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Conference season: Griz prediction

What place do you think the Griz will place this year

  • 4th

    Votes: 6 20.0%

  • 3rd

    Votes: 5 16.7%

  • Top 2 finish

    Votes: 7 23.3%

  • 5th

    Votes: 5 16.7%

  • 6th

    Votes: 3 10.0%

  • 7th

    Votes: 3 10.0%

  • Bottom 2

    Votes: 1 3.3%
  • Total voters
    30
Mslacat

Mslacat

Well-known member
Non-conference is over for the Griz (unless they make up the Utah Valley game) conference season starts this Saturday. Where do you think the Griz will finish.
 
I predict a second-place finish. Who besides PSU will place higher? The Cats, maybe, but certainly not NAU, EWU, Sac, Northern Colorado or ISU. Weber could be a dark horse.
 
I think Weber and Idaho State are the dark horses in the league. The other bye should go to one of those two teams .......Unless it is Montana State
 
Good point about ISU. They've had a fairly brutal schedule (although the Eastern Oregon game would concern me if I were an ISU fan). They played Boise State, Wisconsin and Nevada close, and they have a nice win over Utah.

11/03/08 vs. (Ex.) Montana Tech # Reed Gym W, 73-55
11/07/08 vs. (Ex.) Rocky Mountain # Reed Gym W, 70-56
11/14/08 vs. Eastern Oregon Reed Gym W, 75-70
11/18/08 at Hawai'i Honolulu, HI L, 67-64 (OT)
11/22/08 at Boise State Boise, ID L, 92-84 (2OT)
11/25/08 vs. Long Beach State Holt Arena L, 88-82 (OT)
11/29/08 vs. Brigham Young Holt Arena L, 85-65
12/02/08 at Washington State Pullman, WA L, 60-41
12/06/08 vs. Utah Holt Arena W, 72-68
12/09/08 at Wisconsin Madison, WI L, 60-58
12/11/08 at Wisconsin-Green Bay Green Bay, WI L, 68-53
12/20/08 vs. Utah State Holt Arena L, 67-57
12/23/08 at Arizona State Tempe, AZ L, 90-55
12/27/08 at Nevada Reno, NV L, 68-63
 
The thing the Bengals have to worry about is can young players recover, both physically and mentally, from playing what was the toughest schedule in the nation up to the Nevada game? If they can overcome the mental weight and fatigue of all those losses and truly "start over fresh" with Northern Colorado on Thursday they'll be okay...but this has been a truly brutal schedule, both with quality of opponents and travel.
 
Here's Weber's schedule to date:

Wed. Nov. 12 7:15 p.m. Miami (OH) Lost 66-70
Thu. Nov. 13 8:15 p.m. Prairie View A&M Won 78-68
Sat. Nov. 22 7:05 p.m. at Long Beach State Lost 69-73
Tue. Nov. 25 9:05 p.m. at Utah State Lost 49-75
Sat. Nov. 29 9:05 p.m. Montana Tech Won 77-62
Wed. Dec. 03 9:05 p.m. Brigham Young Lost 62-92
Thu. Dec. 11 8:05 p.m. Long Beach State Won 72-63
Sat. Dec. 13 9:30 p.m. at Southern Utah Won 66-62
Wed. Dec. 17 9:05 p.m. UC-Santa Barbara Won 70-63
Sat. Dec. 20 6:00 p.m. at Utah Lost 64-74
Mon. Dec. 22 6:00 p.m. Texas-Pan American Won 61-54
Tue. Dec. 23 8:30 p.m. at Southern Miss Lost 49-68
 
According to the RPI as of right this moment of time here is how the Big Sky Conference teams Schedules stack up on a national basis. The first number is from Real time RPI. All RPI rating sources will be extremely close, because they are all based on almost the identical formula. The second number in ( ) is from Kenpom.com who uses a totally different formula. One of the major differences is that in Kenpom formula you get a lot more credit for playing a major top ten team than in the RPI. In the RPI if you play a lot more tp 50 teams, but not that one top 10 team you get more credit than Kenpom.com.

Idaho State 5th toughest in the nation (5th)
N. Arizona 59th (13th)
Montana State 118th (57th)
Eastern Wash. 151st
Weber 172nd (44th)
N. Colo 235th (123rd)
Portland State 238th (127th)
Montana 252nd (75th)
Sac State 289th (143rd)

Look for Portland State's ranking to jump after tonight when they play their 2nd top 20 team Baylor.
 
