After racing to the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball tournament championship for the third year in a row, the Montana State Bobcats are heading to the First Four, marking the first time the Big Sky’s auto qualifier has to play in the play-in round.
The Bobcats will take on Grambling State for the right to earn a No. 16 seed in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday night. The winner will take on No. 1 Purdue in Indianapolis.
MSU graduate transfer senior John Olmsted has played in Dayton before. He was on an Arizona State team that won a play-in game to earn a No. 10 seed last season. Olmsted has been one of the breakout players in all of college basketball suddenly over the last few weeks. He only played 47 minutes during the first 15 games of conference play but has played 20+ over the last six, helping unlock new rotations and acceleration on both sides of the ball for Montana State.
The Bobcats are in the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. Montana State lost 97-62 to No. 3 Texas Tech as a 14-seed in San Diego in March of 2022. MSU lost 77-65 last spring to No. 4 Kansas State as a 13-seed in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Olmsted joined Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports to break down MSU’s draw. All Rights Reserved.
