The TLDR version: Stuff about Big Sky Conference Basketball from a wanna-be blogger who doesn't have bone-fides to provide any real insight.
What did we learn from Week #5:
---Here are the tiers:
-- Conference Player of the Week: Money Williams. 19 and 15 against NC and NAU. Made 11 3's on the weekend off the bench and was integral or essential in helping Montana capture both games on the road. Honorable Mention: Dylan Darling. On an unprecedented heater for the Bengals and had 30 points in Ogden against WSU on Saturday. Kai Johnson (Montana): Honestly it is hard not to imagine in a world where Darling doesn't exist that Johnson would have been the best transfer add for any team in the conference. He had 22 on Saturday, and 14 on Thursday. The D2 transfer from Western Washington is definitely in the mix for newcomer of the year.
Looking forward to Week #6
-- There is a scenario, where after the upcoming week that every team from 3rd to 8th could have 7 losses. Portland State (at home) probably has the best opportunity to separate itself from the rest of the pack with home games against #6 NAU and #2 Northern Colorado. Idaho State too, has a great chance to get some clearance from the pack with a pair of victories on their Montana road swing. Idaho State is a tough matchup for Montana (Montana isn't the greatest rebounding team in the world) and they have what appears to be a prime candidate for CPOY in Dylan Darling. Not out of the realm that they win both (won both games against the Montana Schools in Pocatello a few weeks ago). Northern Arizona might be the most difficult team in the conference to figure out. No team has the inside-out combo they have in Towt-Mclaughlin and they absolutely rebound better that just about any team in the conference. Yet like last year they haven't been able to put together consistent results. They have a chance to tighten the pack a ton, if they can win a pair on the road in the west coast swing. They can like Eastern Washington last week put themselves into a position to be a real threat in March. if you are curious how you could end up with six teams w/ 7 losses, here you go:
Games of the Week #6:
Thursday Game: Idaho State @ Montana: Montana got run out of the gym in the second half against ISU just a few weeks ago in Pocatello. Up by 8 at half, they were outscored 50-18 in the second half as it marked one of the poorest halves of performance by a Griz team under Travis DeCuire. It marked possibly the point in which Montana figured out that it needed to compete for a full 40, but it also marked the point where Dylan Darling became a serious contender for the Conference POY and Newcomer of the year. Montana needs to hold serve at home from here on out if it wants to challenge NC for the conference title. Idaho State has a +6 rebound advantage while putting up nearly 5 more shots than their opponents per game. That helps them outrun a middling shooting percentage and a conference worst FG% on the defensive end. Montana wins with elite offense (shooting 52% in conference play) and being the conferences best 3pt shooting team by a long shot. Montana needs to match ISU's intensity and effort on the glass, if they can, Idaho State can be beat.
Saturday Game: Northern Colorado @ Portland State: I really do wonder what Portland State team shows up. They are undefeated at home, and had it not been for a few bad minutes in the Eastern, Montana State and Northern Colorado losses from being a one or two loss team. If the home team shows up, this is a game I'd give a slight advantage to PSU. Portland State matches up really well with Northern Colorado on the wing, and did well to keep the game in the 60's (lost 72-69). Northern Colorado shoots the ball so well, because they are able to get teams out of position defensively, but at least athletically PSU has the ability to defend from the 3pt line in a way that can cause NC problems. Portland State portends to be the team that is likely going to spoil BSC regular season title dreams for either Montana or Northern Colorado. NC has to play this on the second night, of a very difficult two-team defensive focused opponent road trip. This is a really tough game for PSU.
Thanks for reading.