The Griz Finishing in the top 2 is a stretch. If they get 4th I'll be suprised. ISU played Wisconsin tough at Kohl and that is very, very impressive becuase, if you watched the Texas vs. Wisconsin game last week you would have seen that the Badgers do not lose at Kohl very often since Bo Ryan arrived. For them to go in there and only lose by 2 is huge in my opinion. The other teams they had on their non-conference schedule are very impressive. I think the top 3 will be PSU, ISU, and MSU. I see NC doing better this year and being a long shot as a dark horse. 4-6 I see that being EWU, NAU, UM, or Weber. With EWU and UM being the dark horse's.
 
The only two things I feel very comfortable in predicting is Portland State #1 and Sac State #9, and that is all assuming no major injuries to key players in the league. As a bobcat fan I am very wary of the griz this week end. From what I have seen of the Griz the last few weeks the Griz really look frustrated and listless. To be a big emotional "rivalry game" in Missoula just might be the thing to light a fire underneath this team, especially players like Hasquet and McGillis. If motivated this is a very good team when not .. eh. The Cat's are a very young team and it shows at times. The one thing you can say is that they work/play hard for 40 minutes. The problem is that at times the offence can be inconsistent, and they can be turn over prone. Bynum has been coming into his own and the same for Rush to a smaller degree which will help out when Howard is having an off night. At the point Navaree gives us more offence and quicker defender, but Hennessy gives us a more reliable distributor.
 
I'll be at the Cat/Griz game Saturday night before I fly back to MN on Sunday. Hopefully it's a good game.
 
I can see Montana, Northern Colorado, Weber State, Idaho state, Montana State and Eastern Washington all with an equal chance at runner up in conference. They have all had their moments this year, it all depends on who plays well down the stretch. It never seems to be who you think once conference starts But I do agree Portland State should win.
 
Montana is baffling to me. I think they are the most talented team in the conference and that includes Portland State. I just read an article in the Seattle PI about Staudacher committing to UM Basketball early even though he had serious interest from Washington and Stanford for Football. Maybe Tinkle is outsmarting himself.
 
The GRIZ are capable of #2, however from what I have seen thus far they will struggle the 1st half. Bring it up the 2nd they will battle it out for 4th to 6th. Portland State is by far the only contender this year in my opinion. As for rest of the conference, I refuse to sell Weber State short. Rahe has earned my respect, along with Bone he is argueably the conferences best coach.

I would love to see what Huse could do with Portland State talent though. Idaho State has proven to always have the intangibles under their coach. NAU somehow always manages to compete, so I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. EWU, hard to believe they could turn it around this soon. IF they are for real, They have one hell of a coach. Montana is the most unpredictable team. Sac State and UNC are hard to know what to expect, but last year I was impressed with UNC's attitude.

This will be a very interesting, unpredictable and fun race for 2nd, my bet to emerge is Weber State. That based on Rahe alone. 3 to 7, might as well draw straws, throw darts blind folded, etc.
 
AllWeatherFan said:
I predict a second-place finish. Who besides PSU will place higher? The Cats, maybe, but certainly not NAU, EWU, Sac, Northern Colorado or ISU. Weber could be a dark horse.
Click to expand...

Maclean fan?
 
Second place. Granted, the young men are grinding and working through a lot of adverse circumstances, but we've played some tough teams. Yes, we've also played some not-so-tough teams. But these guys are finding themselves.
 
I predict 5th or 4th at best...only to lose in the tourney in game one, if they make it. After last nights preconf tune-ups lets look..PSU is far and above everyone else, their second team could contend for the championship,,MSU beats Utah Vall..Weber loses to Zona but is in game the entire way in Tucson..Idaho St beats Idaho...NC gets a win..it will be a long season,,to me it already has been,,seeing the half assed efforts at PSU and Udab. Griz D=they shuffle or skip back court after another turnover,shadowing their man,while another guy blows by them into the paint for an assit and a score,,the Griz just look dazzeled and confused, :o Ugly! Hey Tinks start Sharp,Selvig and Stockton,,,build for next year to preserve your job,,oh yeah forgot 'bout that extension.Damn..talent + Tinks = exasperation & disappointment..hope I am 100% incorrect!
 
I would have said 2nd before CET got suspended. Yes I know Tinks said Probation, but puhlease! I think a 3rd place finish without him because Stockton is going to have to step up and he will get some D1 schooling. I also think he will do fine if they give him the opportunity and allow him some true frosh mistakes. I can name at least 5 former Griz All Conference guards who were far worse as freshmen than Stocks is.
 
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