cmtgrizzly
Well-known member
Guard play has been a downfall for the Cats. For sure too many bad passes and turnovers. K state seemed to keep Belo under wraps without apparent difficulty
Not at all. The guards defensively made that game look closer than it was. The real downfall was the shooting. They needed to open things up. Instead K-State packed it in, no way for them to effectively create against Big 12 athletes all sitting in the paint. Very few Big Sky guards ever can create in those circumstances.cmtgrizzly said:Guard play has been a downfall for the Cats. For sure too many bad passes and turnovers. K state seemed to keep Belo under wraps without apparent difficulty
UMFan12 said:Not at all. The guards defensively made that game look closer than it was. The real downfall was the shooting. They needed to open things up. Instead K-State packed it in, no way for them to effectively create against Big 12 athletes all sitting in the paint. Very few Big Sky guards can effectively create in those circumstances.cmtgrizzly said:Guard play has been a downfall for the Cats. For sure too many bad passes and turnovers. K state seemed to keep Belo under wraps without apparent difficulty
KSU backcourt had 5 and 4 turnovers. Containing dribble penetration was a problem, but not what lost them the game.GrizBall said:UMFan12 said:Not at all. The guards defensively made that game look closer than it was. The real downfall was the shooting. They needed to open things up. Instead K-State packed it in, no way for them to effectively create against Big 12 athletes all sitting in the paint. Very few Big Sky guards can effectively create in those circumstances.
Have to slightly disagree. KSU’s PG had 17p/14a. MSU had zero answer for him. Should have gone 1-3-1 earlier.
Agree shooting was a major downfall.
Is a great performance, yes.GrizBall said:17p/14a/5to is pretty dominant. 1 of his TOs was on a beautiful behind the back bounce pass that the teammate didn’t cut to where he was supposed to be. He would have had an easy dunk.
citay said:Cats will rue this loss against a very good team. Too many turnovers combined with poor shooting both from deep and from the foul line. They easily gifted K State a dozen points. This was winnable game.
But Sprinkle has built a helluva program to the point he doesn’t rebuild after two straight championships, he reloads. They’re gonna be maybe even better next year.
Not as currently constructed. They have clear weaknesses. Still going to struggle shooting. No longer going to have Belo to bail you out. That’s huge. Also am unsure of the statuses of Brown and Fuller, but they need both of those guys back. Unless they get some significant personnel changes, EWU should absolutely be the favorite returning all but one guy with good size at every position, and good shooting.citay said:Cats will rue this loss against a very good team. Too many turnovers combined with poor shooting both from deep and from the foul line. They easily gifted K State a dozen points. This was winnable game.
But Sprinkle has built a helluva program to the point he doesn’t rebuild after two straight championships, he reloads. They’re gonna be maybe even better next year.
UMFan12 said:Is a great performance, yes.GrizBall said:17p/14a/5to is pretty dominant. 1 of his TOs was on a beautiful behind the back bounce pass that the teammate didn’t cut to where he was supposed to be. He would have had an easy dunk.
But, A- it wasn’t anything completely unexpected, even against Big 12 guards he puts up big stat lines.
And B-that game was still winnable.
That’s the difference. You can absolutely give up a performance like that to one guy and still win. You absolutely cannot shoot like that and still win.
UMFan12 said:Not as currently constructed. They have clear weaknesses. Still going to struggle shooting. No longer going to have Belo to bail you out. That’s huge. Also am unsure of the statuses of Brown and Fuller, but they need both of those guys back. Unless they get some significant personnel changes, EWU should absolutely be the favorite returning all but one guy with good size at every position, and good shooting.citay said:Cats will rue this loss against a very good team. Too many turnovers combined with poor shooting both from deep and from the foul line. They easily gifted K State a dozen points. This was winnable game.
But Sprinkle has built a helluva program to the point he doesn’t rebuild after two straight championships, he reloads. They’re gonna be maybe even better next year.
If Brown is back, I’d probably lean MSU. Those two are 1-2 in any poll. Should be pretty close to 50-50 imo. For the Cats, just have to develop Patterson and hit the portal to space the floor some more. Not as big of a problem in Big Sky play.GrizBall said:UMFan12 said:Not as currently constructed. They have clear weaknesses. Still going to struggle shooting. No longer going to have Belo to bail you out. That’s huge. Also am unsure of the statuses of Brown and Fuller, but they need both of those guys back. Unless they get some significant personnel changes, EWU should absolutely be the favorite returning all but one guy with good size at every position, and good shooting.
