Conference champion

It didn't seem like anybody really wanted to win the title.

Eastern Washington was the surprise leader most of the season, only to cough it up late and lose the right to host the season-ending tournament. Instead, it was held in Missoula, Mont., where the under-achieving Montana Grizzlies appeared ready to roll to the title.

But the Griz couldn't even get to the title game, losing to Northridge, which went on to lose to -- stop us if you have heard this before -- Northern Arizona.

The Lumberjacks advanced to the NCAA Tournament and looked ready to make it two straight first-round upsets. The Jacks led No. 2-seeded St. John's late, but could not put away the Red Storm as Weber State had put away North Carolina a season before.

Biggest disappointment

Has to be Weber State. The Wildcats just missed a Sweet 16 berth last season and brought back two players who were probably the best in the conference regardless of position -- Harold Arceneaux and Eddie Gill. Under new coach Joe Cravens, however, the Wildcats never found themselves and didn't even threaten for a return trip to the NCAAs.

Biggest surprise

They ultimately fell apart, but it was hard not to like the job Steve Aggers did with EWU. To have the once-sad program in position to host the conference tournament was more than anybody expected and led to him landing a job in the West Coast Conference -- where he will try to rebuild moribund Loyola Marymount. Former Washington assistant Ray Giacoletti has been hired as his replacement and will find the program in solid shape -- a true tribute to Aggers.

Player of the year

Harold Arceneaux was named player of the year, but it's hard to give it to a guy on an underachieving team based on his statistics alone. The real league MVP is NAU's Ross Land, the 3-point gunner who led the Jacks' charge back to the NCAA Tournament.

Coach of the year

Aggers worked wonders with an EWU team nobody expected to do much.

The future

You can always count on Montana, Northern Arizona and Weber State to be in the mix in the Sky. With a pair of all-conference players back in guard Markus Carr and center Brian Heinle, Northridge looks like a tough out next season.