WBB vs Idaho

[rfischer94]

Offense is looking good so far. Good ball movement, lots of made 3s, and Madison has one charge drawn before the first media timeout. Go Cats! Reporting live from the Brick

[rfischer94]

Second verse - same as the first! Some nice transition buckets and a 3 by KJ to make Idaho burn a timeout with 6:26 left in the 2nd. It's a straigr up block party in here too! KJ's mom and I found l count at least 4 blocks by the Cats so far.

[TheJoeGoldstone]

Second verse - same as the first! Some nice transition buckets and a 3 by KJ to make Idaho burn a timeout with 6:26 left in the 2nd. It's a straigr up block party in here too! KJ's mom and I found l count at least 4 blocks by the Cats so far.

They’ll need them as they have that many air balls on offense. I expect them once in awhile from freshman, but not seniors. Their defense in the end should win this game for them.

[rfischer94]

Defense is on the struggle bus in the first 90 seconds. Idaho has 3 layups, two of them uncontested. Hope Coach can get them back on track.

[JudithBasinCat]

Is Berry hurt or just in the doghouse?

[John K]

Wow....that was a very disappointing loss.

[TheJoeGoldstone]

Defense wins championship but not scoring any points loses them. I sure feel for these women amongst their offensive and injury woes. Having Lexi Deden in the paint tonight would have made a huge difference.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Is Berry hurt or just in the doghouse?

I think doghouse. She was moving fine in warm ups. She's been very turnover prone-which is not good on an already turnover prone team. That's my guess. If I'm not mistaken, coach only played 6 in the second half. They have no legs left-can't even make a free throw. Been bad in the 4th quarter a lot lately-even in the win at Sac they were bad.

[MSU01]

They just can't score enough. Fortunately the loss doesn't really hurt in the standings too much, MSU is still pretty much locked into the 4/5 game against UNC.

[JudithBasinCat]

Is Berry hurt or just in the doghouse?

I think doghouse. She was moving fine in warm ups. She's been very turnover prone-which is not good on an already turnover prone team. That's my guess. If I'm not mistaken, coach only played 6 in the second half. They have no legs left-can't even make a free throw. Been bad in the 4th quarter a lot lately-even in the win at Sac they were bad.

Not really a great look when you bench one kid, when the rest of the team is just as guilty of turning the ball over.

[MSU01]

Is Berry hurt or just in the doghouse?

I think doghouse. She was moving fine in warm ups. She's been very turnover prone-which is not good on an already turnover prone team. That's my guess. If I'm not mistaken, coach only played 6 in the second half. They have no legs left-can't even make a free throw. Been bad in the 4th quarter a lot lately-even in the win at Sac they were bad.

Not really a great look when you bench one kid, when the rest of the team is just as guilty of turning the ball over.

On the other hand, this is Division 1 athletics and no player has a guarantee of receiving playing time if the coaching staff doesn't think they give the team the best chance to win by being out there. Berry was playing the least minutes of anyone in the rotation so I'm not sure if "benched" is really an accurate term to use. Brooke is a talented player but definitely needs a year or two to develop her skills before she's going to work her way more into the rotation.

[tetoncat]

Seniors disappeared offensively in 2nd half. We could not stop their post inside.

[WalkOn79]

Frustrating. Taylor still can't catch a pass to save her life!!

[hoopsforhope]

The bench is not deep enough- last year it was 5 on 5 off- now the players don't get a rest - look at minutes that are putting in.
Agreed Berry needs to work on game and get to the Div 1 level of defense.
Nice to see Picton continue to develop, Dykstra take 3s when inside jammed up, Limardo looks like she was more of herself last night.
If they still had Dedin, Hein & Dylan they would be at the top.

This team is so young - but still promising.

[aucat]

I thought Idaho had a pretty talented team. When I look at their schedule, they went into Utah State and beat them by 30. Maybe Danny needs to go talk to their AD and tell them they need to work on their women's program. Idaho went to Oregon and held them to 59 points, losing by only 8. They beat Sac State 88-51. After the game driving away I listened to Coach Bin's comments and she seemed pretty upset at her players' efforts. However, from where I sat, Idaho had better players. I think Idaho has underachieved this year and to some extent I think MSU has overachieved given the roster that we have. I have to admit that I got spoiled when we were on top. If MSU is to remain competitive for Big Sky championships the recruiting has really got to improve. Otherwise we are going to get stuck in the middle of the pack.

[aucat]

The bench is not deep enough- last year it was 5 on 5 off- now the players don't get a rest - look at minutes that are putting in.
Agreed Berry needs to work on game and get to the Div 1 level of defense.
Nice to see Picton continue to develop, Dykstra take 3s when inside jammed up, Limardo looks like she was more of herself last night.
If they still had Dedin, Hein & Dylan they would be at the top.

