kudos for this report, and for weber state, period. we've had a great rivalry spanning many decades now, and if every school in the big sky were at weber's level for facilities and fan support, i would not be an advocate for montana moving up. the purple palace is an exceptional venue, the only facility outside wash griz that lends any credence to the big sky as a major conference.
ironic perhaps that the two big sky schools that have made the biggest advancements athletically were both junior colleges not that long ago--weber and boise state. there was a time a kid named alan holmes transferred from weber junior college to utah, where he played alongside billy the hill mcgill on a team that beat ohio state with jerry lucas, john havlicek and a bench player named bobby knight. but that's ancient history. suffice it to say, i'm glad weber is in our conference, and hope they're able to move up with us when the time comes.
as for the report, i can add only a few "hunches":
montana: hutchison is overrated, and cherry and woods underrated. no secret here what i think of will cherry. if there's a better freshman in the big sky, he's gotta be extra special. but the season will turn on the development of qvale and selvig.
sac state: i think their new coach, katz, is going to turn that program around in a hurry. he's in an ideal recruiting spot, and i had a chance to see one of his recruits the other night, john dickinson, a 6'5" stringbean with major hops. could develop into a real nice player.
northern colorado: the team of the future in the big sky. only question, how soon the future?
weber: always gets good players. if they say this is the best class in a decade, watch out.
idaho state: always seems to get great talent, always has a legion of bengal fans to tell us how great they're gonna be, always pulls off a big upset in the pre-season, always step on their puds in conference. so we're halfway there already.
montana state: the great mystery team, for sure. who shows up this year: the in-conference team? or the post-season team? their one montana recruit, colt idol, did not play exceptionally well in the wyoming-montana all-star series, but then he never figured in their plans for this year anyway.
northern arizona: i don't care who adras gets, this guy can coach. top-tier team no matter the talent.
portland state: now they've got something they've never had--some bona fides, a bit of swagger. but i think the loss of dominguez really hurts them. how portland u. let him get away, i'll never know. plus, you don't lose a coach like bone and go on like nothing happened.
eastern washington: ???
