Griz basketball overwhelming favorites in preseason polls

Montana has been picked as overwhelming favorite to repeat as Big Sky Conference champs in both the preseason coaches’ and media polls.

The Grizzlies, who posted a 26-8 record and swept the Big Sky regular season and tournament titles last season, will return four senior starters and three All-Big Sky honorees to this year’s squad. That includes senior guard Ahmaad Rorie, who was selected by the coaches and media as the league’s preseason MVP.

Montana collected 10 first-place votes from the league’s coaches – the most a team can garner from the 11-team pool since coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team. The team also earned 33 of 35 first-place votes in the media poll, which also include’s the league’s sports information directors.

Weber State came in second in both the coaches’ and media polls, picking up one first-place vote from the coaches poll and two first-place nods from the media. Northern Colorado filled out the top three in both polls.

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