What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

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What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by mslacat » Tue Oct 24, 2017 5:41 pm

OK I realize Football season is still in full swing, but if you can multi-task/sport for a minute the first Bobcat Men's and Women's game is less than 8 day's away (Double header on November 1st). I am always blabbing my opinion I want to here others. Both the Men's and Women's programs seemed to be primed for a great year, BUT before they start hanging any banners for 2018-19 they are going to need address some problem's or losses from Last year. So in your opinion, what are 1 or 2 thing that each teams need to do in your eye to be title contenders this year.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by BelgradeBobcat » Tue Oct 24, 2017 8:32 pm

Stay healthy and better defense and rebounding. We've had the guys that can score, but we weren't very good at stopping the other team from scoring. Our only loss from last season was Quinton Everett. The two redshirt transfers coming in to replace him should be a big upgrade, along with everybody else getting bigger, stronger, and better.

My very modest goals for this team: Winning overall record, winning conference record, win over the griz, conference tournament bye, bid to a post season tournament like the CIT or CBI. I'm not going to entertain the thought of a hope for a Big Sky tournament win because...we'll just look at our history.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by Helcat72 » Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:45 pm

They need to establish a force inside. I know Fish doesn't like to use a big post, but we need a power forward that can protect the paint, rebound, and score underneath the net. Previous years when one of our players got an opening inside...somebody was always there to bat it away or made us pass it up. I'd like to see a finisher. I think we have the fire power from the perimeter.


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by msu_agfan » Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:55 am

What seemed to kill the men last year in the "big" games was the opposing team could drive in to the lane and almost always draw a foul in the last half of the game. If we can stop that from happening, we should be set for a very good year.


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by GoldstoneCat » Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:42 pm

Truly, I think the men have what they need to be right at the top of the league, provided: Frey (konnor) can provide some new offense, and Blevins/ Kirby can become a physical presence in the lane. As mentioned above, we need someone to at least provide resistance in the lane
Bonton/ Klines/lassi being able to give Frey (harald) and tyler a few extra possessions of rest can't hurt either. This is the most anticipation for me in awhile for hoops, and it feels great to not be wondering whether we can climb to mid pack.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by profisme » Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:07 am

Helcat72 wrote:I know Fish doesn't like to use a big post...
I don't think this is exactly accurate. We just haven't had a good post who could do much in the paint since Mbunga. They picked up Luke Schultz specifically to be this guy. I am also hoping that Kirby takes another step forward this year. There were a few bright moments for him last year where he flashed his talent. The problem is that he doesn't have much base to keep guys from bullying him out of the way. I have high hopes that Schultz will develop over his time here and become the big we have needed for a long time.


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by Catlady » Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:32 am

We need strong athletic length inside. If we had a strong post presence we’d be favored in the Big Sky. I think you’re misquoting Fish when you say he doesn’t want a big. Look at Golden State...... they have bigs that contribute and their latest big (Jordan Bell) was a Fish recruit from Oregon.

Our bigs fight hard, but they’re probably more 3-4’s versus a 5. We need a very athletic 5...... maybe 6’9” or 6’10” 240lbs.....



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by grizzh8r » Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:10 am

Catlady wrote:We need strong athletic length inside. If we had a strong post presence we’d be favored in the Big Sky. I think you’re misquoting Fish when you say he doesn’t want a big. Look at Golden State...... they have bigs that contribute and their latest big (Jordan Bell) was a Fish recruit from Oregon.

Our bigs fight hard, but they’re probably more 3-4’s versus a 5. We need a very athletic 5...... maybe 6’9” or 6’10” 240lbs.....
... and those type of bigs rarely end up a low major schools like MSU. Just the reality of recruiting to the BSC.


