MBB vs NAU

[lv2hoop]

No such thing as a bad win. NAU has 13 kids on full ride scholarship. Cats are now rated #91 in the nation by Torvik metric site. Kudos to the players and staff on a great season up to this point.

As far as competing in the Big Dance, we got a tough draw last year with Texas Tech. If we are the Big Sky Conference representative again this March, I highly doubt we'll get beat like that again. But we have a lot of work to do in order to get back and this team has the pieces to get back there.

[Hawks86]

Good to see the traditions of football game day threads carry over to basketball.

[mslacatfan]

Good to see the traditions of football game day threads carry over to basketball.

No kidding.

Every game is not going to be a perfectly executed blowout. A win is a win. People need to calm down.

[CelticCat]

Can someone make the case for Tyler Patterson? What does he do for us?

Patterson plays solid defense but overall his stats are pretty meager. Not just scoring, which he hasn't done much of this season, but he doesn't log many other stats, especially compared to his minutes.

He's 4th in minutes per game, but 6th in scoring, 11th in rebounding, 11th in assists, 10th in steals, 6th in blocks, 11th in FG % and 8th in 3 PT %. Among guys who get minutes he is probably the best at not turning it over, just .5 per game.

EDIT - these are among the team, 14 players, and 4 of the guys pretty much never play (Ash, Germer, Miller, Colceag).

I just don't see anything at this point to justify him starting? Seems like he is a guy who doesn't screw up but doesn't really add much in the way of productivity either.

[wbtfg]

Baseketball is a funny game where teams can go hot and cold. An anomoly here and there is one thing, but developing trends are another thing.

Postive trends:
1. Danny is a fantastic coach....especially in end of game situations. He doesn't get enough credit for how he's handled these tight, end of game calls.
2. Inside duo of Belo and Great is special.
3. Battle is electic on offense and has been good as the point man on our 1-3-1 defense.
4. Offensively our guards are doing a good job taking care of the ball. We rarely see that 15-20 turnover game.

Negative trends:
1. 3 point shooting. I feel like we have devolved in this area. Not sure if it's physical/mental fatigue or what. But we don't seem to have that knock down sniper. Tyler Patterson needs to be that guy....unfortunately he hasn't been.
2. Rebounding. I'm not sure how, but it seems like we are regularly being out rebounded. Part of that is probably our terrible 3 point shooting, but I feel like we need to be stronger on the boards.
3. Backcourt defense. Our guards are having a difficult time locking down on defense. Whether it's being blown by at the top of the circle or being outmuscled down low, they haven't done a good job. This could also lead to some of our rebounding woes, as the bigs are forced to help out a lot on defense.

I'm sure there are a lot more positives and negatives, but these are the few things that immediately came to mind.

[mslacatfan]

The rebounding part is definitely a head scratcher. You would think this team would excel in that department, especially with the belo/osobor duo.

[DMMDCats]

The rebounding part is definitely a head scratcher. You would think this team would excel in that department, especially with the belo/osobor duo.

They seem to be out of position most of the time. Always getting boxed out by smaller players.

They need to work with their feet and get to a better spot.

Quit expecting athleticism to rule the day and play sound fundamentals.

Or some cliche like that.

$0.02
Over priced

[MSU01]

Decided to look up some rebounding stats (conference games only):

MSU is 4th in the Big Sky in rebounding margin (-0.6)

Jubrile is 5th in the Big Sky in rebounds per 40 minutes (10.5) and Great is 15th (8.0). They're also 2nd and 3rd respectively in blocks per 40 minutes (2.2 and 1.9)

Not great (no pun intended) but by no means horrible. I still have a hard time believing that MSU won a game this season with only 19 total rebounds though!

Other interesting stat, Darius Brown leads the Big Sky with 3.2 steals per 40 minutes. The next closest player is at 2.2

[tetoncat]

NAU. Lost in OT to Utah Valley and Southern Utah. Beat UM in OT, Lost to PSU by 1, SAC by 3, Idaho by 5, EWU by 3, beat UNC. better than their record. Cats have won close games, they have not.

[Cat Grad]

NAU. Lost in OT to Utah Valley and Southern Utah. Beat UM in OT, Lost to PSU by 1, SAC by 3, Idaho by 5, EWU by 3, beat UNC. better than their record. Cats have won close games, they have not.

