WBB vs EWU

[nevadacat]

Killing us with 3s

We’ve taken 14 more shots and scored 4 fewer.

[kennethnoisewater]

Shot 24.6% yesterday from the field, 25% so far today. Some of the shots are forced because they're not getting great opportunities, but when they do get a good look, shots aren't falling. As many others have said, gonna have to find a knock down shooter or three. I also think you've got to have a player or two who can create, and maybe a big who can post up occasionally and get buckets dependably. You'll have games where shots aren't falling.

[MSUBRONCO]

Killing us with 3s

We’ve taken 14 more shots and scored 4 fewer.

Need to make free throws too

[nevadacat]

You can tell they are tired. Shooting 33% from the line. Near-air balls from 3 feet. Running out of gas.

[saintcat40]

At the end of the day, you have to have some players who can shoot.

[TomCat88]

At the end of the day, you have to have some players who can shoot.

Coaches have lost track of shooting percentage/ability.

[TomCat88]

What’s up with Berry? I haven’t seen her on the court the last two games.

[rfischer94]

The Cats aren't going to win this one but damnbthey have no quit in them.

[Bocephus]

Scrappy team! Great defensive effort. Binford is a great coach dealing with a short bench.

[DMMDCats]

Well FUDGE!

[saintcat40]

@TomCat I have watched Berry closely all year, as I really like her and think she has tremendous potential. However, she seems to be lacking in confidence — makes lots of little mistakes, shooting percentage is super low on the year, etc. I have seen her in Bin’s doghouse often, which, to be fair, I understand, even though she is one of my favorites to cheer for. I truly hope her confidence grows and she takes a big leap for next year. I think she has the athleticism and basketball ability to be an all-conference player in the future. But she has a lot of growing to do.

[John K]

86 points in 85 minutes the last two games. You're not gonna go far, if you can't score more than one point per minute. Frankly, we really didn't even deserve to win yesterday. It seems like they struggled offensively more and more as the season went on. I don't how much of it can be blamed on fatigue or tired legs, or whatever. This team has been pretty offensively challenged all season, and again, for whatever reason it seemed to get worse and worse throughout the course of the season. All in all, this season probably went about as well as could be expected, with all the injuries. Hopefully next season will be better. It was fun to think about the possibility of two Cat-gris rematches in the men's and women's championship games, but we probably wouldn't have stood much of a chance against them. They've gotten better towards the end of the season, and we've gotten worse. I don't want to get ahead of myself, because Sac won't be a pushover my any means, but if both teams win tonight, I'll actually feel pretty good about the men's chances against the gris.

[aucat]

I give the Lady Cats great credit for their scrappy intense effort on defense. No quit in this team. But I'm not a sunshine pumper. I support the Cats with my butt in the seats in the Brick and in Bobcat Stadium but let's call it what it is. The women's basketball program has slipped from an upper echelon program to a middle of the pack program. This is on the coaches for their lack of recruiting. The guy over in Missoula sure has recruited some shooters and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win the tournament. Lots of work to do regarding recruiting some players who can genuinely shoot the basketball. I'm not going to call out individuals but when I see guards and forwards get open looks right on the three point line and not even shoot, I wonder, why was the player offered a scholarship? Again, I really appreciate the effort. They never quit and I enjoyed watching them all year. If the coaches want to see MSU at the upper end of the Big Sky then they need to go find some good shooters. Hard to predict what next year's team will be like, but the biggest weakness is shooting from the perimeter.

[Joe Bobcat]

@TomCat I have watched Berry closely all year, as I really like her and think she has tremendous potential. However, she seems to be lacking in confidence — makes lots of little mistakes, shooting percentage is super low on the year, etc. I have seen her in Bin’s doghouse often, which, to be fair, I understand, even though she is one of my favorites to cheer for. I truly hope her confidence grows and she takes a big leap for next year. I think she has the athleticism and basketball ability to be an all-conference player in the future. But she has a lot of growing to do.

I have the same thoughts about Berry and really was expecting her to breakout sometime during the season this year. Hopefully next year she gets her game put together because she does have the talent to be very good at this level. I'm very proud of how hard this team competed all year!

