Looking Ahead to Big Sky Tournament

[aucat]

The guys need to get it going down the stretch to secure no worse than a 6 seed so that they don't have to play on Saturday, March 8. The encouraging thing and the reason I'm going to try to make it to Boise is because the guys appear to be capable of playing with anyone in the conference. Having said that, I'm hoping the roads to Boise will be in good shape come tournament time. The last Big Sky tournament I attended was in Reno. Our ladies were the number one seed. We bought plane tickets and flew to Reno. The men promptly lost. If I remember correctly, the women had a nine point lead with 30 seconds left but missed three straight one and ones and the game went into OT and we lost the first game. So we had three days to kill in Reno before we flew back. If I drive this time we will have a better chance of our teams going deep into the tournament. Ha. By the way, I never did understand why women's basketball did away with the one and one, not to mention going to four quarters instead of two halves. To me, the one and one has always been a great pressure shot when the game is on the line.

[4KornerKat]

The guys need to get it going down the stretch to secure no worse than a 6 seed so that they don't have to play on Saturday, March 8. The encouraging thing and the reason I'm going to try to make it to Boise is because the guys appear to be capable of playing with anyone in the conference. Having said that, I'm hoping the roads to Boise will be in good shape come tournament time. The last Big Sky tournament I attended was in Reno. Our ladies were the number one seed. We bought plane tickets and flew to Reno. The men promptly lost. If I remember correctly, the women had a nine point lead with 30 seconds left but missed three straight one and ones and the game went into OT and we lost the first game. So we had three days to kill in Reno before we flew back. If I drive this time we will have a better chance of our teams going deep into the tournament. Ha. By the way, I never did understand why women's basketball did away with the one and one, not to mention going to four quarters instead of two halves. To me, the one and one has always been a great pressure shot when the game is on the line.

I agree with this, but I also like quarters and don't mind the foul reset at each quarter.

Maybe the 2nd and 4th quarters could use 1-1 for fouls 3-5 and then double bonus at 6+.

[BelgradeBobcat]

The tournament in Boise is a great time. Of course I'm one of those people that can sit in an empty arena and watch the Sac State women battle Portland State and be having the time of my life.

It's a tournament so anything can happen. The women could have two halves like the second half yesterday and get knocked off. The men could finally all show up at the same time in the same game and beat somebody. Or both could lose and be done. Boise has been pretty good to the Bobcats and Bobcat fans have always made a good showing.

Usually, Boise's March weather is way better than ours so it's fun to get outside. The arena is right downtown next to all the big hotels with bars, breweries, coffee shops, and restaurants all around. I don't like the championships finishing up on a Wednesday, but it is what it is-ESPN determines that.

[Bobcat4Ever]

The guys need to get it going down the stretch to secure no worse than a 6 seed so that they don't have to play on Saturday, March 8. The encouraging thing and the reason I'm going to try to make it to Boise is because the guys appear to be capable of playing with anyone in the conference. Having said that, I'm hoping the roads to Boise will be in good shape come tournament time. The last Big Sky tournament I attended was in Reno. Our ladies were the number one seed. We bought plane tickets and flew to Reno. The men promptly lost. If I remember correctly, the women had a nine point lead with 30 seconds left but missed three straight one and ones and the game went into OT and we lost the first game. So we had three days to kill in Reno before we flew back. If I drive this time we will have a better chance of our teams going deep into the tournament. Ha. By the way, I never did understand why women's basketball did away with the one and one, not to mention going to four quarters instead of two halves. To me, the one and one has always been a great pressure shot when the game is on the line.

I agree with this, but I also like quarters and don't mind the foul reset at each quarter.

Maybe the 2nd and 4th quarters could use 1-1 for fouls 3-5 and then double bonus at 6+.

I really like the four quarters, with only one media timeout which can be declared from a team timeout if it falls at the right time. The flow of the play is much better.

I guess the 1 and 1 didn’t make as much sense resetting the fouls every quarter, but I agree — it’s a skill and a pressure shot that has gone missing.

The inspiration for four quarters was stated as primarily international rules. Nobody from high school on up plays in halves anymore.