Based on senior night they only lose Belo and Fuller. Belo is obviously a big loss, but no other BSC team could lose a guy like Belo and have a guy like Osabor ready to step in.
EWU loses a 1st team guy in Allegri. Coward is very good, but not a ready-made replacement.
If everything remains the same (which it won’t because of the portal), my 1st place vote would go to MSU.
UMFan12 said:If Brown is back, I’d probably lean MSU. Those two are 1-2 in any poll. Should be pretty close to 50-50 imo. For the Cats, just have to develop Patterson and hit the portal to space the floor some more. Not as big of a problem in Big Sky play.GrizBall said:Based on senior night they only lose Belo and Fuller. Belo is obviously a big loss, but no other BSC team could lose a guy like Belo and have a guy like Osabor ready to step in.
EWU loses a 1st team guy in Allegri. Coward is very good, but not a ready-made replacement.
If everything remains the same (which it won’t because of the portal), my 1st place vote would go to MSU.
GrizBall said:UMFan12 said:If Brown is back, I’d probably lean MSU. Those two are 1-2 in any poll. Should be pretty close to 50-50 imo. For the Cats, just have to develop Patterson and hit the portal to space the floor some more. Not as big of a problem in Big Sky play.
Agreed. Dillon Jones already said he is coming back. Bannan and Battle decisions heavily shift the dynamics of the Conference.
GrizBall said:UMFan12 said:If Brown is back, I’d probably lean MSU. Those two are 1-2 in any poll. Should be pretty close to 50-50 imo. For the Cats, just have to develop Patterson and hit the portal to space the floor some more. Not as big of a problem in Big Sky play.
Agreed. Dillon Jones already said he is coming back. Bannan and Battle decisions heavily shift the dynamics of the Conference.
Bannan has Aussie ties. Could decide to forego eligibility to play pro in Australia. Battle has already played 4 college seasons. His stock as a pro realistically won’t get that much better playing a 5th college season that he’d be 23 years old at the end of, so he could also choose to forego his remaining eligibility. Don’t think either is likely, but wouldn’t be shocked. Neither is getting drafted, so it comes down to overseas money vs NIL. Or just wanting to stay in college.mtgrizrule said:GrizBall said:Agreed. Dillon Jones already said he is coming back. Bannan and Battle decisions heavily shift the dynamics of the Conference.
Battle won't leave. He's used his 1 time transfer. If he transfers again before graduation, he sits a year.
Bannan still has the option. Why leave though? He's the man here, every key player returns, they'll be contenders next year.
If he leaves, it will be for overseas pro money, not a transfer.
mtgrizrule said:GrizBall said:Agreed. Dillon Jones already said he is coming back. Bannan and Battle decisions heavily shift the dynamics of the Conference.
Battle won't leave. He's used his 1 time transfer. If he transfers again before graduation, he sits a year.
Bannan still has the option. Why leave though? He's the man here, every key player returns, they'll be contenders next year.
If he leaves, it will be for overseas pro money, not a transfer.
UMFan12 said:Bannan has Aussie ties. Could decide to forego eligibility to play pro in Australia. Battle has already played 4 college seasons. His stock as a pro realistically won’t get that much better playing a 5th college season that he’d be 23 years old at the end of, so he could also choose to forego his remaining eligibility. Don’t think either is likely, but wouldn’t be shocked. Neither is getting drafted, so it comes down to overseas money vs NIL. Or just wanting to stay in college.mtgrizrule said:Battle won't leave. He's used his 1 time transfer. If he transfers again before graduation, he sits a year.
Bannan still has the option. Why leave though? He's the man here, every key player returns, they'll be contenders next year.
If he leaves, it will be for overseas pro money, not a transfer.
mthoopsfan said:UMFan12 said:Bannan has Aussie ties. Could decide to forego eligibility to play pro in Australia. Battle has already played 4 college seasons. His stock as a pro realistically won’t get that much better playing a 5th college season that he’d be 23 years old at the end of, so he could also choose to forego his remaining eligibility. Don’t think either is likely, but wouldn’t be shocked. Neither is getting drafted, so it comes down to overseas money vs NIL. Or just wanting to stay in college.
The stock of both Bannan and Battle will likely improve with another year playing in college. They continue to improve every year. You don't know enough about basketball to know if either could get drafted after next season.
“He is a big-time talent,” K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. “He was making tough shots, and that’s what big-time players do. … You can just see that confidence he has as a player. We were trying to limit his touches, and he just pulls up and made big shot after big shot.”