Montana Tech Orediggers

There’s a buzz in the air as the Orediggers gear up for a game that could change the course of school history — undefeated season, anyone?

Monday night, the University of Houston Cougars, under the tutelage of Coach Kelvin Sampson, will meet the University of Florida Gators for the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship. As you have probably heard several times by now, Coach Sampson is also the former head coach of the Montana Tech Orediggers, a school he led to then-unseen success and a school where he left a lasting legacy. Coach Kelvin is a member of the Digger Athletics Hall of Fame. Sampson is a mentor to current Oredigger Head Coach Adam Hiatt. Hiatt's present-day Orediggers proudly play on Kelvin Sampson Court. But even as Sampson has moved on, you can tell there is a lot of Butte left in him.

It has truly been a historic season for Montana Tech Basketball. On the men's side of things, the Diggers are Frontier Conference regular season and tournament champions for the fourth year in a row and the women have been chosen as an at-large selection for the NAIA National Tournament which begins Thursday. Both teams will be headed to 4-team pods, the men to Santa Clarita, California where they will face first-round opponent Southern Oregon University, and the women to Madison, South Dakota where they will meet Dakota State. The winners of the pods will advance to the tournament's final site which is Kansas City, Missouri for the men and Sioux City, Iowa for the women.

Boom, boom. After dispatching the then #3 ranked Georgetown Tigers a couple of Saturdays ago in their home opener and fresh off a road win over archrival Carroll College, the Montana Tech Orediggers have moved up in the national rankings.

A leukemia patient is about to have a better chance at survival thanks to Oredigger football player Maximus Anderson.

The NAIA Basketball Tournament in Butte was a special event for fans, who were excited to see NBA legend John Stockton in their midst.

The Montana Tech Orediggers celebrated Homecoming and honored several distinguished alumni on Saturday and it was the football team, the offense in particular, that stole the show in front of over 4,300 incredibly loud fans on Saturday at Bob Green Field. The Orediggers blasted Eastern Oregon 49-31.

The Orediggers are the 4th seed in the Cramer Bracket of the NAIA tournament and will be joined in Butte by #5 Thomas Moore of Kentucky, #12 Eastern Oregon and #13 Westmont (California) College. The opening round is next Tuesday with Eastern Oregon facing Thomas Moore at 5pm followed by the Orediggers date with Westmont at 7.