Tournament match-ups set

[WSUProf]

#2 North Dakota will play #7 Sac St at 2pm on Thursday
#3 NAU will play #6 Northern Colorado in the 4:30 game
#4 Montana will play #5 Portland State at 7pm

Weber will play the team remaining with the highest # seed.

Not sure which of the 2, 3, and 4 seeds is most likely to get upset. Maybe North Dakota?

 

[wildkyle]

I am planning on being there all day Thursday. It is going to be week of basketball.

 

[weberwildcat]

should we assume any team 2 thru 7 can win? i have no clue what to expect. i am not sure if the way the season ended for teams with momentum matters or not.

should i assume griz and nau win? griz have lots of tourney experience. nau ended the season strong.

in 2009 weber went 15-1 and lost its first tourney game. we've seen other yrs where a team that wasnt very good got hot in the tourney. so who knows who will win. i think it will be a fun tourney to watch all the games since it will be hard to predict who will win in this neutral court.



Big Sky Tournament Win/Loss Records

Team - tourney record - tourney vs Weber
Weber State 39-28
Montana 33-25, 7-5
Northern Arizona 14-19, 1-5
Northern Colorado 3-3, 0-0
North Dakota 1-1, 0-1
Portland State 8-8, 0-5
Sacramento State 2-4, 0-3

sac: 1st appearance since 2006. last win was 2006 quarterfinal v msu
unc: beat msu in the quarters last yr
psu: last appearace, 2011-12. last win was 2012 vs msu in the quarters
um: has won last 2 tourneys and 3 of last 4
nau: lost last yr to weber in the quarters
und: 1st yr in big sky last yr, beat suu then lost to weber in semi

 

[weberwildman]

#2 North Dakota will play #7 Sac St at 2pm on Thursday
#3 NAU will play #6 Northern Colorado in the 4:30 game
#4 Montana will play #5 Portland State at 7pm

Weber will play the team remaining with the highest # seed.

Not sure which of the 2, 3, and 4 seeds is most likely to get upset. Maybe North Dakota?

The two hottest teams that scare me are NAU and SAC (who has earned to have their name capitalized this year.) I predict Montana loses, and North Dakota loses. They're both not playing well at all.

 

[SWWeatherCat]

I am planning on being there all day Thursday. It is going to be week of basketball.

Me too! Thursday is going to be a great day enjoying BSC basketball . I really like the matchups and think they will produce some entertaining games.

#7 PSU vs #4 UM - PSU won in 3 OTs in Portland and UM won in 1 OT in Missoula. A 1.5 point average separates the two in two games. PSU scored 62 at the DEC, while UM scored 63. I want to like PSU with the upset but Montana has too much experience and is well coached. I don't think game three goes to OT and the Griz get this win.

#6 UNC vs #3 NAU - UNC won both matchups with NAU by an average of 15 points. NAU is the only team to win at the DEC in a long time. UNC put up 65 in DEC this year, whereas, NAU needed OT to score 72. UNC's play has been a little shaky, while NAU has been hot. I like NAU in what almost seems like an upset.

#5 SAC vs #2 UND - SAC and UND split their season series, each winning at home. UND was 2.5 points better in their two game averages and UND put up 72 at the DEC, while SAC put up 67. If "hot dog" Huff goes off, UND wins, but SAC has been playing well and I think team play, especially defensively, gets the upset for SAC.

 

[WILDCAT]

#2 North Dakota will play #7 Sac St at 2pm on Thursday
#3 NAU will play #6 Northern Colorado in the 4:30 game
#4 Montana will play #5 Portland State at 7pm

Weber will play the team remaining with the highest # seed.

Not sure which of the 2, 3, and 4 seeds is most likely to get upset. Maybe North Dakota?

Just to clarify when you say highest number seed you mean higher numerically not higher ranked right?

 

[mtgrizfankb1]

#2 North Dakota will play #7 Sac St at 2pm on Thursday
#3 NAU will play #6 Northern Colorado in the 4:30 game
#4 Montana will play #5 Portland State at 7pm

Weber will play the team remaining with the highest # seed.

Not sure which of the 2, 3, and 4 seeds is most likely to get upset. Maybe North Dakota?

The two hottest teams that scare me are NAU and SAC (who has earned to have their name capitalized this year.) I predict Montana loses, and North Dakota loses. They're both not playing well at all.

