The Bobcat Nation

well, let me start by saying i'm not here to predict a win for the cats this weekend. what i am here to do is show why a win this weekend isn't as far-fetched as it seems lately! we all agree that this team has been more frustrating to watch as the games go on. rather than progressing, and peaking at the end of the season, we choose to fade in february, and play our worst basketball of the season come tourney time. we have every reason to believe that this team is going to go into missoula, and get handed yet another 20 point loss. but here are a few things for us all, (myself included)to consider this weekend. first, the famous..."hard to beat a team three times..." quote. i think this is a pretty overused comment, but it does hold some truth. mainly because it allows teams to fix their mistakes, and change their gameplan from the previous two games. looking at the stats from the last two meetings, only one jumps out at me. shooting percentage. ours is horrible. it's embarrassing. our first meeting was a 14 point loss. there were a combined 64 free throws shot. we only made half of the 34 we got to shoot! griz only missed 5 all game. our three point percentage was identical, and rebounds, assists, and turnovers were even across the board. this game was lost due to our inability to make shots that should be gimmees. Now on to game 2. griz handed us a 15 point loss at home. cats had more rebounds, more blocks, more assists, and only one more turnover. we also shot 16 more free throws than the griz. we upped our percentage a little, but still shot a lousy 67% griz hit 83% of theirs. story of this game.....shocker....shooting percentage, and more specifically, 3 pointers. griz shot nearly 50% for the game while the cats were barely over 30%. we made 5 of 22 three pointers! 5 of 22. so while we were sitting around 23%, the griz made nearly 40% of their threes. it would be one thing if the griz were far more athletic, or a far deeper team. it would be a tough task if they constantly out rebounded us, or had far fewer turnovers. but none of these is the case. they knock down shots, and make free throws. that's it. this team is capable of making shots, but they haven't been. this weekend, they are either going to continue their path, and we'll get ran out of the gym, or they will turn it around, and we'll have a game. there is far more pressure on the griz because everyone is expecting a win from them. if they lose, it'll be embarrassing. at least that's how they're acting over there. cats should be loose, and play relaxed. and the most important stat of all....it's still cat griz. and despite what some of the griz faithful try to say, it's still a rivalry, and on any given day, either team has a shot to win. let's just hope we make ours!

Both teams have played horrible this year and both teams have looked like they could have been BSC champs. It could be a 30 pt game or a nail-biter.

I predict both teams will play well and it be a good game.

I say the Griz win a close one.


FWIW, had the game been in Bozo I'd pick the Cats.

I am personally looking forward to another beat down of the cats. The only thing better than beating the cats 3 times in a season, would be to beat them 4 times. GO GRIZ!!!

Eastcoastgriz wrote:The only thing better than beating the cats 3 times in a season, would be to beat them 4 times. GO GRIZ!!!

The ONLY thing better?!? Boy, you really need to get a life if you can't think of anything better than the outcome of a basketball game. By the way, if you're attempting to start smack (which you do quite often in the wrong forums), then at least figure out which forum to post on.

Anybody remember 2002

The 2002 matchup in Bozeman tops his list on the goose-bump meter.

The Griz had dropped a pair of 20-point decisions to the Bobcats during the regular season and it looked like the semifinal matchup was going to be more of the same. Montana State led the Griz by 16 points in the second half, much to the delight of 6,644 fans at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

The Griz, though, fought back to tie the game at 68-68 behind 17 points from Travis Greenwalt and 16 from Brent Cummings.

The Griz had the ball with 24 seconds to play and the game knotted. The play called in Coach Don Holst's huddle broke down, but a stumbling Shane Christensen was able to shovel the ball to David Bell in the deep corner.

Bell's 3-pointer looked good, but rimmed out. Dan Trammel, one of the best leapers to ever wear a Griz jersey, came crashing down the lane to jam the carom home with 1.2 seconds left.

Other fun tidbits

In fact, the last two Griz wins over the Cats in the postseason came after the Cats had swept Montana in the regular season.

This is the first meeting between the Cats and Griz in the postseason to be played in Missoula. ... Montana leads the postseason series 6-4. ... The last two times the Griz beat the Cats in the postseason, they advanced to the NCAA tournament (2002, 2005).

http://www.montanagrizzlies.com/pages/n ... =7909&m=17" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Funny thing about that year is thats the year Holst took the Griz to the big dance only to lose his job to Kennedy? (well, it wasn't really funny)

CapitalCityCat wrote:

Eastcoastgriz wrote:The only thing better than beating the cats 3 times in a season, would be to beat them 4 times. GO GRIZ!!!

The ONLY thing better?!? Boy, you really need to get a life if you can't think of anything better than the outcome of a basketball game. By the way, if you're attempting to start smack (which you do quite often in the wrong forums), then at least figure out which forum to post on.

This is the type of comment expected from fans whose teams are perennial losers.

Oh and by the way, I was obviously talking in reference to the GRIZ/msucks basketball games.

Eastcoastgriz wrote: This is the type of comment expected from fans whose teams are perennial losers.

Oh and by the way, I was obviously talking in reference to the GRIZ/msucks basketball games.

