Inevitable 2nd half slide?

[GrizinWashington]

Can't argue with you. Every coach will tell you that great players make for great coaches.

But I think where you see coaching make a difference is at the margin. Those teams who don't have the talent to compete with the top teams, but are always hanging around. I'd say you'd have to credit Huse there.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

I think where you see coaching make a difference is at the margin. Those teams who don't have the talent to compete with the top teams, but are always hanging around. I'd say you'd have to credit Huse there.

I agree with you there, but I still wouldn't be opposed to seeing the Cats replace Huse with the right guy (meaning a guy who can recruit like Tinkle).

[John K]

I think where you see coaching make a difference is at the margin. Those teams who don't have the talent to compete with the top teams, but are always hanging around. I'd say you'd have to credit Huse there.

I agree with you there, but I still wouldn't be opposed to seeing the Cats replace Huse with the right guy (meaning a guy who can recruit like Tinkle).

Whether a guy achieves success by bringing in great talent, even though he may not be the best at "x's and o's", while someone else wins because he's great at squeezing the maximum out of players with average talent, doesn't really matter. The bottom line is wins and losses, and we shouldn't be satisfied with zero wins in the BSC tourney in 11 of the past 12 seasons, or zero BSC titles in the last 15 seasons (and only one title in the past 25 seasons). And I don't know how our perennial second half slide can be explained by anything other than being out-coached. It seems pretty obvious that other teams make better adjustments during the 2nd round of conference play. How else do you explain this happening year after year after year?

[GrizinWashington]

JK,

I agree. But I think it may be a little bit of a chicken and egg question. Are the poor 2nd halves due to poor coaching, or are the successful first halves due to good coaching? Again, I just don't think MSU has had the talent to compete the last 5 or 6 years. Now, that's clearly on Huse's shoulders. But I do believe in most years his results have exceeded his team's talent level. I'd hazard a guess that what is happening is that Huse's ability to coach carries the team in the first half the year. But then as you suggest, the other coaches in the league make adjustments which allow them to catch up. I don't know that that necessarily suggests that Huse is being out-coached, though. There are a lot of great coaches in this league, and they'll find team's weaknesses. Good coaching can only cover those for so long.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Huse has had some tough luck recruiting-especially high school players. Here's some of the busts I can remember:

Austin Brown-left team after his sophomore season. Was starting to look like a promising player.

Jordan Salley-good looking power forward. Academic non-qualifier-had to leave MSU before suiting up and go to a JC.

Casey Trujeque-played quite a bit last season as a true freshman. Left team for family reasons.

Chris McCall-played as a true freshman last year-spordic minutes. Off the team due to academics.

Cody Anderson-going into his Junior season last year was slated to be the starting center. Had knee problems all season and had to retire before this season.

Tor Anderson-took Salley's scholarship. Played sparingly last season. Injured all this season-now red shirting (I think). Jury still out on this one.

Antonio Biglow-Most highly touted recruit going into this season. Some predicted he would newcomer of the year. Had some sort of qualifying issues out JC and has yet to suit up.

Jamie Stewart-Another highly touted JC recruit going into this season. Played in all the games before Christmas-now off the team due to academics.

That's a lot of misses.

[ilovethecats]

so what is the problem with this program? honestly. i have been really thinking about that this week and i just can't put my finger on it. it would be easy to blame huse, but the decline began in durhamsera so i just don't know.

why has it been 15+ years since we have won the conference?

why have the grizbasically dominated during this time?

what is so difficult about getting quality kids to bozeman?

why do we suck so bad in january and february?

why are our expectations so low for basketball? football success shouldn't lower expectations for hoops.

what needs to change? do we need to move on from huse?

along these lines, i have been hearing more and more mumblings of huse's players really not respecting him or even enjoy playing for him. normally i dismiss these rumors about coaches because athletes always seem to have a sense of entitlement and always look to blame the coach when things aren't going well. but in this case the mumblings seem to be getting louder and i'm curious if huse has lost his team? i hope not and have no direct knowledge at all. just seems that there is a lot more talk than usual in this regard and helps explain some of our shortcomings.

