Recruiting: Bobcat progress report

We are about 4 weeks into the late recruiting period with about 2 week remaining I thought I would do update where the fourMontana based D-1 programs currently stand and what is left to finish out their recruiting.

Montana State Bobcat Men

The Bobcat men just finished up their 2010 recruiting with the signing 5-10 Rod Singleton out of Antelope Valley junior College. This gives the Bobcat men 8 new players for next season, five returning lettermen (including walk-on Brian Louff) and three redshirt freshmen ( 1 scholarship and 2 walk-ons) who could be on the roster next year. I am not sure though all the walk-ons will be back.

It is always tough being a walk-on for a D-1 club, you have to do all the same work and pay your way through school. Things tend to happen late and even over the summer as far as walk-ons deciding whether to they will return for another year, but this is what I am hearing. Steven Davis is looking like a real strong likely hood that he will return for his next year. Brain Louff I am hearing as of right now will most likely return, but I have to imagine he would be a very nice prize for a D-2 or NAIA club so I am keeping my eye on him. After injuring his knee last fall I suspecting Colt Idol might be inclined to return for another year at MSU to see how he could compete against the scholarship guy’s now that he is 100% healthy, but I am hearing some rumblings that Idol is getting a lot of interest and scholarship opportunities from some Frontier schools with Carroll College being the school I hear most often. I am not sure if he will return.

Nice article on MSU-BB player Semansky

The Great Falls tribune has a nice article on Ex-Highwood and current Montana State freshman Rachel Semansky. While in truth the article features Semansky, it also discusses the current Bobcat Women’s team and it young season. I have a short taste of the article below but you should really follow the link below and read the entire article on the Great Tribune site.

Ex-Highwood star Semansky in starting lineup for MSU women

Not many basketball players go directly from Montana’s Class C prep ranks to a starting role for an NCAA Div. I program, and Rachel Semansky certainly didn’t expect to be one of them.

But that’s where the former Highwood star finds herself this weekend — the starting low post player for Montana State’s 5-1 squad.

The 6-foot Semansky wasn’t sure what position she would play for the Bobcats, and she wasn’t sure whether coach Tricia Binford would use her at all in her rookie season. But a combination of hard work on Semansky’s part and an injury to starting center Jamie Thornton thrust Semansky into the lineup last week against Winthrop. Semansky will be in the starting five again Friday night when MSU faces Gonzaga at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

Odds and Ends 8-24-09

As I indicated earlier aside from some assorted basketball commitments there is not a lot of news to report. Both programs at both schools are trying to make arrangements to have prospects visit campus this September and everyone is getting all worked up over the start of the football season. This Odds and ends post will be shorter than normal and is mostly an update.

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• As an update on my Lady Griz basketball 2009-10 Roster article keep an eye on true freshman guard / forward Kenzie De Boer she is really impressing. I think she will make the starting line up very early in her career and once she gets it she is not going to give it up.

• In my Bobcat Women’s basketball 2009-10 Roster post, I plugged JC transfer Beata Bak into the starting spot at center. It appears that 6-3 senior center Jamie Thornton is having a very nice summer and may be the center to beat for that starting spot. In any case competition is good and both will play significant minutes this winter. Ashley Albert also continues to impress.

• A correction to Bobcat men’s basketball 2009-10 Roster, I stated that all of the Bobcat men were on campus this past July-August for second section of the summer semester. In fact I am told that true freshman guard / forward Marc Bourgault was not able to make it Bozeman this summer but had other commitments in France. He will be arriving at the start of the fall semester.

Jenny Heringer leaves the Bobcat Women

This hit the news yesterday, while I have been away from my computer, but I do not see any mention of it on the message board so I thought I would mention it.

According to Will C. Holden of the Bozeman Chronicle, MSU senior to be Jenny Heringer is leaving the Bobcat Women’s program and for going her senior year. In Will’s article it says she is leaving for personal reason and that is about it.

Before anyone sends me an email for the inside scoop do not know the inside scoop and I am not particularly interested in finding out.

This comes as quite a shock to me. I had Heringer penciled in at winning a starting spot at the off guard / small forward  for the Cats.

Odds and Ends – 6/15/09

Just want to touch on some miscellaneous bits of information

• Montana Mr. and Miss Basketball: At the Montana Wyoming Basketball games this week end, the event coordinators announced their picks for the Mr. and Miss basketball Awards. These awards typically go the best senior player on the Montana all star roster. This differs from all other states where, underclassmen are also eligible for this award. The thing that was unique about this years awards was that typically there will be a short list of 2-3 players that you figure has a chance to win each award. This year there was absolutely no debating who the girl’s award would go to, and for the boy’s it could have gone anyone of the 10 players.

Montana / Wyoming All Star Game – Box Scores Round 2

Here are the Box scores for the second round of games in the Montana Wyoming All Star Basketball series. These games were played Saturday in Billings. Both games were more tightly contested that the previous games played in Sheridan Wyoming, with the Montana boys losing an over time game, and the Montana girls needing a 34 point effort from Jos Tinkle to pull out a 7 point victory over Wyoming. It is amazing in this series how little the home court seems matter. It seems the “visiting team” always seems to play better than the home team.

Montana / Wyoming All Star Game – Box Scores Round 1

Here are the Box scores for the first round of games in the Montana Wyoming All Star Basketball series played in Sheridan Wyoming. As expected the girls team dominated Wyoming 82-83. The boy’s team has a surprisingly (at least by me) time against their Wyoming counter parts. The second part of the series will continue when they meet again tonight in Billings Montana.

Here is a report from the Billings Gazette and another from the Wyoming Tribune

Montana / Wyoming All Star Game – Girls

The 2010 Montana All-Star series kicks-off tonight in Sheridan. I have made it to, quite a few of the games held in Billings over the past 10 or so years but it looks like I am going to have to sit this years out, for family issues in Missoula. Still the series is usually a great event, and I think this year will be no exception.

While I know most people tend to look at the boy’s game as the main event, the real star of this year games has to be the Girls game. While the Montana boy’s team really lacks star power, the Montana girls team is over flowing with star power, and you have to look no further than to Stanford bound Jocelyn Tinkle to find the biggest star of them all. Even with out Tinkle this team might rank as one of the best Montana teams ever fielded, but with her I can not think team that we have fielded with this much talent.

Montana State Women freshman recruit poll

My first poll on Word press.  I would include JC transfer Beata Bak in this poll but there is a certain assumption that a JC transfer will be an instant impact player.

Binford Wraps it Up

With the announcement of Beata Bak’s signing Montana States Tricia Binford, wrapped up her spring recruiting 2007. Binford will be adding 7 players to go along with 7 returning players for next season. It will also leave one scholarship open so it is possible that she could sign another player over the summer, if she chose to. That will be a lot of new players coming on board that she will have to evaluate and work into the system. The returnees are very experienced and talented, plus bring a lot of leadership qualities with them so that should help quite a bit next fall. The other thing that should really be an asset for this team is the flexibility of the players and Binford’s system in the system that should allow Binford to get her best players on the court. It is clear, though, that at least four of these players will need to be ready to contribute right away.