The Bobcat Nation

So this is a pretty weird situation. Both teams are locked into their positions for the conference tournament. PSU is 4th and MSU is 5th-no matter what happens today. So we will play PSU in Boise on Tuesday. So from a standings standpoint today's game is meaningless. How will the respective coaches handle it? My guess is both benches are going to get some big minutes.

Interesting. This kind of weird scenario always seems to pop up around tournament time. Go Cats!

Where is Kuderer?

why wasn't shaide taken out so the crowd could show its appreciation for years of hard work for her team like every other coach always does?

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2019 3:25 pm

Where is Kuderer?

Sick, but looks like she'll be fine by tournament time.

bobcat2651 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2019 4:45 pm

why wasn't shaide taken out so the crowd could show its appreciation for years of hard work for her team like every other coach always does?

MAYBE ?? because it was senior night and she already got huge applause at the beginning of the game; and leaving her in allowed for more minutes for her.

I understand the comments about this game being "meaningless" but that really rings hollow to me.
Today's game was the last home game of the year. We were playing a team that had barely beaten us
earlier in the season, and a darn good team at that: a record of 21-6 overall. So if you are a player,
wouldn't you be fired up? PSU's players certainly were. They played with fire and vigor. We played like
the entire team had the flu. It goes back to the same old issue I have had with the Lady Cats all year:
1. The terrible inconsistency. 2. The constant subbing. We weren't even two minutes into the game,
and here we go with players going out and in before a single bead of sweat has formed.

So on to another topic: Are you fired up to go all the way to Boise to see the MSU team that played today
play the PSU team that we saw today? I know the travel arrangements are very difficult, but dang I wish
the Big Sky would go back to letting the regular season champ host the tournament. At least that would
provide a great incentive for winning the regular season championship. I went to Reno once. I really
thought the folks there did a great job putting the tournament on. The only problem was, no one in Reno
gave a toot about watching any of our Big Sky teams. It was a funeral parlor.

I have a feeling that Boise is going to have the same dead atmosphere. And the MSU Lady Cats and the
coaching staff did very little to motivate fans to pack their bags to make the trip.

Big first quarter. 23 to 22 cats. Pluto is basically frozen but got audio.

When they took Oly out, VanSickle turned the ball over at least three times, and PSU took an 8 point lead. That may be all she wrote. We can't go inside, and their zone is smothering our outside shots. We kept up the first half with Oly hitting 4 threes, but everyone has gone cold except Oly, and she can't keep the rest from turning the ball over!

I don't think they (MSU) played as smart as they could, but PSU is just too big. I feel that they (PSU) haven't always played to their strength because if they did they could beat anyone in this league anytime with that size.

The gals have made terrible passes today .
The refs do not know that three seconds in the lane is illegal.

This team is hard to watch.

For the better eye fans than I, what is so special about Halle Wright whereby she plays all the time, including at guard early on in the season??? I don’t see it.
If only Hillborn could shoot. I’d play her over Van Sickle and maybe Martel all day every day. If I am wrong, please tell me why.

Bad passing, bad officiating, bad coaching. bad turnovers forcing ball in because of no plays being run. Cat women go down.
Why does coach not call time outs like others to stop runs? Why do we stand around on offense and never seem to run a play?
Why do we stay in a soft zone when it is not working.
Bad loss.

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:12 pm

For the better eye fans than I, what is so special about Halle Wright whereby she plays all the time, including at guard early on in the season??? I don’t see it.
If only Hillborn could shoot. I’d play her over Van Sickle and maybe Martel all day every day. If I am wrong, please tell me why.

Wright plays because she is strong with the ball, 6'-0" and can drive it against most defensive players. She has to work on her shot but she can take it inside and match up physically. Hilborn is a good defensive player and a good distributor, but she doesn't have confidence in her offense yet.

Martell came out of high school as a three point ace. I think they leave her in, hoping she gets hot. She actually did this year....about twice! I don't see where VanSickle has anything over Hilborn except height. To me VanSickle hasn't shown anything this year. Today she was a liability.

Helcat72 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:26 pm

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:12 pm

For the better eye fans than I, what is so special about Halle Wright whereby she plays all the time, including at guard early on in the season??? I don’t see it.
If only Hillborn could shoot. I’d play her over Van Sickle and maybe Martel all day every day. If I am wrong, please tell me why.

Wright plays because she is strong with the ball, 6'-0" and can drive it against most defensive players. She has to work on her shot but she can take it inside and match up physically. Hilborn is a good defensive player and a good distributor, but she doesn't have confidence in her offense yet.

Martell came out of high school as a three point ace. I think they leave her in, hoping she gets hot. She actually did this year....about twice! I don't see where VanSickle has anything over Hilborn except height. To me VanSickle hasn't shown anything this year. Today she was a liability.

OK, Wright can't shoot either (inside, outside or free throws) but Binford plays her all the time. Hillborn will never get confidence unless she plays. I guess I am preaching to the choir.

Joe Bobcat wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:03 pm

The refs do not know that three seconds in the lane is illegal.

That and a lot of other rules. When I see Scofield and his crew of stripes strolling on to the court, I always get this feeling of doom. Why do we get him so often? His crew's style and our team's style do not play well together.

I won't call any players out individually. It's plain to see the team often lacks confidence.

Personnel wise, we will be good next year. Coaching and leadership wise, we will see. Binford's good teams have had at least one very strong leader on the team and a very vocal assistant coach handling the D.

3 pt, fts and TOs.... NOT a good showing today.....

Ever since PSU's Bolston, Riley, and West were sophomores MSU has struggled mightily against that zone. Even in our championship season we barely beat them at home to keep our long win streak alive. Binford has never been able to solve it. A few other teams have, but not us. So this game was a far-gone conclusion. Watch Idaho rip them apart tomorrow.

When Lundberg went down we were a team of roll players. Squires was our go-to option by default, but she'd rather facilitate. I had hopes that Martell would have a three-point shot to rival the splash sisters at Idaho, but instead she was in a season long slump. She might still get there-who knows? We have good players, but we don't have those one or two difference makers like Hommes, Ferris, and Nordgard were. But the good news is-everybody that's currently playing should be back. We'll add Fallyn Freije from North Dakota to the mix and we have Idaho's Gatorade player of the year signed, and if her knee heals Kola Bad Bear from Billings could be an all-timer. If our players work hard and each gets a little better I think we've got a chance to be really good next season.

Still-a winning season-as per routine for Binford. I will never, never, never take a winning season for granted as a Bobcat fan. Anything over .500 is a success. If only the men could ever do that.

The Women fought hard but was unable to pull out the win. We’ll be back next year and we’ll be one of the top teams in the conference. Losing Lundberg was a tough blow, but the team and Coaches fought back to win the 5th seed in the tourney. The team lost the game. Not a certain player. This is a tough sport. PSU was the better team, but I thought Binford had the right game plan. We do need to fix the turnover issue. We do need to improve our shooting and rebounding, but that’s what summer is for.
Next season we have Squires, Smith, Braxton and Kuderer coming back for their Senior season. Martell, Wright, Mocchi, Van Sickle and Hilborn will have experience and Fallen Freije will join the team. Do we need some things to get over the top? Absolutely! But look at the improvement we saw in Blair Braxton this season! Binford will have these kids in the lab all summer improving their skills. I’m confident that Martell will get her shot back and Wright is going to be an impact player. I’m disappointed that the season ended this early, but I’m excited to see these juniors grow into their senior season! We have the best returning players in the conference. The challenge is going to be how do we utilize the talent available next season!