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NAU Lumberjacks

W

WILDCAT

Active member
It's time for the Lumberjacks.

One of our old long time rivals comes to town on Thursday, the NAU Lumberjacks come with a record of 5-11 overall 2-4 in conf. NAU has without a doubt had the hardest OOC schedule in the BSC, with only 2 home games and 8 away games 2 of which where nuetral site games.

NAU showed promise at the start of the conf slate, knocking off MSU in Bozeman and only losing by 6 in Missoula, then coming home and beating Sac, and then they seemed to hit a road bumb, they lost at home to SUU by 13 and then followed that loss up with a 23 point loss @ Eastern. They did only lose @ Portland State by 5 though.

I dont know what to really expect from NAU, I guess if the team that showed up vs UM and PSU shows up, we could have a battle on our hands, if not, Weber rolls.

I say Weber rolls in this one.

WSU-93
NAU-69
 
Not so much lately, but NAU used to get really pumped to play WSU. They would come in with a lot of energy. It would be nice to see some of that back again. It sounds like the new coach is working hard to get that program turned around. They had a good recruiting year. However, It may take a few good years in a row to get back into the top half of the BSC. I really hope they pull it off.

For now, they don't match up well with us. I expect that they are somewhere between UNC and UND. On our home floor, we win by at least 25.

WSU wins 93 - 59
 
On to the Lumberjacks!!!!! I have seen them play a few times this year. Most of their games are on Fox Net. Im jelous that they get so many games on TV. In some of the games they have looked pretty decent and in others they have looked aweful. The SUU game they were just crap. Against Montana they almost beat them, but Mathis Ward made a lucky 3 to seal it or I think NAU might have won. NAU has 4 solid gaurds. Russell is one of the top 3 freshman in the conference. I think where NAU really struggles is everywhere else but their gaurd line. There is not much of an inside presence and what they do have inside is not much. They have very little depth. I think they will come out hard, but our overall depth and superior talent blows them out. Give NAU a couple years and they will be good again, but not now. Not even close. Weber State wins big time 86 61. :rockon:
 
I agree with everything I've read here about the Lumberjacks except for the fact that NAU beat MSU in Flagstaff, not Bozeman.

Things are looking a bit brighter than they did last year. Nowhere to go but up after a painful 2011-2012 but times are still tough. NAU's top two scorers are scuffling. Rogers for the majority of this season and Russell for the last 3 or so conference games. The problem is no consistent third option has stepped up. If Rogers and Russell don't score points...then the Jacks struggle. Team athleticism has improved and Russell looks like a special kind of player in this league. He's lightning quick and, although smaller, is a Will Cherry (not comparing him to Lillard) kind of talent that the Big Sky catches on occasion. NAU has a few serviceable bigs, Bewernick and Jacobsen, but depth is truly limited. No player getting court time goes more than 6'8". Weber's oughta dominate in the paint tomorrow.

NAU was in the U Montana game and the PSU game. Both could have easily been wins but weren't due to turnovers and bad shooting percentage. The SUU and EWU games were tripe. If the good Jacks team shows up then Weber wins by 12-15. If not....it will get ugly quick.

I hope things will be more competitive within a year or two. Good luck, Weber fans.
 
The formation of the Pac-12 Network has been the best thing to happen to NAU in regards to media coverage. Fox Sports AZ has nothing to occupy their time with now with no ASU or U of A games. Every NAU game is covered in one form or another (live broadcast, tape delay, FSAZ plus ...internet, or one of the outlying Fox Sports central or eastern channels). Big Sky tv or radio for road games results in nearly every NAU game getting coverage.

Now....if only a few more Lumberjacks fans would start giving a squat about a hoops team that's historically been one of the more competitive teams on campus (cross country and track by far being the most successful campus sports programs).
 
When I was in Scottsdale the game was on T.V. in a few places and they seemed to have some fans. Also, their area does not look to bad at all at least on T.V.
 
Look for Trez and Mook to do a lot of damage early. About the time NAU decides to try to help on the inside, look for Bam and Dev to heat up. I expect that we will push the tempo and put extreme presure on their guards. This may be a game where we get to see significant minutes from everyone on the bench. :thumb:
 
we should get over 6,000 to this game if we are gonna have a good year of attendance average and challenge 2011-12. we have another good base, for the 2nd or 3rd yr in a row which helps a ton for those non DI games which hurt the average.


Game 1 Arizona Christian: 4,937
Game 2 Utah Valley: 5,553
Game 3 UC Irvine: 5,761
Game 4 BYU: 8,695
Game 5 Southwest: 5,822
Game 6 Northern Colorado: 5,612
Game 7 North Dakota: 5,813
Game 8 Northern Arizona, Jan 17
 
Born2BleedPurpleGuy said:
Isn't Saturday free baseball hat night? That might help attendance :rockon:
Click to expand...
Yes, and the old ladies from provo are dancing, for some reason that's a draw too.
 
joel 5 swats vs nau.

Single Game Blocks
1. Brian Devincenzi 7 1980
2. Walt Tyler 6 1986
3. Shaun Campbell 6 1984
4. Daviin Davis 5 2009
4. JOEL BOLOMBOY 5 2013
 
Wow! That NAU team is the best Jack team in a long, long time. This coach has got them playing good D and taking care of the ball. They were competitive from start to finish. Hats off to the Lumberjacks, they played a great game. I think they had us a little shocked at the beginning of the game. Honestly, I don't see how SUU beat them in Flagstaff. I think they will win some games over the rest of the season, if they continue to play like that. Bolomboy probably was the decisive factor in this game. 5 blocked shots, 13 rebounds, and 9/9 from the FT line. They were keying on Bamforth the whole game. I thought he did a good job of not forcing things. Wheelwright and Berry had good games, as well.

I truely expected a blowout. Boy, was I wrong. :oops:
 
joel 5 swats vs nau.

Single Game Blocks
1. Brian Devincenzi 7 1980
2. Walt Tyler 6 1986
3. Shaun Campbell 6 1984
4. Daviin Davis 5 2009
4. JOEL BOLOMBOY 5 2013
Click to expand...

Joe Blockemboy was awesome and really disrupted the NAU offense. Without his swatting, I think this would have been even closer (maybe a 3-4 point win). NAU players had to adjust their shots and think about a block which makes you miss (IMO). Imagine how good he will get in the next 4 years.
btw - he was also 9 for 9 on the free throw line.
 
I wonder if he may be the next wildcat drafted. The offensive game has a long way to go before that would be a reality. But that guy has some serious promise. When he is on the floor, I just wait for the next big swat.
 
More Big Sky teams should play a tough out of conference schedule like NAU did this year. You can tell that it has helped them defensively. I would not mind if we went on the road more to face bigger schools. I think we learned alot from our trip to Dayton.
 
NAU had extra time to prepare for the Cats, and you can tell that Murphy had his team totally gearing up for Weber. I wouldn't be surprised to see ISU win again on Saturday. NAU put everything they had against us. Even last year, when they were terrible, they kept things close against the Cats. I really think NAU gets psyched to play Weber.

However, I really think Murphy is getting the most out of his team and that NAU will only get better. He has a fairly solid recruiting class coming in next fall and has some talented under-classmen on his roster now. I think it might take another season, but the Jacks will quickly become dark-horse contenders soon. With how bad the Sky is this year, they might be able to make things interesting next year.
 
This NAU team is better than their record indicates, I am actually suprised they aren't higher in the standings. They have the talent to be a top 3 team in the Sky.
 
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