GREAT FALLS — The Montana Grizzlies men’s basketball team will face off with Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday after a historic season full of indelible milestone moments.
There was the Cat-Griz sweep, the regular-season title, the Big Sky Conference tournament championship and most recently earning a No. 14 seed on selection Sunday.
But if you take a closer look at images from all of those moments, you’ll spot 14-year-old Wyatt Grove of Great Falls front and center with the Grizzlies.
"You know, he's part of the team. He's part of the family,” said UM head coach Travis DeCuire. "We say family a lot. And so everyone in our program treats him like a family member. For me, having Wyatt around is a learning experience.”
The relationship between Wyatt and the Grizzlies dates back three years when Wyatt signed an honorary National Letter of Intent with Montana through a program called Team Impact which connects kids with serious illnesses or disabilities to local college athletic teams in order to form lifelong bonds and life-changing outcomes.
But this wasn’t just a photo op or one-off heartwarming moment. It was the start of a deep connection between Wyatt and the team.
In the spring of 2018, Wyatt started getting bad headaches. When traditional treatment didn’t work, he was sent in for an MRI. That's when the Grove family received news that there was a cancerous tumor in the back of Wyatt's brain.
In 2022, years after a successful surgery to remove the cancer, doctors found another tumor in the same spot. Following treatment, Wyatt developed radiation necrosis which confined him to a wheelchair and impaired his speech and motor functions.
And through the ups and downs of the last few years, the Grizzlies have been in Wyatt’s corner — supporting him through treatments and therapy, inviting him to team dinners and team functions and including him in a group chat with the entire roster. He even keeps in regular contact with former Griz players like Mack Anderson and Aanen Moody.
“To me, it’s meant everything. He was able to sign with the team and do all of these cool things but shortly thereafter is when he started using a wheelchair and started rehab,” Wyatt’s mother Jessica Grove said. “So being with the Grizzlies has just really given him something fun to look forward to instead of just hard times because there are very hard days.”
And the connection goes both ways. Seeing Wyatt bravely face his challenges has inspired the Grizzlies during their run to the Big Sky title and the Big Dance.
"We've been through a lot of adversity this year," Montana guard Joe Pridgen said. "But I'm able to run a little harder, block out a little a little harder, rebound the ball a little better. I’m just able to give a little more effort whenever I see Wyatt.”
Wyatt’s presence brings positive energy to the sidelines and the locker room.
"He's overcome so much, and he really is inspirational,” said Montana guard Adam Shoff. “The fact that he can have a positive attitude about his situation, there's no excuse that we can't have a positive attitude about ours.”
Though Wyatt doesn’t suit up and take the court for Montana, make no mistake: He’s the most important member of the team.
"I thought it would just be two years,” Jessica said. “And they called and asked if he would be willing just to come and be a part of it as long as he wants to. It’s definitely not superficial. They really care about Wyatt. It’s a friendship for life kind of thing.”
For his part, Wyatt predicts a close game on Thursday with the Grizzlies pulling off the upset and moving on to the Round of 32.
“I think it’s like cool that they’re already going down a path to win,” Wyatt said. “So it’s bound to happen."
