BOISE, Idaho — This is year number five for the Big Sky in Boise and fans still loving coming to the City of Trees for the tournament.
We caught up with Eastern Washington fans to learn more about the fan experience as both the men and the women have the top seed going into the tournament. The central hub for fans is right across the arena at the Warehouse Food Hall.
"These girls have a lot of chemistry together so I think they are going to go all the way," said Robert Mason III, a football player at Eastern Washington. "This tournament is super awesome so I can’t wait to see the full experience,"
Mason is cheering on the Eagles and his girlfriend Jaime Loera who earned conference player of the year and defensive player of the year in the Big Sky.
However, Eastern Washington had a scare in their first game as Weber State had a nine-point lead in the third quarter. The Eagles rallied to a 71-58 victory and now they don't play again until Tuesday.
"Yeah, we have a day off it is kind of nice," said Kelsey Hatch-Brecek, the director or alumni relations for Eastern Washington. "We are going to have a tip-off party at White Dog Brewing at five o’clock on Monday. Our fans are going to gather have some trivia, eat some great food, drink some beer and just gather as Eagle fans celebrating our team's success this year."
Robert Mason III is training for his pro day as he hopes for a career in the NFL. Eastern Washington plays on a red field so he had to check out the blue.
"It’s a little bit different seeing a blue field I’m so used to seeing a red field," said Mason. "Even seeing a green field is a little bit odd to me, but yeah, the blue field is super awesome and I did get a chance to see the stadium."
Kelsey Hatch-Brecek looks forward to hanging out and staying in downtown Boise as she had several compliments about our city.
"I love the Stil they have the best ice cream," laughed Hatch-Brecek. "I love Boise it is just a great place to walk around there is so much to see and I hope the Big Sky is going to be here forever, because it is great."
When my friends from Montana State came last year I took them to Bogus Basin and we went to Top Golf as fans have a wide variety of options to fill downtime in between games.
The tournament lasts until Wednesday when champions will be crowned. If you can't make it to Idaho Central Arena you can catch the action on our station channel 6.2.