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by mslacat » Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:35 am

Fish is riding the team already about how "pitiful" they are on defense. My 1st key is can the players we have find a way to play Fish's defense with-out giving up 24 fouls a game ( bottom 10 in the country last year). In my opinion last year the guy's tried but the refs did not like what they were doing. Do the players need to get better at playing Fish's defense or does Fish need to adjust? We have the bench this year to handle foul trouble but we will have a tough time over coming the free throws, we are spotting our opponents. 2nd somewhat related to #1 can our 4's (notice I did say big men) Belvins, Frey and Nuemann play productively on offence and especially defense when they have to play against true big men.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by Rich K » Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:04 pm

How would success be measured? Big Sky Conference regular season champions? BSC Tournament Champions? 20 Wins? Tournament invitation?

I say if we have 20 wins we'd probably get a tourney invite even if we don't win the conference, but winning the conference tournament would be more successful, in my thinking.


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by John K » Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:03 am

Rich K wrote:How would success be measured? Big Sky Conference regular season champions? BSC Tournament Champions? 20 Wins? Tournament invitation?

I say if we have 20 wins we'd probably get a tourney invite even if we don't win the conference, but winning the conference tournament would be more successful, in my thinking.
Do you mean an invite to the NCAA tourney? With all due respect, you're crazy if you think 20 wins would be good enough for any BSC team to get an at large berth in The Big Dance. I'm not sure 30 wins would even be good enough. I don't believe any BSC team has ever made the tourney, other than via the auto bid.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by Rich K » Tue Dec 19, 2017 8:51 am

John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:How would success be measured? Big Sky Conference regular season champions? BSC Tournament Champions? 20 Wins? Tournament invitation?

I say if we have 20 wins we'd probably get a tourney invite even if we don't win the conference, but winning the conference tournament would be more successful, in my thinking.
Do you mean an invite to the NCAA tourney? With all due respect, you're crazy if you think 20 wins would be good enough for any BSC team to get an at large berth in The Big Dance. I'm not sure 30 wins would even be good enough. I don't believe any BSC team has ever made the tourney, other than via the auto bid.
Oh no way the BSC gets more than one invite to the dance. I was thinking of the "consolation" tournaments. Would an invite to the CBI, CIT, or NIT define a successful season for the Bobcats? (Am I missing any tournaments? Frankly I lost interest in men's basketball during the Huse years and only started paying some attention when Fish came aboard)


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by John K » Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:08 am

Rich K wrote:
John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:How would success be measured? Big Sky Conference regular season champions? BSC Tournament Champions? 20 Wins? Tournament invitation?

I say if we have 20 wins we'd probably get a tourney invite even if we don't win the conference, but winning the conference tournament would be more successful, in my thinking.
Do you mean an invite to the NCAA tourney? With all due respect, you're crazy if you think 20 wins would be good enough for any BSC team to get an at large berth in The Big Dance. I'm not sure 30 wins would even be good enough. I don't believe any BSC team has ever made the tourney, other than via the auto bid.
Oh no way the BSC gets more than one invite to the dance. I was thinking of the "consolation" tournaments. Would an invite to the CBI, CIT, or NIT define a successful season for the Bobcats? (Am I missing any tournaments? Frankly I lost interest in men's basketball during the Huse years and only started paying some attention when Fish came aboard)
Oh gotcha. That makes sense. I'm sorta with you too, in that my interest in MBB has really been rejuvenated since Fish came on board. But I don't know how long that will last, if we don't soon become a legitimate, perennial BSC contender, and/or eventually win a game or two in the BSC tourney. I don't expect us to win the conference every year, but I don't think it's too much to ask for us to be a legit top 4 team year in and year out. I think the jury is still out on Fish, but I am cautiously optimistic, and at the very least I actually have some hope for the future of the program, which is something I had lost during the latter years of the Huse era.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by Rich K » Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:36 am

John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:
John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:How would success be measured? Big Sky Conference regular season champions? BSC Tournament Champions? 20 Wins? Tournament invitation?

