When we sit back to watch the Big Sky Conference absorb another lopsided loss at the NCAA Tournament — Idaho's men play Houston at 8:10 p.m. local time Thursday on that channel we watch once a year, TRUTV — we can at least root for the home-grown kids. 

The Vandals have four Idaho natives playing a bunch, including their two leading scorers, Jackson Rasmussen and Kolten Mitchell.  
Then there is Idaho’s Agent 0, 6-foot-11 Brody Rowbury out of Meridian, who killed the Montana Grizzlies in the Big Sky Conference championship with two dagger 3-pointers.

A week after that game it’s worth noting that if Money Williams hadn’t been under the weather — he still scored 19 points, down from the 40 and 32 he had in UM’s first two tournament wins — the Grizzlies might be dancing.

Which is surprising given their struggles during an 18-16 season that featured, among other things, an 82-75 home loss to Montana Tech in December.

I keep going back to that game because the NAIA Orediggers got 19 points each from guys from Helena (Brayden Koch) and Geraldine (Hayden Diekhans) and 20 from a freshman from Bonners Ferry, Idaho (Asher Williams).

Are we sure some of these guys couldn’t come up a level? I ask partly because one of the bigger baskets that night belonged to Shelby’s Rhett Reynolds, who spent a couple years with the Griz before transferring to Tech.

And partly because the Grizzlies and their in-state rival, Montana State, have one Montanan each. Connor Dick out of Hellgate found decent minutes this year for the Griz; Seth Amunrud averaged 7.3 points after coming to Bozeman via Manhattan Christian and Dawson Community College.

On Saturday the Missoula Sentinel Spartans won their first State AA title in 40 seasons, outlasting Billings West 47-46 behind 25 points from Lincoln Rogers — including an in-your-dish, game-winning three with 15 seconds left in OT.

Rogers sprouted to 6-foot-8 coming into his senior season and somewhere in there, Sentinel coach Sam Beighle noted, the Griz offered a full-ride. Then, because of the vagaries of college recruiting, it was reduced to something less. Long story short Rogers is headed to D-II Minnesota State-Moorhead.

Rogers has roots there, including a grandfather that played across the Red River for NDSU, but Bieghle is clear about one thing — Rogers has a burning desire to play Division I basketball.

So why isn’t he? The NIL Era hasn’t helped, probably. Coaches need to win quickly, certainly. If Rogers is a couple years away from D-I, he can at least play right away for a program that truly desires him. He’s fine. It’ll be fine.

But if Idaho pulls off the upset Thursday, ending a 19-year skid by the Big Sky — that 2006 Grizzly team had three Montanans, for the record — I’d wonder what the Vandals know that others don’t.

Sports Editor Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 406-758-4463 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.