Bracketology

[MSU01]

Disappointed in a 16 seed. Tough draw with Stanford. Very tough

Anything was going to be tough there, the way it lined up MSU and Hawaii were going to get Stanford and Baylor in some order depending on who was 16 and who was 15 between those two. MSU fell victim a bit to the new 68-team bracket as they would have been a 15 seed in a 64-team bracket.

[Montanabob]

Stanford OUCH!!!

Win Friday and that is a good sign!

[MSU01]

Stanford OUCH!!!

Win Friday and that is a good sign!

Well, the only women's #1 seed to ever lose to a #16 was Stanford in 1998 against Harvard.

[MSU01]

Game times for the men have been announced, MSU will play in the first game of the day Friday in San Diego at 11:45 AM Mountain Time. Was holding out hope for the evening games but it makes sense that Arizona is the bigger draw and got those.

[RickRund]

Stanford OUCH!!!

No kidding.

[aucat]

If the men play like they did against UNC in the title game I honestly think we have an excellent chance of upsetting Texas Tech. On the other hand, while I think the ladies did a fabulous job winning the Big Sky tournament, I just don't think we have the big inside folks to compete with an upper tier women's program, whether it be Stanford, Uconn, Tenn, South Carolina, etc. I know that Sprinkle will have MSU ready to play with confidence. I hope Binford instills the right attitude to go out and play with confidence and not be intimidated by Stanford.

[TomCat88]

Stanford OUCH!!!

No kidding.

This is why I’m an advocate of having a FCS-style division for basketball. The BSC has been irrelevant in the tournament. I wouldn’t want the football team to be in a 64-68 team tournament and play a top 12, usually top 8 or better, team.

[TomCat88]

If the men play like they did against UNC in the title game I honestly think we have an excellent chance of upsetting Texas Tech. On the other hand, while I think the ladies did a fabulous job winning the Big Sky tournament, I just don't think we have the big inside folks to compete with an upper tier women's program, whether it be Stanford, Uconn, Tenn, South Carolina, etc. I know that Sprinkle will have MSU ready to play with confidence. I hope Binford instills the right attitude to go out and play with confidence and not be intimidated by Stanford.

Hate to be a Debbie Downer here but upsets are few and far between in the women’s tournament. BSC mens teams haven’t fared very well in the past 15-20 years. Ewu did well last year, but I’m not sure if that’s the start of a trend.

[thefrank1]

We need our dancing shoes to be magic carpets. Go Cats!

[Bobcat4Ever]

Stanford OUCH!!!

No kidding.

This is why I’m an advocate of having a FCS-style division for basketball. The BSC has been irrelevant in the tournament. I wouldn’t want the football team to be in a 64-68 team tournament and play a top 12, usually top 8 or better, team.

My fear is that we’d have a hard time recruiting/retaining against the higher level. Belo, Bishop, Battle, Adamu, Mohamed, Osobor and White, Bad Bear would most likely not be Bobcats.

[GoldstoneCat]

If the men play like they did against UNC in the title game I honestly think we have an excellent chance of upsetting Texas Tech. On the other hand, while I think the ladies did a fabulous job winning the Big Sky tournament, I just don't think we have the big inside folks to compete with an upper tier women's program, whether it be Stanford, Uconn, Tenn, South Carolina, etc. I know that Sprinkle will have MSU ready to play with confidence. I hope Binford instills the right attitude to go out and play with confidence and not be intimidated by Stanford.

I like a couple of things in the men's game, although i will first say that tech is really good and they really defend well, and i think it's pretty likely we're in for a long day. They're not a great offensive team past the top 1 or 2 guys. Shannon makes them go, if you can deal with him you've got a good chance on D. Second, i actually like that we're in the first game of the day. Anything that can throw the favorite off their routine, i.e. playing early, has a chance to help. Maybe kind of a quiet building, maybe we hit a couple shots early and catch them cold in a morning game, turns into a low scoring defensive battle, then we've got a punchers chance.

