The Bobcat Nation

As a Griz fan I could not be more excited about what both Montana schools did recruiting..... Your Cats got incredibly athletic bigs that are very rare in the Big Sky. Landing 2 athletic bigs in one class is a ridiculous accomplishment for a Big Sky school. Tre Johnson and Jordan Salley are going to cause some problems with their athleticism and I predict will make the Cats a blur in transition with their run n' jump ability. A speedy pass first guard in Trujeque and a very solid big guard(2/3) in Shawn Reid and of course the crown jewel of this class imo Chris McCall rounds out a GREAT group. MSU addressed basically every position with athleticism. Kudos to Huse and Co. for what they did

How do you think your class matches up with the Griz?? We got some very good combo guard/wings in Kareem Jamar, Art Steward and Vaughn Autry and landed another promising young big in 6'9" Billy Reader. All who can come in and contribute immediately....Weisner is a really nice prospect and should redshirt to get stronger and let his athleticism catch up a little bit.

for the sake of debate...who got the better class? Obviously we won't know until a few years down the road but its fun to speculate this time of year. Without trying to be biased I have to give a very slight edge to the Griz. We lucked out getting (Autry #27 PG in the countryESPN rank) and I feel that he puts us over the top by the slimmest of margins. UM &MSU i feel have the 1A and 1B recruiting classes when it comes to the Big Sky Conference.

I'm going to start by paraphrasing Bo Pelini who basically said that recruiting begins when the player signs and it is up to the coaches to get the most out of their players.

From a pure talent standpoint I would say the Griz have the more pure talented class and should be able to take advantage of what they have on their roster already to challenge for another Big Sky championship. The Griz will probably be better next year because they won't be looking for AJ Johnson to carry them all the time.

MSU recruited the players that they needed especially if Salley and Johnson are even close to Divaldo Mbunga, and if Casey turns out to be the quick point guard like Domingez was for Portland State then this team could be special. Last year we had no one that could defend EWU quick guards.

All I know that Coach Huse is very hard on his team but they end up playing hard every game and his players make great strides under his direction. I think that Coach Huse will be able to take better advantage of his recruits even if they are less talented but it may take them a year or two to fully grasp how he wants the team to play since we have so much turnover.

Coach Tinkle is getting better but I haven't seen a consistent effort from his teams the last few years and that may be the difference come tournament time.

I knew this question was coming up. Montana State is looking at a picking up a combo guard and I think Tinkle is going to add one more player as well.

With the addition of two speedy point guards and some athletic big men that can run, I think this will really change how the Bobcats look offensively. We have always been pretty good in the half court, but it has been awhile since we have had a team that can get up and down the court consistently.