BILLINGS — Standing alone atop the Frontier Conference men’s basketball standings are the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears under first-year head coach Danny Neville, as they’ve raced out to a 19-3 record and a 14-2 mark in the league.
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“You can't think about all of those games, you've got to think about getting better today," Neville said. "How we've been preparing has been similar, obviously, with the Fridays and Saturdays every week. You can prepare similar and I think we've done a good job of keeping it the same."
Rocky has been getting it done on the defensive end this year, as they’re No. 2 in the Frontier holding teams to just 65.6 points per game. The Bears are 16-1 when holding teams to 71 points or fewer this season.
It's a bit of a change of pace from what Neville's past teams had showcased when he was head coach, as he routinely had teams atop the conference in scoring.
“Going to Langston last year, he's a good defensive coach so my biggest take away was how important (defense) was winning games. I tried to incorporate it a little bit more, but with this team it kind of took off. They really got after it defensively," Neville said.
Rocky took a huge step towards the NAIA National Tournament this past weekend picking up home victories over both Montana Western and Montana Tech. In Monday’s NAIA RPI release, the Bears ranked 18th and were tops in the West Region per the Area Ratings Committee (ARC), a regional rankings used to determine the top teams for postseason consideration.
“I just really like this team. I feel like we can still get better at a lot of things, so I feel really good. They've got great attitudes and they're good dudes and fun to be around, so I hope we can continue this," Neville said.
Riding a nine-game winning streak, Rocky visits Dakota State and Bellevue this weekend as it looks to bolster that resume.
