Frontier Notebook: Frontier schedule has plenty of quirks

To say the Frontier Conference men's and women's basketball is weird this season might be understating it. First, there are the mid-week games this season, which are new to the schedule for the most part.

Then there's the case of the Montana State University-Northern Lights and Skylights, and their battles with the UM-Western Bulldogs and Lewis-Clark State Warriors.

First off, with each team playing each other three teams, Northern drew the unlucky task of having to travel to Lewiston, Idaho, twice this season. That will supposedly flip next year.

But the more interesting thing about the schedule when it comes to this trio of schools is how often they have played each other.

This weekend, Northern, Western and LCSC will get together for the third time, and it's all happened in just over a month.

The first trip to Dillon and Lewiston for Northern took place back on Jan. 11-13. And just two weeks later, the Bulldogs and Warriors were in Havre to face Northern again. Now, less than two weeks from when those games took place in Havre, the Lights and Skylights are once again playing the same two teams, traveling to Western Thursday night and LCSC Saturday night.

"It is very unusual to be playing each other a third time, and so soon," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said.

Unusual can actually sum up the entire Frontier Conference schedule this season. And, it looks like, if no other teams join the league, the schedule will continue to remain as is, or be tinkered with even more. And next time the Frontier does decide to tinker with it, my vote would be for a return to the original Frontier format, where teams play each other on back-to-back nights, and play each other four times a season. That was a lot of fun in the old Frontier days, and it would be again in my humble opinion.

Diggers making a move

Montana Tech might still be in last place in the Frontier men's standings, but the Orediggers have already tripled their win total in conference play from a season ago.

After going 1-17 in league play last winter, Tech has won three times thus far, including last week's 68-66 win over LC State. Tech also has a win over Carroll to its credit, and overall, Tech is 11-12 on the season, after playing very well in non-conference play.

It should come as no surprise that Tech is starting to make progress, too. Head coach Adam Hiatt was part of a solid program in the Frontier when he coached at Westminster, leading the Griffins to a multitude of conference crowns and NAIA appearances. Tech also has some of the best facilities in the Frontier, and the NAIA for that matter, so it seems it's only a matter of time until Tech finds its way back into the upper echelon of men's basketball in the Frontier.

Warrior Struggles

We've seen what injuries can do to a team's destiny. Take the MSU-Northern Skylights for example. Riddled with injuries all season long, and now without star Jacy Thompson for the remainder of the season, it's been a rough year for the Skylights. Graduation certainly didn't help either.

The same holds true for the LC State women. Just eight months ago, the Warriors were in Billings playing for the NAIA national championship. Fast forward to now, and their best player, Caelyn Orlandi is an assistant coach after exhausting her eligibility, and their leading scorer is out with an injury. LC lost leading scorer Jansen Edmiston to an injury in early January, and since that time, the Warriors have lost five or their last seven.

LCSC is out of the NAIA Top 25, and if the Warriors don't win the Frontier tournament, they're not going to the NAIA's big dance this year either. It just goes to show that even the most dominant of programs aren't immune to bad luck.

Frontier Honors

UM-Western's Brianna King was named Frontier Conference Women's Player of the Week. King's 22 points and eight rebounds in Western's wins over LC State and Montana Tech last week.

Western's Brandon Jones was named Frontier Men's Player of the Week. Jones averaged 20 points in 15 rebounds in the Bulldog's two losses last week.

MSU-Northern's Kealani Sagapolu and Ryan Reeves were both nominated.