[MSU01]

It'll be fun to see how the men's team plays, they've got a bunch of guys who have been there and won it before and there can't be many players left in the Big Sky who were around the last time anyone other than MSU won it. Seems unlikely they'll win four in a row...though after all the misery MSU basketball fans endured between 1996 and 2022 it's hard to be too upset if they don't do it again this year.

The women will go in as favorites but anything can happen, as it did in 2016 when they were knocked out by Idaho State as the 8 seed. Hopefully MSU can get a bit more consistent on offense over the next month and the freshmen and sophomores can continue their rapid improvement.

[rfischer94]

The guys need to get it going down the stretch to secure no worse than a 6 seed so that they don't have to play on Saturday, March 8. The encouraging thing and the reason I'm going to try to make it to Boise is because the guys appear to be capable of playing with anyone in the conference. Having said that, I'm hoping the roads to Boise will be in good shape come tournament time. The last Big Sky tournament I attended was in Reno. Our ladies were the number one seed. We bought plane tickets and flew to Reno. The men promptly lost. If I remember correctly, the women had a nine point lead with 30 seconds left but missed three straight one and ones and the game went into OT and we lost the first game. So we had three days to kill in Reno before we flew back. If I drive this time we will have a better chance of our teams going deep into the tournament. Ha. By the way, I never did understand why women's basketball did away with the one and one, not to mention going to four quarters instead of two halves. To me, the one and one has always been a great pressure shot when the game is on the line.

The 1 and 1 does add some pressure and keep things interesting. I like 4 quarters - the flow of the game is better than two halves.

[MSU01]

I prefer the quarters too, and I think it's only a matter of time until the men's college game goes that direction as well. They are the only outlier at this point as high school, women's college, professional leagues, and international rules all use quarters. Binford and MSU do a masterful job of taking advantage of the foul system, if they get to the last couple minutes of a quarter and only have one or two team fouls they start playing even more aggressively on defense realizing that picking up a couple fouls going for steals doesn't really hurt them when team fouls reset to zero with the new quarter. And MSU has so much depth that foul trouble rarely becomes an issue for individual players.

[aucat]

The tournament in Boise is a great time. Of course I'm one of those people that can sit in an empty arena and watch the Sac State women battle Portland State and be having the time of my life.

It's a tournament so anything can happen. The women could have two halves like the second half yesterday and get knocked off. The men could finally all show up at the same time in the same game and beat somebody. Or both could lose and be done. Boise has been pretty good to the Bobcats and Bobcat fans have always made a good showing.

Usually, Boise's March weather is way better than ours so it's fun to get outside. The arena is right downtown next to all the big hotels with bars, breweries, coffee shops, and restaurants all around. I don't like the championships finishing up on a Wednesday, but it is what it is-ESPN determines that.

Thanks for that info, I'm definitely going to try to make it. Yeah, I remember when we got skunked in Reno, we adopted Sac State as our women's team to root for. That was the team that shot a zillion threes and ran wild up and down the court. It was a fun team to watch. But I'm hoping to spend more time watching Bobcat teams this time!

[tetoncat]

Men's team hopefully can make a run. Lost by 12 to #16 Wisconsin, 3 to Northwestern, 3 CSU Northridge, 3 UC Riverside. All good teams. Win vs Omaha who is leading the summit was good. But blowout losses and the loss to Denver are bad. Which team shows up in Boise.

[TomCat88]

I see that MSU is ranked 44th in one of the computer polls.

[damnyoutuesday]

I don't like the championships finishing up on a Wednesday, but it is what it is-ESPN determines that.

It kind of sucks, but if you go over to reddit.com/r/collegebasketball we get a ton of attention from across the country because we are the only game on TV most of those nights. It's a net benefit to the conference, without being as annoying for fans as MACtion football is

[BelgradeBobcat]

I don't like the championships finishing up on a Wednesday, but it is what it is-ESPN determines that.

