MBB at Idaho

[Desert_Bobcat]

Bobcats didn't play well, but officiating lost them the game. Battle gets hammered going up for a shot. No foul called and Battle gets called for a technical when he lets the ref know about it. So instead of 2 made free throws by Battle, id makes 2 and gets the ball.

I have a hard time blaming the officials. Were they great, no. Spotting vandy 12 to start the game, shooting 37% from the field (2-12 from 3), and only having 4 assists are more telling IMO

[wbtfg]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

[Common Cat]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

Fatigue wasn’t the factor. It was our shooting.

[aucat]

Glad I went to see the MSU women play. I was at the men’s win over Weber Saturday and thought we were on our way. Who the heck knows what will happen in Missoula Saturday?

[Joe Bobcat]

GB needs to dribble waaaay less. When he catches the ball down low then just stands there for a second or more then dribbles a few times, teams collapse on him and it simply doesn't go well.

[Cledus]

[MSU01]

Ha, I must say I had a bad feeling about this game all day yesterday. MSU going on the road to play its third game of the weekend against a team playing at home in its second game was going to be a tough situation regardless of opponent. I was watching the women's game and didn't see much of this one - I usually watch the replays on ESPN+ but thinking this is one to skip!

[DMMDCats]

Watch the replay.

[tetoncat]

Flaaaaaaaaat. Wow. Sprinkle gonna be pissed about this one.

Should be at himself

[tetoncat]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

But HS players with much less bench, can play 4 in 3 days. Sometimes 2 the same day.

To make a run in big Sky better be able to do this

[wbtfg]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

But HS players with much less bench, can play 4 in 3 days. Sometimes 2 the same day.

To make a run in big Sky better be able to do this

Good point. My middle schooler plays football games twice a week and two (sometimes three) hockey games in a day. Not sure why professionals can't do this.

[snarf]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

But HS players with much less bench, can play 4 in 3 days. Sometimes 2 the same day.

To make a run in big Sky better be able to do this

Good point. My middle schooler plays football games twice a week and two (sometimes three) hockey games in a day. Not sure why professionals can't do this.

It’s not a matter of can. It’s a matter of what is optimal. At a certain point of exertion, you aren’t firing fully on all cylinders. 3 in 6 at this level isn’t exhausting, but it is enough that things might be a little off.

[tetoncat]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

But HS players with much less bench, can play 4 in 3 days. Sometimes 2 the same day.

To make a run in big Sky better be able to do this

Good point. My middle schooler plays football games twice a week and two (sometimes three) hockey games in a day. Not sure why professionals can't do this.

It’s not a matter of can. It’s a matter of what is optimal. At a certain point of exertion, you aren’t firing fully on all cylinders. 3 in 6 at this level isn’t exhausting, but it is enough that things might be a little off.

Might be off, but a lot of that is mental, or training staff getting them back to peak. No school yet right?

[snarf]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

But HS players with much less bench, can play 4 in 3 days. Sometimes 2 the same day.

To make a run in big Sky better be able to do this

Good point. My middle schooler plays football games twice a week and two (sometimes three) hockey games in a day. Not sure why professionals can't do this.

It’s not a matter of can. It’s a matter of what is optimal. At a certain point of exertion, you aren’t firing fully on all cylinders. 3 in 6 at this level isn’t exhausting, but it is enough that things might be a little off.

Might be off, but a lot of that is mental, or training staff getting them back to peak. No school yet right?

Mental is definitely a huge part, especially because a Monday game traveling after 2 home games is way out of the normal prep cycle. Classes started today, and with CatGriz away this coming weekend, it would be a weird stretch to navigate. Top teams should be able to handle it but there are an also a lot of reasons why it could just be a minor bump in the road.

[wbtfg]

3rd game in 6 days. Felt like we lost our legs a bit. It happens, we'll be fine.

I don’t buy that as an excuse. These guys are Div 1 athletes 18-22 years old, not 40 year old rec league! Nobody had the clutch gene tonight.

Hahaha. Okay.

Agree nobody had the clutch gene, but I'd argue fatigue played a big factor. D-1 basketball is fast, physical, and draining. Even for 19 and 20 year olds. You don't have to buy it, but it's the truth...like it or not.

But HS players with much less bench, can play 4 in 3 days. Sometimes 2 the same day.

To make a run in big Sky better be able to do this

Good point. My middle schooler plays football games twice a week and two (sometimes three) hockey games in a day. Not sure why professionals can't do this.

It’s not a matter of can. It’s a matter of what is optimal. At a certain point of exertion, you aren’t firing fully on all cylinders. 3 in 6 at this level isn’t exhausting, but it is enough that things might be a little off.

Might be off, but a lot of that is mental, or training staff getting them back to peak. No school yet right?

Mental is definitely a huge part, especially because a Monday game traveling after 2 home games is way out of the normal prep cycle. Classes started today, and with CatGriz away this coming weekend, it would be a weird stretch to navigate. Top teams should be able to handle it but there are an also a lot of reasons why it could just be a minor bump in the road.

totally agree with this.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Playing short-handed without Patrick McMahon is not helping. He brings some energetic athletic minutes.

And I’ve told my wife often that if a team gets off to a something to 0 lead, that I’d call a (full) timeout no later than 6-0. It seems as if there have been more of these runs to begin games this year, both for and against the men and the women. WBB spotted Arizona State a huge lead, without calling a timeout until like 14 or 16 or something. Calling a quick timeout, it seems, is essential to getting those runs slowed down. Don’t need to say much, just disrupt the rhythm that the game has gotten into. And then send ‘em out with a near-term goal of “I’m expecting you to even this thing by 10!”. No reason to be saving a timeout — why not call it early. Oh, you might not win at the end of you waste your timeouts. Oh, okay. Points at the beginning of a game are as valuable as points anytime. I think it’s hard to beat any Big Sky team if the scoreboard at the opening tip reads 12-0. And it’s even worse when they’ve done it themselves and built that confidence. So, please coaches, appease this one fan and if the gris (heaven forbid) get up 6-0, call a timeout and tell the players that Bobcat Nation is respectfully requesting an evening of the score — by 10.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Playing short-handed without Patrick McMahon is not helping. He brings some energetic athletic minutes.

That's a good point. On short rest, missing an extra body doesn't help. Especially a high energy player like McMahon.

If Patterson and Gazelas keep struggling I wonder if Sprinkle is going give Jed Miller a shot or even Germer and Colceag all of whom appear to be good outside shooters. When both Gazelas and Patterson aren't hitting, which has been the case more often than not this season, our lineup is missing a whole lot of point production.

[tetoncat]

Is Gazelas in the dog house. Even when he started it was limited minutes.

[MSU01]

Is Gazelas in the dog house. Even when he started it was limited minutes.

Not sure if he's in the dog house, but unfortunately his play this year has done nothing to earn more playing time. 21% shooting overall and 14% from 3 isn't going to cut it at this level.