[John K]

I give the Lady Cats great credit for their scrappy intense effort on defense. No quit in this team. But I'm not a sunshine pumper. I support the Cats with my butt in the seats in the Brick and in Bobcat Stadium but let's call it what it is. The women's basketball program has slipped from an upper echelon program to a middle of the pack program. This is on the coaches for their lack of recruiting. The guy over in Missoula sure has recruited some shooters and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win the tournament. Lots of work to do regarding recruiting some players who can genuinely shoot the basketball. I'm not going to call out individuals but when I see guards and forwards get open looks right on the three point line and not even shoot, I wonder, why was the player offered a scholarship? Again, I really appreciate the effort. They never quit and I enjoyed watching them all year. If the coaches want to see MSU at the upper end of the Big Sky then they need to go find some good shooters. Hard to predict what next year's team will be like, but the biggest weakness is shooting from the perimeter.

I tend to agree with you, that the program seems to have slid backwards a bit, after being the best program in the BSC for a span of about 4 or 5 years. I'm willing to give Binford a pass to some extent for this season, because of all the injuries. It was just two years ago that we won the BSC and went to the NCAA tourney, and I believe we finished 2nd during the regular season last year, before getting upset in our first game in the BSC tourney. The lack of scoring ability on this year's team is alarming though, injuries or not. That definitely needs to be addressed in our recruiting efforts the next few years.

[MSU01]

I tend to agree with you, that the program seems to have slid backwards a bit, after being the best program in the BSC for a span of about 4 or 5 years. I'm willing to give Binford a pass to some extent for this season, because of all the injuries. It was just two years ago that we won the BSC and went to the NCAA tourney, and I believe we finished 2nd during the regular season last year, before getting upset in our first game in the BSC tourney. The lack of scoring ability on this year's team is alarming though, injuries or not. That definitely needs to be addressed in our recruiting efforts the next few years.

If you look at the rosters, the three teams that finished ahead of MSU this year are all significantly more experienced than MSU was this year at key positions. Given who MSU lost this past off-season through the transfer portal as well as losing their best returning player early in the season to injury, to me this was a successful season overall to finish #4 and make the semifinals. It'll be very interesting to see what Binford does with her roster (or is forced to do with her roster) this off-season now that we're in the "Wild Wild West" phase of the Transfer Portal era. At the very least, I hope she puts some players on the Caitlin Clark off-season shooting plan!

[aucat]

In defense of Binford, I'm watching the NAU-UM game now and there's no question that losing Lea Beattie was a huge loss regarding her overall playing ability but especially her great shooting. Gracie Beasley was also very effective at driving it to the hoop. So that's two losses that you really didn't count on. But gosh, these two teams reached 40 just after halftime and we couldn't even get to 40 for the entire game the last two days.

In fact, in watching the outstanding perimeter shooting by both teams, I have to wonder just how coaches go about recruiting players from high school or the portal? It seems to me that one of the primary stats I would look at is the shooting % from both the FT line and especially the 3 point line. These ladies on NAU and UM can FLAT OUT shoot the ball. Surely there are players out in the portal or in high school who have shooting percentages around 35-40% from the perimeter. Obviously every team needs a great point guard who can penetrate, dish it off and HOPEFULLY can shoot well. I think we have that in Natalie. But what we DON'T have are a couple shooting guards or forwards who can shoot at least 35% from the perimeter.

[TheJoeGoldstone]

I trust Binford after 16 straight winning seasons to know what to do to help this team moving forward to next year. As stated, I think finishing fourth and winning a game in the tournament should be a plus, ESPECIALLY with the season-ending injuries early on to KEY players. I am impressed with the development of Egan and think she has made some pretty good strides her 1st yr and her confidence is growing. I don't know if I've ever seen so much grit and never say die attitude as from this team. I just wish they would have been rewarded with a better shooting percentage this year, esp. the seniors.

[John K]

Besides the lack of 3-point shooting, it seems like we also missed a lot of shots around the basket, from point blank range. The kind of shots you should make about 90% of the time, while we probably didn't make more than around 50%. It seems like that's also been sort of an ongoing issue with this team, at least in the games I've watched. Especially when you're not a very good perimeter shooting team, you just can't afford to miss those kinds of "easy" shots, when you get them.

[OutlanderCatAlum]

I've long been a supporter of Binford as coach and the women's teams in general. Also, this women's team was a good defensive team.

The loss of key players impacting the game and recruiting arguments are conceded. I do, though, have to agree with most of the posters here regarding the shooting, especially the fundamentals of free throws and those open under-the-basket layups. IMHO, finishing those easy, close-up shots with intention is key to a higher percentage made versus just flipping the ball up and hoping it goes in. Finishing those shots strongly can be coached and practiced by all players, not just the better players.

Off my soapbox.

Thanks, Coach Binford and players, for your hard work.