Good news is, I got all picks right. Bad news is I got all my picks right.
Well, for anyone that thinks Montana and Weber State will not have competition the next fews years, you are insane, unless coaching around the league sucks. Montana loses 2 Srs. Weber loses 2 SRs. UNC loses nobody. UND loses 1 contributor. Montana State loses 2 Srs. EWU is young and talented up front. Dwayne Russell of NAU is fun and going to be great(how on Earth did NAU land him?). So for all you who whine about this conference not being deep, that will change the next few years. Be careful what you wish for.
As for the games today, NAU was worn out, and looked as if they did not belong there. Weber State was more talented, athletic, and way stronger. Russell was the only NAU player who belonged on that court with Weber State. Hate to tout Weber State too much, but Bolomboy is going to be a total stud defensively and on the boards in this league for a long time. I do think Weber State does have a weakness that can be exposed. Their bigs (6'8" and taller), except for Bolomboy are a little slow footed, and can be taken advantage of. The tough part is getting the ball against them. They are solid off the ball defenders.
SUU and UND was a solid game in the 1st half. Credit UND they took away SUU's heart and soul most the game. Speaking of UND, they are drastically improved team. They have quick guards, good shooters, solid inside contributors, and much improved defensively. They do have enough length to match up with Weber State inside too. I do think Weber States guards and 3 point defense will be too much for UND to overcome. I hope I am wrong though. I really liked what I seen of UND against SUU. I have a feeling UND will give Weber State a run for their money.
MSU and UNC was a good game until the last 5 minutes. MSU is so plodding and boring to watch on offense. How they even made the conference tournament is beyond me. They do play solid defense, and rebound good. I am not sure if it is good or bad they lose so little this season. They are in dire need of some offense and athleticism overall. I honestly believe the Cats overachieved this season. I hate being critical of any team, but did nothing for me. They are an average at best BSC team.
UNC has more talent than their record. If they can find consistency defensively, they could be very good. Like the GRIZ they don't have much for true size in the paint. Connor Osborne is serviceable inside, but looks like his injury the year before has really taken away his athleticism. I would love to have Unruh, Barden, Huskisson, and Svihovec on my team. They are all solid, and Unruh needs very little space or time to get his shot off. They have some other good pieces too. The GRIZ depth and freshness will be the difference in this match up. However, UNC does scare me their offense can be outright dangerous. I would put Kareem and Coleman on Barden. I would be posting up Kareem a lot on their guards too. Let Cherry handle Svihovec, and alternate Gregory, Deshields, and Henderson on Unruh. I look for the GRIZ to push the tempo to wear down UNC. I do expect UNC to hang with the GRIZ for 30 minutes. I see them wearing down from fatigue.
I will be rooting for the UND/Weber game to be a tight physical game. I hope the officials continue to let the teams play. They did a good job for the most part, letting the teams play, and not a lot of ticky tack fouls. I hope that will be the case.
The games were disappointing on Thursday, but it was nice to see the conference has a handful of good teams moving forward. If the teams pick up the scheduling, this conference can improve on RPI a lot the next 2 years. Here is to the semi finals being better games than the quarter finals.
Go GRIZ!!!!