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Montana is going to be scary good
- Thread starter oldrunner
- Start date
thescout said:
I agree.
I think it is safe to assume that Geving will lose a chunk of his team next Spring.Scout and Wildcat11, which teams do you put at the top?
Purely based off of rosters...
Eastern
Weber
Montana
Southern Utah
Idaho
Northern Colorado
Are my top teams.
Donivine Stewart, SIU Edwardsville
Illinois asked for the transcripts of Donivine Stewart, a 5th year transfer from SIU-E, shortly after the announcement of Abrams' injury. He has one year of college eligibility remaining and has also heard from USC and Minnesota within the last week.
Way back when Bruce Weber was still roaming the sidelines of the Assembly Hall, the Illini expressed interest in the Peoria, IL native out of high school.......Really a toss up at the top ...close enough to be determined by which of the big dogs as the best schedule. As far as winning the post season title.. I would guess the top 4 get a first round bye. I like Weber first.... best group of returnees weakness Bench ???? EW 2nd, Montana 3rd if Dunn comes back in Jan... Port St 4th , No Az 5th, So Ut 6th, UND 7th, Mont. St . 8th, Sacst. 9th, No Colo 10th, ID 11th , ID st 12th....With Tyler and now De Rouan leaving early UND newbies will have to be solid or they could also be bottom feeders ....see how UND fares in 4 games in Europe next week. Not sure if other B SKY teams have a summer tour.
Illinois asked for the transcripts of Donivine Stewart, a 5th year transfer from SIU-E, shortly after the announcement of Abrams' injury. He has one year of college eligibility remaining and has also heard from USC and Minnesota within the last week.
Way back when Bruce Weber was still roaming the sidelines of the Assembly Hall, the Illini expressed interest in the Peoria, IL native out of high school.......Really a toss up at the top ...close enough to be determined by which of the big dogs as the best schedule. As far as winning the post season title.. I would guess the top 4 get a first round bye. I like Weber first.... best group of returnees weakness Bench ???? EW 2nd, Montana 3rd if Dunn comes back in Jan... Port St 4th , No Az 5th, So Ut 6th, UND 7th, Mont. St . 8th, Sacst. 9th, No Colo 10th, ID 11th , ID st 12th....With Tyler and now De Rouan leaving early UND newbies will have to be solid or they could also be bottom feeders ....see how UND fares in 4 games in Europe next week. Not sure if other B SKY teams have a summer tour.
Wildcat111
Member
Eastern- Best team in the conference last year. They bring back Jois, Bliznyuk, and Von hofe which is solid but they will need guards. Sir Washington is a good start and McBroom is an interesting transfer that should make an impact. I like them as first right now because although the back court is filled with unknowns, they bring back a solid front court and I trust Hayford, with the talent he's got, to produce some really good outside shooters.
Weber- We have not only a lot of experience and depth but also some of the top talent in the big sky. Bolomboy and Senglin are two of the best players in the conference and both will be upperclassmen this year.
Northern Arizona- They only bring back four players from last year, but those four players are all solid upperclassmen. Big sky defensive POY Jordyn Martin and first team all conference Kris Yanku both played in 7 postseason games last year and bring a lot of experience to the team. Ako Kaluna is a talented big man that will be good to have around and senior point guard Jaleni Neely is a proven point guard. Outside of those 4, there are a lot of unknowns with 9 freshman coming in including a redshirt and a couple 3 star guys. They have good coaching and a lot of talent so I trust they will be just fine.
Montana- As if losing Gregory wasn't already going to be hard enough for this team, there is a lot of uncertainty around Mario Dunn with him being ready in January at best. Of course this team does bring back Breunig who is arguably the best player in the Big Sky which will keep montana right in the race even with the losses.
SUU- Returns almost everyone.
Portland State
Sacramento State
Northern Colorado
North Dakota
Montana State
Idaho
Idaho State- Hope I'm wrong but could be bottom 5 in all of D1.
Weber- We have not only a lot of experience and depth but also some of the top talent in the big sky. Bolomboy and Senglin are two of the best players in the conference and both will be upperclassmen this year.
Northern Arizona- They only bring back four players from last year, but those four players are all solid upperclassmen. Big sky defensive POY Jordyn Martin and first team all conference Kris Yanku both played in 7 postseason games last year and bring a lot of experience to the team. Ako Kaluna is a talented big man that will be good to have around and senior point guard Jaleni Neely is a proven point guard. Outside of those 4, there are a lot of unknowns with 9 freshman coming in including a redshirt and a couple 3 star guys. They have good coaching and a lot of talent so I trust they will be just fine.
Montana- As if losing Gregory wasn't already going to be hard enough for this team, there is a lot of uncertainty around Mario Dunn with him being ready in January at best. Of course this team does bring back Breunig who is arguably the best player in the Big Sky which will keep montana right in the race even with the losses.
SUU- Returns almost everyone.
Portland State
Sacramento State
Northern Colorado
North Dakota
Montana State
Idaho
Idaho State- Hope I'm wrong but could be bottom 5 in all of D1.
oldrunner
Active member
Everyone seems to like Eastern quite a bit. It could work out that way. What I see is that they lost nearly 50% of their offensive output when Harvey left. Maybe that is not a big deal. Time will tell. I do know this, without good guard play, a team really doesn't have much of a shot, even with a good front court.