I say if we have 20 wins we'd probably get a tourney invite even if we don't win the conference, but winning the conference tournament would be more successful, in my thinking.
Do you mean an invite to the NCAA tourney? With all due respect, you're crazy if you think 20 wins would be good enough for any BSC team to get an at large berth in The Big Dance. I'm not sure 30 wins would even be good enough. I don't believe any BSC team has ever made the tourney, other than via the auto bid.
Oh no way the BSC gets more than one invite to the dance. I was thinking of the "consolation" tournaments. Would an invite to the CBI, CIT, or NIT define a successful season for the Bobcats? (Am I missing any tournaments? Frankly I lost interest in men's basketball during the Huse years and only started paying some attention when Fish came aboard)
Oh gotcha. That makes sense. I'm sorta with you too, in that my interest in MBB has really been rejuvenated since Fish came on board. But I don't know how long that will last, if we don't soon become a legitimate, perennial BSC contender, and/or eventually win a game or two in the BSC tourney. I don't expect us to win the conference every year, but I don't think it's too much to ask for us to be a legit top 4 team year in and year out. I think the jury is still out on Fish, but I am cautiously optimistic, and at the very least I actually have some hope for the future of the program, which is something I had lost during the latter years of the Huse era.
So what might success this year look like to you?

For me, success might look like any of these:

- Big Sky Conference Tournament Champion with resultant NCAA bid
- Big Sky Conference regular season champion
- 20 or more wins in regular season (13 conference wins would probably put us in the top 2 or 3, I would think)
- NIT, CBI or CIT bid

Next level of success
- NIT, CBI, or CIT bid with one or more wins
- Down to the wire NCAA tournament game loss to high ranked opponent on TV

Very successful:
- NCAA tournament game win
-


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by John K » Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:54 am

Rich K wrote:
John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:
John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:How would success be measured? Big Sky Conference regular season champions? BSC Tournament Champions? 20 Wins? Tournament invitation?

I say if we have 20 wins we'd probably get a tourney invite even if we don't win the conference, but winning the conference tournament would be more successful, in my thinking.
Do you mean an invite to the NCAA tourney? With all due respect, you're crazy if you think 20 wins would be good enough for any BSC team to get an at large berth in The Big Dance. I'm not sure 30 wins would even be good enough. I don't believe any BSC team has ever made the tourney, other than via the auto bid.
Oh no way the BSC gets more than one invite to the dance. I was thinking of the "consolation" tournaments. Would an invite to the CBI, CIT, or NIT define a successful season for the Bobcats? (Am I missing any tournaments? Frankly I lost interest in men's basketball during the Huse years and only started paying some attention when Fish came aboard)
Oh gotcha. That makes sense. I'm sorta with you too, in that my interest in MBB has really been rejuvenated since Fish came on board. But I don't know how long that will last, if we don't soon become a legitimate, perennial BSC contender, and/or eventually win a game or two in the BSC tourney. I don't expect us to win the conference every year, but I don't think it's too much to ask for us to be a legit top 4 team year in and year out. I think the jury is still out on Fish, but I am cautiously optimistic, and at the very least I actually have some hope for the future of the program, which is something I had lost during the latter years of the Huse era.
So what might success this year look like to you?

For me, success might look like any of these:

- Big Sky Conference Tournament Champion with resultant NCAA bid
- Big Sky Conference regular season champion
- 20 or more wins in regular season (13 conference wins would probably put us in the top 2 or 3, I would think)
- NIT, CBI or CIT bid

Next level of success
- NIT, CBI, or CIT bid with one or more wins
- Down to the wire NCAA tournament game loss to high ranked opponent on TV

Very successful:
- NCAA tournament game win
-
I guess my hopes have really become tempered after years of mediocrity, but my goals are slightly more modest, at least for this season. I'd consider it a success if we simply finish in the top 4 in the BSC, thus securing a bye in the 1st round of the tourney, and win at least one game which would put us into the semi-finals. Again, I know that's not very ambitious, but it would be only our 2nd appearance in the semi-finals in almost two decades (since 1999). I hope that we eventually reach the more lofty goals that you indicated, but I'm willing to settle for baby steps, and incremental improvement year by year until we get to that point, maybe 2-3 years down the road. I'm really more interested in how we fare within the BSC for now, rather than worrying about post-season play beyond the BSC tourney. If we got into one of the lower tier tourneys, that would be great, but I figure that will sorta take care of itself if we can improve our standing within the conference.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by mslacat » Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:54 am

Rich K wrote:
John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:
John K wrote:
Rich K wrote:How would success be measured? Big Sky Conference regular season champions? BSC Tournament Champions? 20 Wins? Tournament invitation?

