ISU's First D-1 Win; When Will It Come?

[biobengal]

I just took a peak at ISU's remaining games in 2008.... This has to be one of the hardest schedules ISU has ever had. In fact, ISU may not be favored in another game this year.

So, what do you think, when will ISU get their first D-1 win?

 

[Bengal Roar]

Here are a few thoughts from the last couple games. Our Defense is good but could become better. Our Offense is weak. Our shooting % is weak. Our passing is very weak. We have been playing now for 6-7 games. The coaches should have a good clue on what needs to be tweeked and what isn't or is working by now. We are playing some very good teams and they have the bodies and shooting power that we really don't have until we step into the BSC. Is is a bad thing? Probably not. It surely gets us ready and gets us in a faster pace mentality.
I have noticed these teams like byu and washington can pass the ball like no ones business. For some reason they know what their teammates are thinking and where they will be on the floor. I saw Kal Bay pass 2-3 times to an ISU player and they didn't even know the ball was coming. They were looking the other way or looking at the ground. It was not Kal's fault. I think he is a great passer and play maker. The players need to step it up. Are they playing scared? They all keep looking over to the bench looking for answers. Just relax and play the game. Loosen up a bit and play the game. Another thing i noticed in the BYU game is they (byu) had a lot of floaters if you call them that? They made a bunch of baskets that way.
Last but not least is our bigs underneath. We are getting out muscled and pushed around underneath. I have noticed that these teams are way bigger and out jump most of our guys. I am sure the talent from these big schools is coming into play. I am probably being to critical on some of these issues with our schedule the way it is. But i personally like the scheduling and it will make the ISU players tougher down the road. Keep your chins up fellas and lets get a win Saturday. Did we finidh 2nd or 3rd last year?

 

[baller1]

Unfortunately, these tough non-conference schedules will always be the case under OB. When Oliver was here, he got by with only 2 full time assistants. OB wanted 3 and a full time director of basketball operations. So he has double the full-time staff that Oliver had. Well with the extra $60,000+ in salaries that this causes, we will have to play a lot of guarantee games to make that money up each year. That's a decision that OB made and he unfortunately has to live with the consequences. I, for one, believe that if he's give a lot more resources than Oliver was, that he should be held to a higher standard during the conference season.

 

[skippy57.0]

So far, O'Brien is performing at a higher standard in Big Sky play than any Idaho State coach since Lynn Archibald. Here are the conference winning percentages of each of the Bengals' last 7 coaches:

O'Brien--50 percent (16-16 in league).
Oliver--35 percent.
Williams--45 percent.
Boutin--37 percent.
Ballard--43 percent.
Archibald--50 percent.
Killingsworth--71 percent.

 

[princeofbelair]

The basketball team has a very real chance to enter the Big Sky games with a record similar to the football team's. I can understand that playing better competition makes you a better team but by the time conference games roll around, how beat up physically and especially mentally will they be?

 

[biobengal]

Unfortunately, these tough non-conference schedules will always be the case under OB.

I hope not, I just can't imagine how anyone could think losing as many games against the toughest possible competition would be in the best interest of the program, long term. ISU has won exactly 5 out of conference Division 1 games in the last 3 years, with 2 of the 5 coming against Idaho. The other three were two years ago. HELLO????

ISU needs to tighten their belts, save some money in other areas, and play some winnable games. These teams (football, basketball, whatever) should not be ATM machines for the department.

 

[biobengal]

Sorry, I just can't help myself. At some point I might post about something other than how ISU schedules games.



In related news, the ISU women jsut played their first home game of the year. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[skippy57.0]

Biobengal, I agree with you to some extent -- as I noted before we started this long stretch of very tough games, I believe the basketball program has bitten off more than it can chew. I believe they need at least a couple of low-level D-1 home games mixed in somewhere to lighten the load, offer some chance for success, build a little fan excitement and keep the record at least somewhat respectable.

At the same time, I understand the budget realities these guys are facing. As Baller noted, OB wanted a full D-1 staff (imagine that, wanting a full staff), and he's had to generate the revenue to pay for it. According to the figures submitted to the State Board in June, basketball game revenues are the fourth largest source of revenue for the entire athletic department, behind only state support, student fees and advertising/sponsorship/royalty income. The basketball team is expected to generate $315 K in game revenues this year -- more than twice what ticket sales ($129K) will generate. In football, game guarantees generated $300 K -- while ticket sales were projected at only $195 K, and I suspect with the disappointing performance by the team, actual ticket sales revenues may well have fallen below that mark.

An oddity that contributed to the killer nature of the schedule this year was getting BYU, Utah and Utah State all to agree to come to Holt in the same season. That's great from a fan's perspective, and will probably generate more ticket revenue, but it just adds three more very difficult games that we will likely not win. Instead, we could have brought in three teams that were picked to finish in the bottom of lesser D-1 leagues. Less revenue, less fan interest, but at least a shot at some success. I hope that next year, when BYU, Utah and Utah State are all off the home slate, we'll look at bringing in such teams (hello, Cal Irvine?)