Montana Grizzlies Receive No. 14 Seed in East Region at NCAA Tournament

MISSOULA — The Montana men’s basketball team was presented with the No. 14 seed in the East Region of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the selection committed announced Sunday afternoon.

The Grizzlies (25-9) will play No. 3 seed Wisconsin (26-9) at 11:30 a.m. MT Thursday in Denver with the game broadcast on TNT. The players and coaches found out their postseason fate while watching the NCAA Tournament selection show at The Still Room in Missoula.

“It’s always fun,” Montana head coach Travis DeCuire said of seeing his team react to the announcement. “That’s one of the best parts of this deal. I’ve always told the guys, from the end of the (Big Sky) championship game til the ball going up in the air in the first round is as much fun as the actual game in the NCAA tournament.

“One of them is waiting to find out who you play. It’s always fun to see the guys show some energy and be excited about a matchup.”

The first-round game will take place at Ball Arena, home of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.

Denver was not highly projected as a landing spot for Montana in various mock brackets heading into the reveal. The Griz seemed to be bound for Cleveland, Ohio; Lexington, Kentucky; Wichita, Kansas; or Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“It makes it fun,” DeCuire said of the anticipation. “The thing I like about Denver is our fans can get there, our families can get there, everybody can get there with a direct flight. Some of the places like Wichita, Milwaukee are a little harder for our fans to get. So I think we’ll have an opportunity to have a pretty good crowd.”

ESPN and CBS Sports mock brackets predicted UM to be a No. 14 and 15 seed, respectively, earlier Sunday. It appeared the Griz were on the border of being the last No. 14 seed or the first No. 15.

They ended up with a No. 14 seed and drew a third-seeded opponent instead of a No. 2 if they would’ve been No. 15 themselves. They were No. 58 overall on the seed list of 68 teams.

“I knew we had been hovering between 14 and 15,” DeCuire said. “We had some point differentials that I knew were going to impact us: Tennessee, Oregon early in the year. Didn’t know if the committee knew that we had guys not playing there at that point in time and having an understanding that we’re a different basketball team than we were in November. Maybe they know that.

“So, I thought maybe 10 consecutive wins, (winning) 14 out of 15 (games), would give us a chance to move up. So, I think that helped.”

The Griz are making their first appearance in the national tournament since they made back-to-back trips in 2018 and 2019. They earned the Big Sky Conference’s automatic berth into the 68-team tournament because they won the league’s tournament title game by beating Northern Colorado 91-83.

The Griz have been off since winning that championship game Wednesday night in Boise, Idaho, and returning to Missoula on Thursday. They had a practice Friday and participated in a meet and greet with fans at Scheels on Sunday morning before the selection show.

“You get a chance to relax and then kind of watch other tournaments, hopefully projecting what you think you might be,” DeCuire said of the time off. “But the most important thing is to be fresh.

“When you play on Saturday and travel the way we travel back from Boise, you’re exhausted heading into the tournament. I think we have a chance to have a fresh basketball team and perform maybe a little better.”

The last time the Griz made the NCAAs, they had played the Big Sky title game Saturday night in Boise. They then had a quick turnaround for the selection show Sunday afternoon.

When the Griz arrived for this year’s selection show, Wisconsin was playing in the Big Ten championship game against Michigan. The Badgers ended up losing about 20 minutes before the bracket reveal began.

“The larger conferences that have played some Sunday championship games fared well, so I don’t know how much it affects teams like that because they charter, they don’t travel the way we do,” DeCuire said. “I don’t think we’re going to have any kind of advantage over them with that. We don’t play til Thursday, so they’ll have time to get fresh.”

Montana is making its 13th trip to the NCAA Tournament, where it holds a 2-13 record. This is the third trip under DeCuire, tied with Wayne Tinkle for the most by a Griz coach. His teams lost to Michigan, another Big Ten team, in the first round in 2018 (as a No. 14 seed) and 2019 (as a No. 15 seed).

The Grizzlies’ last win in the NCAA Tournament came in 2006 when coach Larry Krystkowiak’s No. 12 Montana upset No. 5 Nevada, 87-79. That is still the most recent win in the national tournament by a Big Sky team, marking the longest drought among all 32 Division I conferences.

“We’re always just happy to be in the field,” DeCuire said. “You always sometimes wonder about certain matchups, style of play, pace, like that. 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 Ten.”

Frank Gogola is the Senior Sports Reporter at the Missoulian and 406 MT Sports. Follow him on X @FrankGogola or email him at [email protected].