BigSky Conference Mens Basketball

mtgrizrule · Post by **mtgrizrule** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:24 pm

Hey Catnation, once again congrats to the football team rebounding the last few weeks. Speaking of rebounding, basketball practices start this week. I think it would be great to get as many posts as possible regarding each BSC bball team for all fans to view. Fan input is the only way to have a decent idea of what to expect from each team being the publications suck when it comes to BSC basketball. So how about it? I have no idea what to expect from the Cats in basketball this year, other than knowing Huse is one hell of a hire for the cats. I will get this started here by posting my Griz preseason outlook here and hope a few cat fans will post their analysis at EGRIZ too, lets be kind in this too. Before I post mine, I want to apologize for having EWU battling it out with the GRIZ this year for 1st. Fact is, I really do not know what to expect from the Cats and EWU has many players, including Stuckey back. Here is my GRIZ analysis, hope to see something at egriz.com from cat fans.

With basketball practice starting oct 13, I thought it would be interesting to get an idea from egrizzers of how the bball team will do this year? (That applies for catnation and all BSC teams too.)
1st of all, lets hope for no injuries or at the worse minimal injuries. By looking at the schedule, my thinking is the GRIZ should go 12-4 in the BSC and 24-6 overall. We should fight it out with EWU for 1st. How nice would it be to host the BSC?
This year is huge for the GRIZ to prove themselves as TOP 25 to 50 program. To get some national exposure they will have to win the Bracketbuster game and show well in the Old Spice Classic, at the very worse get 1 win there. All 4 BSC teams will have to show well in bracketbusters for the sake of the conference. I think Tinks will once again keep the GRIZ balanced, with even more quality depth this year.
The obvious is that Strait will average 16+ pts and 8 boards.
I feel the key player having to take his game to a new level is Matt Martin. Judging by Matt's attitude, desire, confidence, him being a JR, and getting more time at SG getting some of Chriswell's shots, I think he will average 12 points, 4 assists, 2 steals. However, I know Matt personally will probably want to put up better numbers. He is capable of it, as are most of the GRIZ, but with our depth and team play I do not see anyone consistently dominating the scoring column.
As for Bryan Ellis, he will avg 3 steals, 6 assists, 8 pts (could be much more but he honestly could care less if he scores as long as the GRIZ win.) I will not be surprised if he has an improved outside shot this year.
Matt Dloughy will be our defensive stopper on any team's best wing. He too will be consistent from the outside (I wish he would shoot more, I like his stroke). I think he will just do a little bit of everything, average 10 pts, 5 boards, 2 to 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 to 2 blocks.
Jordan Hasquet, along with Martin will be a huge key for the GRIZ. He really played well the 2nd half of last year. I expect him to be a match up nightmare. He too will be around 12 points, 6 boards, 1 to 2 blocks a night.
Chavez, will see lots of time at SF and PF and be the guy looked to this year for a spark. He will be in shape from the get go this year which will be huge for him as for his minutes and defense. Statisically,I really have no idea what to expect of him, but do know he should see lots of minutes and contribute consistently. Rest of the roster is hard to determine being we have so many SO and FR that are versatile and talented, but I will give it a shot. Common sense is Stuart Mayes will be in the rotation being he is a SR, versatile, and athletic.
Gus Chase should see plenty of minutes because of his strength, inside scoring, and rebounding. I expect him to get 16+ minutes, when he is there I expect him to set the tone physically with rebounding and inside scoring.
Dave Vanderjagt is the 1 player we do not know much about. However, he was very highly recruited and a true 7 footer with a good offensive game. I see him to getting more minutes as the season progresses. By end of the year I am thinking he will be starting or be the 1st big guy off the bench. There is 9 that I think make sense as for playing time.
Filling rest of this roster out very well may be what will make or break Tinks and his staff this year and future recruiting. I think Spurgetis is an obvious redshirt being he is a walk on and plays guard which we are loaded at. Swift and Sharp are difficult decisions that need to be handled properly. They are CA kids which is huge for recruiting. Swift is a versatile 3 position player (PG, SG, SF) with a good overall game much like Dloughy but a better ball handler. Sharp is tough, has a nose for the ball, has attitude, and intangibles that are hard to coach. Graves, Rundles, and Simms are all athletic, versatile-multi position players. Ryan Staudacher is a lights out shooter, if he is not rusty it will be hard to not have him coming off the bench as an outside assasin. Practice the next 3 weeks will determine who redshirts between Swift, Sharp, Graves, Rundles, Simms, and Staudacher. We need another forward, so that keeps Sharp as part of the rotation. Swift has 1 year under his belt, has the game and versatility to see minutes. I think Simms being in the rotation makes sense too being he too should be an athletic defensive stopper that can be part of big or small line as well as someone to excite the crowd with big dunks. He will get some of Dlough's plays ran for him too. Also I think Tinks will want to keep SF/PF mins available for Selvig the next season so I think it makes sense to get guys at those positions PT this year. I would think Rundles or Graves would be nice to work in at PG this year, but I think Swift's versatility will give us a 3rd ball handler as PG or point forward roll. This will allow both to learn PG and SG from Ellis and Martin as redshirts. As for Staudacher, what do we do? I think Tinks finds PT for him as the season progresses when we need to find an outside shooter.
As things look now, I think Spurgetis, Rundles, and Groves redshirt if there are no injuries. Those are the 3 I think make the most sense as well. Wow, it is nice to know that our biggest concerns are playing time and who redshirts? That is always a good sign. I am sure a few things will change as we watch practices as well. Good luck GRIZ, let's get another BSC championship and ticket to the BIG DANCE playing in Spokane this year. That would be amazing and advantageous to us!!!!!

mtgrizrule · Post by **mtgrizrule** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:13 pm

By the way, Playing in Spokane would be huge for EWU, MSU, ISU, WSU and PSU as well. I really do hope it comes down to the Griz and CATS though.

SACCAT · Post by **SACCAT** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:55 am

Where did you see that there were any games in spokane? I looked around and could not find anything that sair it was there. The only one close was Sacramento.

anacondagriz · Post by **anacondagriz** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:15 pm

http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/mens/schedules

We buy tickets for the 1st 2 rounds every year. But this year Spokane made it mandatory that you also buy tickets for the women's regional which will be in Spokanistan the next year, so looks like we will have to deal w/scalpers.

SACCAT · Post by **SACCAT** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:57 pm

WOW how did I miss that. That is the same place I looked for about 20 min.