Montana Wyoming All Star rosters

[tetoncat]

When do these typically come out? I know they like to see many of the kids at the Crown Plaza that was held over the last two weekends.

[Billings_Griz]

Just read this in todays Gazette:


Roundtable to announce all-stars

Rocky Mountain College men's basketball coach Bill Dreikosen will be the guest speaker at the Midland Roundtable meeting Thursday.

The meeting gets underway at noon at Doc & Eddy's Plaza. Dreikosen guided the Bears to the NAIA Division I national championship last week. Several of his players are also expected to be on hand.

Also on the agenda is the announcement of the boys and girls all-star teams that will represent Montana in its series against Wyoming in June.

[tetoncat]

Thanks Billings Griz. I have heard a lot of how this years senior class is down and that the dominant players are mostly Juniors with a couple Sophs so interested to see who is named.

[Billings_Griz]

Thanks Billings Griz. I have heard a lot of how this years senior class is down and that the dominant players are mostly Juniors with a couple Sophs so interested to see who is named.

You're welcome, I was thinking next years team should be loaded too.

Who this year? I'll admit, I didn't watch a whole lot of hoops this year.

Bardt (sp?) from Central? 6-7 or so, came on very strong.
Skyview had some good seniors, West too.
I don't see more than 2 "C" guys on the team but Heart Butte had a couple guys that could play. Pierson from Twin Bridges should be a no-brainer.

[tetoncat]

in Class AA I would think Bleskin from Great Falls, a couple of the Billings West kids, maybe Stordahl and their big kid. Cutler for sure from Glacier, good scorer. I did see Barndt play and he is pretty good. Idol from Whitefish is supposed to play for CATS so maybe him as well. If they name 10 I would guess 6 from AA, 2 from A, 1 each B & C maybe. That seems to be how they have gone most years.

[Billings_Griz]

I'm a Scobey guy and I can't believe Crandall made the squad. I'm happy for him though, 1st Scobey kid since Neiskens to play.


Montana-Wyoming All-Star basketball rosters
Montana boys -Tanner Bleskin, 6-4, Great Falls CMR; Michael Crandell, 6-2, Scobey; Derek Lear, 5-10, Fairfield; Ben Cutler, 5-11, Kalispell Glacier; Peter Stordahl, 6-2, Billings West; Colt Idol, 6-3, Whitefish; Joel Barndt, 6-7, Billings Central; Eric Halverson, 6-5, Billings West; Bryce Carver, 6-1, Dillon; Gabe Rucker, 6-1, Bozeman. Coach: Bill Dreikosen, Rocky Mountain College.

Montana girls - Joslyn Tinkle, 6-3, Missoula Big Sky; Brianne Holland-Stergar, 6-2, Butte; Kalli McCloskey, 5-8, Butte; Kelsey Hildal, 5-8, Kalispell Flathead; Ashley Albert, 6-1, Hamilton; Chelsea Banis, 6-4, Fairfield; Megan Patterson, 5-11, Columbus; Cassidy Wendell, 5-8, Whitehall; Monica Hollowell, 5-6, Huntley Project; Rachel Semansky, 6-0, Highwood. Coach: Brian Henderson, Rocky Mountain College.

[Billings_Griz]

If they name 10 I would guess 6 from AA, 2 from A, 1 each B & C maybe. That seems to be how they have gone most years.

Damn, you're good! 5 from AA, 3 from A, 1 and 1.

[tetoncat]

Just lucky. I thought there might be one more big man than they selected as this team is not really very big overall. I had heard Crandall was very good, but with team not doing as well at State thought someone from the top 3 teams might have made it.

It is interesting that Idol is the only one I have heard is going anywhere for basketball and at least 3 (Bleskin, Carver, and Lear) I know are playing football. I saw Barndt play and he is pretty tough and both he and Bleskin can shoot from outside as big men.

