Preseason Predictons

[wazzuwildcat03]

I think its time for everyone to make their preseason predictions. The board has been really quiet lately and the season is about to start. We need to get in Weber Hoops mode. So here are my pics.

1. Montana It pains me to put them ahead of us, but they are the champs and have the best player coming back. I think Weber State is deeper, but until we beat them, they are on top.

2. Weber State I hope we end up on top and I think we can, but we need to stay healthy. I really like who we have coming back. Its going to be a fun year.

3. Northern Colorado They will be dang good. Their guards are their strenght. Next year they will contend for the top IMHO. Their weekness is they are not very big or deep and the PF and C postions. Still they scare me. Lots of talent at the 1, 2 and 3 positions.

4. Sacramento State Im sure I will get crap for this pick, but they have some good players and lots of experience. I think this is the year they don't suck anymore.

5. Eastern Washington I thought about putting them up one more spot but I think Sac is just a little deeper. Chiverton is awesome, but I don't see tons of help for him. Forbes is decent and I know they have some transfer PG that is suppost to be good and they added a ton of Germans and Australians, but we will see. I could see them ending up higher than here and lower, but think 5th is a good spot.

6. Portland State They lost some dang good players, but they seem to always find some good JC's to reload. They have 2 WAZZU transfers so they cant be too bad. ha ha. Go Cougs. :-D

7. Montana State I would have put them as high as 4th, but after all that has happend this off season I think its another rough year is Bozeman. I know they have some good gaurds and wings. The Bigelow guy that red shirted last year is supposed to be legit, but they are probably going to be the smallest team in the conference.

8. North Dakota I thought about putting them a little higher, but just couldn't. I did watch them play once last year and I thought they were average at best. I know the least about this team so I could be wrong, but 8th sounds about right for them in their first year in the SKY.

9. Southern Utah I watched them a couple times last year and I was not impressed. They have a new coach this year. Probably a good thing too. Randy Reid is a moron. Give them a couple years and they could be in the upper half of the conference. Ceder City is a sweet college town and they have a great areana, but I think they get creamed in their first year.

10. Idaho State Its going to be a long miserable year in Pocky. They were actually decent last year, but lost their only good players to graduation and they have a new coach. I think they could be decent in a couple years, but their facilities are the laughing stock of all DI basketball. Holt is the biggest dump. It needs serious renovation. I actually feet bad for Idaho State.

11. Northern Arizona I put them last, becasue they were poop aweful last year and they had tons of turnover. New coach and several players leaving. From what I can see, NAU has some major major rebuilding ahead of them. Flagstaff is a great town and maybe in 3.4 years, but in 2012 YIKES.

There you go! Just over a month and its the Purple and White game. Im ordering my seaons tickets this week. YAY!!!!!!! :rockon:

 

[oldrunner]

I agree with your first two picks. It would have been interesting to see how it washed out without the injuries we endured. But, Montana did win it.

1. Montana
2. Weber
3. Portland State
4. Sacramento
5. No Colorado
6. Eastern Washington
7. Montana State
8. No Dak
9. So Utah
10. No Arizona
11. Idaho State
15. Idaho ... Oh, wait that will be the next year.

 

[WILDCAT]

1. Montana
1. Weber State

I actually see UM and WSU tying for 1st, but UM gets tiebreaker.

3. Northern Colorado
4. Eastern Washington
5. Sacramento State
6. Portland State
7. North Dakota

8. Montana State
9. Southern Utah
10. Northern Arizona
11. Idaho State

 

[AlumniWSU]

"Wazzu"...has done homework, agree on it...Grizzlies S/B picked 1st, excited for Wildcats, but hope Rahe's poor record in postseason improves, if they get there! "Oldrunner" joking bout Idaho?..Commish says it's 2014 IF they join and Vandals are as good as Weber St. in basketball, not last place material (or were you thinkin' football)? Oops, we're talkin' basketball & this is just weather forecast for many days in advance. Lookin' forward to it

 

[mt jack]

One game into the Big Sky Conference football season and basketball is already afoot here.

One of the reasons I love Weber's forum. Way to go, Wildcat hoops faithful.

Jack Murphy @ NAU has been pulling off a few hoops coups here and there. Jon over on http://www.bigskybball.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is way more in the loop than I am and has the details. Some well respected guard from California. Then again, the last two highly recruited guards from CA left after one season each for junior college. I won't be suprised to see the Jacks finish around 7th-10th in conference. Absolutely no way in the top five. Hell, there's enough parity anymore you never know what will happen. Jacks have nine players returning including Dunn, Saldivar, Rogers and Bewernick. Five newbies. My math is suspect but that leaves one open roster spot as 15 is the cap, correct? Hmm?

 

[mt jack]

I also read that the Jacks are back to playing in the Dome next season again. Everyone else loves it but I think it's a horrible basketball venue. Que sera sera. Rolle Activity Center feels more like a basketball arena but is lacking in many aspects.

Talk hoops soon, Webers.

