I submitted my ballot for the Big Sky men's basketball race today. Here's how I voted and why:
1. Weber State -- the Wildcats are going to have some growing pains without Berry and Tresnak, and they will be playing a lot of young kids. But Joel Bolomboy will be an early favorite for POY, Senglin, Gittens and Hill showed a lot of ability as freshmen, and the Big Sky championship race always seems to go through Ogden. Until proven otherwise....
2. Northern Arizona -- The Axers have four starters back from a team that won four of their last five last year, including a road win at Weber. Quinton Upshur is one of the most explosive players in the league, Kris Yanku impressed as a frosh, and Bewernick and Dixon are solid players.
3. Eastern Washington -- The Eagles should again be one of the most talented teams in the league, led by Tyler Harvey, the returning league scoring champion and a guy who has a chance to be the Big Sky's next NBA draft pick. Venky Jois is one of the top two or three bigs in the league, and Tyler Brandon had a 2-1 assist to TO ratio, while averaging 6.4 rebounds a game at guard. Under normal circumstances, given their talent and experience, I'd pick EWU to win the league. But coach Jim Hayford is just 40-54 in his time in Cheney, and Eastern just always seems to sink to mediocrity.
4. Northern Colorado -- the Bears lose a couple of really good players in Barden and Unruh, but they still have a lot of good shooters who contributed to a team that hit 49 percent of their shots last season. And nobody protects home court like UNC -- they were 13-3 there last season. Tim Huskisson and Tevin Svihovic will be the leaders this year.
5. Sac State -- This is another team I would have ranked higher, except history tells me not to. The Hornets really looked like they were ready to take the next step up last year, and then they lost four of their last five games of the season. They still have the best one-two guard line in the league in Mikh McKinney and Dylan Garrity, and that means a lot in a league that is so guard oriented. To me, the key to the Hornets taking a big leap, though, is the development of 6-11 Eric Stuteville, who showed flashes of greatness as a freshman. Throw in his brother, Mason, a 6-10 freshman this year, and the Hornets could have one of the few legitimately solid front lines in the league over the next 3 years.
6. Portland State -- I really like what the Vikings bring to the table -- they are the quintessential Big Sky team with three veteran guards returning (Douglas, Winston and Wiggins, all of whom averaged in double figures last year). They also have the usual collection of athletic junior college "tweeners" ready to step in and play anywhere from the 5 to the 2. PSU isn't going to over-power anybody, but they will be competitive just about every night in the Big Sky.
7. Montana -- Is this the year the Griz take a step backward? They have a new coach (Travis DeCuire), they lost the best all-around player in the league in Kareem Jamar, and they don't return any experienced bigs to a team that got hammered by over 5 rebounds a game last year. They do have a fine pair of guards in Mario Dunn and Jordan Gregory, and Washington transfer Martin Breunig, 6-8, brings some size to the program, but I'm expecting something of an adjustment period in Missoula.
8. Idaho State -- The Bengals return two of the best players in the league at their positions -- Chris Hansen, a great shooting guard, and Jeff Solarin, the best rebounder, inch-for-inch, at the power forward position. It's how they fill in the holes around them that will be critical. Can Ben Wilson score enough to keep his 6-6 frame and defensive presence on the floor at the point? Can newcomers like Andre Slavik and Marcus Bradley make the adjustment quickly enough to score points for a team that will likely be offensively challenged? And can the two freshmen PGs, Ian Fox and Geno Luzcando, make an immediate impact? I'm betting the answer to most of these questions will be positive, and that will be just enough to squeeze the Bengals into the post-season.
9. North Dakota -- Gone, for good and bad, is Troy Huff, the straw who stirred the no-names' drink with his flamboyant running, dunking and stealing. Gone, too, are three of UND's other four top scorers. Forward Jaron Nash, one of the more athletic players in the league, will have to lead the rebuilding effort for a team that allowed opponents to shoot 49 percent and to outrebound UND by 2.5 a game -- but that made up for a lot of those sins by creating a whopping 500 opponents turnovers. With Huff (79 steals) and Jamal Webb (57) gone, UND will have to either improve its overall defense, or find other ways to compensate.
10. Idaho -- The Vandals are a really interesting team. They return three players -- SG Connor Hill, PG Mike Scott and swing man Bira Seck, who started last year, but after that there are a lot of question marks. One of the biggest is can the large group of talented, but inexperienced young players on the Vandal roster (including six freshmen) make the transition quickly enough to contribute. One of those freshman is Jordan Scott, former high school teammate of Bengal Justin Smith, who was recruited by Idaho State at one point. There appears to be a good deal of talent on this roster, we'll see how it meshes.
11. Southern Utah -- One of the worst teams in Big Sky Conference history, the T-Birds finished 1-19 in league play last year and they were dominated in every statistical category. The good news -- and the bad, I suppose, is that the T-Birds return all five starters. Will they improve, or be displaced by enough better players, to be competitive in conference play this time around? Only time will tell, but I'm saying the law of averages is with them enough that they climb out of the cellar, leaving....
12. The Montana State Bobcats and new coach Brian Fish. The Cats return only two starters -- Marcus Colbert and Michael Dison, neither of whom averaged in double figures, and six other players who saw at least part-time action. They were outshot from the field, from three and outscored from the foul line, they were outrebounded and outscored on the season, and the only newcomers on the roster are true freshmen. So unless the mix of merely average players who populated the roster last year can make significant strides, it could be a long first season for Fish and the Bobcats.
