The Bobcat Nation

Well we all know how this season is going. We're either going to back into the Big Sky tournament only to lose our first game (probably by a wide margin) or we'll be sitting at home with Idaho State and Portland State. Could it have been different. Is this season's disaster truly not Huse's fault?

What if Shawn Reid didn't leave us in a lurch after last season? He was starting to become a pretty decent player, but he was also inconsistent. It looks like he's at Seattle Pacific now but only averaging 3 points per game. He hasn't played in many games so I don't know if he was hurt or something or if just isn't getting minutes. SPU is a highly ranked D-2 team (which mean they would probably easily beat us).

What if Mohammed Fall wasn't ruled ineligible by the NCAA for what looked like pretty minor violation two years ago. Fall is now at D-2 Cal Poly Pomona who just won their conference regular season title. Fall is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds per game in 20 minutes per game.

What if Tre Johnson didn't decide to supplement his scholarship by breaking into cars in Bozeman. Johnson, like Reid was inconsistent. He was very athletic and was developing an elbow jumper.

If those guys had stayed I'm guessing we don't have Calen Coleman, Paul Egwuonwu, and Eric Norman.

Coleman has had his moments, but I think Reid was a better player. Egwuonwu if vastly more skilled offensively than Fall, but isn't as physically imposing. But if Egwuonwu stays for one more year (always a big if when talking about Bobcat basketball) he will be a pretty good player for us.

Eric Norman gets a minute or two a game. He needs to be locked in the weight room.

Oh who am I kidding...even with the former guys instead of the new guys we probably have a good record in the first half of the conference and lose most of our games in the second half...because that's what always happens no matter who's on our roster.

Okay one correction. It looks like we signed Egwuonwu before was lost Fall. So what if we had both of them this season? We probably don't have Flavian Davis in that senario. Davis like Egwuonwu has some potential if we can keep him for both years (again always a big if when talking about MSU basketball).

BelgradeBobcat wrote:Well we all know how this season is going. We're either going to back into the Big Sky tournament only to lose our first game (probably by a wide margin) or we'll be sitting at home with Idaho State and Portland State. Could it have been different. Is this season's disaster truly not Huse's fault?

What if Shawn Reid didn't leave us in a lurch after last season? He was starting to become a pretty decent player, but he was also inconsistent. It looks like he's at Seattle Pacific now but only averaging 3 points per game. He hasn't played in many games so I don't know if he was hurt or something or if just isn't getting minutes. SPU is a highly ranked D-2 team (which mean they would probably easily beat us).

What if Mohammed Fall wasn't ruled ineligible by the NCAA for what looked like pretty minor violation two years ago. Fall is now at D-2 Cal Poly Pomona who just won their conference regular season title. Fall is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds per game in 20 minutes per game.What if Tre Johnson didn't decide to supplement his scholarship by breaking into cars in Bozeman. Johnson, like Reid was inconsistent. He was very athletic and was developing an elbow jumper.

If those guys had stayed I'm guessing we don't have Calen Coleman, Paul Egwuonwu, and Eric Norman.

Coleman has had his moments, but I think Reid was a better player. Egwuonwu if vastly more skilled offensively than Fall, but isn't as physically imposing. But if Egwuonwu stays for one more year (always a big if when talking about Bobcat basketball) he will be a pretty good player for us.

Eric Norman gets a minute or two a game. He needs to be locked in the weight room.

Oh who am I kidding...even with the former guys instead of the new guys we probably have a good record in the first half of the conference and lose most of our games in the second half...because that's what always happens no matter who's on our roster.

My first thought after reading your post was that if neither Reid nor Fall are exactly lighting it up for D-II schools, then that might tell us something about the level of talent (or lack thereof) that Huse has been able to bring into the program. My other thought is that it's two prime examples of the personnel turnover issue that has been perhaps the primary negative feature associated with Huse's tenure.

I covered the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for two seasons and covered two Division II national tournaments. I've seen Cal Poly Pomona and Seattle Pacific play. The top teams in the GNAC — SPU, Western Washington, Central Washington — could compete in the Big Sky. They wouldn't be on Montana or Weber's level, but they'd be right in the middle of the pack.

My second season covering Central Washington, that CWU team along with Western Washington could have beaten seven of the 11 teams in the Big Sky in a seven-game series.

It's a lot easier to recruit to those schools from metro areas. All the CWU kids were Seattle kids and Ellensburg is just an hour and a half from the Emerald City.

When I was at the SHSU playoff game I ran into a highly respected X-Bobcat Basketball player and I asked him his perspective as to why Huse has not performed well. He said Huse is one of the best when it comes to X's and O's. He said Huse has a very small network when it comes to HS and JC coaches and therefore struggles to recruit. I don't know about the X's and O's but the talent level has just not been present since Huse took over!!