This may get shot down as "not pertaining to Griz bball" , but surprised to see so little mention of them on this board. Their wins over Weber and NAU were as impressive as ours last weekend. Leading up to our run last year, there was one team that got us both at home and on road. I think they are legit and coming on as much as Griz over the lat few weeks. Anyone care to offer some insight?
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Bobcats
- Thread starter Mousegriz
- Start date
No doubt MSU is very talented. They have, along with NAU, the most-experienced group of players, and certainly anytime you have Rush and Howard on the floor, you have the chance to compete with anyone. And their wins last weekend were very impressive.
However, I do I think the cats have possible weaknesses. They can be streaky. They rely a great deal on outside shooting, and if those aren't going down, they're going to struggle. They don't have a dominant inside player, and I think they will have some difficulties with teams like Montana with a big, strong front court. And finally, they don't yet have a road win. They had a couple of nice neutral court wins in Hawaii, but still haven't beat someone on their court. Until they do that, I think you have to label them a question mark.
That said, they can certainly play with anyone in this conference, and are dangerous when shots are falling.
However, I do I think the cats have possible weaknesses. They can be streaky. They rely a great deal on outside shooting, and if those aren't going down, they're going to struggle. They don't have a dominant inside player, and I think they will have some difficulties with teams like Montana with a big, strong front court. And finally, they don't yet have a road win. They had a couple of nice neutral court wins in Hawaii, but still haven't beat someone on their court. Until they do that, I think you have to label them a question mark.
That said, they can certainly play with anyone in this conference, and are dangerous when shots are falling.
ilovethecats
Well-known member
EverettGriz said:
right on the money. while i'm very happy with the wins, we have seen the big sky enough to know that winning at home is a must and the cream of the crop wins on the road too. we haven't done that yet so i reserve judgement. i will say this team is playing much better now than even a few weeks ago.
when we meet i'm pretty nervous to see how we manage your big guys. on that note...what is up with us playing back to back weekends? saw that on the schedule and thought it was a typo. kind of weird.
Potomac Griz
Well-known member
grizd said:
At least it's not scheduled for 1pm on a work day :evil:
Potomac Griz
Well-known member
bigtyme said:
I can guarantee you that both of those games would've been even more well attended had the games taken place at a time when people were off work.
The Griz are off to a similar start this year when compared to the 2005-2006 season. How well was the home game (second game of the season) against Weber attended that year? Around 5600 people. How well was it attended this year? 4600...
How about against NAU that year? 5800+..this year? 4100.
Keep in mind they count the season ticket holders whether they show up or not. The NAU game was the first home game in around 15 years that I've missed...had it been at the normal times instead of being scheduled at 1pm, then I would've been there as would have others I know. We are season ticket holders, so we got counted even though we couldn't make it.
Even Tinkle mentioned that he was not a fan of this day time week day scheduling in the Missoulian interview and said it would likely hurt attendance. Maybe on one of your trips to campus to run players who aren't from Montana out of the state you should stop and visit Tinkle to tell him to get over it too? :finger:
Three games during the middle of the work day in a year is flat out unacceptable. Find me another program that screws it's fans over like that while trying to build something out of their BB program. That combined with the incredibly shitty coverage (no streaming radio) really shows how serious the U of M takes it's Men's BB program.
Potomac Griz
Well-known member
ilovethecats said:
I really thought the Cats had the potential of being one of the top Big Sky teams this year even after their bad loss to UCR, and still do think they are going to be one of the top. As you said though, they need to prove they can win on the road, or they'll fall back to the middle of the pack and be one and done in the tourney likely. I think they will struggle against teams with post players like Qvale.
ilovethecats - Do you see any similarities this year between this team and the Durham teams that seemed to live and die by the 3? Cody Anderson..had a great game against Weber, do you expect him to turn into a pretty solid post player for the Cats this year?
At the end of the season I really wouldn't be surprised to see the Griz, Weber and the Cats at the top of the Big Sky. NAU and UNC I'm still not sold on as being teams that are going to finish at the top. NAU had a lot of trouble against quick teams last year... They do seem improved this year, and of course still have Jones. UNC is without Figures..sure they still have Beitzel and a lot of other talent, but I think the loss of Figures and Bonner on defense is going to hurt them a lot.
Who knows though..the season is young.. For all we know the Big Sky might end up with ISU, EWU and Sac at the top with the rest of us wondering WTF happened
SeaGrizluvr
Well-known member
Screw the BOBCAN'Ts
ilovethecats
Well-known member
Dexter X said:
dexter - there are many simliarities between the durham teams and this years team. we are undersized and we really like to let the threes fly. however, this team looks different than even a few weeks ago. they are spreading the ball around and at least dumping the ball down if for no other reason than to spread the court. before, we were either launching threes or howard and rush were trying to take the game over....sometimes successfully, other times not so much. i was hard on them at that time because it is a frustrating style of ball to watch. but i said on bobcatnation after the ucla game that if they start using the entire team, even if guys are simply decoys, we have the talent to be very good.
as for cody, no one has been harder on the guy than me. when i saw him play for the first time a couple seasons ago i was baffled that he was playing d1 hoops. he was slow, overweight, and didn't even bother trying to post up. in his defense it's hard to want to post up when you know you won't get the ball anyway. in the defense of the players not giving him the ball....well, i wouldn't give him the ball either. all that said, he seems to have worked his butt off and he's much much better than he was. he still could learn to use his body a little better to gain space, and i'd like to see him play more physical in the post because he will almost always be undersized down there. i'm loving his effort on the boards though and it seems to be contagious. for being as small as we are we do a great job rebounding the ball.
all things considered i love how this team looks now. they are playing together and trusting eachother which is leading to good shots. their effort has always been there...now they are playing smart as well. but as we all know, really all that matters is how you play on the road. you can win every game at home and if you can't win on the road you're done. so i'm very excited for our game tonight to see if this team can keep it up. the real comparison will be able to be made after we play you guys. you have the quickness on the perimeter as well as the best froncourt in the conference. if we can beat you guys, or even keep it a very tight game i'll be convinced we have the team to play for a championship. as of now i'll reserve any wild predictions because there is just too much unknown.