[catsrback76]

It's probably safe to say that Huse is not a warm fuzzy kind of guy. Not to say he is antisocial, but he is not warm on video conferences and when he communicates a compliment, it does come off as stunted at best. But really, not sure that Bobby Knight could be called a warm fuzzy either so I am not sure if that is a big requirement. But there must be a willingness to follow the coach into the fray, and if Huse is not able to get that from the players, then it really doesn't matter how well he can coach, he isn't able to inspire and that might be his biggest problem.

So, if he is not strong at recruiting, and he really isn't an inspirational coach, then he might be a great assistant but not that great as a head coach.

[John K]

Huse has had some tough luck recruiting-especially high school players. Here's some of the busts I can remember:

Austin Brown-left team after his sophomore season. Was starting to look like a promising player.

Jordan Salley-good looking power forward. Academic non-qualifier-had to leave MSU before suiting up and go to a JC.

Casey Trujeque-played quite a bit last season as a true freshman. Left team for family reasons.

Chris McCall-played as a true freshman last year-spordic minutes. Off the team due to academics.

Cody Anderson-going into his Junior season last year was slated to be the starting center. Had knee problems all season and had to retire before this season.

Tor Anderson-took Salley's scholarship. Played sparingly last season. Injured all this season-now red shirting (I think). Jury still out on this one.

Antonio Biglow-Most highly touted recruit going into this season. Some predicted he would newcomer of the year. Had some sort of qualifying issues out JC and has yet to suit up.

Jamie Stewart-Another highly touted JC recruit going into this season. Played in all the games before Christmas-now off the team due to academics.

That's a lot of misses.

That's a pretty lengthy list, but I would say that it's only partially attributable to "bad luck", i.e those that are health related. I know that no matter how thoroughly you vet potential recruits, you're going to have a few misses, but I would think that Huse's batting average should be a little better than that. It suggests to me that maybe he's becoming so desperate to build a winner, that he's taking chances on a lot of kids who are unlikely to pan out. I'm surprised that with all the emphasis on academics in the other athletic programs at MSU, that he's apparently been willing to recruit a lot of players who are marginal in that area. Perhaps it's even more surprising that he's been allowed to recruit so many kids who seem unlikely to survive academically. Again, I believe this may speak to the amount of pressure he's under (and maybe Fields as well) to improve the program.

[Hawks86]

I think he got the APR up high enough he could take some chances or he knew he couldn't wait for high school recruits to mature.

2005-6 804
2006-7 925
2007-8 981
2008-9 1000
2009-10 938

Aren't Biglow and Stewart still trying to get back on the team ? I also thought Salley was coming back when he's done at the JC ?

[Gidal Kaiser]

Aren't Biglow and Stewart still trying to get back on the team ? I also thought Salley was coming back when he's done at the JC ?

From what I've gathered, Biglow and Stewart are still in school, attempting to get grades up and maintain eligibility. Salley, no clue.

[grizzh8r]

Aaaaand it continues. I thought this team had it turned around. I should know better. They made CSUS look like Duke from the 3 point line in the first half. Yet they played zone on the last possession of the 1st half... Guess what? CSUS knocks down a 3 to seal it. Coach Huse needs to go. I'm sick and tired of the mediocrity. If only we could be sure all the current players on the roster (and new recruits) would stay if he were let go, I think they would have a good shot at a very successful season.

[aucat]

At the end of last season I sent AD Fields an email. I pointed out that our football and women's BB programs appeared to be headed in the right direction. However, in men's BB, I pointed out that in recent years Portland State, UM, Weber State and UNC had all won the conference and hosted the BSC tournament. I pointed out that UNC just got here and hey, there is no comparison between Greeley, CO and Bozeman. If you've ever been to Greeley you know it smell like a big feed lot.

The point is, if all of these BSC teams can win championships and host the BSC conference, why the heck can't MSU do it? Fields replied that Huse had done great things with the team regarding community and academics, and we are getting closer on winning but we are not there yet.