I say if we have 20 wins we'd probably get a tourney invite even if we don't win the conference, but winning the conference tournament would be more successful, in my thinking.
Do you mean an invite to the NCAA tourney? With all due respect, you're crazy if you think 20 wins would be good enough for any BSC team to get an at large berth in The Big Dance. I'm not sure 30 wins would even be good enough. I don't believe any BSC team has ever made the tourney, other than via the auto bid.
Oh no way the BSC gets more than one invite to the dance. I was thinking of the "consolation" tournaments. Would an invite to the CBI, CIT, or NIT define a successful season for the Bobcats? (Am I missing any tournaments? Frankly I lost interest in men's basketball during the Huse years and only started paying some attention when Fish came aboard)
Oh gotcha. That makes sense. I'm sorta with you too, in that my interest in MBB has really been rejuvenated since Fish came on board. But I don't know how long that will last, if we don't soon become a legitimate, perennial BSC contender, and/or eventually win a game or two in the BSC tourney. I don't expect us to win the conference every year, but I don't think it's too much to ask for us to be a legit top 4 team year in and year out. I think the jury is still out on Fish, but I am cautiously optimistic, and at the very least I actually have some hope for the future of the program, which is something I had lost during the latter years of the Huse era.
So what might success this year look like to you?

For me, success might look like any of these:

- Big Sky Conference Tournament Champion with resultant NCAA bid
- Big Sky Conference regular season champion
- 20 or more wins in regular season (13 conference wins would probably put us in the top 2 or 3, I would think)
- NIT, CBI or CIT bid

Next level of success
- NIT, CBI, or CIT bid with one or more wins
- Down to the wire NCAA tournament game loss to high ranked opponent on TV

Very successful:
- NCAA tournament game win
-
I guess by any standard that would be a great season for a Big Sky team. But what about this team is a top 3-4 finish with a strong finish but no post season game is that acceptable? It is a very strong league this year and getting tougher every year.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by Hawks86 » Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:55 pm

For the first time in 10 years we have seven wins in the non-conference schedule.


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by BelgradeBobcat » Tue Dec 19, 2017 6:12 pm

As I've posted many times, I've given up completely on the notion that the MSU men will ever win a Big Sky tournament game. If we couldn't beat a 5 win SUU team last year after getting out to a 13 point lead then I don't see us ever having a better shot.
With a winning record in non-conference I'd say this team has a pretty good shot at an overall winning record. Since that hasn't been accomplished in about 10 years I'll consider it job well done and look forward to next season. A win over the griz would be nice too. I think a bid to one of the mid-major post season tournaments like the CBI or CIT is possible with a winning record. The NCAA tournament is a pipe dream and the NIT is beyond reach unless we win the Big Sky regular season title, which I don't think this team can do.
I was more optimistic going into this season, but so far this team just doesn't seem to have the mojo to make a big move in the league-especially considering other teams like PSU, SUU, and UNC seem to have leap frogged over us based their impressive non-conference results.



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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by gtapp » Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:23 pm

The pre-season has been very disappointing this year. Are we going to be better than last year? It appears we are playing worse!


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Re: What do the Bobcat men need to do succeed this year?

Post by BelgradeBobcat » Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:29 pm

gtapp wrote:The pre-season has been very disappointing this year. Are we going to be better than last year? It appears we are playing worse!
Well last year at this point in the season we were losing 7 in a row and in a stretch where we lost 10 of 11. Then we started getting some home games and started winning a few. So I guess there's hope they'll figure it out. Tyler Hall is in a huge funk right now. If he doesn't shoot well and score more than 20 ppg we likely won't win. The supporting cast, with the possible exception of Harald Frey, just isn't very good. This team is almost exactly the same as last season-unfortunately, the rest of the league appears to have gotten better.



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