MBB at EWU

[CatBlitz]

Never a doubt! Brown and Belo with huge shots to save the day.

Serious doubt there at the end.

But you're right
Credit to those big shots and FTs. Huge win.

[mslacatfan]

Go cats!!!

[Prodigal Cat]

Damn the Idaho game looms large. Missed out on a share of the conference title. Got to be positive about the way they are playing going into the tournament though.

[wbtfg]

Fun game to watch. Thought the officials did a nice job.

It's nice playing a team who isn't trying to muck it up with fouls because they know they don't have the talent to hang.

[AFCAT]

Damn the Idaho game looms large. Missed out on a share of the conference title. Got to be positive about the way they are playing going into the tournament though.

Yup, I was going to post the same thing.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Damn the Idaho game looms large. Missed out on a share of the conference title. Got to be positive about the way they are playing going into the tournament though.

Argh! For me it was the home loss to EWU. So many missed free throws while they didn't miss any (or hardly any). That was a game we should have won. I don't hate our side of the bracket though.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Watching the replay. I don't think I've ever seen Eastern's cracker box arena that full. Never ever saw them use the upper decks. Makes the win even more impressive.

[grizzh8r]

Damn the Idaho game looms large. Missed out on a share of the conference title. Got to be positive about the way they are playing going into the tournament though.

Argh! For me it was the home loss to EWU. So many missed free throws while they didn't miss any (or hardly any). That was a game we should have won. I don't hate our side of the bracket though.

Yep, likely first matchup for EWU is against a snakebit/dangerous NAU team. And the Cats won't meet the gris until the CG, if they make it instead of EWU. Really like how the bracket shapes up for MSU.

[autocat]

Make the Eagles play defense, they want to turn the game into a 3pt pickup game. Cats have better post players and guards for Eagles to defend

Officials were good, I believe those guys do PAC-12 WCC and Mountain West games

They announced the game as a sellout 3000+ upper level looked half empty

[thefrank1]

Jubrile has played with renewed energy the last two games. Great timing heading into the tournament.

[Camo_Cat]

Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love what Danny Sprinkle has done with this program. I have been begging for years for someone to bring the spark back to Bobcat basketball. I'm actually amazed at what Danny has been able to accomplish in such a short time.

That said, if I have one knock on his coaching, it's that he goes into the slow-down, stall offense way too early and way too many times when the Cats get a healthy lead. There have been several games where we could have lost it because our stall offense allowed the other team to capitalize. Almost happened again last night. There was no need for that game to be that close at the end. We absolutely dominated EWU on both ends of the floor. Can't afford to do that in the tournament. Get a lead and bury the opponent.

[CelticCat]

Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love what Danny Sprinkle has done with this program. I have been begging for years for someone to bring the spark back to Bobcat basketball. I'm actually amazed at what Danny has been able to accomplish in such a short time.

That said, if I have one knock on his coaching, it's that he goes into the slow-down, stall offense way too early and way too many times when the Cats get a healthy lead. There have been several games where we could have lost it because our stall offense allowed the other team to capitalize. Almost happened again last night. There was no need for that game to be that close at the end. We absolutely dominated EWU on both ends of the floor. Can't afford to do that in the tournament. Get a lead and bury the opponent.

I haven't quite figured out why this happens. It's easy to think we go into a conservative mode, and I think that is part of it, but I also think the Cats expunge a lot of energy playing defense in the first half and into the 2nd half, and they eventually tire out a little bit.

[CelticCat]

Jubrile has played with renewed energy the last two games. Great timing heading into the tournament.

This league is so bad for a guy like Belo. He is physically dominant and just stronger than just about everyone, but he gets called for so many fouls when he just tries to use his brute strength. Those aren't fouls in the NBA or SEC type leagues, but when he plows into a 6'7 225 PF who falls over he gets whistled way too much. On the inverse teams just hack at him non-stop, whether he's going up for a shot or just holding the ball. It's clear why he wears those goggles, he'd lose an eye other wise.

[Camo_Cat]

Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love what Danny Sprinkle has done with this program. I have been begging for years for someone to bring the spark back to Bobcat basketball. I'm actually amazed at what Danny has been able to accomplish in such a short time.

That said, if I have one knock on his coaching, it's that he goes into the slow-down, stall offense way too early and way too many times when the Cats get a healthy lead. There have been several games where we could have lost it because our stall offense allowed the other team to capitalize. Almost happened again last night. There was no need for that game to be that close at the end. We absolutely dominated EWU on both ends of the floor. Can't afford to do that in the tournament. Get a lead and bury the opponent.

I haven't quite figured out why this happens. It's easy to think we go into a conservative mode, and I think that is part of it, but I also think the Cats expunge a lot of energy playing defense in the first half and into the 2nd half, and they eventually tire out a little bit.

That could be true, because we were even playing on our heels on defense late last night.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Eastern Washington ripped off 18 wins in a row, including 16 straight in #BigSkyMBB play.

Montana State has quietly won 10 of its last 11 to enter next week's @BigSkyMBB
tournament.

Here's a look at the tournament field
https://skylinesportsmt.com/ewu-mens-ho ... game-skid/

[tetoncat]

Eastern can might it up from three. All it took was a couple empty possessions and them getting hpt and it was back to close game. But if we push the pace late and miss shots we give them even more possessions so not sure that is that answer against them

[catatac]

I posted a few days ago about a hunch the Cats were going to start draining some 3’s, I think they approached 40%, hope they keep that part of the game rollin!

[tetoncat]

I posted a few days ago about a hunch the Cats were going to start draining some 3’s, I think they approached 40%, hope they keep that part of the game rollin!

And Nick had a solid game

[kennethnoisewater]

I know the 1 and 2 seeds were set before this game so it didn't matter for tournament seeding, but both teams really needed this win. Neither team has a stellar resume when you start thinking about seeding for the NCAA tournament, so this was going to be a fairly quality win for either one. With some of the losses MSU has, a 15 seed seems like a best-case scenario. A solid run through the BSC tournament is just what this team needs, and what they seem ready for!

[lv2hoop]

Not that it is a huge difference in opponents, but the Bobcat men (if they can win 3 more in Boise) should be at least a 14 seed like they were a year ago.

I follow Torvik analytics and they've got MSU at #100 right now and last year's team, even though they won more games, finished the season at #155. So this year's squad has better analytics by a fair amount. Some of this is attributable to the fact that the conference doesn't have so many teams in the 300's like it did last year. Either way, we've got to win 3 in a row to get there, and that isn't an easy task. I have faith in this team considering the way they've finished this month.