[catpound]

Barndt is going to play for MSU-Billings. It's a shame Pierson from Twin Bridges is not on the squad. He would help alot with rebounding and good interior defense, plus can score inside and out. Crandell is a good scorer, but if they're only going to pick one Class C kid, it easily should have been Pierson, especially since the Roundtable should have seen him play at State in Billings, where Twin was state champs, he was MVP, and the best player there. Is Ben Nearpass from Bill. Central a senior? Thought he should have made it if he was a senior this year.

[Billings_Griz]

Barndt is going to play for MSU-Billings. It's a shame Pierson from Twin Bridges is not on the squad. He would help alot with rebounding and good interior defense, plus can score inside and out. Crandell is a good scorer, but if they're only going to pick one Class C kid, it easily should have been Pierson, especially since the Roundtable should have seen him play at State in Billings, where Twin was state champs, he was MVP, and the best player there. Is Ben Nearpass from Bill. Central a senior? Thought he should have made it if he was a senior this year.

Pierson didn't play in the All-Star tourney here the weekend after state (used to be called the Radison Classic-not sure what it is now). I'm guessing Bobby Hauck maybe had a say in his after season tourneys? (just guessing-don't know...)

[tetoncat]

There are 3 Billings kids out of 10 already. Not saying Nearpass is not good, but I have seen him play and am comfortable the other guards selected are as good or better than he is. The only one I have not seen play is Crandell and I also was surprised as typically the B & C selections come from State Champ or runnerups, or State MVP selections.

Has Wyoming announced yet?

[Billings_Griz]

I'm from Scobey and Crandell is good. However, I don't think he's top 3. Top 5????? Top 10 for sure. He might be in the top 5 for Class "C" seniors. There are some fantastic under classsmen in C.

Earlier I stated he wanted to play baseball somewhere. Now I'm hearing rumblings of him wanting to walk-on at UM as a WR.

[catpound]

I found out today that Pierson turned down an invitation to the squad, so that's probably why Crandell got on. I'm glad they still went with a Class C player if he got on because Pierson decided not to play. Billings Griz you are right there are some good underclasmen from Class C, but other than Pierson Crandell probably deserved to make it from the C ranks as far as seniors go. Also, a few of Division I signees don't play in tourneys like the Radisson because by NCAA rules they can only play in 2 all-star tourneys before graduation, but they can do as many as they want after graduation. Bryce Carver didn't play for that same reason. I doubt Hauck told Pierson he couldn't play in the MT-WY game because Carver is playing and he also has signed to play for Hauck, however a coach might say to pick one or two to play in and spend the rest of your summer getting ready for practice in the fall.

[Billings Cat]

A couple of surprises that really shouldn't be given that it's not altogether clear how they select the Montana team. On the boys' side Steven Davis of Skyview would have been a stronger selection than Halverson from West. Davis' numbers were better than Halverson's across the board plus he's taller and just as wide. I also was surprised by Rucker from Bozeman. He was 2nd team All-Conference behind a bunch of other guards including some seniors, and for a point guard he turns the ball over a lot and isn't a great shooter.

On the girls's side, after watching some of the Treasure State and regular season, I was pretty shocked that McCloskey from Butte and Hollowell from Huntley were selected over at least four players, including 3 who are already signed to play basketball next year at the D1 or D2 level. Foster from Big Timber (University of Mary), Denham from Malta (MSU-B), and Kufeldt from Billings Senior (Dartmouth) all have much more rounded and polished games than either of those two from what I saw at the Treasure State and have been recruited in basketball while McCloskey and Hollowell have had more interest at a college level in other sports it sounds like. And if you want a pure shooter and scorer, it's hard to leave off Brekke from Helena Capital, a repeat All-Stater, who would have been a stronger selection than Hildal from Kalispell Flathead or the other two.

[Ponycat]

A couple of surprises that really shouldn't be given that it's not altogether clear how they select the Montana team. On the boys' side Steven Davis of Skyview would have been a stronger selection than Halverson from West. Davis' numbers were better than Halverson's across the board plus he's taller and just as wide. I also was surprised by Rucker from Bozeman. He was 2nd team All-Conference behind a bunch of other guards including some seniors, and for a point guard he turns the ball over a lot and isn't a great shooter.