[nevadacat]

Stanford OUCH!!!

No kidding.

This is why I’m an advocate of having a FCS-style division for basketball. The BSC has been irrelevant in the tournament. I wouldn’t want the football team to be in a 64-68 team tournament and play a top 12, usually top 8 or better, team.

My fear is that we’d have a hard time recruiting/retaining against the higher level. Belo, Bishop, Battle, Adamu, Mohamed, Osobor and White, Bad Bear would most likely not be Bobcats.

I’m not so sure about that. I don’t think it would be that much different from football. Sure, a player may have the talent to eventually be a starter at a top program in his last year or two, but there’s always another younger hot shot behind him. He may end up being a bench/role player as an upperclassman where a school like MSU affords him the chance to get lots of minutes and have a shot at a national title. It depends if a player is content to be a 2nd or 3rd stringer at Gonzaga or Arizona just to have a chance at a ring.

[bob12]

Stanford OUCH!!!

No kidding.

This is why I’m an advocate of having a FCS-style division for basketball. The BSC has been irrelevant in the tournament. I wouldn’t want the football team to be in a 64-68 team tournament and play a top 12, usually top 8 or better, team.

That is the last thing that I would want. Every team has a chance to make the current tournament, sucks it took us so long to go back, but we have always had a chance. Whether we win or not is another thing. The chance of going dancing is a huge selling point. I don't want to miss out on potential recruits because are in a less-than league. If March Madness wasn't such a huge thing and cinderella stories didn't exist, I'd agree with you. As far as the football team goes, I have faith that if our football team was in a 64-68 team tournament we could be a cinderella story. Sure we may not win, but how long has Gonzaga been good at basketball and not won the tournament. Being that I am related to a plethora of Zag grads, I know they wouldn't want to be in a smaller tournament.

[Rich K]

[MSU01]

The MSU women against Stanford will tip at 8:00 PM MT and be televised on ESPN2. What a great day for Bobcat basketball!

[John K]

The MSU women against Stanford will tip at 8:00 PM MT and be televised on ESPN2. What a great day for Bobcat basketball!

Do we know yet what network is carrying the men's game? I know the start time is 11:45 on Friday, right?

[ilovethecats]

The MSU women against Stanford will tip at 8:00 PM MT and be televised on ESPN2. What a great day for Bobcat basketball!

Do we know yet what network is carrying the men's game? I know the start time is 11:45 on Friday, right?

TNT will have our game.

All games are CBS, TNT, TBS, or TruTV

[coloradocat]

[John K]

The MSU women against Stanford will tip at 8:00 PM MT and be televised on ESPN2. What a great day for Bobcat basketball!

Do we know yet what network is carrying the men's game? I know the start time is 11:45 on Friday, right?

TNT will have our game.

All games are CBS, TNT, TBS, or TruTV

OK...thanks for the info!!

[John K]

If the men play like they did against UNC in the title game I honestly think we have an excellent chance of upsetting Texas Tech. On the other hand, while I think the ladies did a fabulous job winning the Big Sky tournament, I just don't think we have the big inside folks to compete with an upper tier women's program, whether it be Stanford, Uconn, Tenn, South Carolina, etc. I know that Sprinkle will have MSU ready to play with confidence. I hope Binford instills the right attitude to go out and play with confidence and not be intimidated by Stanford.

Hate to be a Debbie Downer here but upsets are few and far between in the women’s tournament. BSC mens teams haven’t fared very well in the past 15-20 years. Ewu did well last year, but I’m not sure if that’s the start of a trend.

That's somewhat of an understatement. BSC men's teams haven't fared very well for the last 40 years, with only 3 wins since 1982, and zero wins since 2006. But Weber was only a 14 seed when they won in 1995 and 1999, so anything is possible. UM was a 12 seed when they won in 2006. Idaho was the last BSC team to make the Sweet 16 in 1982.