The Bobcat Nation

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/rankings?poll=1

It's been way too long since a BSC school was ranked in the AP Top 25, and this one is certainly deserved. The LG have had a fantastic season.

They are unbelievably good this year and this might be one of the better Lady Griz teams. And they're also young, so this team will be around for another year or two. I saw them projected as a 9 seed on ESPN's bracketology. It's good for the Big Sky to get a ranked team again. It has been a long, long time.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/bracketology

It also said that the Lady Griz could get an at-large bid if they should mess up in the Big Sky tournament.

bozbobcat wrote:They are unbelievably good this year and this might be one of the better Lady Griz teams. And they're also young, so this team will be around for another year or two. I saw them projected as a 9 seed on ESPN's bracketology. It's good for the Big Sky to get a ranked team again. It has been a long, long time.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/bracketology

It also said that the Lady Griz could get an at-large bid if they should mess up in the Big Sky tournament.

Shouldn't a ranked team pull a helluva lot higher than a #9 seed? I'd think they'd deserve, at worst, a #6 seed.

The bracket prediction might have been done prior to their recent push into the top 25, though, so that could explain the difference.

Bay Area Cat wrote:

bozbobcat wrote:They are unbelievably good this year and this might be one of the better Lady Griz teams. And they're also young, so this team will be around for another year or two. I saw them projected as a 9 seed on ESPN's bracketology. It's good for the Big Sky to get a ranked team again. It has been a long, long time.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/bracketology

It also said that the Lady Griz could get an at-large bid if they should mess up in the Big Sky tournament.

Shouldn't a ranked team pull a helluva lot higher than a #9 seed? I'd think they'd deserve, at worst, a #6 seed.

The bracket prediction might have been done prior to their recent push into the top 25, though, so that could explain the difference.

They've got a pretty strong RPI as well. I'd love to see them get a 6 (which is probably about where they belong). You know the problem with the 8/9 seeds. Get past that first game and it's "Helloooo DUKE!".

That's great to see. Give Selvig a fat pay raise!

You can thank the West High Connection for that ranking.

That's great to know that the Lady Cats will be beating a nationally ranked team this year in the BSC tourney!

GrizinWashington wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:

bozbobcat wrote:They are unbelievably good this year and this might be one of the better Lady Griz teams. And they're also young, so this team will be around for another year or two. I saw them projected as a 9 seed on ESPN's bracketology. It's good for the Big Sky to get a ranked team again. It has been a long, long time.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/bracketology

It also said that the Lady Griz could get an at-large bid if they should mess up in the Big Sky tournament.

Shouldn't a ranked team pull a helluva lot higher than a #9 seed? I'd think they'd deserve, at worst, a #6 seed.

The bracket prediction might have been done prior to their recent push into the top 25, though, so that could explain the difference.

They've got a pretty strong RPI as well. I'd love to see them get a 6 (which is probably about where they belong). You know the problem with the 8/9 seeds. Get past that first game and it's "Helloooo DUKE!".

The problem is that the Women's NCAA selections do not get nearly enough scrutiny. It's near impossible for a program without name recognition and a major conference to get a decent seed, as it for teams located west of the Mississippi. Even the Pac-10 teams suffer from a lack of recognition.

The best case is when La. Tech was given a six seed, despite being the number six team in the country.

Egg Salad wrote:You can thank the West High Connection for that ranking.

Whilst there is no doubt Mandy is a huge part of the current ranking, she also has a great supporting cast. The best part is, all but three lady Griz are from the great state of Montana.

P.S. I am not overlooking Dana Conway if you were also referring to her, but I assumed this was mostly a Mandy Morales shout out.

Topher wrote:

Egg Salad wrote:You can thank the West High Connection for that ranking.

Whilst there is no doubt Mandy is a huge part of the current ranking, she also has a great supporting cast. The best part is, all but three lady Griz are from the great state of Montana.

P.S. I am not overlooking Dana Conway if you were also referring to her, but I assumed this was mostly a Mandy Morales shout out.

Morales, Conway, and Robison.

Egg Salad wrote:

Topher wrote:

Egg Salad wrote:You can thank the West High Connection for that ranking.

Whilst there is no doubt Mandy is a huge part of the current ranking, she also has a great supporting cast. The best part is, all but three lady Griz are from the great state of Montana.

P.S. I am not overlooking Dana Conway if you were also referring to her, but I assumed this was mostly a Mandy Morales shout out.

Morales, Conway, and Robison.

I don't know a whole lot about Robison (in fact I just learned about her this week). It looks like she could have some serious potential, at 6'3 I should hope so. It's crazy because if you throw Holly Tyler in with this team you are looking at a top 15 ranking and the potential of going deep into the tournament. I still think they could, but it will be tough.

If Robison develops at the low post, loooook out next year. It's scary to think of how good that team could be. The biggest obstacle in women's basketball is the parity between the top ten teams and everyone else. The Lady Griz are awesome, and I think they could beat anyone from #11 down, but those upper echelon teams are just so much better. If they can hit that gear next year than it will be a fun year of women's basketball at the U.

In summary it's best to think about this season, but fun to think about the potential in Missoula.

Looks like they're only graduating one this year. They could be scary-good next year, it looks like.