Smackdown or contest

[John K]

Ladies win 68-55 in Greeley tonight, they're also sitting at 4-1.

For the first time in a very long time, both our men's and women's teams are ahead of the their UM counterparts in the BSC standings. MSU men are 4-1 to UM's 2-3, and MSU women are 4-1 versus UM's 3-2. The ladies get their own shot at the BSC's undefeated first place team when they play UND on Saturday. I should know better, because it's obviously still very early in the season, but I can't help but be excited about MSU hoops right now.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Collective effort lifts Montana State past Northern Colorado
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[aucat]

This team is going to be just fine in Feb. and March.

[CatBlitz]

This team is going to be just fine in Feb. and March.

.........

[c.falls cat]

This team is going to be just fine in Feb. and March.

Please. I want to believe!

[allcat]

I started watching the game as the 2nd half started. I've watched football on Big Sky tv and it was pretty good. The audio last night was at least 2 posessions off. The video was on the game one time where we came out of a timeout, made a free throw, UNCU went down and scored and then we came back and hit a 3. The audio was just coming out of the timeout. The video was pretty good.

[Catfanatic84]

This team is going to be just fine in Feb. and March.

Agreed....I went to the game at PSU last week and was impressed with the balance on the team. We're not dependent on one or two guys having big nights to win. I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts. Go Cats!!

[WalkOn79]

Geez guys, Don't you think its possible that maybe Brad has turned a corner with this group, and the contract extension was warranted?

[CelticCat]

Geez guys, Don't you think its possible that maybe Brad has turned a corner with this group, and the contract extension was warranted?

Brad Huse, the Jerome Souers of Big Sky basketball.

[allcat]

Geez guys, Don't you think its possible that maybe Brad has turned a corner with this group, and the contract extension was warranted?

Don't you think that that staement is a bit premature? If they get through the second half this well, then you might be right. He also need to keep doing it for several years to prove he is not a blind pig.

[WalkOn79]

Geez guys, Don't you think its possible that maybe Brad has turned a corner with this group, and the contract extension was warranted?

Don't you think that that staement is a bit premature? If they get through the second half this well, then you might be right. He also need to keep doing it for several years to prove he is not a blind pig.

What's premature about a statement that includes "possible" and "maybe"?

I choose to take a more glass half full approach. Haven't we made the BSC tourney almost every year? Many programs can't say that.

Enjoy the moment boys. Life's too short to be so negative:)

[John K]

Geez guys, Don't you think its possible that maybe Brad has turned a corner with this group, and the contract extension was warranted?

Don't you think that that staement is a bit premature? If they get through the second half this well, then you might be right. He also need to keep doing it for several years to prove he is not a blind pig.

Agreed...I can't help but be optimistic with the strong start, especially after the win last night. But virtually every year, we've been equally encouraged early on, only to have our hopes dashed by the end of the season. Every year, we've said the exact same things we're saying right now..."I think it might really be different this season", but it never is. I'm still optimistic, but until we get into the second half of conference play, my optimism is going to be tempered by the reality of past experience.

[CelticCat]

I'm optimistic as well, but:

2009 - we started 4-1 in conference. Finished 10-6.
2010 - started 5-1. Finished 7-9!
2011 - started 6-2. Finished 7-9.

Sorry but it's hard not to have those numbers in the back of your mind seeing this team sitting at 4-1.

We looked good against UNC. We played hard, physical defense and forced a lot of bad shots, and did you know that Montana State is 1st in the entire country in defensive rebound percentage? That's pretty awesome!

[BelgradeBobcat]

I'm optimistic as well, but:

2009 - we started 4-1 in conference. Finished 10-6.
2010 - started 5-1. Finished 7-9!
2011 - started 6-2. Finished 7-9.

Sorry but it's hard not to have those numbers in the back of your mind seeing this team sitting at 4-1.

That's a cold glass of water to the face.

Oh well...Beat North Dakota!

[MSU01]

I'm optimistic as well, but:

2009 - we started 4-1 in conference. Finished 10-6.
2010 - started 5-1. Finished 7-9!
2011 - started 6-2. Finished 7-9.

Sorry but it's hard not to have those numbers in the back of your mind seeing this team sitting at 4-1.

