Cats vs Grambling

[Camo_Cat]

I am really torn about the seed. On one hand, I love the matchup with Grambling. A winnable game that would count as a tournament win and gives our guys one more game this season if they advance. On the other hand, it feels like a little bit of disrespect for the Big Sky and the Cats. The BSC is a better conference than the SWAC, and the Cats are making their third tournament appearance in row. Not many mid-major conference teams can make that claim; that should count for something.

Let's go in and whip Grambling and then give Purdue a run for their money!!!

[RickRund]

Massey favors the CATS by 5, 72-67.

[Au Blue]

I'm ok with the play-in game. I hope the Cats play a complete game against Grambling and get any first game jitters out of the way. Fairleigh Dickinson was the 68th team in the '23 tourney, so anything is possible. Go Cats!

[kennethnoisewater]

I am really torn about the seed. On one hand, I love the matchup with Grambling. A winnable game that would count as a tournament win and gives our guys one more game this season if they advance. On the other hand, it feels like a little bit of disrespect for the Big Sky and the Cats. The BSC is a better conference than the SWAC, and the Cats are making their third tournament appearance in row. Not many mid-major conference teams can make that claim; that should count for something.

Let's go in and whip Grambling and then give Purdue a run for their money!!!

I wish we didn't get a play-in game, but I understand it. .500 teams don't make the tournament often. Yes the BSC is a better conference, but they have to consider the whole season at least somewhat. If you talk about bad losses, I doubt there's a team in the tournament with a worse loss than Rocky at home. I'm just glad the BSC tournament was early and the Cats have a week between games because of it. They are flying out any minute now, so they'll get acclimated tonight and tomorrow, then game day. If they can win, they'll have about a two hour bus ride from Dayton to Indianapolis, I'd imagine Wednesday night, and about 48 hours to rest up for Purdue. There will be lots of reasons Purdue will be favored in that game, but fatigue shouldn't be one of them.

[Cats and Dogs]

I am really torn about the seed. On one hand, I love the matchup with Grambling. A winnable game that would count as a tournament win and gives our guys one more game this season if they advance. On the other hand, it feels like a little bit of disrespect for the Big Sky and the Cats. The BSC is a better conference than the SWAC, and the Cats are making their third tournament appearance in row. Not many mid-major conference teams can make that claim; that should count for something.

Let's go in and whip Grambling and then give Purdue a run for their money!!!

I wish we didn't get a play-in game, but I understand it. .500 teams don't make the tournament often. Yes the BSC is a better conference, but they have to consider the whole season at least somewhat. If you talk about bad losses, I doubt there's a team in the tournament with a worse loss than Rocky at home. I'm just glad the BSC tournament was early and the Cats have a week between games because of it. They are flying out any minute now, so they'll get acclimated tonight and tomorrow, then game day. If they can win, they'll have about a two hour bus ride from Dayton to Indianapolis, I'd imagine Wednesday night, and about 48 hours to rest up for Purdue. There will be lots of reasons Purdue will be favored in that game, but fatigue shouldn't be one of them.

Exactly! Let's not be complaining about the seed with this year's resume! Cats earned their way in by winning the Big Sky Tourney but the rest of the season doesn't add up to any post season play. Grateful for them to be in and have a winnable game in front of them. Even winning the play in as the 65th seed would be a huge accomplishment!
Go Cats!

[MSU01]

Here's the MSU flight to Dayton, looks like they get in around 4:00 this afternoon local time.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight ... /KBZN/KDAY

Personally I see no disrespect in the seeding, it simply reflects the up and down nature of the season MSU had. I believe I heard the other day that MSU is something like only the 23rd team to ever make the tournament with a record of .500 or lower.

[homeytennis]

No Big Sky team was invited to the NIT. Montana and Northern Colorado were invited to an alphabet soup tournament. Eastern Washington and Weber's seasons appear to be over.

[catatac]

I am really torn about the seed. On one hand, I love the matchup with Grambling. A winnable game that would count as a tournament win and gives our guys one more game this season if they advance. On the other hand, it feels like a little bit of disrespect for the Big Sky and the Cats. The BSC is a better conference than the SWAC, and the Cats are making their third tournament appearance in row. Not many mid-major conference teams can make that claim; that should count for something.

Let's go in and whip Grambling and then give Purdue a run for their money!!!

I wish we didn't get a play-in game, but I understand it. .500 teams don't make the tournament often. Yes the BSC is a better conference, but they have to consider the whole season at least somewhat. If you talk about bad losses, I doubt there's a team in the tournament with a worse loss than Rocky at home. I'm just glad the BSC tournament was early and the Cats have a week between games because of it. They are flying out any minute now, so they'll get acclimated tonight and tomorrow, then game day. If they can win, they'll have about a two hour bus ride from Dayton to Indianapolis, I'd imagine Wednesday night, and about 48 hours to rest up for Purdue. There will be lots of reasons Purdue will be favored in that game, but fatigue shouldn't be one of them.

Exactly! Let's not be complaining about the seed with this year's resume! Cats earned their way in by winning the Big Sky Tourney but the rest of the season doesn't add up to any post season play. Grateful for them to be in and have a winnable game in front of them. Even winning the play in as the 65th seed would be a huge accomplishment!
Go Cats!

100% this. Cats made the tourney with SEVENTEEN losses. Too lazy to look it up but I'm guessing that has either never happened before... or it's incredibly rare.

[MSU01]

100% this. Cats made the tourney with SEVENTEEN losses. Too lazy to look it up but I'm guessing that has either never happened before... or it's incredibly rare.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-me ... tournament

Here's the list of .500 or lower teams to make the NCAA Tournament. MSU is the 26th team to do it, and were also the 3rd team to ever do it back in 1986!

[Camo_Cat]

I am really torn about the seed. On one hand, I love the matchup with Grambling. A winnable game that would count as a tournament win and gives our guys one more game this season if they advance. On the other hand, it feels like a little bit of disrespect for the Big Sky and the Cats. The BSC is a better conference than the SWAC, and the Cats are making their third tournament appearance in row. Not many mid-major conference teams can make that claim; that should count for something.

Let's go in and whip Grambling and then give Purdue a run for their money!!!

I wish we didn't get a play-in game, but I understand it. .500 teams don't make the tournament often. Yes the BSC is a better conference, but they have to consider the whole season at least somewhat. If you talk about bad losses, I doubt there's a team in the tournament with a worse loss than Rocky at home. I'm just glad the BSC tournament was early and the Cats have a week between games because of it. They are flying out any minute now, so they'll get acclimated tonight and tomorrow, then game day. If they can win, they'll have about a two hour bus ride from Dayton to Indianapolis, I'd imagine Wednesday night, and about 48 hours to rest up for Purdue. There will be lots of reasons Purdue will be favored in that game, but fatigue shouldn't be one of them.

Exactly! Let's not be complaining about the seed with this year's resume! Cats earned their way in by winning the Big Sky Tourney but the rest of the season doesn't add up to any post season play. Grateful for them to be in and have a winnable game in front of them. Even winning the play in as the 65th seed would be a huge accomplishment!
Go Cats!

100% this. Cats made the tourney with SEVENTEEN losses. Too lazy to look it up but I'm guessing that has either never happened before... or it's incredibly rare.

To be fair, I wasn't complaining about the seed, rather just questioning how I felt about it versus being in the top 64. I get it - we were the 5 seed and won the tournament, and we go in with 17 losses. But anyone with any common basketball sense could see this Bobcat team is not the same team from over a month ago. Let everyone overlook us; they might be surprised!

[kennethnoisewater]

No Big Sky team was invited to the NIT. Montana and Northern Colorado were invited to an alphabet soup tournament. Eastern Washington and Weber's seasons appear to be over.

I'd add that EWU and WSU may have been invited to the aforementioned alphabet soup tournament, but they POSSIBLY didn't want to pay the participation fee. Sounds like that was steep, and a quick cost-benefit analysis comes out pretty heavily leaning more toward cost than benefit. I don't know if that's the case or not, but I'd imagine if UNCU was invited, EWU would have been invited at least.

[Camo_Cat]

No Big Sky team was invited to the NIT. Montana and Northern Colorado were invited to an alphabet soup tournament. Eastern Washington and Weber's seasons appear to be over.

I'd add that EWU and WSU may have been invited to the aforementioned alphabet soup tournament, but they POSSIBLY didn't want to pay the participation fee. Sounds like that was steep, and a quick cost-benefit analysis comes out pretty heavily leaning more toward cost than benefit. I don't know if that's the case or not, but I'd imagine if UNCU was invited, EWU would have been invited at least.

I belive the CBI is a supposed to be a 16-team tournament. They got 15 teams to commit. That should tell you something about the quality of the tournament....

[Camo_Cat]

No Big Sky team was invited to the NIT. Montana and Northern Colorado were invited to an alphabet soup tournament. Eastern Washington and Weber's seasons appear to be over.

I'd add that EWU and WSU may have been invited to the aforementioned alphabet soup tournament, but they POSSIBLY didn't want to pay the participation fee. Sounds like that was steep, and a quick cost-benefit analysis comes out pretty heavily leaning more toward cost than benefit. I don't know if that's the case or not, but I'd imagine if UNCU was invited, EWU would have been invited at least.

I belive the CBI is a supposed to be a 16-team tournament. They got 15 teams to commit. That should tell you something about the quality of the tournament....

From Wikipedia: "The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI selects 16 teams that are not selected for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament or the National Invitation Tournament[1] (NIT), and who are willing to pay a $27,500 entry fee to participate.[2] ... In 2023, the CBI introduced NIL funding of $40,000 to be distributed in the following manner: $25,000 to the champion, $10,000 to the runner-up, and $2,500 to each semifinalist."

According to this, even if you win the tournament, you don't even receive your entry back in full...

[AFCAT]

No Big Sky team was invited to the NIT. Montana and Northern Colorado were invited to an alphabet soup tournament. Eastern Washington and Weber's seasons appear to be over.

I'd add that EWU and WSU may have been invited to the aforementioned alphabet soup tournament, but they POSSIBLY didn't want to pay the participation fee. Sounds like that was steep, and a quick cost-benefit analysis comes out pretty heavily leaning more toward cost than benefit. I don't know if that's the case or not, but I'd imagine if UNCU was invited, EWU would have been invited at least.

I belive the CBI is a supposed to be a 16-team tournament. They got 15 teams to commit. That should tell you something about the quality of the tournament....

From Wikipedia: "The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI selects 16 teams that are not selected for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament or the National Invitation Tournament[1] (NIT), and who are willing to pay a $27,500 entry fee to participate.[2] ... In 2023, the CBI introduced NIL funding of $40,000 to be distributed in the following manner: $25,000 to the champion, $10,000 to the runner-up, and $2,500 to each semifinalist."

According to this, even if you win the tournament, you don't even receive your entry back in full...

Not to mention the travel costs, hotel costs, food, etc.

[Cats and Dogs]

No Big Sky team was invited to the NIT. Montana and Northern Colorado were invited to an alphabet soup tournament. Eastern Washington and Weber's seasons appear to be over.

I'd add that EWU and WSU may have been invited to the aforementioned alphabet soup tournament, but they POSSIBLY didn't want to pay the participation fee. Sounds like that was steep, and a quick cost-benefit analysis comes out pretty heavily leaning more toward cost than benefit. I don't know if that's the case or not, but I'd imagine if UNCU was invited, EWU would have been invited at least.

I belive the CBI is a supposed to be a 16-team tournament. They got 15 teams to commit. That should tell you something about the quality of the tournament....

From Wikipedia: "The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI selects 16 teams that are not selected for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament or the National Invitation Tournament[1] (NIT), and who are willing to pay a $27,500 entry fee to participate.[2] ... In 2023, the CBI introduced NIL funding of $40,000 to be distributed in the following manner: $25,000 to the champion, $10,000 to the runner-up, and $2,500 to each semifinalist."

According to this, even if you win the tournament, you don't even receive your entry back in full...

Not to mention the travel costs, hotel costs, food, etc.

Let me invite you to my party that you have to pay for! LOL! Perfect for the gris, they get a participation ribbon and a hoodie!

[Hawks86]

I heard they just put it on the AD credit card and will pay it off with the extra money they get from us beating Grambling.

[aucat]

In the postgame interview Sam Lecholot said that we are probably the first team ever to lose a a NAIA team and make the NCAAS. I wonder if that’s true?

[catgrad05]

I heard they just put it on the AD credit card and will pay it off with the extra money they get from us beating Grambling.

Wouldn’t surprise me. The Cats paying for more gris chest pounding

[Desert_Bobcat]

In the postgame interview Sam Lecholot said that we are probably the first team ever to lose a a NAIA team and make the NCAAS. I wonder if that’s true?

I mean it wouldn’t surprise me. Wouldn’t surprise me either if you told me MSU was the first team to beat a power 5 team (Cal) and lose to an NAIA team in the same regular season. One thing I will say though, this team looks nothing like they did in November and if they were playing at the level they are now, they come out of the non-con season with only 2 maybe 3 losses instead of 8.

[TomCat88]

In the postgame interview Sam Lecholot said that we are probably the first team ever to lose a a NAIA team and make the NCAAS. I wonder if that’s true?

Wasn’t Chaminade naia back when they beat Ralph Sampson and Virginia?