1985-86 1986-87 Men's Basketball (Teams) (2019) - Hall of Fame

1985-86 1986-87 Men's Basketball (Teams)

Induction:
2019
Class:
1987

In 1985-86, the Montana State basketball program was one in transition. The Bobcats were transitioning from a slower, deliberate pace to an up-tempo style fueled by guards. They were transitioning from an inside game to a perimeter-oriented motion offense that would benefit from the new three-point line.

And most importantly, MSU was transitioning from a program that had struggled for years into a championship program. Bobcat Head Coach Stu Starner saw it coming, but he wasn’t the first.

“The people in the community and on campus realized it before we did, that something special was happening with this team,” Starner said of January and February of 1986. That something special became one of the most magical periods in Bobcat history, with the 1985-86 squad winning four of its final seven regular season games, capping that with a convincing home win against the Grizzlies, then winning three in a row to capture the Big Sky Tournament Championship and the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth in more than 30 years. The Cats beat Montana in the championship game, then gave St. John’s all it could handle in the first round of the tourney.

In the 1986-87 season the Bobcats had “a primo team,” Starner said, one that created a lot of program firsts. MSU registered its first 20-win season since 1952, its first NCAA bid since 1952, its first Big Sky regular season title since 1966, and its first post-season conference tournament or series championship since 1937. The Bobcats fell to Weber State in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament, falling victim to the sixth seed-over-one seed upset that benefited the Bobcats one year earlier, and lost in the first round of the NIT to Washington in Worthington Arena.

The 1985-86 and 1986-87 Bobcat teams marked a sea-change in the Bobcat basketball program, an imprint that remains with the program more than 30 years later. Montana State embraced the new three-point line, an experiment during the 1985-86 season which became permanent in coming years, and reached to the program’s roots to utilize an up-tempo style of play. “The trademark of who we were was no. one, we recruited shooters, and no. two, we recruited speed and quickness,” Starner said. He also expressed pride that the Bobcats of that era have gone on to successful careers. “Engineers, college professors, city administrators, these men have all become successful professionals and really outstanding people.”