MSU vs. WSU game thread

[Colter_Nuanez]

Cats are undefeated in conference play at home. They nearly ended the hands down best team in the league (Montana) 20-game conference winning streak in the most hostile environment they will play in this season. They beat the other perennial contender in Bozeman using energy, determination and poise. I'm not going to say I told you so just yet, but the difference to me between this year's Cats and the teams of the past two years is they are winning with defense, they are winning by taking care of the basketball and they are winning together.

I applaud your optimism, and I'm starting to become cautiously optimistic myself, but you have to understand why so many MSU fans are still taking a "wait and see" attitude. We've watched the same script play itself out for the past six seasons...a surprisingly good showing the first time through the BSC schedule (5-3 or 6-2), followed by a complete collapse during the 2nd round of conference games (1-7 or 2-6), and then a first round loss in the tourney. That's why most of us are hesitant to get overly excited, despite being given some reason to do so over the past few weeks, until we see how things go in February and March. Nothing would please me more though, than for you to be able to tell us all "I told you so" in March.

I wouldn't call it optimism as I don't have a horse in this race. I understand everyone on this board's cautious optimism. If you are still skeptical, what I would say is go watch this team. I've watched the Bobcats for all of Huse's years here and I've seen all the declining trends, etc. I've always followed Brad's career closely because he went to my high school (Missoula Big Sky) and I admired him when I was a prep athlete. He and his brothers are dominant figures in Big Sky's Hall of Fame.

This team is different then the teams I've watched the past two seasons as a member of the media. There's a lot more cohesiveness and heart. If you don't believe me, come down to the Brick on Saturday night and check them out.

All that said, sports are unpredictable. It's why we love them. I may be eating crow in six weeks if MSU hits a tailspin. But the way this team is playing compared to how they were playing before Christmas is night and day. It's a tremendous improvement and I think at least some of the credit has to go to Huse and his coaching staff, no matter how bad some want them run out of town.

[Vulcan]

[quote="CelticCat"][quote="dwainegf"]If you have high speed internet you can watch the games on BigSkyTV. Follow the links from the MSUBobcats.com site and get registered. It is free. Registration does take a good deal of time so I suggest you do it well before the game.[/quote]

We have one of the worst BSTV broadcasts of all the schools... no scoreboard/clock, sound quality is terrible, so is picture quality.[/quote]

Absolutely the best picture on bigskytv comes out of NAU. Damned near HD quality and of course their PBP guy Mitch Strohman is a hoot...BTW, this Griz likes the radio duo who do Cats b-ball heard on bigskytv.

[John K]

Cats are undefeated in conference play at home. They nearly ended the hands down best team in the league (Montana) 20-game conference winning streak in the most hostile environment they will play in this season. They beat the other perennial contender in Bozeman using energy, determination and poise. I'm not going to say I told you so just yet, but the difference to me between this year's Cats and the teams of the past two years is they are winning with defense, they are winning by taking care of the basketball and they are winning together.

I applaud your optimism, and I'm starting to become cautiously optimistic myself, but you have to understand why so many MSU fans are still taking a "wait and see" attitude. We've watched the same script play itself out for the past six seasons...a surprisingly good showing the first time through the BSC schedule (5-3 or 6-2), followed by a complete collapse during the 2nd round of conference games (1-7 or 2-6), and then a first round loss in the tourney. That's why most of us are hesitant to get overly excited, despite being given some reason to do so over the past few weeks, until we see how things go in February and March. Nothing would please me more though, than for you to be able to tell us all "I told you so" in March.

I wouldn't call it optimism as I don't have a horse in this race. I understand everyone on this board's cautious optimism. If you are still skeptical, what I would say is go watch this team. I've watched the Bobcats for all of Huse's years here and I've seen all the declining trends, etc. I've always followed Brad's career closely because he went to my high school (Missoula Big Sky) and I admired him when I was a prep athlete. He and his brothers are dominant figures in Big Sky's Hall of Fame.

This team is different then the teams I've watched the past two seasons as a member of the media. There's a lot more cohesiveness and heart. If you don't believe me, come down to the Brick on Saturday night and check them out.

All that said, sports are unpredictable. It's why we love them. I may be eating crow in six weeks if MSU hits a tailspin. But the way this team is playing compared to how they were playing before Christmas is night and day. It's a tremendous improvement and I think at least some of the credit has to go to Huse and his coaching staff, no matter how bad some want them run out of town.

I agree that Huse and his staff deserve a great deal of credit for the improvement we've seen in this team since earlier in this season. I don't believe any of us relish the thought of Huse being "run out of town", as by all accounts he is a good guy who works hard and has given his very best to MSU over the past 7 years. His hiring back in 2006 was greeted with almost unanimous approval among MSU fans, and even most UM fans seemed to believe that we got the better of the Huse/Tinkle tandem when Krysko left Missoula. It's just been so frustrating to witness the late-season collapses year after year, and to see UM appearing frequently in the BSC title game, while we can never even get out of the 1st round of the tourney. For now, I'll cautiously accept your evaluation that things might actually be different this season. I'd like to get down there for a game, as I haven't been to one since they hosted PSU in the tourney back in 2010. If not before, I'll definitely plan on going if they can manage to secure a top 4 seed and host a 1st round game again this season.

[dwainegf]

All the conference tournament games will be played at the regular season champion's arena. The top 7 teams go with the No.1 seed receiving a first round bye.

[John K]

All the conference tournament games will be played at the regular season champion's arena. The top 7 teams go with the No.1 seed receiving a first round bye.

Oh...I didn't realize they had changed the format for the tourney.

[Gidal Kaiser]

Weber State postgame blog, replete with video and audio. Lost the pregame post due to user error (my own). http://bobcatblog.bozemandailychronicle.com/?p=11380

[WalkOn79]

Great game for the Cats. So is this a good thing or a bad thing??? The vast majority on this site want a change in coaches for next year. If Brad ends up with the 3 or 4 seed in the tournament he will probably keep his job.

I think the vast majority on this site want the Cats to be successful and contend in bball. To me, if they can do that with Brad, even better.

+1


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk