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Cats push #17 Utah State

grizzlyjournal

Well-known member
It took only one game for former Bobcat star, Danny Sprinkle, to put a stamp on the Cats as their new coach. The Bobcats pushed the Aggies the entire game, and led by three with just over 3 minutes remaining before a late 12-pt Aggie run put the game on ice for an 81-73 win. Harald Frey paced the Cats with 34 points.
 
There’s no denying Harald Frey is a great player, but if I’m being honest, Utah State looked like absolute trash. Stupid fouls, terrible rebounding, and leaving the lane wide open do Frey to get to the rim. That’s not a top 25 team, and I bet they struggle to have a winning record this year. Utah States pretenders.
 
Cat fans and their media is of course overreacting to this game. It’s one game. The first game. USU played sloppy and had zero film on Sprinkle’s offense or defense. Frey had a real good night but let’s not crown him league MVP just yet.

OH and a loss is a loss is loss. Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. No moral victories in a loss. And any other cliche you can think of.
 
Griz til I die said:
There’s no denying Harald Frey is a great player, but if I’m being honest, Utah State looked like absolute trash. Stupid fouls, terrible rebounding, and leaving the lane wide open do Frey to get to the rim. That’s not a top 25 team, and I bet they struggle to have a winning record this year. Utah States pretenders.

Utah State will be a very good team all year, they return 4 starters solid front court and a really good back court led by Sam Merrill.
They have one of the best young coaches in the country in Craig Smith, the guy has won at every level he's coached. Utah State barring any major injuries will be a serious contender in the mwc.
And maybe a dark horse in the NCAA tournament. They have all the ingredients to have a really good year. One game doesn't make a season.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
It took only one game for former Bobcat star, Danny Sprinkle, to put a stamp on the Cats as their new coach. The Bobcats pushed the Aggies the entire game, and led by three with just over 3 minutes remaining before a late 12-pt Aggie run put the game on ice for an 81-73 win. Harald Frey paced the Cats with 34 points.
They lost.......I guess that pretty much sums it up for the stamp of bobcat basktetball. LOSING WITH STYLE IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS!
 
I did see where Utah St had its other exhibition game or games cancelled so this was really their first break in game. They looked a bit sloppy. With that being said the Cats looked pretty good and Fray was on fire.
 
Hatred can not only eat you up, it can blind you. So let's step back and take an objective look at the Cat basketball program, because I think it is on the rise.

--The Cats played very well last night against a very good team, Utah State. Period. Point guard is one of the most important positions in basketball, and the Cats have a good one in Harald Frey. He showed that last night.
--"Homering" is a notorious truth about college basketball. Last night the Cats had eight more fouls called against them, and were outscored at the line by 19 points. C'mon!
--But the big thing that makes the Cats dangerous is their international recruiting. Frey is from Norway. They have other players from Canada, Germany and Spain, and two more from England. Over the past twenty years or so, international imports have become one of the major trends in basketball, at both the pro and college levels, and they have changed the game, most especially with their ability to shoot the damned ball. When did you ever think seven-footers could shoot trey's? Not until the Europeans arrived. Dallas has built their future on Porzingis and Doncic, while great international talent dots all NBA rosters. At the collegiate level, St. Mary's has built a huge reputation on their international recruiting, especially from Australia, while Gonzaga always has international talent on their roster. This all constitutes one of the major trends in basketball, and the Cats are all over it. This alone makes them dangerous in my estimation.

But I'm going to part company with many on the board when I say: This is a good thing! A rising tide lifts all boats. The restoration of an intense rivalry between us and the Cats will be great for both programs. You'll see.
 
Pretty simple..... Griz need more foreigners and Lady Griz need more African American players.

What's the Griz bball record vs. Cats the past 10+ years? When did all that wonderful "foreigner" recruiting begin for the Bobcats? Haven't the Griz had a couple pretty good Aussies and one pretty good German over the past few years? Have Cats' foreigners made a bigger impact than the Griz'?
 
