• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts access private forums and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!

Big Sky Conference after week 3

TrueGriz

TrueGriz

Well-known member
After split this past weekend, Griz moved up to #69 in RPI rankings according to www.collegerpi.com, and #68 in RPI rankings according to midmajority.com. Griz were ranked #93 before yesterdays win against Sac ST.

With this #69 or #68 depending on which RPI ranking, this can translate to a 13 seed if Montana can maintain this. Win out, maybe a 12th seed (big jump, but as long as the Griz keep improving, there is a chance). Montana does have a good road record. Griz keep improving as they are, road record will only get better. May be a stretch to some, but I can see Griz win the conference with only 2 or 3 losses. Griz have 4 more road games left. Protect home court, and split on the road, Griz finish with an 11 - 3 record. But, I think Griz will protect home court, and only lose 1 road game for a 12 - 2 record which should win the conference. That is a pretty good record in an upward bound Conference.

Last year the Big Sky conference was ranked around 29 or 30th out of 32. Currently, according to collegerpi.com, Big Sky Conference is ranked 18th. But, Big Sky Conference still only ranks 20th in non-conference games. Hopefully, the 4 teams in the ESPN bracket buster play well, win all 4 games and improves the Big Sky conference in ranking with regard to non-conference. Strength of the non-conference schedule is important in seeding (though rank of conference in non-conference schedule may not be, so that 20th ranking may not be that important if the team that wins the bid for the tournament had a tough non-conference schedule).

With Sac State losing two games this week at home, it pretty much nailed the coffin shut on any chance two teams in the Big Sky conference will get a bid to the NCAA tournament. May have Cost Sac State any chance to the NIT.
 
You're telling me... I'm dyin' over here. I can't believe we lost 2 at home. Anyways, even though Bausley got absolutely hammered (the refs aren't going to call a foul on the last shot of the game) on the last shot of the game, I think that a timeout should have been called to set something up, and we could have got a better shot in the first place.
 
Look at it this way, the Griz have played all their road games against probably the "top half" of the 'Sky, and went 2-1.
 
NoIowasucks said:
It is really weird to look at the conference standings & see Weber St. at the bottom.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is. A team that has been consistently one of the best team in the league for so many years, now rock bottom.
 
The Grizzlies control their destiny to host the tournament still. If they split with NAU and both only have 1 loss, the Griz would get the tie-breaker through the RPI.

I doubt it will come to this, but its nice to know that UM is still in control of where the BSC tourney is played.
 
so i have a question, has nau lost a conference game yet? and wouldn't we still have to win the big sky tournament to get a bid? just curious.
 
you're probably right about having to win the bsc tournament to get a bid to the ncaa. the selection comitee doesn't give to much credit to big sky teams and would probably only take the winner of the bsc tourney. based on if the griz record holds up there through the season we could get an at large bid in march
 
grizfan_#2 said:
so i have a question, has nau lost a conference game yet? and wouldn't we still have to win the big sky tournament to get a bid? just curious.
Click to expand...

NAU is undefeated.
UM wins out, will get tie breaker to host the tournament.

Any of the 6 teams playing in the Big Sky Tournament has a chance to earn the NCAA tournament bid.

I really did not like it when they expanded the tournament to 6 teams.

It makes it easier for an inferior team to get in the NCAA tournament that just happened to get lucky or hot at the right time. Then they get blown out in the tournament and makes Big Sky look weaker.
 
TrueGriz said:
grizfan_#2 said:
so i have a question, has nau lost a conference game yet? and wouldn't we still have to win the big sky tournament to get a bid? just curious.
Click to expand...

NAU is undefeated.
UM wins out, will get tie breaker to host the tournament.

Any of the 6 teams playing in the Big Sky Tournament has a chance to earn the NCAA tournament bid.

I really did not like it when they expanded the tournament to 6 teams.

It makes it easier for an inferior team to get in the NCAA tournament that just happened to get lucky or hot at the right time. Then they get blown out in the tournament and makes Big Sky look weaker.
Click to expand...

True, but the griz made it to the tourney in 2001-2002 as a 5 seed in the conference tourney and they haven't been knocked out because of something similar so i wouldn't argue with the new system.
 
Montana Gym Rat said:
The Grizzlies control their destiny to host the tournament still. If they split with NAU and both only have 1 loss, the Griz would get the tie-breaker through the RPI.

I doubt it will come to this, but its nice to know that UM is still in control of where the BSC tourney is played.
Click to expand...

MGR,

You've seen the best Big Sky teams match up, if things keep going the way they are what do expect to see down the stretch?
 
I think the only thing that is clear after the first three weeks are the four top half teams (NAU, UM, Sac, MSU, in no particular order) and the four bottom half teams. (PSU, EWU, ISU, and WSU) Weber looks like they'll be last this year, which is hard to believe. I don't really think they'll be in the tournament this year.
 
From what I've seen thus far, the Grizzlies are definitely the best team in the conference and if they play a good game for 40 minutes, nobody is going to beat them in league play. Unfortunately, I'm not convinced of where UM's consistency is right now.

I think Montana is still the definite favorite. The fact that the Griz were able to get 2 out of 3 on the road against the toughest competition in the conference says quite a bit. They've only got 4 road games remaining, and 3 of them are games that should be wins. The games that worry me for UM are Sacramento and MSU coming to Missoula. I think at worse case the Griz go 11-3, but there's no reason that they can't end up 13-1.

NAU really isn't that strong of a team. They have good shooters when open, and they've hit their shots in the tough games so far. It's hard to get 10 wins in conference play relying on the 3 so heavily though. I have a hard time seeing NAU getting wins in Sacramento, Bozeman and Missoula. They could have some problems in Portland and Cheney for that matter. The only road games they have out of the way are the cellar dwellars, so I don't put a whole lot of stock into their 6-0 record. I see them at best case going 11-3, but all it takes is a tough road trip to deflate their confidence. I'm thinking 9-5 or 10-4 for the Jacks.

I think Sacramento is pretty much done for the BSC title. You can't lose 2 home games and expect to host the tourney. They've got a lot of talent though and are a scary team. Probably 10-4 or 9-5 for this bunch.

MSU is another scary team that can put together a huge game any given night. But I also think they'll drop a game or two against PSU, ISU or WSU still. 9-5 to 7-7 I would think.

EWU is really the only other team worth mentioning, although with just Stuckey to rely on, its hard to see them getting to 10 wins. Again right around .500 for a team like this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top