On the girls's side, after watching some of the Treasure State and regular season, I was pretty shocked that McCloskey from Butte and Hollowell from Huntley were selected over at least four players, including 3 who are already signed to play basketball next year at the D1 or D2 level. Foster from Big Timber (University of Mary), Denham from Malta (MSU-B), and Kufeldt from Billings Senior (Dartmouth) all have much more rounded and polished games than either of those two from what I saw at the Treasure State and have been recruited in basketball while McCloskey and Hollowell have had more interest at a college level in other sports it sounds like. And if you want a pure shooter and scorer, it's hard to leave off Brekke from Helena Capital, a repeat All-Stater, who would have been a stronger selection than Hildal from Kalispell Flathead or the other two.

I agree, that Brekke should be on the team.

[tetoncat]

I think Foster was hurt for most of the year and this probably played a part in her not getting a selection. I agree that both her and Denham are better all around players than Wendell and Hollowell in Class B. The girls could have had almost the whole team that had signed on to play basketball in college. Right now it looks like on the boys, there are more playing football than basketball next year.

I was surprised there were not more big men on the team. Who else besides the Davis kid was a real threat inside this year. I know in the Class C,B,A games that I watched I really did not see any. Most of the good big men were underclassmen. Idol, Cutler, and Lear should really be able to score. I saw Rucker play at Classic and he did a decent job, it is probably different when teams may not be so used to him.

Does anyone know if they use a shot clock in these games.

[BDizzle]

I think Foster was hurt for most of the year and this probably played a part in her not getting a selection. I agree that both her and Denham are better all around players than Wendell and Hollowell in Class B. The girls could have had almost the whole team that had signed on to play basketball in college. Right now it looks like on the boys, there are more playing football than basketball next year.

I was surprised there were not more big men on the team. Who else besides the Davis kid was a real threat inside this year. I know in the Class C,B,A games that I watched I really did not see any. Most of the good big men were underclassmen. Idol, Cutler, and Lear should really be able to score. I saw Rucker play at Classic and he did a decent job, it is probably different when teams may not be so used to him.

Does anyone know if they use a shot clock in these games.

Barndt is 6'7'' and can pretty much score from anywhere. He dominated Laurel at divisionals from the inside and outside.

[tetoncat]

Sorry BDIZZLE I meant in the AA. I saw Brandt play at the HIT tourney and he was very good. Can post them up but also go outside and shoot. I think Bleskin will also give this team that type of game although not as good a shooter. I did not know much about Davis and as I said was surprised that there was not another big post on this team. Rucker played very well at the HIT tourney as well as the Crowne Classic from what I hear.

Hopefully Idol can use these games as a jump to stepping in with the Bobcats. This senior class just did not have anyone talking about them in terms of basketball and no one really was recruited hard by the Cats or Griz. Next year appears to be a different story.

[HassFan]

Hopefully Idol can use these games as a jump to stepping in with the Bobcats.

I didn't see the game in Sheridan, but he didn't show much in the Billings game. That said, I believe he was playing out of position against someone a couple inches bigger, but he didn't even get back on the floor during the overtime as I recall.

The girls from Hamilton and Fairfield that signed with the Cats looked strong however.

[tetoncat]

I think Ashley Albert is going to be a very good player for the Bobcats. I think that both Banis and Semansky will need some time to develop and get used to the more physical game with a lot of girls playing at or above their level. Tinkle was great, hope she has success at Stanford.

On boys side, their really was not dominant play from Montana. They were undersized against Wyoming. They shot well Friday to get the big lead, but not as good Sat and Wyoming had their way inside against them. Even with this a banked in 3 with 14 sec left was the only thing that kept Montana from sweeping. Wyoming really only had one guy as an outside threat. I did not think Idol had very good games, He did not show a great shot, but usually was playing the 4 spot a lot with the lineup he was with. He was trying to do most stuff on penetration off the dribble and did not have the size to do that against Wyoming.

Miss Basketball Montana was Tinkle and Mr Basketball Montana was Lear.