2012-13 Big Sky Conference Basketball Countdown: Idaho State

One team is entering its season as defending Big Sky champions, the other is entering the 2012-13 campaign with a new head coach and a looming cloud of controversy stemming from an NCAA investigation.

WBB: The Idaho State women's basketball team made a trip to the NCAA tournament last season, their first since 2007, with a 24-8 record (14-2 in conference play).  Fifth-year head coach Seton Sobolweski returns four starters from his conference championship squad--three of them averaged more than 10 points/game last season.  Among those three top scorers is senior guard Kaela Oakes (right, in black), who was the team's second leading scorer behind the now-graduated Chelsea Pickering (but Oakes played six more games than Pickering did in 2011-12).  Oakes, along with fellow senior Ashleigh Vella and junior Lindsey Reed combined to score a total of 1064 points between them.  The other starter back this season is the team's leading rebounder from last season in junior forward Cydney Horton, who averaged just under 7 rebounds/game.

VERDICT: The prospects of repeating as Big Sky conference champion look very good, as both the coaches & media picked them to repeat as conference champions.  But they will definitely have a bulls-eye on their back coming into conference play with great teams like Montana, Montana State, and Northern Colorado nipping at their heels.

MBB: New head coach Bill Evans (left, at the podium) could be in for a very tough first season at the helm of the Bengals men's basketball program.  The program is under investigation by the NCAA, which was triggered by a letter written by former interim head coach Deane Martin to ISU athletic director Jeff Tingey.  The 2011-12 season wasn't kind to the team either, despite making the conference tournament with a 9-21 record (7-9 in conference) and losing to Eastern Washington 81-75 in the first round.  The Bengals return two starters from last season which includes senior guard Melvin Morgan, who averaged 12.2 points/game (3rd on last year's team) and junior guard Andre Hatchett, who averaged 4.5 rebounds/game (also 3rd on last year's team).

VERDICT: After spending 15 seasons at the helm at Southern Utah, and the last four years as Wayne Tinkle's primary assistant at Montana, Evans is once again back as a head coach, and he'll have a tall task at hand.  The coaches and media both picked the Bengals to finish 9th, but preseason polls won't matter at season's end.  If the Bengals can play well this season, they just might squeeze their way into the conference tournament.

UP NEXT: Eastern Washington

Photo credits: Spokesman-Review (Kaela Oakes)/Idaho State athletics (Bill Evans)