Early-rising Eagles

The way Kirk Earlywine figures, if starting conference basketball play in early December was such a good idea, more conferences would be doing it.

“But they’re not, and there’s a good reason why,” Eastern Washington University’s second-year head coach said Thursday afternoon. “It’s just too early.”

Because of a scheduling quirk, Earlywine’s Eagles (5-2) and Montana State (3-2) find themselves in the unenviable position of having to open their Big Sky Conference schedules at EWU’s Reese Court on Saturday night – less than a month into the regular season.

The early start to conference play puts both teams in a difficult situation, considering the importance placed on league games in a non-power conference like the Big Sky, which traditionally gets only one NCAA tournament berth.

MSU has four new starters. Eastern is using four first-year contributors in its regular lineup, while waiting for projected starters Chris Busch and Adris DeLeon to become eligible,

“It’s definitely not an ideal situation, only having seven games under our belts,” Earlywine said. “And not having Adris and Chris at this point only compounds the problem.”

The explanation Earlywine received was difficult to stomach.

“According to our league office, when you have a nine-team league that’s what has to happen,” Earlywine said. “Of course, the Mountain West and WAC both have nine teams, and they’re not playing conference games yet.”

As a result of the schedule change, EWU and Montana State will open conference play two weeks earlier than Montana and Portland State, which will meet in Portland on Dec. 20, and more than three weeks earlier than the rest of the teams in the league.

Weber State won’t play a Big Sky game until Jan. 3, when it entertains Northern Colorado in Odgen, Utah. Eastern won’t play it second conference game until Jan. 2, when it travels to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on Northern Arizona.

“It’s way too early (for a league game), but it’s on our schedule for 7 o’clock on Saturday, and I don’t think our league officials are going to change it at this point,” Earlywine said.

Still, Earlywine said Saturday’s game holds no more importance than the other 15 Big Sky games on Eastern’s schedule.

“Until the conference tells me that one of our league games will count as two wins or two losses, the significance of each is the same,” he said. “But it is important to get off on the right foot, and it’s important to protect your home court – especially in league play. … So all of those factors combine to make your league opener a big game, no matter when you play it.”

Earlywine’s team has had a strong start.

“I see our guys every day, so I know where our flaws are,” he said. “I don’t think we’re a championship-caliber team yet. We certainly have plenty of things we can work on. But having said that, it’s still nice to be 5-2 right now instead of 2-5.

“I’m smart enough to know that 5-2 is a whole lot better, and I’m happy with the fact that we’ve been able to win some close games that might have slipped away from us a year ago.”