It kind of sucks, but if you go over to reddit.com/r/collegebasketball we get a ton of attention from across the country because we are the only game on TV most of those nights. It's a net benefit to the conference, without being as annoying for fans as MACtion football is

Totally agree. It's a necessary evil. It does hurt the attendance for the men's championship a bit, but we've still had a pretty decent crowd. It would be interesting to see what the crowd would be if an Idaho school made it. Especially the U of I as there are a lot of Vandal grads in Boise. So far they're usually the first ones out though.

[MSU01]

The main thing I like about the new tournament format is that it allows the women's tournament and the men's tournament to be played on the same schedule and have the two championship games on the same day. MSU has consistently had great crowds in Boise, hopefully it will continue this year. I won't be able to make it but I'd be there if I could to support the historic women's team and "hope for the best" with the men.

[CatRowdy]

I don't like the championships finishing up on a Wednesday, but it is what it is-ESPN determines that.

It kind of sucks, but if you go over to reddit.com/r/collegebasketball we get a ton of attention from across the country because we are the only game on TV most of those nights. It's a net benefit to the conference, without being as annoying for fans as MACtion football is

Totally agree. It's a necessary evil. It does hurt the attendance for the men's championship a bit, but we've still had a pretty decent crowd. It would be interesting to see what the crowd would be if an Idaho school made it. Especially the U of I as there are a lot of Vandal grads in Boise. So far they're usually the first ones out though.

I wasn't thinking it was TV driving this; although it makes perfect sense. I thought the Big Sky switched to be able to have a larger crowd show up on the weekend prior to teams getting knocked out. Therefore having more games on a weekend and likely hoping fans will stick around. Back when it started on at the beginning of the week I think a lot of fans didn't try to go unless their teams made it by the 1st or 2nd game. As mentioned by AUCAT one year in Reno the men got knocked out on Monday night and the ladies lost Tuesday afternoon. Under this schedule if you lose the 1st game you likely on the weekend and can stay or get home to work. BUT, I do realize TV drives everything so most likely that's the real answer for the change.

[MSU01]

I don't like the championships finishing up on a Wednesday, but it is what it is-ESPN determines that.

It kind of sucks, but if you go over to reddit.com/r/collegebasketball we get a ton of attention from across the country because we are the only game on TV most of those nights. It's a net benefit to the conference, without being as annoying for fans as MACtion football is

Totally agree. It's a necessary evil. It does hurt the attendance for the men's championship a bit, but we've still had a pretty decent crowd. It would be interesting to see what the crowd would be if an Idaho school made it. Especially the U of I as there are a lot of Vandal grads in Boise. So far they're usually the first ones out though.

I wasn't thinking it was TV driving this; although it makes perfect sense. I thought the Big Sky switched to be able to have a larger crowd show up on the weekend prior to teams getting knocked out. Therefore having more games on a weekend and likely hoping fans will stick around. Back when it started on at the beginning of the week I think a lot of fans didn't try to go unless their teams made it by the 1st or 2nd game. As mentioned by AUCAT one year in Reno the men got knocked out on Monday night and the ladies lost Tuesday afternoon. Under this schedule if you lose the 1st game you likely on the weekend and can stay or get home to work. BUT, I do realize TV drives everything so most likely that's the real answer for the change.

It's still a pretty odd schedule in terms of advance planning on when to show up...if you're in the 7-10 range your first game is on Saturday, if you're #1 or #2 your first game is on Sunday, and if you're in the 3-6 range you don't play until Monday. The MSU men could easily end up in a situation this year where the last regular season game they play will determine if they're playing on Saturday or if they'll finish in the Top 6 and play on Monday.

[BelgradeBobcat]

I don't like the championships finishing up on a Wednesday, but it is what it is-ESPN determines that.

It kind of sucks, but if you go over to reddit.com/r/collegebasketball we get a ton of attention from across the country because we are the only game on TV most of those nights. It's a net benefit to the conference, without being as annoying for fans as MACtion football is

Totally agree. It's a necessary evil. It does hurt the attendance for the men's championship a bit, but we've still had a pretty decent crowd. It would be interesting to see what the crowd would be if an Idaho school made it. Especially the U of I as there are a lot of Vandal grads in Boise. So far they're usually the first ones out though.

