Bobcat vs. Lumberjack Basketball

[BobcatDel]

Getting started on our game day thread.

WBB Scouting….NAU

Sorry a bit long winded again but for those interested in a bit of pre-game perspective on the WBB game today.

In a separate thread I predicted Idaho, Idaho State and Northern Arizona University to be the top 3 women’s teams in the conference with NAU winning it. So far Idaho State is dominating the conference at 8-0 with the league leading tough tough defense, I don’t think they will be stopped and should carry the season. Idaho is second at 6-2. NAU may still get back to 3rd and may sneak into second if Idaho loses a few games and NAU finishes the season strong.

So what happened to my NAU prediction??? NAU sets at 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the Big Sky. NAU swept both games from Eastern Washington, split with Idaho, split with Montana and were swept by Idaho State. Coached by Loree Payne from Havre and team on the right track improving every year. What’s going on here?

I liked NAU because last year they started no seniors and were tough to beat. Four of the junior starters were recognized in the post season awards so they looked to be very strong this season. A bit of tough luck story for NAU as they lost four of their starters before the first whistle for the new season. Radford, Big Sky Newcomer of the Year, was injured and hasn’t played any with currently no announced timetable to return. Orndoff, one of their best shooters, opted out of the season. Orndoff has a great story if you don’t know it, nice kid, suffered a collapsed lung in 2018-19 season, required surgery and recovered enough to earn a starting role last year…. but due to her past lung challenges she wisely opted out of season for Covid reasons. Malvar, Big Sky Honorable Mention, has also elected to opt out of the season. Bailey, Big Sky Second team, has been performing well in double figures. But a huge loss has been Rasheed, Big Sky First team and pre-season MVP selection. Rasheed was injured and didn’t play their first 7 games. She is working back into the line-up over the last 5 games and averaged about 18 minutes in games against Montana last week...…obviously she will be a force by season’s end….lets hope she doesn’t decide to dominate the games this weekend against MSU.

Even with all of the above turnmoil, NAU leads the league in offense, averaging over 73 PPG. They have 6 players averaging in double figures. Rodabaugh, has stepped up as a sophomore, to average 14 PPG. Nakai at 18 PPG is leading the team, she is a Darian White look alike at 5’7” and a bit more of a 3 point shooter than White. Nakai is a transfer from Reno and has been allowed to play with no year sitting out, go figure. Someone needs to tell me how the NCAA makes a decision like this where Nakai gets to suit up but our transfers have to sit a year….Oh well… just whining.

Tough weekend ahead for the Lady Cats if they can’t play defense and don’t turn up the offense a notch. Good challenge for a young team. Go Cats!

[Colter_Nuanez]

[BobcatDel]

Men up 31 to 26 at half.

I do like this announcer. I haven’t seen all games but he is most entertaining I have heard this year. Knows the Bobcat players pretty well.

[mslacatfan]

Lookin good so far!

Agreed, the announcer is great.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Men up 31-26 at the half. Belo sat the last 5 or 6 minutes with 2 fouls-got called for a cheap one 30 feet from the basket on a screen. Good minutes from Kirby inside. Felt like we had some opportunities to really stretch it out but would be stymied by a turnover. Good game so far.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Men up 31 to 26 at half.

I do like this announcer. I haven’t seen all games but he is most entertaining I have heard this year. Knows the Bobcat players pretty well.

Mitch Strohman is the best announcer in the Big Sky by a long ways in my opinion. NAU is lucky to have him.

[Joe Bobcat]

Yeah that announcer is real good. I'd bet that he cut his game calling teeth as a radio announcer.

Here are the names of tonight's officials: Doug Sturdivan, Brent Watts, Michael Cheatham
That last guys last name is unfortunate to have as a referee.

Come on Cats you can win this.

[BobcatDel]

MSU up 16-10 At Q1.

Playing pretty fair D. But NAU a bit out of sorts and not shooting well...they are out-rebounding Cats by substantial margin.

Madison Jackson got a couple minutes on the floor! Nice to see her back.

[BobcatDel]

MSU WBB up at half 35-22.

Maddi got a few more minutes in Q2.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Men get another nice win. Just like the PSU games-it was close most of the way but we stretched it out at the end. This team has been very efficient at the end of games. I think they learned their lesson against the Portland Pilots where they kinda blew it at the end. Bishop and Belo are a great combo. When you have the best point guard and best big on the court it's tough to beat.

Whenever I looked in on the women's game I saw Ava Ranson hitting a three! Also very happy to see Madison Jackson on the court.

[BobcatDel]

Distracted by two games but what I saw of Womens game they were playing pretty fair D. Holding NAU under season average so far. Getting in passing lanes. Several excellent steals. Got outrebounded 16-12. Standing around a few times on offense but then other times looked like a mature juggernaut team. Keep it up!

[BobcatDel]

NAU turned ball over 16 times in H1. Will be key to game if can keep that up.

NAU plays fast on transition...so if we can keep them from getting hot we will be OK.

[Cataholic]

I heard an NAU men’s player enter the game from Lolo, MT. I was intrigued so I did a little research. Pretty cool story. Kudos to the kid for pursuing his dream!

https://nauathletics.com/news/2020/9/29 ... dream.aspx

[mslacatfan]

Another nice win! This team is solid!

[BobcatDel]

Ladies up 56-36

Ranson knocks down 4th trey and Maddi gets her first 2!

Really outplaying NAU.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Darian White has the floater working a little bit, Ranson has four threes, Martell is scoring twos, and Limardo is doing a bit of everything. Oh yeah, Madison Jackson gets bucket. Up 20 after three. Looking quite good so far.

[MSU01]

Getting started on our game day thread.

WBB Scouting….NAU

Sorry a bit long winded again but for those interested in a bit of pre-game perspective on the WBB game today.

Thanks for the great writeup on the NAU women, I was very surprised by their slow start but that certainly explains it. Pretty brutal luck for them, they gave MSU everything they could handle at the end of last season and had pretty much everyone coming back this year.

[BobcatDel]

Getting started on our game day thread.

WBB Scouting….NAU

Sorry a bit long winded again but for those interested in a bit of pre-game perspective on the WBB game today.

Thanks for the great writeup on the NAU women, I was very surprised by their slow start but that certainly explains it. Pretty brutal luck for them, they gave MSU everything they could handle at the end of last season and had pretty much everyone coming back this year.

Thanks. They aren’t even close to the same team as last year based on their play tonight.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Women win 79-56. Really nice win. I really feel like this team is just scratching the surface.

[BobcatDel]

Nice win 79-56. Giving credit where it is due....the Bobcat ladies held the leading scoring team in the conference 17 points under their season average. A lot of forced turnovers. Another player stepped, Ranson. Good team effort by everyone.

Looking forward to see it again tomorrow.