We looked good against UNC. We played hard, physical defense and forced a lot of bad shots, and did you know that Montana State is 1st in the entire country in defensive rebound percentage? That's pretty awesome!

The 10-6 finish from 2009 would, I think, be a very reasonable and successful record for MSU to end up with. So far they have played more home games than road games and still have to travel to all of the league contenders, so it would be unrealistic to expect them to keep up this pace unless they really are a special team this year. Winning early season home games is nice, but the team still has a whole lot to prove when it heads to Ogden, Missoula, Flagstaff, and Greeley. Personally, my hopes and expectations are that they can simply keep playing well as a team for the entire 20-game schedule. No 39-point losses to Idaho State or bad home losses against sub-.500 teams as have become the norm rather than the exception for MSU in the second half of conference play.

[John K]

I'm optimistic as well, but:

2009 - we started 4-1 in conference. Finished 10-6.
2010 - started 5-1. Finished 7-9!
2011 - started 6-2. Finished 7-9.

Sorry but it's hard not to have those numbers in the back of your mind seeing this team sitting at 4-1.

That's a cold glass of water to the face.

Oh well...Beat North Dakota!

And that's just a three year snapshot. I believe the numbers are fairly similar for every season during Huse's tenure. Who knows though...maybe this really will be the year when the trend is reversed.

[John K]

I'm optimistic as well, but:

2009 - we started 4-1 in conference. Finished 10-6.
2010 - started 5-1. Finished 7-9!
2011 - started 6-2. Finished 7-9.

Sorry but it's hard not to have those numbers in the back of your mind seeing this team sitting at 4-1.

We looked good against UNC. We played hard, physical defense and forced a lot of bad shots, and did you know that Montana State is 1st in the entire country in defensive rebound percentage? That's pretty awesome!

Actually, I think 2009 was the year when we lost five straight to close the regular season, ending at 6-10, and then got hot and won two straight in the tourney, before losing a very close game to PSU for the title. Then in 2010, we won our last three to finish 3rd place at 10-6, earning the right to host a first round tourney game, which naturally we gave away in the final seconds. I was at that game, and we had the lead and the ball with less than 30 seconds to go, but a turnover and a missed free throw or two cost us the game.

[LongTimeCatFan]

I'm optimistic as well, but:

2009 - we started 4-1 in conference. Finished 10-6.
2010 - started 5-1. Finished 7-9!
2011 - started 6-2. Finished 7-9.

Sorry but it's hard not to have those numbers in the back of your mind seeing this team sitting at 4-1.

That's a cold glass of water to the face.

Oh well...Beat North Dakota!

And that's just a three year snapshot. I believe the numbers are fairly similar for every season during Huse's tenure. Who knows though...maybe this really will be the year when the trend is reversed.

The numbers never lie, but

THERE'S ALWAYS A CHANCE

[griz8791]

[John K]

I'm optimistic as well, but:

2009 - we started 4-1 in conference. Finished 10-6.
2010 - started 5-1. Finished 7-9!
2011 - started 6-2. Finished 7-9.

Sorry but it's hard not to have those numbers in the back of your mind seeing this team sitting at 4-1.

We looked good against UNC. We played hard, physical defense and forced a lot of bad shots, and did you know that Montana State is 1st in the entire country in defensive rebound percentage? That's pretty awesome!

The 10-6 finish from 2009 would, I think, be a very reasonable and successful record for MSU to end up with. So far they have played more home games than road games and still have to travel to all of the league contenders, so it would be unrealistic to expect them to keep up this pace unless they really are a special team this year. Winning early season home games is nice, but the team still has a whole lot to prove when it heads to Ogden, Missoula, Flagstaff, and Greeley. Personally, my hopes and expectations are that they can simply keep playing well as a team for the entire 20-game schedule. No 39-point losses to Idaho State or bad home losses against sub-.500 teams as have become the norm rather than the exception for MSU in the second half of conference play.

I agree. 10-6 would equate to 12-8 or 13-7 for a 20-game conference schedule, and I would be satisfied with that...so long as the split isn't something like 8-2/4-6. For once, I'd like to see our record in the second half be as good or better than the first half. Plus, I would hope that we'd get at least one win in the tourney for only the 2nd time in the past 15 years.