Its tough to judge what you say. The griz played terrible yesterday vs nau. But other than that won the last five straight. Gave sac a beat down in sac. Walked away from msu, suu, isu, and bet weber. Weber you all know has been playing poorly but then played really well yesterday. North Dakota will beat sac I think but huff can't win games for his team consecutively. Nau I think will lose....they beat teams with their inside game play and n. Colorado shuts that down. I think the semi will be weber vs no col. Um vs north dakota. Rightfully I hope UM and Weber play the championship. Because when all said and done and you watch multiple games of each team....those are the most talkented and best teams. Plus it should be as hell of a game. But.....weber has that ho.e court and that's just so tough to win at the Dee.

Worst case for weber? What do you all think? I think it would be the top seeds win. I think neither of our teams want to see each other before the finals.

 

[WSUProf]

#2 North Dakota will play #7 Sac St at 2pm on Thursday
#3 NAU will play #6 Northern Colorado in the 4:30 game
#4 Montana will play #5 Portland State at 7pm

Weber will play the team remaining with the highest # seed.

Not sure which of the 2, 3, and 4 seeds is most likely to get upset. Maybe North Dakota?

Just to clarify when you say highest number seed you mean higher numerically not higher ranked right?

Highest #. So we would play Sac St if they beat ND. If ND, NAU, and Montana all win, then we play Montana.

 

[oldrunner]

Teams in the BSC, this year, are so evenly matched that anything can and probably will happen on Thursday. All of those game will be hard fought and competitive to the wire. It's a neutral floor for all of those teams, so past records mean nothing. Throw in the wild card of BSC officiating and it really is a crap shoot. If Jimmy is doing any of these games, and I hope he is not, then some really, really, really strange things could happen.

If we meet the Griz, I hope it is in the championship game. It would only be fitting. For that to happen
, Montana has to win and one or more of the lower teams need to win. I think there is a fair likelihood of that happening. :twocents:

 

[AlumniWSU]

Goin' to be fun...I think there's a good chance Wildcats & Grizzlies meet in the semi-final game. :twisted: Enjoy the ride!! Keep your hands & feet inside the seat & don't throw your body out onto the court! We don't want any "unclassy" incidents happening! :bad:

 

[oldrunner]

I think we will be playing Sac St in the semi and NAU in the final.

Call me crazy, but those two teams are hot right now. I am making that call on how they played against us and how they played in the final week. All of the other teams are capable of pulling it off, but those two have shown the most spark.

 

[n.ogdencat]

Sac is pretty bad away from the Nest... NAU is playing hot right now. UM has been good lately but out of their 5 most recent wins four were in the friendly confines of Dahlberg. Sure didn't look like a hot team yesterday in the Flagstff.

 

[Waldo2]

I predict sac v Weber in the semis. It will also be nau v Montana.
The championship game well see Weber v Montana. Montana scares me but i think they will be tired at the end of three games in three nights.

 

[Webergrad02]

Once the 2-4 seeds were set, I was thinking that whoever drew the 7 seed was going to have the best chance at making it to the semi's. It will all come down to what North Dakota team shows up on Thursday and if the worst coach in the Big Sky not named Huse can put together a decent game plan. All three quarter final games will be hard fought. Northern Colorado knows how to shut down Northern Arizona. NAU has been playing well lately and it is hard to beat a team 3 times in a season. Montana should beat PSU, but who knows.

 

[mt jack]

quote="oldrunner"]I think we will be playing Sac St in the semi and NAU in the final.

Call me crazy, but those two teams are hot right now. I am making that call on how they played against us and how they played in the final week. All of the other teams are capable of pulling it off, but those two have shown the most spark. [/quote]

I like your thinking here, oldrunner. But NAU is oh so young of a team. I don't know which group of Lumberjacks shows up next Thursday...the one that swept UM and just ended WSU's home court win streak or the team that got rolled twice each by UND/UNC and nearly got beat at home to SUU. Being picked to finish 7th (media) and 9th (coaches) and ending up in 3rd place is pretty positive in my book.

Absolutely bummed that I have to stay at work til after 7 pm this Thursday during the opening round of the Big Sky tourney....I wonder if gametracker is blocked at work?

 

[Potomac Griz1]

I don't know which group of Lumberjacks shows up next Thursday...the one that swept UM and just ended WSU's home court win streak or the team that got rolled twice each by UND/UNC and nearly got beat at home to SUU.

I think most fans feel that way about their teams this year in the Big Sky. You can pull up any teams schedule and see many "WTF happened?!" games on it. One minute the Griz are beating Weber (in Missoula of course), blowing out Sac on the road, and looking like they're finally peaking. Then the next they come out with that clunker of a game @NAU to end the regular season and look like they've never shot a basketball before in their life!