 

[oldrunner]

MT Jack;

NCAA D1 basketball allows 13 scholarship players in the men's game. Any additional players are walk-ons. Walk-ons can play one season as a walk-on and any additional seasons are counted against the scholarship total, reguardless of their grant in aid status. A walk-on can red shirt one year and play the next without impacting the scholarship count. That is how it has been explained to me, anyway. The women's game is allowed an additional grant in aid.

As a Weber fan, I have always pulled for NAU and ISU to have good teams. It actually helps us do better when there is more parity in our league. I hope NAU bounces back this year. It has been a good rivalry over the years. The addition of SUU should spice things up as well.

Glad to hear that your new coach is bringing in some talent. Sounds like you will be improved over last year. :thumb:

 

[keena52]

Reports on egriz, say Cherry out for 6-8 weeks! Nothing official, but sounds like he broke something????

 

[jon]

Still early and haven't finalized any predictions yet... but here's out I see it as of now:

1 Montana (Cherry out 6-8 weeks, but I would think will be back and fine for conference play)
2 Weber State
3 Northern Colorado (and they may be closer to 1/2 than they are to the rest of the pack)
4 Eastern Washington
5 Sacramento State
6 North Dakota (may be biased... but they finally have some big guys)
7 Montana State (talent wise could be top 4, but you can say that about MSU every year)
8 Portland State (Tapscott & Odum are HUGE losses)
9 Northern Arizona (as MT Jack said, lots of excitement around them. Good class and some holdovers... plus, they wouldn't have looked quite that bad last year if they had a legit coach)
10 Southern Utah
11 Idaho State (cupboard was pretty bare for Evans)

 

[weberwildcat]

Reports on egriz, say Cherry out for 6-8 weeks! Nothing official, but sounds like he broke something????

not good to hear. hopefully he will be 100% by conf play. 2011 we finished 3rd without Dame and in the preseason polls it was a land slide for weber.

 

[weberwildcat]

im not sure what to predict at this point. i was going to post soon but now that cherry is out for 6-12 weeks and may need surgery and may redshirt...ill just hope he is gonna play this yr.

 

[oldrunner]

Without Cherry UM is still a good basketball team. However, I would move them to #2 on my list if he is not able to come back this year. He is worth, at least, 4 or 5 additional wins in conf. play. It sounds like he has the same kind of fracture that Dame had. He could be done for the year. If he comes back for league play, I can't imagine that he would be at full strength, after an injury like that. On the other hand, maybe one of their new kids can step in and do something. For his sake, I hope he does it the right way, like Dame did.

 

[Skippy]

The Griz have also apparently lost JC transfer Marko Kovacevic, a 6-11 C, who has been declared academically ineligible by the NCAA -- barring a successful appeal by Montana.

 

[oldrunner]

The Griz have plenty of bigs. Losing a big won't set them back much. Losing a top guard makes them a huge unknown. Maybe one of their young kids will step up. We just don't know. We do know that it makes them quite thin on the guard line. The BSC is a guard dominated league. Losing your top guy and being left thin at that position can be devastating. I suspect that they may try to bring him back for conf. play. It may depend on if they have a shot at a championship or not. If they are totally out of it, they probably would not risk bringing him back early. :twocents:

 

[wazzuwildcat03]

Im going to revise my picks since the injury of Cherry and doing other research on the teams. What do you all think?
1. Weber State (If Weber stays healthy then they win the conference.)
2. Northern Colorado. (Ya, I think they are that good.)
3. Montana (Losing Cherry hurts them big time and also losing their big 7 foot recruit.They are still good though
4. Sac St.
5. EWU
6. PSU
7. Montana State
8. North Dakota
9. Northern Arizona. (I put them up a little higher. I forgot they still have Gabe Rodgers. He is dang good.)
10. SUU
11. ISU. They SUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

 

[oldrunner]

I'm just not that sold on Northern Colorado. I was not that impressed with them last year and I didn't see that much movement in recruiting. I will be surprised if they end up in the top 4. I think Sac improved themselves a lot more and Eastern will be dangerous. I could be dead wrong about the Bears, but I want to see them play a few games first.

 

[n.ogdencat]

I figured it was about time that I ended my self-imposed exile, return to the forum, and put in my two bits on this subject.

First, I think there are going to be a number of fans really shocked by how good Weber is going to be this year. Yes, we lost Damian Lillard, arguably the best player in Weber State history; however, the team is loaded and deeper than at any time in recent memory. Weber can afford to redshirt two excellent players and still be fine.