I like Jois, but he nearly didn't return last year. He wanted to stay and turn pro in his homeland. I guess that he is coming back. I haven't heard anything to the contrary. How happy and motivated he will be, who knows. At least, last year, he had the motivation of playing alongside Harvey and the real possibility of a championship. Maybe he will get excited for his senior year, no matter who his supporting cast may be. Where is he right now? Australia or Washington? If he is actually in Washington, then Eastern gets more cred. :thumb: :thumb:
I like Jois, but he nearly didn't return last year. He wanted to stay and turn pro in his homeland. I guess that he is coming back. I haven't heard anything to the contrary. How happy and motivated he will be, who knows. At least, last year, he had the motivation of playing alongside Harvey and the real possibility of a championship. Maybe he will get excited for his senior year, no matter who his supporting cast may be. Where is he right now? Australia or Washington? If he is actually in Washington, then Eastern gets more cred. :thumb: :thumb:
RunnerJoe
Active member
I would have to agree with oldrunner. I don't think Jois is going to be as effective without Harvey there to be the main focus of the defense. If Eastern gets off to a slow start in conference play, I can see struggling for the rest of the season.
Also, all this talk about transfers immediately making teams better doesn't make sense to me. Does anybody remember the two transfers that most of us were high on this time last year? They didn't pan out very well and are now gone. Most of the time, athletes that transfer have some sort of baggage that comes with them. I put more trust into a program that is building itself through recruiting and developing those players.
Also, all this talk about transfers immediately making teams better doesn't make sense to me. Does anybody remember the two transfers that most of us were high on this time last year? They didn't pan out very well and are now gone. Most of the time, athletes that transfer have some sort of baggage that comes with them. I put more trust into a program that is building itself through recruiting and developing those players.
Wildcat111
Member
The same thing can be said about Montana losing Gregory. In fact all of the top teams from last year lose quite a bit. That's why I think Weber has such a good chance despite finishing 8th last year. While it's still too soon to tell, it looks like Eastern has some nice weapons in the back court so I wouldn't count good guard play out for them. If things don't work out with their guards, then yes, Eastern won't get very far. I do think their front court will open things up a bit more for their guards to let them really shine, even if they're not nearly as skilled as Harvey was. Eastern was able to win last year without Harvey however, which makes me really think their guards will be well coached and able to put up a lot of points this year.oldrunner said:
About Jois, he is on the current roster but I haven't heard much news about him. With how good he has been, I think it is only fair to assume he will be motivated until we're proven otherwise.
oldrunner
Active member
These are all really good points. There are a lot of IFs going into this season. If EWU's transfer guards turn out as good as billed, if UM's JC guard and 3 star guy are good enough, if Weber's two red shirt freshmen end up as good as billed, if PSU's nearly new team can play together, if SUU's returning team gets any better, if NAU's stars can rise above last years performance, if Sac's new guards can mesh with a very good front court, if UNC can cast a spell on the rest of the league, and if pigs start flying for the remaining teams.
Any way I cut it, it's going to be a fun year. I can hardly wait to get it started. Is football over yet? :lol: :lol:
Any way I cut it, it's going to be a fun year. I can hardly wait to get it started. Is football over yet? :lol: :lol:
Great discussion! We definitely know the Sky. Love chatting basketball...so much fun!
There are so many question marks this season. Lots of new faces. Eastern has a scary 3, 4, and 5. Major questions about their 1 and 2, and most importantly, outside shooting. Their bigs can stretch the court. They lost four starters and a huge percentage of their offense.
Montana has a great dynamic duo with their 4 and 5. But lots of questions surround their backcourt. And their bench looks suspect. I'm not dumping on Montana because I hate them or anything, lol, but because I don't think they are infallible. They have a lot of missing parts.
NAU has Yanku, Martin, and Kaluna but 8 new freshman faces. If anything clicks with their newbs they could be extremely scary. Yanku is the biggest challenge to Senglin being the best PG in the league.
SUU loses nobody from their very surprising team. McGee, Marshall, Hess and Oliverson that is a decent group to build a winning team on. Wondering if Robinson can build on last years team.
To me those are the teams with the best chance of challenging the Cats. There are some dark horses Sac, UNCO, and PSU we will just have to wait and see.
There are so many question marks this season. Lots of new faces. Eastern has a scary 3, 4, and 5. Major questions about their 1 and 2, and most importantly, outside shooting. Their bigs can stretch the court. They lost four starters and a huge percentage of their offense.
Montana has a great dynamic duo with their 4 and 5. But lots of questions surround their backcourt. And their bench looks suspect. I'm not dumping on Montana because I hate them or anything, lol, but because I don't think they are infallible. They have a lot of missing parts.
NAU has Yanku, Martin, and Kaluna but 8 new freshman faces. If anything clicks with their newbs they could be extremely scary. Yanku is the biggest challenge to Senglin being the best PG in the league.