I wasn't thinking it was TV driving this; although it makes perfect sense. I thought the Big Sky switched to be able to have a larger crowd show up on the weekend prior to teams getting knocked out. Therefore having more games on a weekend and likely hoping fans will stick around. Back when it started on at the beginning of the week I think a lot of fans didn't try to go unless their teams made it by the 1st or 2nd game. As mentioned by AUCAT one year in Reno the men got knocked out on Monday night and the ladies lost Tuesday afternoon. Under this schedule if you lose the 1st game you likely on the weekend and can stay or get home to work. BUT, I do realize TV drives everything so most likely that's the real answer for the change.

If I recall one of the benefits or having the championship games mid-week is the men get to be on ESPN or ESPN2 and women get to be on ESPNU. If we kept it so the finals were on Saturday, the women wouldn't get on national TV (except ESPN+) at all and the men would be on ESPNU. Not exactly sure on that, but I think that's the case.

[TomCat88]

No small task, but I think if the women can win out and win the tournament, they can get a 12 or higher seed.

[SACCAT]

With just 6 games remaining...

Men's Team- Finish with 4 of last 6 games at home ( 3 VS Teams ahead of us in ISU, Idaho, UM). They also play PSU and Sac on Road. They Cats have a very good chance of finishing in the top 5 if they can go 3-1 at home, and 1-1 on road. These next two games are HUGE... If we can win both home games, we have a very good chance of moving up to 5th by the end of the weekend. For there we need to win the games we should (Sac State and MAYBE Idaho) and hope we can pull off one upset over either PSU or UM. Every loss in Big Sky play has been by 7 points or less, so they know they can win, and having 4 out of 6 at home is BIG...

Women's Team-- I am not going to say they have the #1 seed locked up, because they don't. BUT the way they are playing I don't see them dropping 3 games in the next 6. I also think it will be hard to go undefeated in Big Sky Play (Last team to do that was Montana 21 years ago). Women have 3 of 6 at home, with the toughest games being UM in Bozeman, and Idaho on the Road to finish the season. They have a target on their back bigger than any team in Big Sky Men's or Women's. So staying focused will be HUGE!!

[MSU01]

With just 6 games remaining...

Men's Team- Finish with 4 of last 6 games at home ( 3 VS Teams ahead of us in ISU, Idaho, UM). They also play PSU and Sac on Road. They Cats have a very good chance of finishing in the top 5 if they can go 3-1 at home, and 1-1 on road. These next two games are HUGE... If we can win both home games, we have a very good chance of moving up to 5th by the end of the weekend. For there we need to win the games we should (Sac State and MAYBE Idaho) and hope we can pull off one upset over either PSU or UM. Every loss in Big Sky play has been by 7 points or less, so they know they can win, and having 4 out of 6 at home is BIG...

Women's Team-- I am not going to say they have the #1 seed locked up, because they don't. BUT the way they are playing I don't see them dropping 3 games in the next 6. I also think it will be hard to go undefeated in Big Sky Play (Last team to do that was Montana 21 years ago). Women have 3 of 6 at home, with the toughest games being UM in Bozeman, and Idaho on the Road to finish the season. They have a target on their back bigger than any team in Big Sky Men's or Women's. So staying focused will be HUGE!!

Tonight's game is going to be a tough one for the women, Weber is "sneaky good" this year after spending the last few seasons at the bottom end of the Big Sky standings. The Bobcats beat them fairly easily in Bozeman but they've had some impressive results since then including only losing by 5 at NAU a couple weeks ago. The Bobcats are heavily favored and rightly so, but they'll need to play four quarters of good basketball to win this one.

As for the men, who knows what they'll do from week to week! I feel like most of the teams in the Big Sky are very close to each other in terms of overall talent, and that there isn't a significant gap between UNC and UM at the top and all those teams bunched up in the middle. Just get into the Top 6 and see what happens in Boise is really the goal at this point.

[SACCAT]

Here is a crazy Stat that will PROBABLY be brought up in tonight's Mens Broadcast... Since Big Sky Play started, The Big Sky is exactly 58-58 in both Men's and Womens Basketball... Same amount of losses as wins. Can't imagine there are any other conferences that are a perfect 50/50 split in Conference games...