| Rank | Team | Conference/NET | Last Week | This Week | What is their superhero skill/Weakness? | ||
1 | Montana | 10-2/17-8 NET: 173 (+17) | Rank: #2 2-0: W: @ #1 Northern Colorado (TH) W: @ #6 Northern Arizona (Sat) | TH: v. #3 Idaho State S: v. #9 Weber State | Depth: This is easily Travis DeCuires best team in a few years and the principle reason is that he can run out 9 guys who give positive contribution. Rebounding: This isn't a new phenomena for the Griz and it is a core reason why they are maybe less dominant than they could be. Lost the game @ ISU because of it and nearly lost @ NAU. | ||
2 | Northern Colorado | 10-2/18-7 NET: 140 (-16) | Rank: #1 1-1: Loss: v. #2 Montana Win: v. #7 Montana State | TH: @ #10 Sacramento State S: @ #4 Portland State | Wing Multi-tools: They might be the most adept program in the conference in regards to finding guys who can do a lot of things well, especially on the offensive end. Both Hawthorne and Reynolds are top 10 in both scoring and rebounding, but they stat stuff elsewhere as well. Defensive Indifference: This has been the achiles heel the last couple of years, but they struggle at locking down teams. They are so good offensively that you can ignore it, but in their two conference losses they struggled to find ways to get stops. | ||
3 | Idaho State | 6-5/11-11 NET: 192 (+4) | Rank: #3 1-0: Win @ #9 Weber State (Sat) | TH: @ #1 Montana S: @ #7 Montana State | Rebounding: I could essentialy post the same thing for PSU. They are a relentless bunch and they get a lot of second chances on offense and they limit chances defensively. This allows them to be better offensively and covers up their risk/reward defensive style. Lack of Scoring: As go Darling, so does the Bengals. When they've lost, it is because teams have made Darling a volume shooter, or limited his touches. They don't seem to have a consistent seond option. | ||
4 | Portland State | 6-5/14-10 NET: 217 (+23) | Rank: #5 1-1: Win @ #5 Idaho Loss @ #8 Eastern Washington | TH: v. #6 Northern Arizona S: v. #2 Northern Colorado | Athleticism/Defense: No team is more difficult to play against than PSU on the defensive end. They make teams work the clock and take bad perimeter looks. They just don't give a lot of access to the key for anything easy. Offensive Consistency: Really it is the primary reason PSU is sitting in a distant 3rd and why they fell short last year. They aren't consistent enough on offense, and depend on efficiency at both ends to win them games. They don't shoot exceedingly well, don't shoot threes, and don't make FT's. | ||
5 | Idaho | 6-6/11-14 NET: 262 (-22) | Rank #4 1-1: Loss v. #4 Portland State Win v. #10 Sacramento State | S: @ #7 Eastern Washington | Good Offensive Depth: Idaho has two players in the top 20 and none in the top 10 in scoring. They have 6 players that average between 8 and 11 ppg, and they get different contributions every night from a roster that has no one who plays more the 30mpg. Not so good on defense: They are 9th in the conference in ppg allowed at 74.7, teams shoot close to 49% from the field, and give up the 2nd most FT's in the conference. They've been in a lot of close games (6 under 5 points) and its costing them games. | ||
6 | Northern Arizona | 5-7/14-11 NET: 247 (-1) | LW: #7 1-1: Win v. #7 Montana State Loss v. #1 Montana | TH: @ #4 Portland State S: @ #10 Sacramento State | Inside/Out Combo: Really it is hard not to be enamored with the Towt/Mclaughin combo. They are an elite pair, and combine that with Jayden Jackson and they have a team that can get shots wherever on the floor when they like it. They are 1st in FG% Offense, 2nd in 3pt% and it makes for a difficult defensive matchup. Inability to win close games: Last year, like this year, NAU can't close out games. They are 2-5 in games that are under 5 points in conference. Like PSU they should be w/ UM and NC, but aren't because they can find a way to win those games. | ||
7 | Montana State | 5-7/10-15 NET: 198 (-7) | LW: #6 0-2 Loss @ #6 Northern Arizona Loss @ #2 Northern Colorado | TH: v. #9 Weber State S: v. #3 Idaho State | Defensive Grit: Logie has his team playing inspired defense. Like last year it is always going to keep them in games. They are second in the conference in points allowed and continue to give up few clean uncontested looks. Offensively Challenged: 2nd in the conference in DPA, 9th in the conference offensive points per game. They have 1 player in the top 25 in scoring in the conference. They simply don't have a player that can create easy shots. | ||
8 | Eastern Washington | 5-7/9-16 NET: 248 (+2) | LW: #8 2-0 Win v. #10 Sacramento State (TH) Win v. #4 Portland State (SAT) | S: v. #5 Idaho | Defensive Focus: This is a bit different than the Riley teams, who were gifted offensively, Eastern has become one of the best collective defensive teams in the conference. Since they gave up 92 to Montana game 1 of conference, they've kept the lid on the basket, holding them to 80 or lower in 9 of 11 and lower than 70 5 times. Turnovers: They've committed more turnovers in conference (13 per game) and for a team whose lost 6 or their 7 conference games by 10 points or less, Eastern could be a vastly better position if they could clean up their mistakes on offense. | ||
