Injuries / Player losses

With D-1 Basketball about to get fully underway injuries and player losses seem to be mounting up at both Montana and Montana State. In today’s Missoulain they out lined the Griz men’s injury situation, but they are not the only program who has been hit by the loss of available players. Injuries and player defections hit the men’s programs a lot harder than their women counterparts because of the men’s scholarship limit of 13 compared with 15 for the women’s programs. The men’s program scholarship limit was 15 some 10-15 years ago but was reduced by the NCAA athletic directors as a cost saving measure. Additionally unlike most other sports Basketball coaches can not spit scholarship. If an athlete is given a full scholarship or only a partial it still counts as 1 scholarship towards the limit.

On a similar note the flue has also had a big impact on the preseason practices for the programs. From what I have heard it has particularly hit the Montana State programs pretty hard. With so many player days missed to the flue most programs have not been able to implement all the schemes yet that they had hoped to before the start of game.

Here is what I know of affecting the four programs. These do not include previous injuries that could be reinjured nor typical minor bumps and bruises.

Women’s Bobcat alumni game and other Secret Games

Last week if you listened to the radio or Internet broadcast of the Bobcat Women’s game against Easte… ah Montana State Billings, you heard the voice of the Women Bobcats Tyler Wiltgen mention the scrimmage the Bobcat’s were going to have against an Alumni team coming up. At the time he mentioned the time and place for this game, but that it was not an official game so he would not be covering it. For reason that will become obvious I am not going to mention the time and place, because you, the average public are not allowed to attend.

Earlier this week I got a little blurb from the Bozeman.

Due to NCAA rules, this game must be considered a “practice scrimmage” with outside competition. The rules surrounding a practice scrimmage say that there cannot be anyone in attendance that is not on the administration staff or there to help run the scrimmage. They are going to be locking the outside doors.

Sorry

Bobcat Blue / Gold game cancelled

FYI to anyone planning to attend the Montana State Bobcat men’s basketball Blue Gold game tonight, I have heard that Brad Huse had to cancel the game due to flue and a few injuries.  The Bobcats only had 8-10 players who would be available to participate.

Big Sky coaches and media Women’s polls

The Big Sky has announced the results of the conference women’s media and coaches’ poll for the upcoming 2009-10 season. Portland state was voted #1 while Montana and Montana State were voted number 2 and 3 respectively in both polls. I do not think any team who lost as much as coach Robin Selvig’s Lady Griz team would be ranked at #2, but I think it goes to show you the respect the coaches have for the dean of the Women’s Big Sky basketball and his program, I was also wondering how the coaches and Media were going to judge the Bobcat Women’s basketball program. While it is true the Bobcats do have a first team all conference player and the freshman of the year back, they will also have 7 new faces on their roster, and will be depending on a couple freshman to make a contribution this year.

Big Sky coaches and media polls

The Big Sky Conference has released its’ pre-season men’s polls for the 2009-10 season and there is not much of a surprise in them. Weber and Montana were ranked 1 and 2 respectively with Idaho State taking third in the Coaches Poll and Portland State taking third in the media poll. They switch places in the other poll. Montana State is ranked fifth in each poll. The only surprise I saw from how I thought the ranking would come out was that I thought Portland State would be picked second and Montana third. These preseason polls have a history of being hit or miss, with some year the coaches and media being spot on and others not even close. Here are the polls

Pre-season look at the Lady Griz (part 2)

This is the second part of my pre-season look at the Lady griz basketball program. You can find Part 1 here.

The Bigs

Sarah Ena 5-11 PF/C – Ena is a load inside and with the big void left from the graduation of Morales and Rogers look for her to improve on her 11 points and 7 rebounds a game average in 2008-09. I see her starting at either the center of forward spot depending on who wins the other starting spot, but she will play both positions for the Lady Griz. She and Beck should be the bed rock for this young team as it develops. Ena excels using her quickness underneath so look for the Lady Griz to try to take advantage of that more this season.

Jessa Loman-Linford 6-1 PF/C – Linford, seem to me, to be one of the players who showed the most improvement from the time last season started until the end. If she carried that momentum on through the off season she really could be a major factor in the Lady Griz in any case I expect her to be one of the main contenders for a starting role at the center spot. She averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds a game last season in 14 minutes of action.

Pre-season look at the Lady Griz (part 1)

This is the first for two preseason looks at the Lady Griz basketball program. I have been working on this one for a couple days and it is the one that I feel the least comfortable about. This program is going to be radically different from what it was during the 2008-09 season, which is pretty amazing considering they lost only 4 players, but when you look at who those three players were it becomes obvious.

