Portland State Vikings

The Portland State Vikings represent Portland State University in the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon, playing their home games at Viking Pavilion on the university's urban campus. Nicknamed for the school's Scandinavian-flavored identity, the Vikings compete in the Big Sky Conference against a roster of regional rivals stretched across the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest. It's a scrappy, blue-collar program built around toughness rather than tradition, drawing a small but loyal campus following in a city otherwise dominated by the Trail Blazers. Portland State basketball is defined by grit: a program that has had to fight for every inch of respect in a crowded conference.

Portland State moved up to NCAA Division I and joined the Big Sky Conference in the mid-1990s after decades as a Division II program. The Vikings' breakthrough came in 2007-08, when they won the Big Sky Conference tournament for the first time in school history and earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. They made the most of it, stunning fourth-seeded Washington 77-75 in overtime for the program's first NCAA Tournament win. Portland State returned to the Big Dance again in 2009, giving the Vikings two tournament appearances in as many years. The program has continued to build on that momentum as a Big Sky contender in the years since.