Just like their male counterparts, the MSU-Northern Skylights basketball team was picked fourth out of six teams in the Frontier Conference preseason poll, garnering 12 votes. The Frontier Conference held its media day last week. Head coach Chris Mouat was joined alongside senior leaders McKenzie Long and Shyan Krass.
Mouat discussed how he sees his team right now and said his players and coaches are still figuring out how to mesh, but that the depth of this 2024-25 Skylights squad will be one to watch.
“We have some kids coming back with some things they’ve done that have been pretty solid over the years,” Mouat said. “Then, we added eight new kids. In that group of eight, we’ve got some firepower. A little bit of everything between youth and experience.”
“(I’m) excited about our lineup,” Mouat continued. “I think there’s a lot of talent that we have. I think we’re more talented than we have been.”
“This is the toughest league in America and so, it’s easy to talk about it, but you have to go prove it,” Mouat said. “We’re excited, though.”
Krass, who has been with Northern her entire collegiate career and was co-sixth woman of the year in the Frontier Conference last season, said building up to the level of play as time goes along will be instrumental in how the team is shaped for the upcoming campaign.
“We’re pretty new, but I think we work together really well,” Krass said. “We all get along and everything has been going good, so I think just that will take us a long way.”
Northern’s first game will be an exhibition with MSU-Billings and that is set to tip off this Sunday at 2pm from a neutral court in Choteau. The games start to count the following Friday when the Skylights play against Park University-Gilbert in Billings.
