Big Sky Women MBB race

Big Sky Basketball  published an article from a guest contributor ranking the Big Sky Basketball women’s teams. As my unfortunate habit, what intented to be a short comment turned into a novel, that I thought I would share.

I will play here are some other opinions as of 12:00 Noon on 1/4/12, and yes this turned out to be longer than I expected.

RPI (Realtime RPI)
1. ISU (93), 2. MSU (132), 3. EWU (158), 4. No. Col. (175), 5. PSU (179), 6. UM (201), 7. NAU (258), 8. Sac St (272), 9 Weber (331)

LadyGrizBasketball.com (Bill Speltz of the Missoulian)
1. UM, 2 ISU, 3 MSU, 4 PSU, 5 EWU, 6 Sac St. 7 No. Col., 8 NAU, 9 Weber

My Prediction (guesses) for signing day

The early or November signing period will be this Wednesday November 9th interesting enough the NCAA has a new rule this year that a the Letter of Intent can not be accepted/sent before 7:00 AM at the athletes local time, so coaches remember to check the time stamp on your faxes.

As of right now (11-7-2011) this is what I predict or guess as to where the different Montana D-1 basketball programs are at.

One note to keep in mind, on paper you can usually count the number of seniors and add the total number of open scholarships to come up with how many athletes/spots each program has to fill. Remember though on average each D-1 program loses 1.3 (men’s stats) scholarship players each year, come the spring, for one reason or another. Coaches know this and a lot of D-1 coaches are accounting for this by “over signing” in the fall. In Big Sky men’s basketball Weber State and Montana tend to do this each year. Other will wait until the spring to fill possible open spots. On a wins and losses, point of view it is hard to argue with the over signing point of view.

Bobcat Men

The Bobcat men have 2 seniors and will sign most likely sign two players this fall. The first will be point guard Marcus Colbert of Post Falls Idaho and 6-8 power forward Ryan Shannon of Mountlake Terrace high school in the Seattle area of Washington. That would leave the Bobcat men full up for scholarships (on paper) for next year. With Antonio Biglow yet to report to MSU and claim his scholarship for next year. If the Bobcats were to need to fill another scholarship for next year in the spring I would expect them to look possibly at the JC ranks or high school depending on who possibly leaves.

Ryan Shannon Commits to the Bobcats

Ryan Shannon (red & white uni) Blocks a shot

Brad Huse and his Bobcat assistant coaches received a commitment from Ryan Shannon from Mountlake Terrace high school in the state of Washington. Shannon played his freshman thru junior season for Marysville-Pilchuck High School before transferring to Mountlake Terrace over the summer.

Shannon is a 6-7 220 pound, power forward who brings a nice skill set to the Bobcat program. He is one of those slow bloomers who has been growing a few inches each year in high school and as a result has pretty nice ball skills and a jumper out to about 17 feet. He lists himself at 6-7 but some other AAU material that I have seen from the summer lists him at 6-8. I am guessing that by the time he is wearing a Bobcat Uniform he will be listed in the program at 6-8.

As a sophomore Shannon averaged 13 points, 11 rebounds, 4 block shots and 3 assists a game as a 6-4 combo forward, and was named second team All WesCo player. Last year for Marysville-Pilchuck the 6-6 Shannon averaged 16 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 assists from the power forward and center spots (I understand they had a 6-11 guy on their roster). For his efforts he was named first team All WesCo. Incidentally he also earned First Team All WesCo in track (high jump).

Huse adds Andrew Costello to Bobcat Basketball

OK so just when I thought I had all of the Montana State walk-ons down, I get another one.

I have been told that the Bobcats have another freshman walk-on who is practicing and playing with the team this season and that is Andrew Costello from HCYA North high school in Houston Texas. HCYA as it more commonly referred plays in the private high school league in the Houston area. It was ranked the number 1 high school in its league for almost the entire season.

Costello is a 6-8 forward, although he did play some at center this year especially defense against the better big men they played. I have seen him listed at up to 6-10 in a few places but I am going to bet he is closer to 6-8. It sounds like he is in the mold of current Bobcat Jeff Budnich, as he is a very good jump shooter out past three point range. I could not find a lot of info on Costello but it appears he averaged 10 points and 7 rebounds a game. I have seen him listed as a small forward and power forward but not a center.

Jeremiah Tardy walks on this year

It looks like I missed on this one, even though it was announced last June in quite a few local San Bernardino news papers.

Last June the Bobcat picked up a walk-on commitment for the 2011-12 school year from a very nice looking prospect form California.JeremiahTardyenrolled at MSU this quarter and is currently practicing with the Bobcat basketball team.Tardyis a 6-3 combo guard who played for the San Bernardino high school last season.

Tardyaveraged 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals a game while playing primarily the point guard spot but did play also spend time at the shooting guard and small forward spot for San Bernardino. He had 7 games where he recorded double digit in assist and scored over 20 points 5 times. For his efforts he was named first team in both All-San Adreas league and CIF-Southern Section’s Division 2A.