SUU loses nobody from their very surprising team. McGee, Marshall, Hess and Oliverson that is a decent group to build a winning team on. Wondering if Robinson can build on last years team.
To me those are the teams with the best chance of challenging the Cats. There are some dark horses Sac, UNCO, and PSU we will just have to wait and see.
sacstateman
Active member
It will be an interesting start to the season but I believe someone will distinguish themselves by the end of the first half of conference so the top 2 or 3 will not be a mystery for long. I have to disagree with you Tal....I think based on performance and statistics, Yanku is the best point and Senglin is the challenger....SUU loses what I feel is a big piece to not only their success last year but their possibilities to contend this year as well and that is Rawson going on mission...I felt last season that he was their best player at times and he was only getting better...We do have some experience coming back in the front court with Eric Stuteville and Nick Hornsby as returning starters but we also return Cody Demps who will be asked to play the point at times this year...I'm not predicting us to finish much higher than 5th unless someone steps up big (Mason Stuteville, Marcus Graves, Trevis Jackson, Justin Strings and even Jeff Wu would have to perform better than I anticipate). Mason could very easily be that wild card though as at 6'10" he shot 48% from behind the arc in high school. Montana loses a lot in Jordan Gregory....even as much as I disliked him, he was a good player. EWU will have to lean on the transfer from St. Louis heavily to be the clear front runner. They have been pumping their JC transfer Julian Harrell but I saw him last year at CCSF and he didn't stand out in a JC game. I think Portland, now with 2 graduate tranfers (Donivine Stewart and Cameron Forte who averaged 36pts and 12 rbs in High School for a state championship runner-up and 22pts in JC) can be a real spoiler, even with the poor coaching by Geving. I don't need to talk about your team as you guys have picked that subject apart quite well (if not totally objectively) which I totally expect....I'm with oldrunner, LETS GET THIS SEASON STARTED!!!!!
oldrunner
Active member
I will go out on a shaky limb here, and predict that the coaches will pick UM as the favorite, followed by EWU, and then WSU somewhere after that. The media may be more inclined to look at the potential of transfers and other incoming players, but I think the coaches will only look at last years records and returning contributors. That seems to be the way they always vote. Weber would have a better chance of being picked higher if we had finished higher last year. Same goes for SUU, PSU, and NAU. Sac will get some love because of their high finish last year. The media will probably go with UM, WSU, and then EWU.
oldrunner
Active member
It's hard for me to remove the purple lenses. I think they are imbedded inside of my eyes. However, I took a fresh look at our roster from the perspective of what our weaknesses might be. Although we will be more mature than last year, we will see 3 or 4 freshmen and 2 sophomores getting significant playing time. Add to that, we only have one senior. Looking at that alone, we don't have the look of a dominant team. What is the one thing that most under classmen have in common? Defending at the D1 level is the hardest thing for young players to do. We may well start the season a little softer on D than we would like. We were not a good defensive team last year, and it will take a lot of coaching and effort to get to where they need to be this year.
Shooting and scoring looks to be slightly better than last year and rebounding looks solid. We have 6 guards who shoot a high percentage and we have added a big man who can score a high percentage from the low post.
The huge IF for us is can we defend anyone. If the answer to that is no, then we will have a mediocre year. If our young guys can dive into playing defense, it will be a good year. I don't see us having another poor year.
Shooting and scoring looks to be slightly better than last year and rebounding looks solid. We have 6 guards who shoot a high percentage and we have added a big man who can score a high percentage from the low post.
The huge IF for us is can we defend anyone. If the answer to that is no, then we will have a mediocre year. If our young guys can dive into playing defense, it will be a good year. I don't see us having another poor year.
To me, the biggest areas of concern are leadership, toughness, and defensive intensity. Too much last season players look lost or uninterested on the court. Toughness was definitely absent for most of the season. When the Cats decided to get their hands dirty, they were tough as hell to beat, but most of the season they weren't interested in being tough. Interior defense was awful. Bolomboy is an athlete and highly skilled, but he isn't much of a defender. He really needs to toughen up, especially if he thinks he is an NBA caliber player. We all know he has improved offensively and will only get better on that end of the court, but he needs to buy into the defensive schemes of the Wizard. Finally, the bench is suspect, but I think it is far better this year than last and that we have players on the bench who will be able to come into the game and contribute. Last year...that wasn't always the case.
thescout said:
Are incoming freshman allowed to play? I could see the NCAA having some strange rule disallowing freshman from participating since they aren't technically students yet.
sacstateman
Active member
Freshmen can play...Cal is going to Australia and their freshmen are going to play....
sacstateman
Active member
I know Cal's freshmen were enrolled in what was called "Summer Bridge"...that must have qualified them (got them the three credits)...
oldrunner
Active member
thescout said:
I really don't know what to make of that. A European club team playing back to back, we don't know the full make up of any of those teams, and a lot of other intangibles. I would just say: Good for UND. I wouldn't go as far as to say that UND is somehow better than Marquette. I wouldn't bet my retirement on UND if they were to play. I hope that this summer tour will help UND do better in the BSC. It certainly can't hurt, unless they have injuries from it. That one game does not change my opinion of who the top teams in the league are.
