The Bobcat Nation

Hey Bobcat fans, nice game tonight although my team didn't do so well. I thought we had this one. I was impressed by your play, especially your outside shooting. Boy does UNC need help! We just don't have that go to guy. I look forward to the conference match ups we are going to have in the future. Best of luck the rest of the season.

hey gobears, thanks for the post. get used to this sight as you'll want to frequent it often as you guys move up to the big sky. you guys played well, but imo, both teams looked like crap. i know the cats did, and i have a feeling the bears could have played better. you're defense was good. but you couldn't knock anything down from the outside. and i'm sure you know this, but if they always shoot that bad from the line, they might go 0-20-something! thanks again for the post. i like your squad and i hope you guys do well the rest of the way.

Both teams just need to find a rhythm. I thought UNC had some ballers, just couldn't get any consistency going. The way the Cats played down the stretch is how we expect them to play every game, they just don't do it as often as we'd hoped, at least not yet.

Look forward to more matches in/from Greeley.

What are people's thoughts on how the preseason BSC looks? Any surprises (besides your 0-3 start)? Breakout players? PSU has been playing big schools tough, so has Sac. Poor Boise State has their hands full with a mini BSC-schedule. Talk to me...

Kadeezy wrote:What are people's thoughts on how the preseason BSC looks? Any surprises (besides your 0-3 start)? Breakout players? PSU has been playing big schools tough, so has Sac. Poor Boise State has their hands full with a mini BSC-schedule. Talk to me...

imo, from what i have seen and read so far, psu and sac are looking tough. RIGHT NOW!. weber beat a solid utah squad so who knows. as much as i hate to say, the griz are playing well and tonights matchup against a very good stanford squad could be a good measuring stick. and so far the cats are not playing like they should and thats a semi-surprise. i knew they were good last year and im pretty sure they started 0-3 too. so, we'll see. hopefully they play as a TEAM, and win some games. right now, as far as i'm concerned the bsc is up in the air!

It was interesting that the Bobcats did not start to play well until Durham went "small". It was nice to see Durr and Miller play well. According to the Chronicle, the UNC coach said that Moss took the game over in the second half. Casey Durham started at point guard because, again according to the Chronicle, Ryan Holmes was suspended for one game because of an "attitiude" issue. According to Chris Atterbury, Holmes will be excused from Saturday's game at UD to attend his grandmother's funeral. I am curious to see how the Cats will handle UD's big man who is supposed to very good.

Idaho St. beat Boise St. last night in Pocatello to improve to 3-1 on the season. Remember that Boise beat the Grizzlies pretty badly in Boise a couple of weeks ago. The Big Sky is really pretty good right now.

What is going on with our players? Why are we having to sit guys for "disciplinary reasons?" Just don't remember any teams in recent history having to deal with this. I thought that last night the cats looked very much like a one-on-one team and really are not playing as a unit. I'm thinking that until they learn to not cast up a 3 just cause they have a slight opening they will not play well and will not win very many games. Another thing I noticed was there was no emotion or leader. Seems to me like these guys have forgotten that basketball is fun and to go out and high five and do some yelling. We need some energy, some guys smiling and some guys getting their butt chewed by teammates when someone screws up.

But most importantly I think they really need to gel as a team and when we do this we will watch a very talented cohesive squad! One last rant, please get a body on someone when a shot goes up, our blocking out looked awful......good thing is its early and all these things can be corrected

little Durham is the most improved year after year. Casey and Tedd M. are the hardest working players on the court. I think the turning point in the game last night was when Coach D brought out his red squeeze defense in the second half. When Casey would double down he gave UNC fits.

I agree, this team can be really good in they do start to play together. If they plan on dancing this march they had better start focusing on team play.

AZCAT21 wrote:What is going on with our players? Why are we having to sit guys for "disciplinary reasons?" Just don't remember any teams in recent history having to deal with this. I thought that last night the cats looked very much like a one-on-one team and really are not playing as a unit. I'm thinking that until they learn to not cast up a 3 just cause they have a slight opening they will not play well and will not win very many games. Another thing I noticed was there was no emotion or leader. Seems to me like these guys have forgotten that basketball is fun and to go out and high five and do some yelling. We need some energy, some guys smiling and some guys getting their butt chewed by teammates when someone screws up.

But most importantly I think they really need to gel as a team and when we do this we will watch a very talented cohesive squad! One last rant, please get a body on someone when a shot goes up, our blocking out looked awful......good thing is its early and all these things can be corrected

Although we won, I had the same sentiments exactly. Too much 1 on 1 action going on out there as well as NO FIRE until late from this team. If they can play that well/intense with 7 minutes left they can do it for a whole game. It is up to the COACH that they play that way the whole game too. I'm glad we won, and I think we will improve as the season goes on like we did last year. I think Durham needs to get this team working on the fundamentals of basketball more (blocking out/free throws/passing/shot selection). We have some 3 point bombers and they can make the 3 when they are on (NO DOUBT), but again that will BITE YOU IN THE YOU KNOW WHAT come tourney time when it is not dropping. We either have Moss inside or bombing 3's from outside. Watch some video of that game and count how many medium ranges shots we had from the field that game. I would love to see our shot charts. 1 big DOT around the hoop and a smiley face past the 3 is what I'm sure it looks like. Yeah, that will win you some games .. but just like the full out passing game only in football ... you can't remain consistent doing that when it comes playoff/tourney time.

We won though. I guess I am just not a fan of that style. I wish they would move the 3 point line back quite a ways as a lot of the medium range is pretty much gone this day and age which is pretty pathetic I think. Good teams though have players that can hit a shot from ANYWHERE on the floor .. not just a layup and the 3 (see Detroit Pistons/San Antonio Spurs in the NBA for an example).

2-3 ... we can play better and I think we will. Just need to slow down the offensive machine a little, make good passes and rebound and I think we will get a lot better as the season goes on.

whitetrashgriz wrote:hey gobears, thanks for the post. get used to this sight as you'll want to frequent it often as you guys move up to the big sky. you guys played well, but imo, both teams looked like crap. i know the cats did, and i have a feeling the bears could have played better. you're defense was good. but you couldn't knock anything down from the outside. and i'm sure you know this, but if they always shoot that bad from the line, they might go 0-20-something! thanks again for the post. i like your squad and i hope you guys do well the rest of the way.

Thanks for the props. I do like our players but it's always something that screws us up in games. last night it was foul shooting, the other games it's usually turnovers. I was just really hoping for a win against you guys because we're Big Sky next season, we have another chance on Saturday against the Big Sky, we play NAU. One more thing, if any of you watched the game you probably were dissapointed by our facilities but remember we are getting new seating in Butler Hanckock next season, so it will be a big upgrade. Once again best of luck the rest of the season.

GoBears wrote:

whitetrashgriz wrote:hey gobears, thanks for the post. get used to this sight as you'll want to frequent it often as you guys move up to the big sky. you guys played well, but imo, both teams looked like crap. i know the cats did, and i have a feeling the bears could have played better. you're defense was good. but you couldn't knock anything down from the outside. and i'm sure you know this, but if they always shoot that bad from the line, they might go 0-20-something! thanks again for the post. i like your squad and i hope you guys do well the rest of the way.

Thanks for the props. I do like our players but it's always something that screws us up in games. last night it was foul shooting, the other games it's usually turnovers. I was just really hoping for a win against you guys because we're Big Sky next season, we have another chance on Saturday against the Big Sky, we play NAU. One more thing, if any of you watched the game you probably were dissapointed by our facilities but remember we are getting new seating in Butler Hanckock next season, so it will be a big upgrade. Once again best of luck the rest of the season.

Good luck to you as well. The scetch they showed of the new stadium seating looked like it is a big upgrade to what you currently have. It will take some time to upgrade your faciliites, but it looks like they have a definate plan in place which is good. Good luck rest of the year!