1. Weber State -- the Wildcats are going to have some growing pains without Berry and Tresnak, and they will be playing a lot of young kids. But Joel Bolomboy will be an early favorite for POY, Senglin, Gittens and Hill showed a lot of ability as freshmen, and the Big Sky championship race always seems to go through Ogden. Until proven otherwise....
2. Northern Arizona -- The Axers have four starters back from a team that won four of their last five last year, including a road win at Weber. Quinton Upshur is one of the most explosive players in the league, Kris Yanku impressed as a frosh, and Bewernick and Dixon are solid players.
3. Eastern Washington -- The Eagles should again be one of the most talented teams in the league, led by Tyler Harvey, the returning league scoring champion and a guy who has a chance to be the Big Sky's next NBA draft pick. Venky Jois is one of the top two or three bigs in the league, and Tyler Brandon had a 2-1 assist to TO ratio, while averaging 6.4 rebounds a game at guard. Under normal circumstances, given their talent and experience, I'd pick EWU to win the league. But coach Jim Hayford is just 40-54 in his time in Cheney, and Eastern just always seems to sink to mediocrity.
4. Northern Colorado -- the Bears lose a couple of really good players in Barden and Unruh, but they still have a lot of good shooters who contributed to a team that hit 49 percent of their shots last season. And nobody protects home court like UNC -- they were 13-3 there last season. Tim Huskisson and Tevin Svihovic will be the leaders this year.
5. Sac State -- This is another team I would have ranked higher, except history tells me not to. The Hornets really looked like they were ready to take the next step up last year, and then they lost four of their last five games of the season. They still have the best one-two guard line in the league in Mikh McKinney and Dylan Garrity, and that means a lot in a league that is so guard oriented. To me, the key to the Hornets taking a big leap, though, is the development of 6-11 Eric Stuteville, who showed flashes of greatness as a freshman. Throw in his brother, Mason, a 6-10 freshman this year, and the Hornets could have one of the few legitimately solid front lines in the league over the next 3 years.
6. Portland State -- I really like what the Vikings bring to the table -- they are the quintessential Big Sky team with three veteran guards returning (Douglas, Winston and Wiggins, all of whom averaged in double figures last year). They also have the usual collection of athletic junior college "tweeners" ready to step in and play anywhere from the 5 to the 2. PSU isn't going to over-power anybody, but they will be competitive just about every night in the Big Sky.
7. Montana -- Is this the year the Griz take a step backward? They have a new coach (Travis DeCuire), they lost the best all-around player in the league in Kareem Jamar, and they don't return any experienced bigs to a team that got hammered by over 5 rebounds a game last year. They do have a fine pair of guards in Mario Dunn and Jordan Gregory, and Washington transfer Martin Breunig, 6-8, brings some size to the program, but I'm expecting something of an adjustment period in Missoula.
8. Idaho State -- The Bengals return two of the best players in the league at their positions -- Chris Hansen, a great shooting guard, and Jeff Solarin, the best rebounder, inch-for-inch, at the power forward position. It's how they fill in the holes around them that will be critical. Can Ben Wilson score enough to keep his 6-6 frame and defensive presence on the floor at the point? Can newcomers like Andre Slavik and Marcus Bradley make the adjustment quickly enough to score points for a team that will likely be offensively challenged? And can the two freshmen PGs, Ian Fox and Geno Luzcando, make an immediate impact? I'm betting the answer to most of these questions will be positive, and that will be just enough to squeeze the Bengals into the post-season.
9. North Dakota -- Gone, for good and bad, is Troy Huff, the straw who stirred the no-names' drink with his flamboyant running, dunking and stealing. Gone, too, are three of UND's other four top scorers. Forward Jaron Nash, one of the more athletic players in the league, will have to lead the rebuilding effort for a team that allowed opponents to shoot 49 percent and to outrebound UND by 2.5 a game -- but that made up for a lot of those sins by creating a whopping 500 opponents turnovers. With Huff (79 steals) and Jamal Webb (57) gone, UND will have to either improve its overall defense, or find other ways to compensate.
10. Idaho -- The Vandals are a really interesting team. They return three players -- SG Connor Hill, PG Mike Scott and swing man Bira Seck, who started last year, but after that there are a lot of question marks. One of the biggest is can the large group of talented, but inexperienced young players on the Vandal roster (including six freshmen) make the transition quickly enough to contribute. One of those freshman is Jordan Scott, former high school teammate of Bengal Justin Smith, who was recruited by Idaho State at one point. There appears to be a good deal of talent on this roster, we'll see how it meshes.
11. Southern Utah -- One of the worst teams in Big Sky Conference history, the T-Birds finished 1-19 in league play last year and they were dominated in every statistical category. The good news -- and the bad, I suppose, is that the T-Birds return all five starters. Will they improve, or be displaced by enough better players, to be competitive in conference play this time around? Only time will tell, but I'm saying the law of averages is with them enough that they climb out of the cellar, leaving....
12. The Montana State Bobcats and new coach Brian Fish. The Cats return only two starters -- Marcus Colbert and Michael Dison, neither of whom averaged in double figures, and six other players who saw at least part-time action. They were outshot from the field, from three and outscored from the foul line, they were outrebounded and outscored on the season, and the only newcomers on the roster are true freshmen. So unless the mix of merely average players who populated the roster last year can make significant strides, it could be a long first season for Fish and the Bobcats.