Harold Fray is an outstanding talent, we've all known this since his freshman year. At the same time, MSU just lost their best player in history to graduation. As good as Harold fray is he still wasnt able to take advantage of having Tyler Hall, the all time leading scorer in big sky conference history, as a teammate.

I acknowledge that an argument could easily be made to say that poor coaching was the issue. I will even concede that Sprinkle will be better for the Cats than Fish, if for no other reason than his connection to the program. What I wont concede, is that the cats are a contender already. They are bigger than us, but play a lot of unproven juco and d2 transfers. Also, I personally dont think Utah State is a top 25 team.

No, I did not watch or listen to the game last night. What I do know is last year was Utah State's first tournament appearance in almost a decade and they lost in the first round to Washington (who should be ranked with the amount of talent they have, but inexplicably is not). I dont trust any mid major teams in the preseason top 25 if they dont play in the West Coast Conference.
 
dayday said:
Cat fans and their media is of course overreacting to this game. It’s one game. The first game. USU played sloppy and had zero film on Sprinkle’s offense or defense. Frey had a real good night but let’s not crown him league MVP just yet.

OH and a loss is a loss is loss. Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. No moral victories in a loss. And any other cliche you can think of.

The usual cliches are already happening on this thread. Bobcats play a ranked team tough (win or loss). Instant reaction by Griz fan base equates to that ranked team being overrated and not playing up to par. Every time the Griz play a ranked team well (win or loss), the instant reaction is "well yeah its because we belong and the opposing team played their best!" Same thing happened after the Bobcats beat SEMO and when the Griz beat UC Davis in football. Also, I'm fully aware the Bobcat fan base does the same thing.

A fair characterization of this game is that the Bobcats shot well, especially Frey. They subbed in and out a lot and played aggressive defense. They finally have an inside presence with Jubrile Belo manning the paint. Offensively, they didn't play tight and instead attacked. Danny Sprinkle has preached what he wants to see out of his team all offseason: play loose, don't be afraid to score, and give tremendous effort on defense (the price of admission if you want to play). Those three characteristics happened last night. Like dayday said, its also fair to point out this was a first game and no one had any tape on what Danny wanted to run offensively or defensively.

Of course the team is going to have ebbs and flows in Danny's first year but he already has his team believing in his message and style of play. It's extremely encouraging and refreshing to watch a coach consistently encourage his players during the game instead of the classic Brad Huse/Brian Fish "coat throw" or "throwing hands in the air after a poor shot".
 
VimSince03 said:
dayday said:
Cat fans and their media is of course overreacting to this game. It’s one game. The first game. USU played sloppy and had zero film on Sprinkle’s offense or defense. Frey had a real good night but let’s not crown him league MVP just yet.

OH and a loss is a loss is loss. Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. No moral victories in a loss. And any other cliche you can think of.

The usual cliches are already happening on this thread. Bobcats play a ranked team tough (win or loss). Instant reaction by Griz fan base equates to that ranked team being overrated and not playing up to par. Every time the Griz play a ranked team well (win or loss), the instant reaction is "well yeah its because we belong and the opposing team played their best!" Same thing happened after the Bobcats beat SEMO and when the Griz beat UC Davis in football. Also, I'm fully aware the Bobcat fan base does the same thing.

A fair characterization of this game is that the Bobcats shot well, especially Frey. They subbed in and out a lot and played aggressive defense. They finally have an inside presence with Jubrile Belo manning the paint. Offensively, they didn't play tight and instead attacked. Danny Sprinkle has preached what he wants to see out of his team all offseason: play loose, don't be afraid to score, and give tremendous effort on defense (the price of admission if you want to play). Those three characteristics happened last night. Like dayday said, its also fair to point out this was a first game and no one had any tape on what Danny wanted to run offensively or defensively.

Of course the team is going to have ebbs and flows in Danny's first year but he already has his team believing in his message and style of play. It's extremely encouraging and refreshing to watch a coach consistently encourage his players during the game instead of the classic Brad Huse/Brian Fish "coat throw" or "throwing hands in the air after a poor shot".
It was a great performance from MSU against a good, tournament quality team. With that said, Utah State is also overrated. Both things can be true.

