The Bobcat Nation

Nice win by the 'Cats tonight. Up by 17 at one point. Shot a lot of free throw in the last 10 minutes. Belo looked real good and he makes his free throws (well, most of them). Nice to have a big that hits his FTs. Ended up an 8 point win. According to the announcers, if PSU wins, MSU gets the 5 seed in the tourney.

Getting a bit twitchy at the end but the Norse God came through again.

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 10:26 pm

Getting a bit twitchy at the end but the Norse God came through again.

Yea he missed 2 of 3 FTs when he was fouled on a 3 pointer just a few minutes before that, but he made up for it!

PSU leads by 10 with 9:16 to go. UNC won in Missoula tonight, so EWU can win the outright title with a win over Weber Saturday.

PSU is going to beat NAU so...we've earned ourselves a first round bye! And a matchup against the league's hottest team. But finishing in the upper half of the league in Sprinkle's first year is an amazing accomplishment. We're 2 games over .500 right now. So everything is aligning for the Bobcats to finish at exactly .500. It's almost too perfect.

BelgradeBobcat wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:01 pm

PSU is going to beat NAU so...we've earned ourselves a first round bye! And a matchup against the league's hottest team. But finishing in the upper half of the league in Sprinkle's first year is an amazing accomplishment. We're 2 games over .500 right now. So everything is aligning for the Bobcats to finish at exactly .500. It's almost too perfect.

Ha.

Agree though about sprinkle. Impressed with what he has been able to do with this years team.

mslacatfan wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 1:07 am

BelgradeBobcat wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:01 pm

PSU is going to beat NAU so...we've earned ourselves a first round bye! And a matchup against the league's hottest team. But finishing in the upper half of the league in Sprinkle's first year is an amazing accomplishment. We're 2 games over .500 right now. So everything is aligning for the Bobcats to finish at exactly .500. It's almost too perfect.

Ha.

Agree though about sprinkle. Impressed with what he has been able to do with this years team.

Sprink doing a great job. Really gets a lot our of the guys. When was the last time the Cats had a bye? Hope they keep up the pressure on UNC this weekend and pull the upset.

Belo played great. That guy has the potential to be really special these next 2 years. Best big guy we have had in a long, LONG time.

Agreed, Belo really demonstrated his growth as a player this season last night. Against some active bigs, he displayed his most diverse game with great patience and good timing on his contested shots. His hook shot is consistent and prevents them from overplaying his power move to the basket. Great job to Haslam and the other coaches.

I watched the 2nd halves of both the Cats and griz game and both were entertaining down the stretch. We almost blew a 17 point lead in the 2nd half but made for some excitement down the stretch. Went something like 10 minutes with a single field goal. It was ugly for sure, but in the end it was a dub.

The griz were just the opposite. Down 16 points with less than 3 minutes left and fans were leaving in droves. In a blink of an eye they cut it to 6 with a great full-court press and big buckets. Even got a great look to make it a one possession game under a minute and just missed a three. I thought both teams showed a ton of heart late.

The BSC tourney is always entertaining but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see another Northern Colorado-griz matchup in the chipper. Should be fun next week.

I only watched the 2nd half. Offensively pretty ugly, but I love how this group grinds. They play hard, they defend, and they don't hurt themselves at the free throw line. If Sprinks can get a couple of dynamic offensive players to mix in, this team can overcome the lost of Frey and get better. Normally you'd think losing a guy like that would set a team back a lot, but I like the trajectory even after he's gone.

ilovethecats wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:57 am

The BSC tourney is always entertaining but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see another Northern Colorado-griz matchup in the chipper. Should be fun next week.

I expect this matchup too, but it will likely come in the semifinals. EWU now has a one game lead on UM and UNC and will be the 1 seed if they beat Weber at home tomorrow.

thefrank1 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:34 am

Agreed, Belo really demonstrated his growth as a player this season last night. Against some active bigs, he displayed his most diverse game with great patience and good timing on his contested shots. His hook shot is consistent and prevents them from overplaying his power move to the basket. Great job to Haslam and the other coaches.

