The Bobcat Nation

Well I know the subject of this could even strike a sore spot, but....

I have to congratulate the Cats on their season. They kicked some major Big Sky butt, especially at Worthington. They obviously don't graduate many starters so it should be the Treasure State at the top of the conference again next year.

Not trying to rub this in (okay, maybe I am a little ) but I hope you guys got a chance to watch championship game on the Deuce tonight. It went down to the wire, UM turned things around in the second half and avoided a near complete comeback by Weber. It was an awesome game and I only wish more people had come out to the Rose Garden....I did see quite a few maroon shirts there though..

Congrats on an awesome season -- Hopefully we'll represent the Big Sky well.

Big Sky tournament champs.....PSU is the actual BSC champs.

wbtfg wrote:Big Sky tournament champs.....PSU is the actual BSC champs.

Correct.

Here is to the frizzlies having to play Illinois next and getting beat by 40+, or better yet having to go to Dayton as the "play in" game.

CatfaninGA wrote:Here is to the frizzlies having to play Illinois next and getting beat by 40+, or better yet having to go to Dayton as the "play in" game.

I'll raise a beer to that! Good luck getting in. The griz will need to go and play somebody else just to get into the game.

CatfaninGA wrote:Here is to the frizzlies having to play Illinois next and getting beat by 40+, or better yet having to go to Dayton as the "play in" game.

I think it's a crime to bring the BSC into question, and disrespectful. The NCAA has granted us an AUTO-BID, that means if you win, you are automatically in. To even think about making the winner, regardless of RPI, have to play another game is just disrespecting the Sky and all of its past basketball tradition.

I do not see Montana in the play in game. Oakland is a shoo in for the game, and Montana has an rpi around 50 better than anyone in the SWAC. The Griz very may very well play Illinois though.

Nick wrote:....I did see quite a few maroon shirts there though.

Are you sure that you were not just seeing maroon seats? I watch the game and it look like there was only cheerleaders and the coaching staff present. The broadcasters even commented on the lack of fan support for the game in Portland.

mquast53000 wrote:

Nick wrote:....I did see quite a few maroon shirts there though.

Are you sure that you were not just seeing maroon seats? I watch the game and it look like there was only cheerleaders and the coaching staff present. The broadcasters even commented on the lack of fan support for the game in Portland.

I counted 3.

Seriously, the tournament format needs to be changed. It's a shame a national audience had to see the lack of support for BSC basketball. Why play ONLY the first round at home sites. Take an extra day for travel and have the games played at the home sight of the lowest seed. Last night's game would have been in front of a packed house. I would think the 6000 extra ticket sales would offset the extra travel costs.

Any of the teams in the BSC for their home tournament championship game could at least draw 2000 and make it look almost respectable. If it were in Bozeman, I'm sure it would draw the best crowd in the Sky, probably upwards of 6000, and in Missoula I'm guessing between 4-5k. But at the very least any of the other schools would at least have more fans at the game than there was last night, that was pathetic to see on national TV.

Alot of confernces play their tourney at a neutral sight each year. Example, the MWC plays at the Pepsi center in Denver each year. They always draw well.
Where could the Big Sky host that would "central" or draw well??? Spokane maybe??

Kudos to them Griz for a job well done. They have finished off the season well, and will be a force next year, as well as the Cats.

Good luck in the tourney where ever they land. A decent showing for the Big Sky would be nice.

METRA, in Billings would be a great venue.

Robcat wrote:METRA, in Billings would be a great venue.

Except it is outside of the geography of the conference, and can't even draw all that well for MSU/Wyoming games. If it was in Montana, I think Bozeman or Missoula would draw much better and wouldn't be as far away from the rest of the schools.

Now if the conference shifted to get rid of the West Coast schools and brought in the Dakotas, then Billings would be perfect.

i think bozeman or missoula as well, the biggest reason being lack of competition! people in UT, AZ, WA, and OR are just hours away (at most) from major college bball and NBA. ID is at least close to salt lake and/or portland, plus has BSU. hate to admit it, but good ol' MT has jack to compete with the BSC tourney!

At least if it was in Montana I would go. And I agree with other posters, if we knew in advance, ie the season before, we could make plans in advance to attend. Oh well.

I don't think the neutral site would work - people outside of these boards would just don't care about Big Sky basketball (even a lot of people on here and EGriz don't care). As for Bozeman or Missoula imagine how upset people would be if Montana was the 6th seed, MSU won the conference and the tournament was in Missoula.

I think there are 3 possible solutions:
1) host the site in a neutral site in conjunction with another conference. For example if the tournament was held in Salt Lake or Seattle in conjunction with the West Coast Conference or possibly the Big West there might be enough combined interest to draw fans. It might be enough interest to the ESPN as well to have 2 championship games back to back that they might move the tournament back to a weekend date.

2) Forget about TV, and just move the tournament back to a weekend. If last nights game had been held on a weekend instead of Wednesday there probably would have been a couple thousand more fans there due to travel/work time constraints.

3) Add schools in cities that care about the conference, and get rid of schools that don't. If the tournament had been held in Fargo or Brookings there would have been a few thousand more people there even if NDSU or SDSU wasn't in the championship game, just out of pride in the their city and programs, similar to Montana and MSU. People in Portland, Sacramento, and Greeley (Denver) just don't and won't care about the Big Sky, and an ESPN2 game is small potato with no novelty value in those cities.

I don't know how or why we continue with the fantasy that the PSU or SAC markets are good fits for the Big Sky. But again, all I do is get upset and then I realize I'm pissing and moaning about so many things beyond my control Glad to see the individual I so firmly believe brought the Cat program to the verge of existence continue to fight for the west coast schools we've got nothing in common with was the Commissioner of the Year

Very nice win by the griz. Big kudos to Larry for not giving up on the players at mid-season, and for the players to figure out that Coach knows more than they do about how to play the game.

I definitely think that the team that was playing the best BB down the stretch won last night.

Montana probably won't play Illinois as Illinois should be the overall #1 seed in the tourney which gives them the winner of Oakland and a SWAC school......as much as I love my Griz, seriously what the hell is the point of even allowing a BSC team into the tourney? We know the BSC traditionaly will be a 15 or 16 seed and every full moon Weber will make some noise......I am looking forward to a 34 point loss to North Carolina.

I was listening to espn radio last night and the dude said something to the effect that the turnout for the championship game was terrible and why don't they have it somewhere that can draw some fans. The game is an infomercial for your conf. since it is on espn.

If I was a recruit of an big sky school I might think twice about my options after seeing how little interest there was in that game.