Even if Utah State had won 105 to 63 last night, I would still think they're overrated. That game wasn't the measuring stick. Are they one of the 40 or 50 best teams in the country? Probably, but they're not 17th.

In fact, this board is so confident that Utah State is overrated, that many of us considered it a lateral move for Rollie Worster, not an improvement over griz basketball. Our assessment, at least mine, has little to do with MSU. Glad to see you guys being competitive though. Hopefully the Montana teams along with everyone else in the conference continue this upward trajectory.
 
Good thread! A wide range of interesting perspectives. My motivation for starting the thread goes back to the early 1990s, when Sprinkle was a star prep player out of Helena. He was good in high school and better as a Bobcat. If he coaches like he played, there will probably be many intense Griz-Cat games in the years ahead. As a lifelong Montanan, I don't get into the intense MSU hatred, since about 40% of family members, cousins, former school buddies etc. went to MSU. I have thought about Sprinkle's motivation for returning. He surely knows what is expected of him. As Mick Durham learned, you can be a Bobcat star, but when you're a coach your employment will be based upon how you fare vs. the Griz.
 
I think it benefits Montana when the Cats have a strong program. The Bozeman/Missoula road trip becomes a helluva lot tougher when opposing schools can't overlook the Cats and just focus on the Griz.

It looks and sounds like Sprinkle went out and recruited some very strong international players to fill some gaping holes on MSU's roster. I talked to a friend who watched the game and he told me the Cats' shooting guard is lightning quick.
 
AM I TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!!

So the Cats were leading against a #14 team with 4 minutes left, and lose... And the overall sentiment is that Utah State is "trash"... Griz need something like a 14-0 run at the end of the game to MAKE IT a 11ish point loss, and they say that they are GREAT?! People on here saying that "a loss is a loss" but then turning around and saying that the griz loss to Stanford shows they are competitive? What the hell... At least be objective. Did the Cats close game mean anything?... Plrobably not... Did the griz loss mean anything? Probably not... But dont play both sides... You are all better than that... COME ON.
 
SACCAT66 said:
AM I TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!!

So the Cats were leading against a #14 team with 4 minutes left, and lose... And the overall sentiment is that Utah State is "trash"... Griz need something like a 14-0 run at the end of the game to MAKE IT a 11ish point loss, and they say that they are GREAT?! People on here saying that "a loss is a loss" but then turning around and saying that the griz loss to Stanford shows they are competitive? What the hell... At least be objective. Did the Cats close game mean anything?... Plrobably not... Did the griz loss mean anything? Probably not... But dont play both sides... You are all better than that... COME ON.

Dude. This is the Griz fan board. You're spitting into the wind right now.
 
... The Fish era is over and boy it showed... If this game is any indicator, MSU will win their fair share of games in Big Sky play. Yeah their shooting guard made them ALL look slow, and Frey was more than impressive. Deadly from 3.Their forward/center can't shoot a free throw but is a force down low. Think hack a Shack if there's fouls to give...Sprinkle has his act together. Cats trending up :thumb:
 
PeauxRouge said:
SACCAT66 said:
AM I TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!!

So the Cats were leading against a #14 team with 4 minutes left, and lose... And the overall sentiment is that Utah State is "trash"... Griz need something like a 14-0 run at the end of the game to MAKE IT a 11ish point loss, and they say that they are GREAT?! People on here saying that "a loss is a loss" but then turning around and saying that the griz loss to Stanford shows they are competitive? What the hell... At least be objective. Did the Cats close game mean anything?... Plrobably not... Did the griz loss mean anything? Probably not... But dont play both sides... You are all better than that... COME ON.

Dude. This is the Griz fan board. You're spitting into the wind right now.

