The Bobcat Nation

I see the offense is really clicking again. 25 points in the first half, that won't beat a lot of teams let alone a team like Wyoming. I guess the only good thing I can say is we only gave up 34 in the first half. When do spring football drills start?

Come on...Wyoming is better than any team MSU will see in conference play. They're only down by 9 at halftime, this is not a disastrous performance by any means.

#*%#%@($&#%&#%(#@%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cats lose 71-70 on a buzzer beater.

Shocker. Cats lose on another last-second shot, 71-70. That makes Mick 0-10 vs. Wyoming.

Great job to the players tonight. They played with a lot of heart, and wanted it a lot more than Wyoming's players did.

I am VERY disappointed in Peter Fields for not getting this game televised. It always used to be.

Man...this team is a few seconds away from being 4-1. Some people (myself potentially included) spoke WAY too soon when writing them off.

If moral victories were gold nuggets Mick Durham could afford to build us a new fieldhouse! Gosh-Dang It! How is it every year we play Wyoming tough but lose? 2 buzzer beaters that we're on the wrong end of, and a loss in overtime already. Could we be any more unlucky?

Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with luck. When it happens once, it's luck. When it happens thrice, it is a pattern. Mick got outcoached at the end yet again.

How is a 7' center making an 18 foot fadeway jumper off an inbounds pass with 1 second left bad coaching on Mick's part? Bad coaching would be to allow a lob pass into someone for an easy layup or to allow a wide open jumper for the best shooter. Sounded like our defense did what they were supposed to, but the guy made a tough shot. Mick didn't miss all those free throws at the end against SMU either.

I should edit this a bit...I am not disagreeing with the statement that Mick has made some questionable coaching moves in the past, namely his going to the slow-down offense much too early in games after the Cats have built big leads. I'm just not sure if bad coaching is to blame for anything that's happened this year.

I was at the game, very exciting and very heartbreaking. When the Cats went up I was really looking forward to telling those Wyo fans to get the hell out of here. Anyway, the Cats played tough and a couple of more free throws would have helped out.

And by the way Wyoming should be hosting this game in Sheridan(just a little more than an hour from Billings). Because this not a home game for the Cats, it was a very neutral site.

How in the hell can a guard oriented (to say the least) team shoot so poorly from the free throw line? 8-15???? In a one point loss that looks pretty important.

Secondly, if we hadn't caught fire in the second half from behind the arc, it wouldn't have even been close. Live by the 3 and die by the 3. Last night be almost lived but still died. That type of offense is exciting but won't take you very far over the course of a season. I will say the best thing that has come out of the first few games is the emergence of JaRon Jefferson. If Frank hadn't screwed up his life JaRon would not be on the floor nearly as much and he is really playing well. I guess that is the silver lining in losing Frank. I agree with the Mick assessments, he has cost us a number of games over the years with end of game management decisions but last night was just bad luck. Their center hitting a fadeaway from 16 is a one in 20 chance. Can't wait to go to work on Monday and beat the woulda, coulda, shoulda drum again with all my Wyoming coworkers. That thing is starting to get wore out.

WYCAT wrote:How in the hell can a guard oriented (to say the least) team shoot so poorly from the free throw line? 8-15???? In a one point loss that looks pretty important.

Secondly, if we hadn't caught fire in the second half from behind the arc, it wouldn't have even been close. Live by the 3 and die by the 3. Last night be almost lived but still died. That type of offense is exciting but won't take you very far over the course of a season. I will say the best thing that has come out of the first few games is the emergence of JaRon Jefferson. If Frank hadn't screwed up his life JaRon would not be on the floor nearly as much and he is really playing well. I guess that is the silver lining in losing Frank. I agree with the Mick assessments, he has cost us a number of games over the years with end of game management decisions but last night was just bad luck. Their center hitting a fadeaway from 16 is a one in 20 chance. Can't wait to go to work on Monday and beat the woulda, coulda, shoulda drum again with all my Wyoming coworkers. That thing is starting to get wore out.

Yep, it was a great game. But once again, a totally guard oriented live by 3 and die by the 3 offense. Our inside game was pretty much non existent. I like how we take our time on offense/pass try and get the open shot, but this team will AGAIN be another team like the last few years that is all guards/small and will fade down the stretch I bet. You HAVE to have balanced teams to win in the Big Sky (especially towards end of season). I think this team will be competitive (and maybe not finish last this year) .... but they will again be middle of the pack as I really don't see any athleticism past the 2-3 spots. Beye may change this when he comes back etc. Wyoming was also w/o their best player as well (Levins) so I think we caught a break there. Durhams good teams have always been balanced with inside outside, but too often 75% of his teams are all guard oriented. We'll see how this team does, but it definately has the look of last years team I think, but maybe with a little more balance on offense spread over 2-3 people.

[I would agree. They have played a touch non-conference schedule and its the Big Sky Conference games that count.

MSU01 wrote:Man...this team is a few seconds away from being 4-1. Some people (myself potentially included) spoke WAY too soon when writing them off.

You are right....they have played a tough non-conference schedule. It will be the conference games that make or break this team.