This is exactly the type of comment expected from fans who are perennial a$$holes.

Eastcoastgriz wrote:

CapitalCityCat wrote:

Eastcoastgriz wrote:The only thing better than beating the cats 3 times in a season, would be to beat them 4 times. GO GRIZ!!!

The ONLY thing better?!? Boy, you really need to get a life if you can't think of anything better than the outcome of a basketball game. By the way, if you're attempting to start smack (which you do quite often in the wrong forums), then at least figure out which forum to post on.

This is the type of comment expected from fans whose teams are perennial losers.

Oh and by the way, I was obviously talking in reference to the GRIZ/msucks basketball games.

Pick up your pretty color crayons and take a hike asshole.

GOKATS wrote:

Eastcoastgriz wrote:

CapitalCityCat wrote:

Eastcoastgriz wrote:The only thing better than beating the cats 3 times in a season, would be to beat them 4 times. GO GRIZ!!!

The ONLY thing better?!? Boy, you really need to get a life if you can't think of anything better than the outcome of a basketball game. By the way, if you're attempting to start smack (which you do quite often in the wrong forums), then at least figure out which forum to post on.

This is the type of comment expected from fans whose teams are perennial losers.

Oh and by the way, I was obviously talking in reference to the GRIZ/msucks basketball games.

Pick up your pretty color crayons and take a hike asshole.

Agreed

MashTun wrote:

Eastcoastgriz wrote:This is the type of comment expected from fans whose teams are perennial losers.

Agreed

Really?

I've always thought it's best to show a little class as a fan when their team isn't playing real well?

Go Griz.

GrizinWashington wrote:The Griz suck.

Fixed it for ya..........

GOKATS wrote:

GrizinWashington wrote: msucks suck.

Fixed it for ya..........

Fixed it for ya

Eastcoastgriz wrote:

GOKATS wrote:

GrizinWashington wrote: msucks suck.

Fixed it for ya..........

Fixed it for ya

You're as pathetic as your grizidiot, dUMbass friends............................

wow...this thread really got derailed. i guess i should have known better than to attempt an actual post relating to basketball, and this weekends match-up. i'm a little surprised that some griz fans seem to be so confident regarding this weekend. i agree with billingsgriz that the nod should go to the griz based on home-court advantage. but i really don't think these guys are separated by very much when it comes to talent. like i said, if the cats can finally get out of this shooting slump, we could have a great game on our hands. shocking that eastcoastgriz couldn't post without turning it into smack. thanks for that. although i can hardly blame you. over on egriz the mods, edit, delete, and ban like it's there job, and you wouldn't get away with posts like that. at least if it's anti-griz. here, you pretty much can post whatever you want, even if you look like a clown in the process.

I agree that the reason the Griz have won the games this season vs the Bobcats is because of the shooting percentage. I think that has a lot to do with the Griz defense. I also think the Bobcats just aren't that good of a shooting team. Its not like they have only been missing the past 2 or 3 games. It has pretty much been all season long. I believe the can't beat a team 3 teams in a season is kind of BS. If a team is considerably better than another team then they should beat them 9 out of 10 times. So I really hope I don't end up eating crow but I think the Griz will win this game by 10-15 points again.

whitetrashgriz wrote:wow...this thread really got derailed. i guess i should have known better than to attempt an actual post relating to basketball, and this weekends match-up. i'm a little surprised that some griz fans seem to be so confident regarding this weekend. i agree with billingsgriz that the nod should go to the griz based on home-court advantage. but i really don't think these guys are separated by very much when it comes to talent. like i said, if the cats can finally get out of this shooting slump, we could have a great game on our hands. shocking that eastcoastgriz couldn't post without turning it into smack. thanks for that. although i can hardly blame you. over on egriz the mods, edit, delete, and ban like it's there job, and you wouldn't get away with posts like that. at least if it's anti-griz. here, you pretty much can post whatever you want, even if you look like a clown in the process.

I'm not expecting a blow out, and certainly anything can happen in any given game, but to imply that a "shooting slump" is the difference between the two teams just isn't backed up by the facts. Let's look at the stats for the 16 games in conference play.

MSU is dead last in the conference in FG percentage.
6.Montana............. 16 359 808 .444
9.Montana State....... 16 332 841 .395

MSU is also dead last in 3 pt FG percentage.
6.Montana............. 16 95 261 .364
9.Montana State....... 16 91 302 .301

And even when there is no defense, MSU is dead last in FT percentage.
1.Montana............. 16 237 306 .775
9.Montana State....... 16 245 373 .657

Meanwhile, UM is first in the conference in FG percentage defense.
1.Montana............. 16 344 850 .405
6.Montana State....... 16 393 842 .467

And UM is 2nd in 3 pt FG percentage defense.
2.Montana............. 16 85 257 .331
6.Montana State....... 16 98 256 .383

It's not a shooting slump, MSU is just the worst shooting team in the conference and UM is one of the best defensive teams in the conference. The shooting percentages in the first 2 games were no fluke.

Ah I love when somebody backs up my comment with actual facts. I'm too lazy for that. Thanks 23.