Bobcat recruit: Adrian Jefferies

I have heard from a couple sources that the Bobcats men’s basketball coaches have invited Adrian Jefferies from Morgan Park high school in the Chicago Illinois area. Jefferies is a 6-5ish player who is projected to play the small forward and possibly guard in College. He seems to be growing still as I have seen him listed in most of the summer’s rosters at 6-5 or 6-6. As a junior he was listed pretty consistently at 6-4.

Last season he averaged just under 10 points and 10 rebounds a game as a part time starter for a team that featured 6-5 Wayne Blackshear (now playing for Louisville), 6-4 Billy Garrette (Depual commit & top 50 2013 recruit), 6-7 Jermaine Morgan (Colorado St. commit) as well as 6-8 Xzavier Taylor and 5-10 Markee Williams (both of whom are projected to be d-1 prospects in 2013).

(Jefferies is #15 in the picture)

Another Bobcat recruit: Jake Belford

I have heard from a couple sources that the Bobcats had a couple recruits in this past week end (September 16-17). One of them was Jake Belford of Battleground high school in the state of Washington. Belford is a 6-9 center forward who seems to have gone on a growth spurt as of ate. As a sophomore he was listed at 6-5, junior 6-7 and over the summer he has been consistently listed at 6-9.

Belford has range out to three point range but does not shy away from contact inside. With long arms, he is a pretty good passer and has a reputation as hard working “coachable” player. He was voted the top performer at the Washington State Elite camp this past summer.

More Potential Bobcat recruiting targets

I have a few more recruiting targets for the Bobcats this fall

Marcus Colbert 5-11 PG Cobert played two years with current Bobcat Shawn Reid at Post Falls high school in Idaho. Colbert’s father and head coach at Post Falls also has multiple connections with both the Griz and Bobcat programs/coaches. I believe he camped this summer for the Bobcats, but I am not sure, but he did tear it up at the Griz Elite camp this summer and was the best player I saw there (granted I only saw a a few games). It is said that the Griz offered Colbert at their camp.  Colbert is a very explosive play maker who can create his own shot or those of his team mates. Athletic and quick is most likely the leading candidate for the Idaho 5A player of the year. Averaged 16 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 4.9 apg last season. I believe the Bobcat coaches offered him this past Friday or Saturday. In addition to Montana State I have heard that San Jose State and Montana have offered Colbert at one point or another while Washington State Idaho and Baylor have been showing interest for quite some time.

Potential Bobcat recruiting targets

By request

Most of what I am posting I have posted on my twitter page over the past 4-6 weeks with and is an update on some rumored Bobcat recruit targets.

Ty Egbert 6-9 pf/C Lake Roosevelt high school in Washington. Is said to have offers from Boise State, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington State. Montana and Montana State. Has that elusive quality coaches love right now: length (meaning he has long arms and can play bigger than his height) better athlete than many expect and runs the floor well. Has official visits scheduled for Boise State, on Sept 23rd and Montana State for October 1st. Don’t be surprised if Montana schedules an official visit the day before or after his Montana State visit. ESPN rating 88

Sekou Wiggs 6-3 SG O’Dea high school in Washington state, athletic scorer. Cal Irvine, Cal Poly, Idaho, Portland St. and San Francisco have offered, UC Davis is trying to get him down for an official visit. I hear both Montana and Montana State have been recruiting and depending on who you talk to depends which school is more serious. I have been told he will take an official to “one of the Montana schools” but I am not sure which one. ESPN rating 88

Jalen Ward 5-10 PG O’Dea high school in Washington state, Another kid who helped his stock this summer. A pass first point guard but has deep range, athletic and fast. Sounds like a Casey Trujeque type player. His size (5-10 might be generous), or lack there-of is the major question mark on him. Montana St., Boise State, Washington St. and Cal St. Santa Barbara are all showing a lot of interest right now. MSU has been recruiting him the longest I am told.

Potential Griz recruiting targets

By request

Most of what I am posting I have posted on my twitter page over the past 4-6 weeks with and is an update on some rumored Griz recruit targets. The first player I thought should be of interest to you guys.

Matt Staudacher 6-0 PG Lake Washington high school in Washington, Yes I do believe he is the brother of former Griz, Ryan Staudacher. Has been gaining a lot of interest this summer and fall. He has proven over the summer he can play the point for a very talented AAU team and his stock has risen. Described as a “heady point guard with deep shot” Has interest from Denver, Idaho St., Montana, Penn, and Portland St, but I do not believe any offers yet. ESPN rating NA

Sekou Wiggs 6-3 SG O’Dea high school, athletic scorer. Cal Irvine, Cal Poly, Idaho, Portland St. and San Francisco have offered, UC Davis is trying to get him down for an official visit. I hear both Montana and Montana State have been recruiting and depending on who you talk to depends which school is more serious. I have been told he will take an official to “one of the Montana schools” but I am not sure which one. ESPN rating 88

Mitch Brewe 6-8 PF/C Seattle Prep high school in Washington, Big time scorer (23 ppg) and rebounder (just under 10) a good Seattle area team. A hustle guy but not overly athletic. Army, Montana, Drake, UC Santa Barbara have all offered and St Mary’s showing a lot of interest. ESPN rating 88