This team is so young - but still promising.

hoopsforhope, have you ever watched Iowa play? How often does Caitlin Clark come out of the game? When Geno had his great
NC teams at UConn he rarely took out his most outstanding and productive players. Last night Natalie Picton hit her first three three pointers. She was hot. Then after only four minutes into the came she was taken out.

[JudithBasinCat]

Is Berry hurt or just in the doghouse?

I think doghouse. She was moving fine in warm ups. She's been very turnover prone-which is not good on an already turnover prone team. That's my guess. If I'm not mistaken, coach only played 6 in the second half. They have no legs left-can't even make a free throw. Been bad in the 4th quarter a lot lately-even in the win at Sac they were bad.

Not really a great look when you bench one kid, when the rest of the team is just as guilty of turning the ball over.

On the other hand, this is Division 1 athletics and no player has a guarantee of receiving playing time if the coaching staff doesn't think they give the team the best chance to win by being out there. Berry was playing the least minutes of anyone in the rotation so I'm not sure if "benched" is really an accurate term to use. Brooke is a talented player but definitely needs a year or two to develop her skills before she's going to work her way more into the rotation.

So how many turnovers and bad shots do the more experienced players get before they sit? How many back door cuts for easy baskets? My point is it’s a whole team situation not just one player and sitting anybody is obviously not going to fix it.

[MSU01]

The bench is not deep enough- last year it was 5 on 5 off- now the players don't get a rest - look at minutes that are putting in.
Agreed Berry needs to work on game and get to the Div 1 level of defense.
Nice to see Picton continue to develop, Dykstra take 3s when inside jammed up, Limardo looks like she was more of herself last night.
If they still had Dedin, Hein & Dylan they would be at the top.

This team is so young - but still promising.

hoopsforhope, have you ever watched Iowa play? How often does Caitlin Clark come out of the game? When Geno had his great
NC teams at UConn he rarely took out his most outstanding and productive players. Last night Natalie Picton hit her first three three pointers. She was hot. Then after only four minutes into the came she was taken out.

High expectations if we're comparing MSU's true freshman point guard to the best college women's basketball player and teams of all time. Binford's substitution patterns always seem to be pre-planned and can lead to some odd-looking moves like taking Picton out yesterday. I think it's valid to question some of those moves, though we also need to remember that it's a 40-minute game and making any amount of 3s in the first quarter will be meaningless if that player is totally out of gas by the 4th.

[MSU01]

Is Berry hurt or just in the doghouse?

I think doghouse. She was moving fine in warm ups. She's been very turnover prone-which is not good on an already turnover prone team. That's my guess. If I'm not mistaken, coach only played 6 in the second half. They have no legs left-can't even make a free throw. Been bad in the 4th quarter a lot lately-even in the win at Sac they were bad.

Not really a great look when you bench one kid, when the rest of the team is just as guilty of turning the ball over.

On the other hand, this is Division 1 athletics and no player has a guarantee of receiving playing time if the coaching staff doesn't think they give the team the best chance to win by being out there. Berry was playing the least minutes of anyone in the rotation so I'm not sure if "benched" is really an accurate term to use. Brooke is a talented player but definitely needs a year or two to develop her skills before she's going to work her way more into the rotation.

So how many turnovers and bad shots do the more experienced players get before they sit? How many back door cuts for easy baskets? My point is it’s a whole team situation not just one player and sitting anybody is obviously not going to fix it.

Of course sitting a player isn't going to fix the issues the team has this year. But neither is playing everyone on the roster in every game. Brooke has the lowest field goal percentage (27.7%) this year of any MSU player except Drea Brumfield who only took four total shots in the four games she played before her injury, so I find it hard to identify any statistics that suggest she should be playing more than she has. Again, that's not a knock against her as I think she'll be a very good player with more time in the program to develop.

[aucat]

One thing that always impresses my is the fan base that Montana State has, especially for football but also women's basketball. Last night when Natalie was playing her guts out diving all over the court after loose balls, the home crowd simply erupted showing their appreciation for her hard play. She is quite the little dynamo and a joy to watch. She's a freshman and makes mistakes but I'm really encouraged by her three point shooting. Some of her misses last night were "in and outs." Again, coaching from the sofa, I continue to question why Taylor and Marah do not take more shots when they are open from the three point line. Both have very good strokes from the perimeter. My philosphy on offense is simple. Getting players layups with cutting and assists is great but we seem to turn it over a lot trying to do that. On the other hand, if you are a good shooter, like Marah and Taylor and KJ, and Natalie as she improves, and you get an OPEN shot from the perimeter, take the shot. Sometimes last night Marah passed up those shots and then we ended up turning the ball over with no shot ever taken. On the other hand, if you are NOT a good shooter, I question why the player was recruited in the first place, unless their main role is to play down low as a post.