Next, Montana is good and deep, but they aren't going to be as good as they were last year, even with Cherry. I know a lot of Grizz already have another championship banner made up for this season in their heads, but I don't see it happening as easily as they think. Yes it is possible, and yes they are an excellent team, but they lost some HUGE pieces that contributed to their overall success. One, Art Steward was an under-valued player for the Grizz. In my opinion, he ended up being one of the biggest reasons for the Grizz's success, by keeping the team grounded and consistent. He was their glue guy. They guy that kept things together. Also, he was freaking hard to guard since he could hit the outside shot, pass, penetrate, and had freaky hops. He was almost impossible to guard. Finally, he was perhaps, the second best defender in the conference. Selvig is next, he made it very hard on opposing teams to scout the Grizz. He had guard like skills at 7'. Only Mahoney could match up well with him, and even then that was somewhat of a stretch. However, the biggest loss for the Grizz is their Asst. Coach EVANS. He is a defensive genius and a heck of a good coach. ISU won't be good this year, but you better believe they will be a solid defensive team. His switching of defenses from a man, to his patented 1-3-1, to a box and one was incredible to watch in the championship. Proof of Evans worth is told in the Grizz's success under Tinkle. Tinkles first two years, I believe, the Grizz won 15 and 17 games. Since Evans was hired the Grizz's success has exploded and they lead the league in defense every year. Losing Evans is a GIANT loss for the Grizz and for Tinkle. Evans is also a great recruiter.

Anyway...I believe...

1. UM, for now, is the best team in the league due to the fact that they return Cherry, Ward, and Jamaar from a team that went 15-1 in Conference last year.

2. Weber...yes, there are a few new faces, but by the end of the season, everyone will know them. Weber is deep, talented, quick, and extremely well coached. Gonna be another great year for the Cats

3. Montana State...Huse has a lot of talent up there in Bozeman, but as has been stated before. He always has talent in Bozeman, but this season things might be a bit different. Antonio Bigalow is the real deal, and with Blount and Stewart coming back this might be the best team we have seen in Bozeman in sometime. I'm sure Huse will screw things up.

4. Sac St....WTF...Seriously Tal? I know I can't believe I'm putting them this high either, but they have all the pieces in place to make a run, and their spring recruiting, not terrific, was good enough to give them some depth and needed talent to be the Sky's dark horse. Katz, unlike Huse, is a good coach, so...

5. Eastern Washington...Never really know about the Eagles. I think they will be a scary team to face, but aren't quite there yet. However, with a fully healthy Chiverton and now adding Crosgile to the list there time might come quicker than any of us think.

6. UNCO...BJ has put together quite the team, but I'm not sold on them. They can shoot, but can they play defense. All opposing teams have to do is shut down the middle and force the Cubbies to throw up a bunch of outside shots, which they will do (sometimes with success, but most of the time will end up hurting them). Yes, they have Osborn and Addo who are solid post players, but the Cubbies seem like they aren't interested in using their bigs. Defensively, this team is atrocious and I don't see them getting any better. Still dangerous and can win on any given night.

7. UND...I really don't know a lot about these guys, but from what I have read about them they are in the best position for success than they have been in sometime.

8. PSU...huge loses for the Vikings, but they still have talent. Can cause some problems and should be decent this season. A lot depends on McMullen.

9. NAU...I like the progress already being made in Flagstaff.

10. SUU... Well, a new coach, but I'm thinking it'll be the same results.

11. ISU...by the end of the season will be solid defensively but won't have any idea how to score.

 

[oldrunner]

I agree with you Tal. I think a lot of people will be shocked at how good we will be. I'v watched these guys play a couple of times now. It is surely the deepest team we have had in the past 20 years or more. Our 12th and 13th guys could start on most BSC teams. It will be interesting to see how Randy adjusts his style of play. I think that we will see more preshure and transition. He may be forced into a 10 or 11 man rotation instead of his normal 9 player rotation. I don't see any of these guys needing to red shirt. However, some may sit out to save the year of eligibility or to get better footing accademically. I was really impressed by the improvement that all of our veterans have made over the spring and summer. Right now, I wouldn't dare pick starters. I only see two guys who are sure bets. In most cases, we will be coming off the bench with someone just as dangerous as the starter.

A few more weeks and we get this thing started. :thumb:

 

[wazzuwildcat03]

Oldrunner,
Can you give us specifics on who has looked good, has improved ect? Im dying to watch them play. Thanks.

 

[oldrunner]

Berry is, by far, the best player on the floor. I'm not sure that there is anyone in the BSC that can compare to him. He is 'that good'. Mook has lost a few pounds and gained a lot of quickness. He lost the weight to make it easier on his knees and if that works as planned, he will be a force to be reckoned with. Wheelwright put on about 10 lbs of upper body muscle. I almost didn't recognize him. Tresnak has trimmed down a little and was playing with great enthusiasm, dunking everything. Likewise, Hayek was playing with confidence. Richardson was running the show, keeping everyone organized, and doing a little bit of everything. Bamforth was playing with abandon and having fun again. Fulton was in the best shape that I have seen him in and it was showing up in his play. Bolomboy is a young beast. He had 3 or 4 monster dunks in a row. He can be dominating. He just needs to develop more consistency. Hill is a really good athlete and a very skilled player. He, also, needs to develop the consistency. All three of the JC players are athletic and skilled. Bradford stood out to me. He is a taller, more athletic version of Bamforth. He can shoot the lights out.

I expected to see the JC kids as more advanced than the freshmen. However, that is not the case at all. I would say that the freshmen are making a case to play. The question is, How much? And, Will it be worth burning a year of eligibility for the minutes?

Randy is going to have some big decisions to make.
:yikes: