The Bobcat Nation

thought i would break the ice here. hs basketball season has begun, would love to hear from BN on teams or players you are watching this season.

folks have been buzzing here in c.falls for about 3 months on the boys team. very long and athletic team that could make a run at a state title. also like the looks of both teams in bigfork, boys team looking for a football/basketball two-fer.

so lets hear it...who ya got?

Laurel will be in the mix to repeat as state champs although they barely beat Butte Central (without Central's best player) and lost to Browning.

Browning will be tough as usual.

My pick to win it all is Butte Central. I think they return 4 starters. Great shooters, good size, and might be one of the best coached teams in the state.

I have heard C Falls will be tough out of the NW.

Haven't heard anything about the SW.

We played Billings Central last night and won. I'm hoping we will be in the mix in the Central. Billings Central will get better as the year goes on--they have a ridiculously tough first 6 games.

Browning might be tough but they lost to class B Shelby last night, Shelby is my pick for class B they have 4 starters back I believe.

wasacatfan wrote:Browning might be tough but they lost to class B Shelby last night, Shelby is my pick for class B they have 4 starters back I believe.

Yeah, they are young and not very big this year. They have a really good point guard. Shelby should be good. Fairfield will be tough--as usual.

Is Rocky Boy good again?

Browning beat Laurel @ the buzzer. Might be a rematch for the A chipper.

Billings_Griz wrote:Browning beat Laurel @ the buzzer. Might be a rematch for the A chipper.

I don't think so. Maybe Butte Central and Laurel though. BC has yet to play with their best player (Jonathan Richards) and only lost to Laurel by 2.

LTown Cat wrote:

Billings_Griz wrote:Browning beat Laurel @ the buzzer. Might be a rematch for the A chipper.

I don't think so. Maybe Butte Central and Laurel though. BC has yet to play with their best player (Jonathan Richards) and only lost to Laurel by 2.

not so fast my friend (in my best lee corso voice) ...columbia falls is 3-0 and has a 20 point average margin of victory. look for them to be there also.

c.falls cat wrote:

LTown Cat wrote:

Billings_Griz wrote:Browning beat Laurel @ the buzzer. Might be a rematch for the A chipper.

I don't think so. Maybe Butte Central and Laurel though. BC has yet to play with their best player (Jonathan Richards) and only lost to Laurel by 2.

not so fast my friend (in my best lee corso voice) ...columbia falls is 3-0 and has a 20 point average margin of victory. look for them to be there also.

Yeah, I actually think it will be C-Falls and BC. I just don't think Laurel will do it again. It is really early though....

c.falls cat wrote:

LTown Cat wrote:

Billings_Griz wrote:Browning beat Laurel @ the buzzer. Might be a rematch for the A chipper.

I don't think so. Maybe Butte Central and Laurel though. BC has yet to play with their best player (Jonathan Richards) and only lost to Laurel by 2.

not so fast my friend (in my best lee corso voice) ...columbia falls is 3-0 and has a 20 point average margin of victory. look for them to be there also.

And C Falls trashed Flathead last night.

wasacatfan wrote:Browning might be tough but they lost to class B Shelby last night, Shelby is my pick for class B they have 4 starters back I believe.

Shelby does look like they could make a run. you gotta love class B basketball. there is only about 17 teams in the state that you can see winning the whole thing. very competetive, well played basketball that should make for another interesting year.

C Falls beat Missoula Big Sky last night.

Who is coaching C-Falls? Where is Dan Moe coaching? I thought he was at an A school out west.

Billings_Griz wrote:Who is coaching C-Falls? Where is Dan Moe coaching? I thought he was at an A school out west.

Cary Finberg (brother of MSU great Craig Finberg) has coached C.falls for the last 14 or 15 years. not sure about Dan Moe.

c.falls cat wrote:

Billings_Griz wrote:Who is coaching C-Falls? Where is Dan Moe coaching? I thought he was at an A school out west.

Cary Finberg (brother of MSU great Craig Finberg) has coached C.falls for the last 14 or 15 years. not sure about Dan Moe.

Ah, I knew that...I think Moe was @ Frenchtown (maybe still is?). I was at the C-Falls/Frenchtown championship 4-5-6 years ago @ MSU. Was a foul called w/ under 1 second to go...my buddy called it.

Can't remember who won but was a 1-2 pt game.

Billings_Griz wrote:

c.falls cat wrote:

Billings_Griz wrote:Who is coaching C-Falls? Where is Dan Moe coaching? I thought he was at an A school out west.

Cary Finberg (brother of MSU great Craig Finberg) has coached C.falls for the last 14 or 15 years. not sure about Dan Moe.

Ah, I knew that...I think Moe was @ Frenchtown (maybe still is?). I was at the C-Falls/Frenchtown championship 4-5-6 years ago @ MSU. Was a foul called w/ under 1 second to go...my buddy called it.

Can't remember who won but was a 1-2 pt game.

Ya that's right. i think it was '06. kid drained both free throws for a one point win. how's that for clutch! still not sure about Moe, i do know that F-town has a new coach this year though.

c.falls cat wrote:

wasacatfan wrote:Browning might be tough but they lost to class B Shelby last night, Shelby is my pick for class B they have 4 starters back I believe.

Shelby does look like they could make a run. you gotta love class B basketball. there is only about 17 teams in the state that you can see winning the whole thing. very competetive, well played basketball that should make for another interesting year.

Shelby should be the favorite to win it all in Class B this year. I believe they return four starters from a team that has played in the state title game the past three seasons, winning in 2008 and finishing 2nd in 2009 and 2010. They also seem to be very well-coached, as it seems like they always improve throughout the course of the season.

wbtfg wrote:Is Rocky Boy good again?

They are winning games, and throwing up a ton of points. They scored in the upper 90's in their first couple games.

CPACAT wrote:C Falls beat Missoula Big Sky last night.

They beat Missoula Sentinal, but they do play Big Sky later on in the year.

But all this talk about different divisions always gets me wondering, why can't there be an All Class tourney after the state tournaments. I would think you could take the 4 state champs and 4 wild cards chosen by coaches, media, and maybe refs and put the questions about who is best to bed. Taking a wild card instead of the 2nd place team (although that team could still be the one chosen) would allow for the all year number one team who was upset at districts or divisionals or some such scenario. I would just love to see the differing styles of play going up against each other, and I wouldn't expect AA or A to win significantly more than B or C.

Thoughts?

CFCAT wrote:

CPACAT wrote:C Falls beat Missoula Big Sky last night.

They beat Missoula Sentinal, but they do play Big Sky later on in the year.

But all this talk about different divisions always gets me wondering, why can't there be an All Class tourney after the state tournaments. I would think you could take the 4 state champs and 4 wild cards chosen by coaches, media, and maybe refs and put the questions about who is best to bed. Taking a wild card instead of the 2nd place team (although that team could still be the one chosen) would allow for the all year number one team who was upset at districts or divisionals or some such scenario. I would just love to see the differing styles of play going up against each other, and I wouldn't expect AA or A to win significantly more than B or C.

Thoughts?

I think that woluld be extremely cool, but just like you'll probably never see MSU play Carroll in football due to the "everything to lose/nothing to gain" argument, I think the AA and A schools would be reluctant to agree to an all-class state tourney for the same reason. I do thnk that they would win most of the time, but certainly not every year. It would definitely be interesting, and I personally would love to see it, but I doubt that it will ever happen.