So he seemed pretty pleased with Huse. THen a few days later, an asst. coach called. Hey, I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus. I just want to see us compete for a championship. I'm tired of seeing UM toy with us like we are a dang high school team. I'm fairly certain that's what will happen when we go to Missoula. I'm glad that our football program and our women's bb program are doing well. I don't know what the answer is with BB. At some point it just seems to me that Huse has had enough time. I absolutely despise mediocrity. To me it is unacceptable.

I never want to be satisfied with fielding losing teams. I hope that MSU fans feel the same way. I'm no coach and I have no idea what it takes to recruit solid players to build a program. But I know that Bozeman and MSU deserve a lot better BB program than what we currently have. At some point I think Fields needs to realize that Huse should not just have an unlimited amount of time to produce a contender. Maybe the incoming recruits will combine with this year's team to make us a contender next year. Who knows. But the wait continues.

[ilovethecats]

yep....one only has to come to this board to see the status of mens hoops. not one thread about our conference game last night. i saw the post written above about the game and agree with all of it. but it's pretty obvious that people couldn't care less about what this team is doing right now. usually, even if there isn't a game thread, there is always at least ONE poster mentioning the game. in this case....not one. i'd be willing to bet some fans didn't even know the cats were playing last night.

best part about last night...we made free throws. our defense was maybe the worst i have seen this season. it appeared that some of the guys weren't even trying anymore. sacs point guard shot a perfect 5-5 from deep, and i only recall being in his face on one of those. sac shoots 58% from three and 62% overall! cats shoot 40% from three and 41% overall. one of their guards killed us shooting, and the other guard chalked up 16 assists and completely dismantled our defense.

all in all a pretty poor performance. my biggest fear is this caliber of ball will be allowed to continue for years because people simply don't care. i wish our expectations were even half of what they are for football....

[John K]

yep....one only has to come to this board to see the status of mens hoops. not one thread about our conference game last night. i saw the post written above about the game and agree with all of it. but it's pretty obvious that people couldn't care less about what this team is doing right now. usually, even if there isn't a game thread, there is always at least ONE poster mentioning the game. in this case....not one. i'd be willing to bet some fans didn't even know the cats were playing last night.

best part about last night...we made free throws. our defense was maybe the worst i have seen this season. it appeared that some of the guys weren't even trying anymore. sacs point guard shot a perfect 5-5 from deep, and i only recall being in his face on one of those. sac shoots 58% from three and 62% overall! cats shoot 40% from three and 41% overall. one of their guards killed us shooting, and the other guard chalked up 16 assists and completely dismantled our defense.

all in all a pretty poor performance. my biggest fear is this caliber of ball will be allowed to continue for years because people simply don't care. i wish our expectations were even half of what they are for football....

I agree completely. MBB is becoming what football was back in the Solomonson era....completely irrelevant. I don't know what's worse, that we're so bad....or that no one cares that we're bad. Every season when we get off to a good start in the first half of conference play, I get sucked in and find myself thinking that maybe, just maybe, this will be the year that we won't completely collapse during the 2nd round of conference games....I should know better by now. It is very telling that there's virtually no conversation about MBB on BN anymore. There's 10 times as much activity on the football board, even during BB season. This can't go on much longer, or even the few who still care will give up on the program.

You're also right in saying that things are unlikely to change in the near future, because I don't foresee Fields pulling the trigger on a coaching change anytime soon. We're sort of in purgatory, not quite bad enough for Huse to be fired (at least in Fields' eyes), but certainly not good enough to stir up any interest in the program. I think Huse will keep his job unless we fall off even further, and don't even make the tourney for 3-4 years in a row. Of course, that will get a little tougher next season, with 11 teams in the conference, unless they decide to let more teams in the tourney....has the BSC announced anything about the format for next season yet? I don't know how good UND and SUU are in MBB, but it won't take much for them to be better than us.

[MSU01]

Update: Brad Huse is now 30-23 (.566 win %) in conference games in December and January, and 15-32 (.319 win %) in February and March. Perhaps we can petition the Big Sky conference to allow us to play four games a week and then take a month and a half off before the Big Sky tournament.

[catsrback76]

Creative solution!