MISSOULA — It's a moment all college basketball teams wait and strive for every March, and on Sunday afternoon the Montana Grizzlies officially are going dancing.
UM drew a No. 14 seed in this year's NCAA men's tournament, and they will take on No. 3 Wisconsin in the opening round on Thursday at Ball Arena in Denver. Tipoff is slated for 11:30 a.m. Mountain Time.
The celebrations were loud at The Still Room where UM held its watch party with friends, family and supporters of the program. There were a couple of slots early on in locations like Seattle and Milwaukee that some predicted the Griz would land, so after a few close calls — and avoiding Michigan when the Wolverines were called which drew laughs from the crowd — the Grizzlies will tangle with the Badgers.
"From the end of the championship game to the ball going up in the air in the first round is as much fun as the actual game in the NCAA tournament and one of them is waiting to find out who you play," UM head coach Travis DeCuire said. "So it's always fun to see the guys show some energy and be excited about a matchup."
Wisconsin still hails from the same conference as Michigan, the team UM saw both in 2018 and 2019, in the Big 10. Just hours before the selection show, the Badgers fell to the Wolverines in the Big 10 Conference tournament title game.
Wisconsin enters the tournament at 26-9 overall as they went 13-7 in league play. UM is 25-9 and went 15-3 in Big Sky play as the Griz won a share of the Big Sky regular-season title before taking it all at the Big Sky tournament in Boise on Wednesday.
"First of all we're always happy to be in the field, you always sometimes wonder about certain matchups, style of play, things like that," DeCuire said. "I need to watch a lot more film to have an opinion, but there's no question they like matching us up with the Big 10."
It'll be a first for all of UM's players as the Grizzlies snapped their six-year NCAA tournament drought. It's their first time advancing since the Big Sky tournament changed its format to wrap up in the middle of the week instead of the Saturday before the selection show, so UM has used the past few days to rest, recover, celebrate with fans including an autograph season at Missoula's Scheels on Sunday, and also get back to work.
Plus, the friendly location of Denver is more attainable for Griz fans in Montana and the vast number who live in Colorado versus some of the other locations available or that UM attended in the past like Wichita, Kansas, in 2018 and Des Moines, Iowa, in 2019.
"The thing I like about Denver is our fans can get there, our families can get there," DeCuire said of the draw. "Everybody can get there with a direct flight. Some of the places like Wichita and Milwaukee are a little harder for our fans to get, so I think we'll have an opportunity to have a pretty good crowd."
Now, it's time for Montana to experience what March is all about, and see if the Grizzlies can be this year's Cinderella team, as they look to pick up the Big Sky's first win in the men's tournament since UM did just that back in 2006.