I know.... But it drives me nuts on both boards... Why minimalize good things, and overhype the bad. Why can't we just take a good game for what it is? Instead of shooting down just because it is the rival school. I hate/respect the griz as much as anyone. But if the griz were to take a #14 team to the brink, I would say "damn..great job you sons-a-bitches"
 
Grizbballfan14 said:
Harold Fray is an outstanding talent, we've all known this since his freshman year. At the same time, MSU just lost their best player in history to graduation. As good as Harold fray is he still wasnt able to take advantage of having Tyler Hall, the all time leading scorer in big sky conference history, as a teammate.

I acknowledge that an argument could easily be made to say that poor coaching was the issue. I will even concede that Sprinkle will be better for the Cats than Fish, if for no other reason than his connection to the program. What I wont concede, is that the cats are a contender already. They are bigger than us, but play a lot of unproven juco and d2 transfers. Also, I personally dont think Utah State is a top 25 team.

No, I did not watch or listen to the game last night. What I do know is last year was Utah State's first tournament appearance in almost a decade and they lost in the first round to Washington (who should be ranked with the amount of talent they have, but inexplicably is not). I dont trust any mid major teams in the preseason top 25 if they dont play in the West Coast Conference.

We play a lot of unproven freshmen, and Tyler Hall was a black hole. Never saw a shot he didn’t like. HORRIBLE as a teammate to have a guy play like that.
 
AZGrizFan said:
Grizbballfan14 said:
Harold Fray is an outstanding talent, we've all known this since his freshman year. At the same time, MSU just lost their best player in history to graduation. As good as Harold fray is he still wasnt able to take advantage of having Tyler Hall, the all time leading scorer in big sky conference history, as a teammate.

I acknowledge that an argument could easily be made to say that poor coaching was the issue. I will even concede that Sprinkle will be better for the Cats than Fish, if for no other reason than his connection to the program. What I wont concede, is that the cats are a contender already. They are bigger than us, but play a lot of unproven juco and d2 transfers. Also, I personally dont think Utah State is a top 25 team.

No, I did not watch or listen to the game last night. What I do know is last year was Utah State's first tournament appearance in almost a decade and they lost in the first round to Washington (who should be ranked with the amount of talent they have, but inexplicably is not). I dont trust any mid major teams in the preseason top 25 if they dont play in the West Coast Conference.

We play a lot of unproven freshmen, and Tyler Hall was a black hole. Never saw a shot he didn’t like. HORRIBLE as a teammate to have a guy play like that.

THIS!!!!!... Tyler Hall was an amazing shooter... But that was IT. Frey is a leader, a shooter, AND plays defense... Hall only wanted to shoot...but Frey is a true difference maker.
 
SACCAT66 said:
AZGrizFan said:
Grizbballfan14 said:
Harold Fray is an outstanding talent, we've all known this since his freshman year. At the same time, MSU just lost their best player in history to graduation. As good as Harold fray is he still wasnt able to take advantage of having Tyler Hall, the all time leading scorer in big sky conference history, as a teammate.

I acknowledge that an argument could easily be made to say that poor coaching was the issue. I will even concede that Sprinkle will be better for the Cats than Fish, if for no other reason than his connection to the program. What I wont concede, is that the cats are a contender already. They are bigger than us, but play a lot of unproven juco and d2 transfers. Also, I personally dont think Utah State is a top 25 team.

No, I did not watch or listen to the game last night. What I do know is last year was Utah State's first tournament appearance in almost a decade and they lost in the first round to Washington (who should be ranked with the amount of talent they have, but inexplicably is not). I dont trust any mid major teams in the preseason top 25 if they dont play in the West Coast Conference.

We play a lot of unproven freshmen, and Tyler Hall was a black hole. Never saw a shot he didn’t like. HORRIBLE as a teammate to have a guy play like that.

THIS!!!!!... Tyler Hall was an amazing shooter... But that was IT. Frey is a leader, a shooter, AND plays defense... Hall only wanted to shoot...but Frey is a true difference maker.

Agree with this....And damn, way to go you sons-a-bitches!
 
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