BUTTE — The geographical footprint of Frontier Conference men's basketball is going to be a lot bigger this season.
The existing six Montana-based teams — Carroll College, MSU-Northern, Montana Tech, Montana Western, Providence and Rocky Mountain College — will now be joined by six additional programs for the upcoming 2025-26 season: Bellevue University (Neb.), Bismarck State (N.D.), Dakota State (S.D.), Dickinson State (N.D.), Mayville State (N.D.) and Valley City State (N.D.).
HEAR FROM THE FRONTIER CONFERENCE:
All newcomers were members of the former North Star Athletic Association except for Bismarck State, which was a member of the Mon-Dak Conference of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Frontier Conference play has been expanded from 15 to 22 games this season with game days being Friday and Saturday. League play is set to begin in November as opposed to January in previous seasons.
Tech is the defending four-time Frontier Conference regular-season and tournament champion and was the only Frontier men's team to qualify for the national tournament last season. The Orediggers, who fell to Southern Oregon in the first round of the national tournament, finished 10-5 in conference play and both Providence and Carroll finished at 9-6.
"Summers seem to get shorter every year as we anticipate the next season, and we can't wait to get back on the floor," said Tech head coach Adam Hiatt. "We've got a long ways to go, but we really like this group. We feel this is a group that's going to be in position to make some history this year."
Rocky Mountain College has a new head coach in Danny Neville, who succeeded Bill Dreikosen. Dreikosen had been at the helm for the Battlin' Bears since 2000 and guided Rocky to victory in the 2009 national championship.
Dickinson State rejoining the league brings Glendive native, former University of Montana standout, former Tech assistant and current Blue Hawks head coach Derek Selvig back into the Frontier. He was an assistant under Hiatt from 2016-2020 before accepting the job at DSU.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the Frontier Conference tournament will be held at the Butte Civic Center from Feb. 27 to March 2.