AZCAT21 wrote: I thought that last night the cats looked very much like a one-on-one team and really are not playing as a unit. I'm thinking that until they learn to not cast up a 3 just cause they have a slight opening they will not play well and will not win very many games. Another thing I noticed was there was no emotion or leader.

Did you watch the 2nd half? They played exactly like a team - unselfish and look what happened! How about Durr's performance when he was given a chance to play quality minutes........he could be a big asset to the team if they allow him the opportunity in the future that he got last night!

Its a good thing I wasn't near a computer last night because I was ferious with the play of the cats in the first half. There is no way in my mind that UNC should even have been remotely close in this game, as we proved in the 2nd by ourscoring them by 16 in the 2nd half. Couple of things I think we need to change....

1. Don't play Casey at the point. he is not a point guard IMO. He looks tentative when he dribbles and really just does not appear comfortable. he should stick to shooting open 3's when he gets them. Not sure if I think he should be getting as much playing time either, just think there are better guards on the team.

2. They need to have some definition as to what each players role is. Its frustrating when it seems like everyone has the green light to shoot. We need some players that will set some hard screens(I didn't see one screen that resembled something from Scott harry or Mike Badding). We need to get another Casey Reynolds/Scott Harry type of player that will go knock someone's head off in order to get one of our great shooters a very open shot. And then when a shot goes up attack the hoop with our 3/4/5 players.

Weber lost to Utah and So. Utah, I've seen a couple posts in here where people said that they beat Utah...

Ted Morris is one of the poorest centers I have seen in a Big Sky uniform in a long time. Between not timing and not even jumping, he is fixing his glasses. I would much rather see the more athletic Pratt and Durr getting Morris's playing time. Edmonds wasn't shooting well last night, but Miller, Jefferson, and Edmonds should be the three main guards, with Durham coming in as a defensive stopper.

cornbreadfred wrote:Ted Morris is one of the poorest centers I have seen in a Big Sky uniform in a long time. Between not timing and not even jumping, he is fixing his glasses. I would much rather see the more athletic Pratt and Durr getting Morris's playing time. Edmonds wasn't shooting well last night, but Miller, Jefferson, and Edmonds should be the three main guards, with Durham coming in as a defensive stopper.

I agree with Durham being our defensive stopper. I would put him on the teams best guard every time. He is pesky and makes the other player think about him at all times. Durham can get into your head with his D (just ask Martin of the Griz ).

I think Durham can help us more coming off the bench to provide a defensive spark and hit a big shot. Remember that Holmes was suspended and it seems that Miller is still in the doghouse or he probably would have started. It appears to me that Mick is still playing with the lineups and when we get to an 8 man rotation with the top 8 players we will perform better. Sometimes it is difficult being to deep. Miller, Jefferson, Moss, Dissly, and one other appear to be the best lineup. Last night it would have been Durham and Durr. The problem is we never had the best 5 in together for very many minutes.

CARDIAC_CATS wrote:

cornbreadfred wrote:Ted Morris is one of the poorest centers I have seen in a Big Sky uniform in a long time. Between not timing and not even jumping, he is fixing his glasses. I would much rather see the more athletic Pratt and Durr getting Morris's playing time. Edmonds wasn't shooting well last night, but Miller, Jefferson, and Edmonds should be the three main guards, with Durham coming in as a defensive stopper.

I agree with Durham being our defensive stopper. I would put him on the teams best guard every time. He is pesky and makes the other player think about him at all times. Durham can get into your head with his D (just ask Martin of the Griz ).

Durham has been a defensive stopper since high school. He did a little better last night, but it seems a lot of times on offense he has trouble really moving the offense effeciently and takes some very poor threes. The players I think deserve the most playing time are: Beye, Moss, Jefferson, Dissly, Miller (Starters) Edmonds, Holmes, Pratt and Durr, and then Durham coming in off the bench(Amount of playing time in order). Durham needs to slim down the number of guys actually playing and let the core guys get in the groove and play serious minutes.

Beye, give me a break, the guy can't make a basket inside 3 feet to save his life. He needs to get way more physical to ever get any quality minutes.