The Losses:

The Lady Griz lose, starting point guard Mandy Morales, starting shooting guard Sonya Rogers, starting center Britney Lohman and reserve center Tamara Guardipee. Those players accounted for roughly 60% of the Lady Griz points. 42% rebounds and 63% of their assists totals for the 2008-09 season. They also represent arguably the best 3 point shooter in Lady Griz history and their interior defensive stopper. You normally, just do not replace talent like that, with out have a rebuilding year, but year after year Selvig just keeps on putting out conference winning teams so do not count him out,. A bad year for Selvig is a 2nd or 3rd place finish in the Big Sky. Robin always seems to have a stable of very talented athletes every year ready to step up and fill the void left by graduation.

Preseason look at the Bobcat Women (Part 2)

This is the second part of my pre-seson look at the Montana State Bobcat women. You can find Part 1 here.

The Bigs

Sarah Strand 6-1 PF – I am hearing that Strand is primed to have a very big year, and the Bobcat’s are going to need that to off set the loss of Garcia. Strand is a prototypical power forward in Binford’s system. She can run the court, slash to the post, or shot the ball from beyond the three point arc. Picking up her scoring average this year, should not be an issue for Strand, but she is going to need to really improve her rebounding (only 4.3 per game) if the Bobcats are going to compete with the top teams in the league.

Jamie Thornton 6-4 C – Thornton had a very good off season and maybe the leading candidate to start at the center position next year. She will need to improve on her 2 points and two rebounds a game from last year, but she does not need to star but fill the role of a center. She will need to play with a lot of energy when in the game as I suspect as with most true big girls we may only get 20 minutes or so a night off of her.

Preseason look at the Bobcat Women (Part 1)

This is the first for two preseason looks at the Montana State Bobcat women’s basketball team.

The Losses:

The Bobcat women lost 4 players off of last years team two expected (graduation) and two unexpected (quit Basketball). The losses are across the board but the biggest has to starting center Nubia Garcia. Garcia’s rebounding, scoring and defense earned a second team all conference award. It is not clear who will replace her at the center spot but I doubt who ever does will not be able to run the court like Garcia. Not far behind in the loss column is Jenny Heringer. Heringer was the fourth leading scorer for the Bobcats but came up big on quite a few occasions when the Cats needed her to. She was also the team’s second leading rebounder (behind Garcia). Rebounding is going to be a big concern of the Bobcat Women this pre season.

Returnees overview:

The Bobcats have only 5 returnees and a redshirt transfer returning off of last years team, but the player returning are good. They feature first team all conference point guard Erica Perry as well as freshman of the year Katie Bussey. Budding star power forward Sarah Strand. These three players all have the capability to being all conference type players. Seidensticker, Thornton and Jackson (redshirt transfer) will all put in major minutes.

Guards / Wings

Erica Perry 5-4 PG – In my opinion the most important position in Big Sky basketball is the point guard, so returning a first team all conference point guard is always a great starting point. Perry averaged averaging 13.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.4 steals per game, but more importantly she makes this team go, and is a terror on defense for other Big Sky point guards. She will again be a big time player for the Bobcat’s this year.

Pre-season look at the grizzly men (part 2)

This is the second part of my preseson look at the Montana State Bobcat men. You can find Part 1 here.

The Big Men

Brain Qvale 6-11 C – Qvale is the only big man on the roster who has played a complete season of college ball. Qvale started the first half of the season, but by the time conference rolled around Tinkle decided to go with Kyle Sharp who gave him more consistency, and energy in the starting line up. Qvale has a very strong interior offensive game, rebounds well and can really clog the lane defensively. He has the potential to be one if not the best true big men in the league this year. To do that though he need to start playing with consistency and like an upperclassman. I look for a big year from Qvale.

Derek Selvig 7-0 PF/C – Derek is somewhat of an enigma to me. I have watched him a lot over the couple of years, and there are times I see him a package of skills that I have not seen in a Big Sky Conference big man since the days of Domako and Kystowiak. The problem is that far too often, you simply forget when he is on the court, and that is tough for a 7-0’er. Truly, next to Anthony Johnson, Selvig could be the most gifted basketball player on the Griz roster. The (Big) Sky is the limit for Selvig it is up to him. He should start at the power forward spot, and fill in at the center spot when Qvale leaves, but you can forget about him playing the small forward.