George Ferguson Column: Plenty of reasons to be excited about MSU-N hoops

Thanks in part to so few home games and tough scheduling, this might just be one of the most anticipated Frontier Conference basketball season’s in recent Montana State University-Northern history.

One reason we should all be excited that league play is here is, it means seven home games for the Lights and Skylights over the next two months, and with the Frontier playoffs, maybe more.

Let’s face it, due to the fact that so few teams want to, or are willing to travel to play Northern’s men and women in October, November and December, it’s been really hard to get into the spirit of Northern basketball this season. I admit, it’s even been hard for me, and I cover the Lights and Skylights on a daily basis.

But that won’t be the case any longer, because starting Friday night, the Frontier battles will begin, and seven of those battles will be played out inside the famed Armory Gymnasium.

There’s even more to look forward to than just the fact that the Lights and Skylights finally get to play a consistent amount of home games.

The fact is, both teams are really good, and both teams are going to be very exciting to watch the next two months.

The Northern women, under veteran head coach Chris Mouat, come into league play ranked No. 15 in the NAIA. It’s the Skylights highest ranking in a decade. And they have lost just once since the season started. They return pretty much their entire nucleus from last season’s team that not only dazzled fans during Frontier Conference play but also made a great run all the way to the NAIA Sweet 16.

The Skylights are also just flat-out fun to watch, for a number of reasons. First, they play great defense, and in today’s modern college basketball, that seems to be a lost art. Just look at my North Carolina Tar Heels. They are always loaded with talent, yet they are always a terrible defensive team under legendary head coach Roy Williams. And as a result, the Tar Heels have gone virtually nowhere in the last five or six years, and they don’t look to being going anywhere this season.

The Skylights, on the other hand, play smothering, hard-nosed defense, and the way they shut down opponents is a pleasure to watch. The effort Northern gives every 40 minutes on the defensive end is something that should be admired and appreciated.

The Northern women also have great chemistry. They play as a team. They are unselfish and they really seem to be a tight-knit unit, and that, too, is fun to watch, and will likely carry the Skylights far this winter.

Oh yeah ... there’s yet another reason why Northern fans better show up in droves to support the Skylights this season. Fans, I’m telling you, you don’t want to take getting to watch A’Jha Edwards play over the next two months for granted, because when it’s all over, the senior will be done with her Northern career, and players like Edwards, game-changers like she is, just don’t come around often. Northern is a great team, and that’s what makes them special. But they have a super-star player in Edwards, and her presence is something we shouldn’t take for granted. We should feel lucky we get to watch her play every night this winter.

Then there’s the MSU-N men. Under head coach Shawn Huse, one of the 25 winningest active coaches presently in the NAIA, the Lights have been the most consistent team in the Frontier Conference during his tenure. They are on a streak of eight straight 20-win seasons. The Lights have gone to four straight NAIA national tournaments, and have went to Kansas City five of the last six years. Northern has also played in eight straight Frontier Conference semifinals. No other team in the league can match that consistency, year-in-and-year out.

This year’s Northern team may have a different look, that’s true. The Lights have a lot of new faces, but that’s what makes it fun. New players, but the same, consistently good, consistently tough, Lights. Huse always seems to mold his teams into exactly what Northern fans have grown to expect out of the Lights, and the 2015 version is quickly becoming that team.

Like Edwards with the women’s team, the Lights also have a special senior, and, by the time March rolls around, his playing days at MSU-N will be over. Big Sandy native Corbin Pearson has been a very special Light, for a long time now. And since Pearson has been contributing since his freshman season, we may have taken his presence on the Lights’ roster for granted. But we can’t take it for granted anymore. Pearson is a home-town guy, a local prep product who has now become one of the best players in the Frontier, and like Edwards, those types of players don’t come around that often anymore. So, there’s no way fans want to miss Pearson’s last season in a Lights’ uniform.

And lastly, this season will be as exciting as any season has been in a long time because of the fans, because of the atmosphere inside the Armory. I’ve been to games all over the Frontier Conference, so I can truly say, without bias, that Northern easily has the best home-court atmosphere in all of the Frontier. And honestly, it’s not even close. From the rowdy student section, to the noise level from the entire gym, there’s really nothing like Frontier Conference basketball in the Armory Gymnasium.

And there’s going to be nothing like this season inside the Armory. Both on the men’s and women’s side, the Frontier is as good as it’s ever been, and that’s no exaggeration. And your Northern teams are a big, big part of that. And now, the wait is over. Now, the excitement begins. Now, it’s really for real. And you don’t want to miss it.