9 | Weber State | 3-8/9-16 NET: 301 (-1) | LW:#9 0-1 Loss v. #3 Idaho State (SAT) | TH: @ #7 Montana State S: @ #1 Montana | Individually Talented: Weber has a core of players that would be starters on every other team in the conference. Tew, Threatt, Kohler. Each capable of dominating games, and making WSU in every game they play. Lack of cohesiveness: Something is missing. The Wildcats remain a scary team during the regular season and BSC tournament, but they've yet to find some semblance of cohesiveness and it has cost them games. | ||
10 | Sacramento State | 2-9/6-18 NET: 342 (+4) | LW: #10 0-2: Loss @ #8 Eastern Washington (TH) Loss @ #5 Idaho (SAT) | TH: v. #2 Northern Colorado S: v. #6 Northern Arizona |
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What did we learn from Week #5:
---Here are the tiers:
- Tier 1: Northern Colorado, Montana
- Tier 2: Idaho, Northern Arizona, Portland State, Montana State, Idaho State and Eastern Washington
- Tier 3: Sacramento State and Weber State
-- Conference Player of the Week: Money Williams. 19 and 15 against NC and NAU. Made 11 3's on the weekend off the bench and was integral or essential in helping Montana capture both games on the road. Honorable Mention: Dylan Darling. On an unprecedented heater for the Bengals and had 30 points in Ogden against WSU on Saturday. Kai Johnson (Montana): Honestly it is hard not to imagine in a world where Darling doesn't exist that Johnson would have been the best transfer add for any team in the conference. He had 22 on Saturday, and 14 on Thursday. The D2 transfer from Western Washington is definitely in the mix for newcomer of the year.
Looking forward to Week #6
-- There is a scenario, where after the upcoming week that every team from 3rd to 8th could have 7 losses. Portland State (at home) probably has the best opportunity to separate itself from the rest of the pack with home games against #6 NAU and #2 Northern Colorado. Idaho State too, has a great chance to get some clearance from the pack with a pair of victories on their Montana road swing. Idaho State is a tough matchup for Montana (Montana isn't the greatest rebounding team in the world) and they have what appears to be a prime candidate for CPOY in Dylan Darling. Not out of the realm that they win both (won both games against the Montana Schools in Pocatello a few weeks ago). Northern Arizona might be the most difficult team in the conference to figure out. No team has the inside-out combo they have in Towt-Mclaughlin and they absolutely rebound better that just about any team in the conference. Yet like last year they haven't been able to put together consistent results. They have a chance to tighten the pack a ton, if they can win a pair on the road in the west coast swing. They can like Eastern Washington last week put themselves into a position to be a real threat in March. if you are curious how you could end up with six teams w/ 7 losses, here you go:
- ISU: goes 0-2 @ Montana and MSU (6-7)
- PSU: goes 0-2 v. NAU and NC (6-7)
- UI: goes 0-1 @. Eastern Washington (6-7)
- NAU: goes 2-0 @ SS and PSU (7-7)
- MSU: goes 2-0 v. Weber State and Idaho State (7-7)
- EWU: goes 1-0 v. Idaho (6-7)
Games of the Week #6:
Thursday Game: Idaho State @ Montana: Montana got run out of the gym in the second half against ISU just a few weeks ago in Pocatello. Up by 8 at half, they were outscored 50-18 in the second half as it marked one of the poorest halves of performance by a Griz team under Travis DeCuire. It marked possibly the point in which Montana figured out that it needed to compete for a full 40, but it also marked the point where Dylan Darling became a serious contender for the Conference POY and Newcomer of the year. Montana needs to hold serve at home from here on out if it wants to challenge NC for the conference title. Idaho State has a +6 rebound advantage while putting up nearly 5 more shots than their opponents per game. That helps them outrun a middling shooting percentage and a conference worst FG% on the defensive end. Montana wins with elite offense (shooting 52% in conference play) and being the conferences best 3pt shooting team by a long shot. Montana needs to match ISU's intensity and effort on the glass, if they can, Idaho State can be beat.
Saturday Game: Northern Colorado @ Portland State: I really do wonder what Portland State team shows up. They are undefeated at home, and had it not been for a few bad minutes in the Eastern, Montana State and Northern Colorado losses from being a one or two loss team. If the home team shows up, this is a game I'd give a slight advantage to PSU. Portland State matches up really well with Northern Colorado on the wing, and did well to keep the game in the 60's (lost 72-69). Northern Colorado shoots the ball so well, because they are able to get teams out of position defensively, but at least athletically PSU has the ability to defend from the 3pt line in a way that can cause NC problems. Portland State portends to be the team that is likely going to spoil BSC regular season title dreams for either Montana or Northern Colorado. NC has to play this on the second night, of a very difficult two-team defensive focused opponent road trip. This is a really tough game for PSU.
Thanks for reading.