I think we have been able to overcome Adamu's absence because we have had no choice but to go to Belo over and over again in these last two wins. They never stopped him. Sometimes he missed, but he usually scored or got fouled. He had at least two of their bigs in foul trouble. In this day and age, teams have forgotten to get their bigs involved offensively. Belo can't go get his own shot, the team has to get him the ball in a position to score. A lot of those possessions would have been Adamu driving to the hoop instead of methodically getting it to Belo on the low block. If Belo stays out of foul trouble he goes for 30 last night.

Their second half press was a good tune-up for Portland State-who presses the whole game. It didn't always go so well. Kirby can actually handle the ball pretty well. The problem is, he has no idea what to do with it. Time and time again he got it over the half line and even to the free throw line extended where he'd pick up his dribble under light or no pressure and turn away from the basket looking for Frey who had two guys draped all over him, while there was a path as wide as the parted Red Sea between him and the basket. The coaches need to work on this in practice with Kirby and Fernandez who was in the same situation. The key is to not get sped up, but keep your dribble and look to attack. The idea of the point forward used all over the NBA and Europe hasn't reached the college game. Sprinkle needs to innovate so teams pay for trying to take Frey out of the game.

CelticCat wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 10:28 pm

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 10:26 pm

Getting a bit twitchy at the end but the Norse God came through again.

Yea he missed 2 of 3 FTs when he was fouled on a 3 pointer just a few minutes before that, but he made up for it!

"Frey down to 4 seconds to shoot...he'll throw one up from the logo......IT"S GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!"

MSU01 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 10:50 am

ilovethecats wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:57 am

The BSC tourney is always entertaining but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see another Northern Colorado-griz matchup in the chipper. Should be fun next week.

I expect this matchup too, but it will likely come in the semifinals. EWU now has a one game lead on UM and UNC and will be the 1 seed if they beat Weber at home tomorrow.

Ah yes, that's a good point. EWU is playing great right now too so that seems fair. I'd LOVE to see the Cats sneak in a win or two!

Catfanatic84 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:19 am

mslacatfan wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 1:07 am

BelgradeBobcat wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:01 pm

PSU is going to beat NAU so...we've earned ourselves a first round bye! And a matchup against the league's hottest team. But finishing in the upper half of the league in Sprinkle's first year is an amazing accomplishment. We're 2 games over .500 right now. So everything is aligning for the Bobcats to finish at exactly .500. It's almost too perfect.

Ha.

Agree though about sprinkle. Impressed with what he has been able to do with this years team.

Sprink doing a great job. Really gets a lot our of the guys. When was the last time the Cats had a bye? Hope they keep up the pressure on UNC this weekend and pull the upset.

I was curious so I did some digging. First, the last time we were a 5 seed was in 2011, but since there were only 9 teams in the league at the time, that did not warrant a bye (we lost to #4 NAU by 3). So only the #1 and #2 seeds received byes at this point. But the last time the Cats had a bye in the tournament was 2005, where we got bounced in the first game by, you guessed, the Griz.

So Sprinkle already has us in a spot we haven't been in 15 years, a bye in the tournament, and the first 5 seed we've had since 2011.

Really an impressive job to get this group of kids to play at a fairly high level. Laid an egg a few times on the road but have been competitive throughout a difficult non-conference and conference schedule. Very happy for Danny and looking forward to what he can build here. I'm going to miss this men's and women's season a lot!

I got into the game when they were up 15 and felt great. Was figuring, great win BOBCATS. And then it seems as if whoever was running the clock was turning it back... That was a very long, what was it, 10-12 minutes. The CATS really dug in and pulled out a great win. My heart can't take too many of those.

GRIT!!!

GOOOOOO BOBCATS