The Bobcat Nation

Since we have a short dead period before the tourney gets going, I thought I'd mention the status of ex-Bobcats Shea Washington and Jeff Williams for anyone who is interested. I know my good buddy Mslacat is!! I'll try to be brief. These guys led Southern Ore. to a 2nd place regular season finish in the Cascade Collegiate Conf. and then won the tourney championship to qualify for the NAIA Div. II national tourney to be held in Point Lookout, Missouri (near Branson) next week. Their team is 20-9. Shea is averaging 20 pt. and 10 reebs, both team highs. Williams is 10/7. They are only the #8 seed out of 32 teams. If they win 3 games and make it to the semis, they could play my son's team (if they win 3 games also), Concordia Univ. - Neb., who is the #4 seed at 28-5. This is why I'm following all this, of course. No question....it is a travesty that Shea didn't stay with the Cats and play NCAA Div. I. Probably Williams too for that matter. One interesting side note.....Sou. Ore. along with conf. rival Ore. Tech are state schools, whereas many of the schools at this level are small private/Bible colleges. It'll be interesting to see what the competitive differences are.

Those are good stats for Shea, but this is NAIA Div II he's playing. The Frontier Conf. is NAIA Div I and fomer Cat Bo Segeberg is at 18.9 (3rd) and 8.9 (1st) and leads league in blocked shots at Western. Matt Luedtke, former Griz, leads the league at 22.8.

iaafan wrote:Those are good stats for Shea, but this is NAIA Div II he's playing. The Frontier Conf. is NAIA Div I and fomer Cat Bo Segeberg is at 18.9 (3rd) and 8.9 (1st) and leads league in blocked shots at Western. Matt Luedtke, former Griz, leads the league at 22.8.

The important thing is the kid is happy.

I don't know that Shea Washington was going to be anything great for MSU. Not saying he wasn't, but I don't think his numbers (based on comparing them to Segeberg and Leudtke) this year say that MSU blew it on this one.

iaafan wrote:I don't know that Shea Washington was going to be anything great for MSU. Not saying he wasn't, but I don't think his numbers (based on comparing them to Segeberg and Leudtke) this year say that MSU blew it on this one.

Trust me, Shea was a special player. He would have been an awesome player for the Cats. I still cringe every time I hear his name just thinking, "what if..." He reminded me of a player like Seamus Boxley in build, but with an outside jumper. It would have been fun to watch him and Jason Erickson play together during Jason's senior year - oh well, too bad. His loss, I guess. I hope he's happy hanging out with his buddies in Oregon playing NAIA ball.

I'll take your word for it, but Shea must be underacheiving in Oregon or his coach is overlooking his skills, because Boxley has about the same numbers in the Big Sky that Shea has at an NAIA school. Something's missing, probably what's left of my pea brain.

iaafan wrote:Those are good stats for Shea, but this is NAIA Div II he's playing. The Frontier Conf. is NAIA Div I and fomer Cat Bo Segeberg is at 18.9 (3rd) and 8.9 (1st) and leads league in blocked shots at Western. Matt Luedtke, former Griz, leads the league at 22.8.

Funny that you should mention this......Concordia played Montana-Western at the Grand Canyon College Tourney in Dec. At the time Western was 8th ranked in NAIA Div. I. There is not that much difference between Div. I and II in NAIA. Why? Concordia beat them by 18 points, emptying the bench.

I would also agree that Shea is probably underachieving at this level.

BozoneCat wrote:Trust me, Shea was a special player. He would have been an awesome player for the Cats. I still cringe every time I hear his name just thinking, "what if..." He reminded me of a player like Seamus Boxley in build, but with an outside jumper. It would have been fun to watch him and Jason Erickson play together during Jason's senior year - oh well, too bad. His loss, I guess. I hope he's happy hanging out with his buddies in Oregon playing NAIA ball.

I read somewhere that Shea left the team for "personal reasons." I don't think he wanted to be here.

I agree that he was (and is) a special player, and that he could have helped us immensely last year and this year.... my $0.02

grizzh8r wrote:

BozoneCat wrote:Trust me, Shea was a special player. He would have been an awesome player for the Cats. I still cringe every time I hear his name just thinking, "what if..." He reminded me of a player like Seamus Boxley in build, but with an outside jumper. It would have been fun to watch him and Jason Erickson play together during Jason's senior year - oh well, too bad. His loss, I guess. I hope he's happy hanging out with his buddies in Oregon playing NAIA ball.

I read somewhere that Shea left the team for "personal reasons." I don't think he wanted to be here.

That's what I was alluding to in my last sentence...