The Bobcat Nation

First off, this isn't meant to start any smack. Just curious to see what people vote...and to hear the reasons for why they voted the way they did

So...Who do you think will win Saturday's game, and why?

Cats by less than ten for no other reason than its at the Brick

Ponycat wrote:Cats by less than ten for no other reason than its at the Brick

Agreed! Both teams are good so it will be very close, but the Cats pull it out at home.

I voted Griz by less than 10. I think it'll be another close one. The cats are playing much better than they were at the beginning of the season it sounds like.

In the two regular season games against the cats (both of which the Griz lost last year) the Griz didn't have Virgil Matthews play much. He played a whopping 2 minutes in the first game, and 9 minutes in the 2nd.

When the Griz played the Cats in the tournament, Matthews played 27 minutes, had 13 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. That is the type of player Virgil Matthews is. He can score, pass, rebound and is a great defender. He didn't play much of the regular season last year, but was a huge part of why the Griz won the Big Sky Tourney and a very big part of why the Griz are doing so well right now (He had 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 assists in the last game). Both he and Criswell are very good weapons for the Griz and do pretty much everything well. Hopefully they'll both do well against the Cats so the Griz can come away with a win

The Cats are a scary team right now. Ja'Ron Jefferson, when he's on, can easilly put up 20 it seems. Al Beye & Marvin Moss underneath are very good..and it'll be interesting to see how they handle Andrew Strait, Hasquet and Chavez (If he's not injured). Durham, while he doesn't seem to be much of a shooter, from what I remember is a very good defender, and kind of frustrated Matt Martin last year with his physical in your face borderline foul the crap out of you defense (Nothing wrong with that, it obviously works).

Anyway...looking forward to seeing the game I just hope it doesn't come down to a last second shot by Jefferson again... I still have nightmares about that from last year...

Casey lit you up last year, and Martin got a label as a cheap shot artist because Casey completely shut him DOWN. If nothing else Casey understands what this game means better than anyone.

I'm very interested to see what Chavez brings to the rivalry.

Should be interesting.


DOWN DOWN DOWN...GRIZZLIES GOING DOWN

Ponycat wrote:Casey lit you up last year, and Martin got a label as a cheap shot artist because Casey completely shut him DOWN. If nothing else Casey understands what this game means better than anyone.

I'm very interested to see what Chavez brings to the rivalry.

Should be interesting.

DOWN DOWN DOWN...GRIZZLIES GOING DOWN

Rumor has it that Chavez may not even play due to a injury Casey did light us up in the 2nd matchup in conference last year (18 points I think). He didn't do much in the first game in Missoula though. He did have a fairly decent game in the Tournament game, but shot a pretty low percentage. It looks like he's doing a very good job this year getting the ball to the scorers on the cat offense (at least lately he has). Didn't he have 11 assists in one of the more recent games? His shot% doesn't look too good this year.... How has he done the past few games with shooting? I realize that percentage could be skewed by some poor shooting games early in the season.

As for Martin, he plays with a lot of emotion out there, and I'm really not surprised to see him get a little carried away from time to time. I wouldn't label him a cheap shot artist though..a lot of elbowing, pushing and shoving is done in heated rivalries like this..and really in just about any BB game. Being blanketted by Durham last year at the game in Bozeman (Martin went 1-9 shooting) I imagine was Very frustrating, especially for a player who is used to hitting a high% of his shots, scoring a ton of points, and is straight out of high school. No doubt Durham is a very good defender to be able to have that affect on Martin last year.

It'll be interesting to see how much Martin plays against the Cats on Saturday. He didn't start against Weber State, and only played 6 minutes. The past few games he's been in kind of a shooting slump. I hope he comes out of that slump on Saturday A Martin vs Durham matchup will be a fun one to watch.

Another couple PG matchups that'll be fun to watch will be Durham trying to guard Matthews..who plays PG for the Griz quite often as well. I'm also interested in seeing how well Durham can guard Bryan Ellis. Ellis is incredibly quick, and is great at breaking the press... Man...thinking bout this game, the matchups and the talented players on both teams makes me really wish it was Saturday already

hmmm...

It's going to be a close game and very exciting, wire to wire. But in the end, one of the Montana guys step up big and the Cats clinch a six point victory, somewhere in the neighborhood of 78-72. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to the women's game to see if the Cats can play well (and also see a friend who plays for UM-we're not all perfect! I bet the ladies play within 20, but I don't have a great feeling about this one, but we'll see.

And on a little personal note, this is post number 500 for me.

bozbobcat wrote:It's going to be a close game and very exciting, wire to wire. But in the end, one of the Montana guys step up big and the Cats clinch a six point victory, somewhere in the neighborhood of 78-72. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to the women's game to see if the Cats can play well (and also see a friend who plays for UM-we're not all perfect! I bet the ladies play within 20, but I don't have a great feeling about this one, but we'll see.

And on a little personal note, this is post number 500 for me.

HAHAHA, not a good sign when people are saying about any team. A young group of girl, does Bozeman have

I wish I could pick the Lady Cats to win, but I just don't think this will be their year. They have improved throughout the season, but the Lady Griz are 11-2 for a reason. But I will say that stranger things have happened. Remember last year's game between the Lady Cats and Lady Griz in Missoula? This team is young (no seniors, 3 juniors) and they'll get better. Who knows? Unfortunately, I'm just being realistic. This isn't the Lady Cats' year.

Dexter X wrote:He didn't do much in the first game in Missoula though. He did have a fairly decent game in the Tournament game, but shot a pretty low percentage. It looks like he's doing a very good job this year getting the ball to the scorers on the cat offense (at least lately he has). Didn't he have 11 assists in one of the more recent games? His shot% doesn't look too good this year.... How has he done the past few games with shooting? I realize that percentage could be skewed by some poor shooting games early in the season.

Casey got a cuncussion early at the game in Missoula, but yeah his shooting is way down this year but he is doing a good job accepting his job as a point guard. Not forcing near as many shots

Swilly3224 wrote:

hmmm...

We just like to live in a land of realism...I don't think anyone will beat the Griz by a very large margin this year. With the Cats you never know who is going to show up

I actually think the Cat's will win a close mens game because:

1) The Griz are on the road.

2) It's early in the season.

3) So far the Griz have not played that well in conference games, where
as the Cat's have played MUCH better in conference games.

4) I'm going to a wedding Saturday between a Griz (Groom) and a
Cat (Bride) and we all know that the wedding day belongs to the Bride!

That's how I see it, but I do hope I'm wrong!!!

The Lady Griz will win in a game that's over early.

bozbobcat wrote:I wish I could pick the Lady Cats to win, but I just don't think this will be their year. They have improved throughout the season, but the Lady Griz are 11-2 for a reason. But I will say that stranger things have happened. Remember last year's game between the Lady Cats and Lady Griz in Missoula? This team is young (no seniors, 3 juniors) and they'll get better. Who knows? Unfortunately, I'm just being realistic. This isn't the Lady Cats' year.

I like this guy

Thanks, Swilly.

Home court advantage is going to be huge especially since we are hot on our home court right now. I concur about the Lady Cats though. I would be fun to see the Friz go home with to losses.