Weber looks like the top of the Big Sky most of the season but then had a fair number of "WTF?" games too, like the close game to SUU at home and the loss @PSU where they shot horribly and turned it over 18 times.

This is one of those years in the Big Sky where you don't have the clear leaders of the conference like the past two years, some middle of the road teams, and 3 or 4 flat out awful teams. This year you have a gigantic cluster of inconsistent teams that can look great one game and horrible the next, and then you have Southern Utah... who as bad as they are still managed to beat the #2 team in the Big Sky for their only D1 win.

Weird conference this year! Part of me is glad that not all teams get invited to the conference tournament like other conferences do... I could see SUU somehow winning the tournament and going into the NCAAs with a record of 4-27 against D1 teams! OK that probably wouldn't happen, but nothing would shock me in the Big Sky this year

BTW, grats to NAU for a very good season! I didn't think there was any chance NAU would be even above .500 in conference this year after they lost Russell.

 

[AlumniWSU]

Sac is pretty bad away from the Nest... NAU is playing hot right now. UM has been good lately but out of their 5 most recent wins four were in the friendly confines of Dahlberg. Sure didn't look like a hot team yesterday in the Flagstff.

Montana's 15 pt win over Sacramento St was in CA, which makes their flop at NAU rather strange indeed. Like 'Potomac Griz' says, it's a strange year in the BSC. Wildcats win at EWU was from playing great defense...until whatever happened in the collapse in the last 4 minutes?? And 16 TOs ? Brings me to ask the question: Is the Big Sky stronger or weaker overall this year???

 

[Kiltman]

Montana's 15 pt win over Sacramento St was in CA, which makes their flop at NAU rather strange indeed. Like 'Potomac Griz' says, it's a strange year in the BSC. Wildcats win at EWU was from playing great defense...until whatever happened in the collapse in the last 4 minutes?? And 16 TOs ? Brings me to ask the question: Is the Big Sky stronger or weaker overall this year???

NAU has been a strong team and they are showing how hot they can get at the right time. I'm worried about facing the Jacks in the tourney more than I am concerned about the Griz. NAU has tasted the only conference W at the Dee in 3 years. They know what it takes to win there and are ready for another feast. I'm not saying I don't worry about MT.

I'm losing sleep about all the prospects of who we might face in the semis. (The loud neighbors aren't helping, either.) We have shown that we struggle when the team feels pressure. This tourney is completely up for grabs. The only team I see getting run out on Thursday is Sac State. There should be some good ball to watch that day, and I hope they are all quite tired come Friday, and exhausted on Saturday.

Weaker or stronger? I'd say a little of both. Most of the teams have really improved on talent, but the results of showing it off have been more like... eating at Taco Bell. Sometimes you win, sometimes you REALLY LOSE.

 

[baller]

Does anyone here recall how bad Weber was against the full court press put on by EWU in the last few minutes of that game a few days ago; how far back it brought the Eagles? Almost to a victory…

Any team who plays us in this tournament will have learned even more from that game than they already knew from the half-assed presses we couldn't handle throughout the season. I am concerned that anyone we play in the tournament is going employ the press to a greater degree than we have seen up to now.

I am concerned that Weber's superior talent will not be enough to overcome their inability to handle even the weakest of presses! I hope that the coaches opposing Raye won't be smart enough to do the one thing that can overcome Weber's superior talent. If they are smart enough to employ a serious press, I don't like our chances. I don't think, in 40 years of watching Weber basketball, I have seen a team as mis-coached as this one. Raye just hasn't designed the offense to take advantage of the talent in my opinion.

The Big Sky is not blessed with the greatest coaches… but none are as inept at coaching offensive basketball as Raye. True, he is an excellent defensive coach, a good recruiter (although I wonder how well he could recruit if he were at Sac State or Nor Col or the like), a solid mentor to the players that doesn't take any guff and builds teams with the right kind of kids. He has a lot of positive abilities but coaching the offense isn't one of his strong suits.

I am crossing my fingers that we can survive whatever level of press we will most certainly be facing in this tournament. However, I am afraid we could be in for some serious disappointment!

 

[baller]

By the way, I have often fantasized about how great Weber could be if Rahe would hire Ron Abeglen as his #1 assistant. Can you imagine with Rahe's and Abeglen's talents combined how good Weber could be. OK, I know, it is just a fantasy...