Ought to be a decent tournament this year.

[catatac]

An ugly win beats the hell out of an ugly loss. If we can fix the rebounding issues, and start draining some 3’s…. Will have a chance to win the tourney. If not, we won’t. Probably as simple as that.

[thefrank1]

NAU will be a very dangerous team if they ever get a decent contribution offensively from their big men. It wouldn't surprise me to see Shane make that happen before the tournament.

[catatac]

NAU will be a very dangerous team if they ever get a decent contribution offensively from their big men. It wouldn't surprise me to see Shane make that happen before the tournament.

I hope they beat the Griz in Zootown tomorrow, because that’s how I am.

[WalkOn79]

No such thing as a bad win. NAU has 13 kids on full ride scholarship. Cats are now rated #91 in the nation by Torvik metric site. Kudos to the players and staff on a great season up to this point.

As far as competing in the Big Dance, we got a tough draw last year with Texas Tech. If we are the Big Sky Conference representative again this March, I highly doubt we'll get beat like that again. But we have a lot of work to do in order to get back and this team has the pieces to get back there.

This!! The sky is not falling, fellas. At least on the men’s side.

[Bobcat4Ever]

As to offensive rebounding, they look to be prioritizing getting back and into half-court defense which is their strong point. Offensive rebounds are errors anyway — shooting better from three would help considerably. With X graduating (a way good player), and heir apparent Kellen Tynes leaving, Coach has had to do some patching at the point position. This is a semi-veteran team but working in new guards (even experienced ones) is a work in progress. Amin Adamu and Abdul Muhammad have proven difficult to replace.

[Helcat72]

As compared to last year, Fuller is getting there replacing Muhammed. Battle does pretty well in replacing Adamu. We just don't have the bench strength with Battle as the 6th man this year. The only thing is we don't get out of the point is the penetration and 3 pt shooting of X. When Patterson is on, we really are formidable. Added strength in the paint with Osobar is a plus. Lecholat has done pretty well in coming off the bench and providing defense when Belo and Osobar are in foul trouble.

[Joe Bobcat]

As compared to last year, Fuller is getting there replacing Muhammed. Battle does pretty well in replacing Adamu. We just don't have the bench strength with Battle as the 6th man this year. The only thing is we don't get out of the point is the penetration and 3 pt shooting of X. When Patterson is on, we really are formidable. Added strength in the paint with Osobar is a plus. Lecholat has done pretty well in coming off the bench and providing defense when Belo and Osobar are in foul trouble.

You might want to take a look and compare stats between X last year and DB this year. DB has better shooting % FG, 3PT, FT.
DB also averages more REB, ASST, STL, per game and if you put those 3 stats on per minute played the advantage is even more for DB.
The same is true for turn overs DB has fewer per min. played. X did average more points per game than DB has been.

None of that is intended to put any player down but when the stats are consistent in telling one story, we shouldn't go telling an opposite one.

[lv2hoop]

Indeed. Xavier Bishop was an outstanding point guard and so is Darius Brown II. I don't think you can go wrong with either of them quarterbacking your team. DB has gained traction as this season has progressed. I think his type of point guard play is possibly the difference between us and EWU, who I don't think has a floor general of DB's quality.

[CelticCat]

Brown does have a better 3 PT % than X but he's really struggling lately, and not just from deep. Since that 23 point performance in Missoula where he was 2-3 from deep and 9-13 from the floor, the last 4 games he is 0-6 from deep and 5-22 from the floor. And it's not because he isn't getting good looks, he's in a big funk right now.

Honestly the key for me in making a run back to the dance is Patterson and Brown. I feel like everyone else you know what you are going to get offensively, but with those two when they are on we are damn good, when they are cold we really struggle to score.

The good thing about Brown is he still fills up the stat sheet. He had 2 points against UNC on 1-6 shooting but 6 rebounds, 12 assists, 3 steals. When Patterson struggles he puts up blanks on the stat sheet.

When does McMahon get back?

[Joe Bobcat]

Yes Brown has been in a slump for the last 4 games. Let's hope he breaks out of that tonight.
I think it's only fair that if we're going to point out his 4 game slump we ought to point out his 7 game hot streak right before this slump where he shot 63% from the field and 55%from 3 point. Looking at the big picture, even with this slump Brown has the highest % 3pt and 3rd highest % fg.