#777 ASA FREE PLAY ON Montana -3 over Idaho State, Thursday at 9 PM ET - There is a reason a team that sits with a 5-9 conference record (Montana) is favored on the road over a team that has a 7-3 Big Sky record (Idaho St). The Bengals have played one of the easiest schedules in the entire country. They are 12-7 on the season and have played a grand total of 2 teams ranked inside the top 200 the entire season. They lost both of those games vs Utah & Santa Clara by double digits. Five of their seven losses have come vs teams ranked outside the top 200. When it comes to strict power rankings, Montana (ranked 194) will be the 3rd highest rated team Idaho State has faced this season. In Big Sky play the Bengals have played the easiest schedule thus far. They have yet to face any of the top 4 teams (power rating) in the conference this season until tonight when the take on Montana (4th rated team in the Big Sky). They have played a grand total of 4 games since January 29th and those opponents were George Fox (not a person, a university believe it or not), Northwest (no not Northwestern) and Idaho twice (ranked 355th out of 356 teams). Talk about taking a huge step up in competition tonight. Montana is hungry for a win after losing 3 of their last 4 games. However all 4 of those games were vs Eastern Washington & Weber State (the top 2 teams in the conference) so while Idaho State is taking a big step up, Montana is stepping way down in competition. Idaho State has some solid defensive numbers in conference play but again we must consider the competition. They have not played a team ranked in the top half of the Big Sky in offensive efficiency this season. Montana ranks 4th in the conference in offensive efficiency, 2nd in 3-point % and they make 81% of their FT’s so this will be the best offense the Bengals have faced. The Grizzlies have won 19 straight in this series and the opening number in this one (Montana -3) is the lowest spread in this series for Montana number since the 2013/14 season. Lay this small number.