden, Utah with one goal in mind; to secure the final win of the season and be named Big Sky regular season champions. After securing the team's victory against Weber State 68-63, that step was accomplished with a Division I school record to boot.

This season for the Bears was not an easy road, as the team faced adversity many times through the season. One moment that stood out to fans was not a matchup in the middle of the season, but the second game on Nov. 8 in Boulder. The Bears took the Colorado Buffalo to double overtime and lost the game 90-88.

Putting a school like CU to the side, the Bears are part of a conference where the competition is fierce. Of the 18 conference games the Bears played in, the team won six of them by a margin of five or less. That may not seem like an eye opening fact to many, but in any sport at any level it is well known that conference play is a different level of difficulty than non-conference games.

Sophomore Jordyn Cordova, who is also a captain for the Sugar Bears dance team, was at every home game and witnessed first hand the hard work and dedication the men put into the season.

“The energy on and off the court was immaculate,” Cordova said. “You can tell the team loves and genuinely cares about each other.”

Cordova noted that the fan turnout was bigger than last season. The Bears in the den were able to bring the noise and were able to witness a milestone season along with the Sugar Bears.

This isn’t the first time UNC has won a regular-season championship. The last time the Bears were able to bring the hardware home was the 2010-11 season. That title was eventually stripped from the school in 2017 after reports came out that members of the coaching staff committed academic fraud and completed players' online course work. You can read more about that here.

Tuesday afternoon, the Bears arrived back home from Ogden and the school held a celebration for the team in the Bank of Colorado arena. Members of the team and coaching staff got the opportunity to celebrate with their peers, members of the athletic department as well as the old tradition of cutting pieces of the net off. The cutting of the net is a tradition programs do to celebrate their achievements and keep it as a memento of their hard work and dedication.

Junior guard Langston Reynolds, who was a pivotal cog this season averaging 16.5 points per game, shared his joy and excitement on the Bears latest achievement.

“I don’t think it hit me yet, until today…it’s amazing for us,” Reynolds said.

It is worth noting that the regular-season title does not “fully” belong to the Bears, as Montana finished with a conference record of 15-3, same as the Bears. The Bears and Grizzlies will each get a share of the honor of being regular season champions.

When it is time for the Big Sky tournament to come around in Boise, Idaho, the Bears will be the number one seed. The team earned that spot by finishing with a season record of 23-8, compared to Montana’s 22-9.

Last season, the Bears were the number two seed in the Big Sky tournament but were upset by the number eight seed Idaho State 83-76. Senior guard Zach Bloch was on that team and said it was a learning moment for the Bears. The mentality of the team will be different come tournament play.

Winning the regular-season title was only the first step for the Bears. Step two is winning the Big Sky tournament. If UNC is able to accomplish that, they will get a guaranteed spot in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Bears team fourteen years ago played in the tournament as well, only to lose to the number six seed San Diego State 68-50.

Bears Head Coach Steve Smiley has had a season to remember. In addition to leading the school to a conference title and the first seed in the tournament, he became the all-time leader in Division I wins in program history.

Smiley couldn’t take all the credit and praised his staff and players that have come through the program to help achieve the honor. While it is nice to hold s school record and bring home a conference title, Smiley and the Bears are hungry.

“There’s room for two banners…We want to win a championship right now,” Smiley said.

Even if the Bears get knocked out of the Big Sky tournament, it was announced on Tuesday that the team earned a spot in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). That tournament will start Mar. 18 and last until Apr. 3.

The 50th Big Sky tournament will take place from Mar. 8-12. The Bears first game will be Sunday at 5:30 p.m. and be streaming on ESPN+.