The Big Sky Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. As of 2023, full member institutions are located in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Two affiliate members from California are football–only participants.
Portland State Vikings is the nickname of the NCAA-affiliated, intercollegiate athletic teams representing Portland State University of Portland, Oregon. The Vikings compete at the NCAA Division I level in basketball, soccer, volleyball, golf, tennis, softball, indoor and outdoor track and field, and cross country. The university has been a member of the Big Sky Conference since 1996. Along with the other Big Sky football programs, Viking football takes-part in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as NCAA Division I-AA.
The University of Wyoming men's basketball program, which competes in the Mountain West Conference, with the schools first recorded game dating back to 1905. Wyoming won the 1943 NCAA championship under Hall of Fame coach Everett Shelton and behind star guard Ken Sailors, who pioneered the jump shot that is now the standard in basketball. Wyoming has made a total of 16 appearances in the NCAA tournament. Since the Mountain West was formed in 1999, Wyoming has won two conference titles, including an outright championship in 2002. Prior to that, Wyoming won five championships in the Western Athletic Conference, eight championships in the Skyline Conference, and one championship in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Heath Martin Schroyer is an American college basketball coach, currently the athletic director at McNeese State University, where he was head coach of the men's basketball team from 2018 until 2021. He has had previous head coaching stops at Portland State University (2002–05), University of Wyoming (2007–11) and University of Tennessee-Martin (2014–16).
The Colorado State Rams men's basketball team represents Colorado State University, located in Fort Collins, in the U.S. state of Colorado, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They play their home games at the Moby Arena and are members of the Mountain West Conference. They are led by head coach Niko Medved.
Mary Camille "Kamie" Ethridge is a former American basketball player and current basketball coach. She was an All-American point guard at the University of Texas at Austin and won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. She is considered one of the best women's basketball players in history and was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. Ethridge is currently the head coach at Washington State University.
The Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents University of Northern Colorado (UNC) in Greeley, Colorado, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Big Sky Conference.
The 2015–16 Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears were led by sixth-year head coach B. J. Hill and played their home games at Bank of Colorado Arena. They were a member of the Big Sky Conference. The Bears finished the season 10–21, 7–11 in Big Sky play to finish in ninth place. They lost to Portland State in the first round of the Big Sky tournament.
The 2016–17 Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears were led by first-year head coach Jeff Linder and played their home games at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colorado. They were members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 11–18, 7–11 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for eighth place. On October 8, 2016, the school self-imposed a postseason ban amid an ongoing NCAA investigation.
Jeffrey Michael Linder is an American college basketball coach and current men's basketball head coach at Wyoming. Linder was previously an assistant coach at Emporia State, Midland, Weber State, San Francisco, and Boise State from 2001 to 2016.
The 2017–18 Northern Colorado Bears women's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bears were led by fourth year head coach Kamie Ethridge, played their home games at the Bank of Colorado Arena as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 26–7, 15–3 in Big Sky play to win the Big Sky regular season championship. They defeated Montana, Idaho State, and Idaho to win the Big Sky women's tournament for the first time in program history. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA women's tournament, the school's first. As the No. 10 seed in the Lexington region, they lost to Michigan in the first round.
The 2018–19 Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears were led by third-year head coach Jeff Linder and played their home games at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colorado as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 21–11, 15–5 in Big Sky play to finish in second place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky tournament to Southern Utah.
The 2019–20 Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears were led by fourth-year head coach Jeff Linder and played their home games at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colorado as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 22–9, 15–5 Big Sky play to finish in second place. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, all postseason tournaments were canceled including the Big Sky tournament.
The 2019–20 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball team represent Northern Arizona University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks, led by interim head coach Shane Burcar, played their home games at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Arizona, with their non-conference home games at Rolle Activity Center, and one at Findlay Toyota Center, as members of the Big Sky Conference.
Sundance "Sunny" Wicks is an American collegiate basketball coach, currently men's head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Prior to that, he served 2 years as the head coach for the Missouri Western Men's Basketball Team. Wicks played at Northern State in college, then played in Sweden for the Södertälje Kings for one year, then spent eleven non-consecutive years as an assistant at four different colleges including Northern State, Colorado, Northern Illinois, and San Francisco. He also launched the Arizona Power Basketball Academy and worked as a skill-instructor and director from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, he spent five months training NBA pre-draft prospects at the Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas. He trained athletes such as Kawhi Leonard, Marvin Bagley, Isaiah Thomas, Xavier Silas, and Alec Burks.
The 2020–21 Wyoming Cowboys basketball team represented the University of Wyoming during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by Jeff Linder in his first year as head coach at Wyoming. The Cowboys played their home games at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyoming as members of the Mountain West Conference. In a season limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Cowboys finished the season 14–11, 7–9 in Mountain West play to finish in seventh place. They defeated San Jose State in the first round of the Mountain West tournament before losing to San Diego State in the quarterfinals.
The 2020–21 Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by first-year head coach Steve Smiley, played their home games at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colorado as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 11-11, 6-8 in Big Sky Play to finish a tie for 7th place. They defeated Sacramento State in the first round before losing in the quarterfinals to Southern Utah.
The 2021–22 Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by second-year head coach Steve Smiley, played their home games at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colorado as members of the Big Sky Conference.
The 2022–23 Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Colorado in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by third-year head coach Steve Smiley, played their home games at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colorado as members of the Big Sky Conference.
