The Bobcat Nation

Can’t tell if Tuesday’s game is an exhibition game or not. Carroll’s website says it is and MSU’s doesn’t. Also, I can’t find if there will be any video available. I’m very excited for this season getting underway. Binford has loaded this team with talent and it will be interesting how she mixes and matches the playing time. Specifically, how will Tori Tori Tori’s position be filled? Will one player ultimately take the reins or will there be an ongoing rotation.

Carroll has two Helena High state champions, Jamie Pickens (transferred from the Grizzlies) and Kamden Hillborn (transferred from the Cats) on their team. Of course I hope for a solid Cat win, but I also hope that Hilborn has a great game. I thought she kinda got a raw deal in her one year with the Cats.

I see this will be Carroll’s 5th game of season already and I can’t answer why Carroll is calling it an exhibition and Bobcats say it is start of regular season…??

I too enjoyed watching Kamden during her year here and thought she brought good energy on the floor. Both her and the Fitzgerald girl from Dillon were a bit raw but I was hoping at least Kamden would develop into a key role. I too kinda felt bummed with how her departure went down after that 2018-19 season.

But then I look at the 2019-20 Bobcats who went 19-1 to win the conference and if Covid hadn’t struck would have went to NCAA if Big Sky tourney championship game had not been canceled. And I look at that roster and ask myself who would Kamden have replaced and would she have seen much time on the court. Then I look at the 2020-21 Bobcats who finished 2nd in the conference with an all world shooting guard and all world defensive player and the best crew of freshmen players I have seen and I ask myself again….would Kamden have seen the court much.

I don’t know. Guess I have to trust Coach Bin on this one and looking back now, I believe it was the right move as she is now a key contributor on Carroll team. I hope she plays well tomorrow but looking for another Cat victory.

If I remember right teams can independently choose which games they consider exhibition and which are "counters" in the non-conference. I'm sure there are some other stipulations on which ones can/can't be or maybe a timeframe in which exhibition must occur but within that I think it is up to each team how they classify the game.

Opps, thread title should be WBB vs Carroll

Looks like ESPN+ has it live

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:24 pm

Looks like ESPN+ has it live

Everyone, remember to check the ESPN+ schedule directly. For some reason MSU’s schedule isn’t bothering to show ESPN+. Odd. Games on! First missed layups of the year. Darian commits the first foul of the year. We’re down 3-0. We’ll be fine!

Man, Hein is going to be a problem! Good rebounding instincts for sure. Certainly raw but how about that first quarter!

Nice little 15-0 run there at the end of the quarter to go from 14-8 down to 23-14 up. Hein is dominating the paint.

Ahhh… some ugly runs there. Certainly the start of the season. They’ll figure it out. Carroll hit some tough shots for sure

Only up 3 at the half. Carroll has a few D-1 caliber players and they're playing well. We just need to get somebody going. Deden is looking like she might.
I would like to be a charter member of the Lindsay Hein fan club. She is a force!

Carroll is showing why they are picked 1st in the Frontier and look like they have 5 games under their belt. MSU surely has the talent but not synching as a team yet. I'm confident coach Bin will have them playing better this second half.

Carroll has Jamie Pickens who has no business playing in the Frontier. She'd be starting for UM and probably be their leading scorer/rebounder. They have a lot of good players. Kamden Hilborn is a good defensive player. Wagner and Denny are really good. A bunch of them came back for extra Covid year.

MSU has only made one shot since I tuned in.

TomCat88 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:16 pm

Carroll has Jamie Pickens who has no business playing in the Frontier. She'd be starting for UM and probably be their leading scorer/rebounder. They have a lot of good players. Kamden Hilborn is a good defensive player. Wagner and Denny are really good. A bunch of them came back for extra Covid year.

Cats win 69-60. To my eye Carroll had more talent on its roster than the bottom half of the Big Sky Conference did last year.

One would've maybe thought that the lady Cats should've won by a much larger margin but Carroll is legit at least. It was a typical first game rough around the edges but at their core this team is solid good and deep, plus they are clearly a full step ahead of the very good team they were last year. You could see growth and development from all the returners and freshmen looked to be game ready. It's obviously early and haven't seen the rest of the conference but Lindsey Hein could easily be in the conversation for freshman of the year.

Carroll has a very good team and should easily win the Frontier Conf and be in contention nationally. They played very well and hit lots of threes. The Cats did not shoot well at all, so hopefully that improves quickly. If we shoot better, we will be very tough to beat.

Lindsay Hein totally outplayed Jamie Pickens, who I agree is a Big Sky conference level player. That was exciting to see and bodes very well for the future. On the other hand, our other freshman who started, Mia Hughes, really struggled. I am not sure why Lexi Deden is not starting over her. Lexi gives us a bit more height and at least through one game is much better offensively. But Coach Bin sees them every day and I certainly trust her, so I hope Mia just had 1st game jitters.

I’ve been following Lindsey since she’s from my family’s home country. The part of her stat line that most impressed me was 27 minutes, 1 foul, 0 turnovers. If she can continue to control those, then she can stay in games where her size would be an advantage.

Amazing similarity from these two today:

Limardo: 16 pts, 7 reb, 3 assists, 1 foul, 3 blocks, 27 min.
Hein: 16 pts, 7 reb, 3 assists, 1 foul, 2 blocks, 27 min.

Stars of the game.

Every year it has taken a few games to get coach Bins motion offense going. I was hoping with all the returning players they could pick up where they left off last year. Looks like it will take some time this year also. With Gonzaga this Thursday, lets hope this game provided valuable experience.

MSU has too many bigs to not be dominant down low. I look forward to lots of ball movement, getting the bigs in good position, and feeding them the ball.

HelenaCat wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 09, 2021 3:54 pm

Carroll has a very good team and should easily win the Frontier Conf and be in contention nationally. They played very well and hit lots of threes. The Cats did not shoot well at all, so hopefully that improves quickly. If we shoot better, we will be very tough to beat.

Lindsay Hein totally outplayed Jamie Pickens, who I agree is a Big Sky conference level player. That was exciting to see and bodes very well for the future. On the other hand, our other freshman who started, Mia Hughes, really struggled. I am not sure why Lexi Deden is not starting over her. Lexi gives us a bit more height and at least through one game is much better offensively. But Coach Bin sees them every day and I certainly trust her, so I hope Mia just had 1st game jitters.

My guess is Binford was playing mad scientist with her lineups today. Everything looked pretty experimental.
Despite Carroll's barrage of threes, they still only scored 60 points. Our size was very evident. On defense we lost their three point shooters time and time again-that won't happen in conference where our opponents are much better scouted.

Strange game. Lineup makes you scratch your head. 2nd string would probably beat the first string in a pick up game. Gabby didn’t get a minute……. Starting Hughes over Lexi? Bad Bear seems to be foul prone…….. would be better coming off the bench. Limbardo coming off the bench? The new big played even better than advertised. Gonzaga is going to be interesting.