Men's basketball once again a 10 in Mid-Major Top 25
Northern Colorado's overtime victory against Northern Arizona on Sunday afternoon helped the Bears make up the ground it lost in last week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. The Bears (19-5, 8-3 Big Sky) received 441 points and the No. 10 spot in this week's coaches poll to once again reach their highest ever ranking in an NCAA Division I poll and run their school-record streak of being ranked in such polls to 12 weeks.
Beitzel, Figures come up big in 'Super Sunday" OT win
Devon Beitzel ties career high with six 3-pointers and Will Figures hits 11-of-12 free throws to lead Northern Colorado to a 70-63 victory against Northern Arizona. The Bears won their ninth home game (9-1) in a season for the first time since 2002 and just the fourth time since 1990 and won 19 games overall in a season for just the fifth time in school history. The victory was also Tad Boyle’s 50th on the Northern Colorado sidelines, making him just the ninth coach in school history to reach that plateau.
Men's basketball 'Jacked' up for Super Bowl pre-party
Northern Colorado (18-5, 7-3 Big Sky) will get its second Big Sky Conference "Game of the Week" coverage in as many weeks at noon Sunday when it tips off against Northern Arizona (11-10, 5-5) at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion on Altitude Sports & Entertainment. The Bears (No. 11 Mid-Major Top 25) and the Lumberjacks won't quite be playing for the same stakes as the NFL's Colts and the Saints, but with just a month left in the regular season, Sunday's contest holds all kinds of importance in terms of the Big Sky title chase.
Beitzel again earns academic all-district nod
The Northern Colorado junior has been named for a second straight year to the CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine District 7 Academic All-District team after finishing fall semster 2009 with a 3.72 GPA in Finance & Accounting and scoring 14.5 points per game for a Bears men's basketball that is in the midst of one of the best seasons in school history. Beitzel now has a chance to become Northern Colorado's first academic all-American since Derek Chaney in 1994.
