March Madness Montana Grizzlies: Who They Will Play

The Montana Grizzlies Men's Basketball team is bound for the NCAA Tournament after securing a Big Sky Conference Championship this week in Boise.

In the meantime, it's time to speculate.

Montana Grizzlies in March Madness

ESPN's latest bracketology (Friday, March 14th) has the Montana Grizzlies as a 14 seed playing the Kentucky Wildcats in Milwaukee. The Griz were projected as a 15 seed primarily for the last few weeks before a few other mid major conference tournament upsets. I still believe the Griz will be a 15 seed as they have a lower NET ranking than other 14/15 seeds like Utah Valley, Troy, Robert Morris, Troy, UNC Wilmington and Wofford.

Here are 5 scenarios I want for the Griz' first round matchup in March Madness.

#15 Montana Grizzlies VS #2 Michigan State in Cleveland

How fun would this be? The connection of former Griz Head Coach Jud Heathcote (1971-1976) going on to coach a legendary career at Michigan State (1976-1995) would be a lot of fun to talk about next week.

#14 Montana Grizzlies VS #3 Wisconsin Badgers in Milwaukee

I'm selfish on this one, but if Wisconsin goes on a run in the Big 10 Tourney and climbs up to the 3 line, then we could see Griz-Wisco. The atmosphere in Milwaukee would be heavily in favor of the Badgers, but it would be raucous in Fiserv Forum. Tourney games aren't usually this loud, but with Milwaukee just an hour from Madison, it would be an awesome environment.

Case in point, fast forward to 9:16 and listen to the crowd.

#14 Montana VS #3 Texas A&M in Denver

Denver or Seattle are the closest first round tournament sites. The way the bracket lays out right now, Seattle would be close to impossible for the Grizzlies to play at, but there's a chance with Denver. Texas A&M's closest site would be Denver, so if Montana can stay on the 14 seed there's a chance we could fly some Griz fans down to Denver for a strong backing.

#14 Montana VS #3 St. John's in Providence

Playing a tournament game against Rick Pitino would be so cool. Pitino is basketball royalty.

#14 Montana VS #3 Iowa State in Milwaukee

I really want the Griz to play in Milwaukee. Whether it's against Sparty, Wisconsin, Purdue, or the school of the deaf, it would be fun to see the Griz play a tourney game in my home state.

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Gallery Credit: Brian Budzynski