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2018 Big Sky Games

B

bearadactyl

Active member
Tonight's our first Big Sky game of the season, at home versus Eastern Washington.

Hopefully the non-conference momentum carries through to March. Congrats to Andre Spight for winning Big SKy POW. Go Bears!

Big Sky posted a winning record in non-conference play for the first time since 2005-06. 74 non-conference wins this season, most in 55 years. Five Power Five wins: Stanford (twice), California, Washington State and Pitt. Seven teams finished above .500, the most since 1993-94.

Team RPI/KenPom SOS
PSU 44,135
UNC 124,163
SUU 145,302
MSU 157,222
MO 168,138
ID 186,126
EW 195,190
ND 248,250
Web 252,204
NAU 275,333
IDST 300,293
SAC 307,316
 
Nice win tonight over EWU to start 1-0. 6 players in double figures. Nasty behind-the-back pass from Sanders to Morgan for a dunk. Check it out on the UNC twitter feed.
 
I was thinking about this when I saw the score (and that both the men and women opened up with Big Sky wins against EWU).
Do any of you recall when we were in DII (if you went to school back then) that the men and women would play on the same (or similar) schedule and they would have double headers where the women played at 5:00pm and the men would play the same team at 7:00 (or something along those lines). It was like a season full of double headers where you could go see the women and men play the same teams on the same night. It was lots of fun and it would be cool to see them do that once in a while.
 
Portland State loses at Sac State. Sac was a 13.5 point underdog on their own court.

Sac came into the game 1-10 against D1, their only win at home over 1-10 CSU-Northridge, who is currently dead last in RPI (351 out of 351 teams).

PSU was 10-4 and among other things had lost by only 2 to Butler. Butler upset undefeated #1 in the country Villanova today.

Big upset.
 
Nice win over Idaho to start Big Sky play 2-0. Idaho was selected by both the coaches and the media polls as the team that will most likely win the conference.

Next up at Montana and Montana State, who are also 2-0.
 
This week's mid-major top 25. :clap:

1. Gonzaga
2. Saint Mary's
3. Charleston
4. Albany
5. New Mexico State
6. BYU
7. Loyola Chicago
8. Louisiana
9. Missouri State
10. South Dakota
11. Furman
12. Stephen F. Austin
13. UC Santa Barbara
14. Towson
15. South Dakota State
16. ETSU
17. UT Arlington
18. Wofford
19. San Diego
20. UNC Greensboro
21. Ball State
22. Central Michigan
23. Georgia Southern
24. Murray State
25. Northern Colorado
 
That's great. Our women are on the list as well (posted in the women's thread).
 
Great 2-0 start by the Bears, especially beating Idaho the pre-season favorite. But this week will be tough to duplicate being on the road versus Montana State and then Montana.

Last week saw PSU upset by Sac State, and Weber lose at home to Idaho State. Montana State would have lost at NAU if NAU could have made a free throw.

Montana State has Tyler Hall who is predicted to be a second round NBA draft pick. He can shoot.

Go Bears!

Team RPI
PSU 88
UNC 109
MSU 156
MO 157
SUU 178
ID 180
EW 181
IDST 253
SAC 272
ND 273
Web 278
NAU 282
 
Ugly road trip. But we played the top two teams on the road and are 2-2 headed home.

If you look at the standings, the top teams have feasted on the bottom teams, with us in the middle.

TEAM / CONFERENCE RECORD
Montana 4-0
Montana State 4-0
Idaho State 3-0
Eastern Washington 3-1
Weber State 2-1
Northern Colorado 2-2
Idaho 2-2
Portland St 1-2
Sac 1-2
Southern Utah 0-4
North Dakota 0-4
Northern Arizona 0-4

Montana and Montana State are each 4-0 but with 3 wins apiece against 0-4 bottom dwellers SUU, UND, and NAU.

On the other hand, we've played at Montana (4-0) and at Montana St (4-0). EWU (3-1). And preseason favorite Idaho (2-2). Idaho could easily be 3-1 but lost on a last second putback to highest-RPI-in-the-conference PSU last night.
 
Tough two games.....glad to be home! The big from Montana was a beast........ got Weber State on Thursday. Good chance to get back on track. Down year for Weber State. We should be able to win this on easily.
 
We're favored by 5 over Weber tonight. Weber's playing its first conference road game after losing at home to Idaho State and beating 0-4 cellar dwellers SUU and NAU.

Their sophomore Harding is Top 25 in the nation scoring at 21.5/game, hitting 42% from the arc.

Go Bears!

Team RPI
PSU 103
UNC 118
MO 143
MSU 177
EW 181
ID 204
SUU 225
IDST 242
WEB 252
UND 260
NAU 288
SAC 280
 
We're favored by 5 over Weber tonight. Weber's playing its first conference road game after losing at home to Idaho State and beating 0-4 cellar dwellers SUU and NAU.

Their sophomore Harding is Top 25 in the nation scoring at 21.5/game, hitting 42% from the arc.

Go Bears!

Team RPI
PSU 103
UNC 118
MO 143
MSU 177
EW 181
ID 204
SUU 225
IDST 242
WEB 252
UND 260
NAU 288
SAC 280
 
So Weber wins by 4. Looks like it's going to be a real tight grouping at the top of the Big Sky this season.
 
6 down and we're 3-3, in the middle of the pack.

We've played all 6 teams above us in the standings and none of the 5 teams below us:

Montana 6-0
Montana State 4-2
Idaho State 3-2
Idaho 3-2
Weber State 3-2
Eastern Washington 3-2
Northern Colorado 3-3
Portland St 2-3
Sacramento State 2-3
North Dakota 2-4
Southern Utah 1-4
Northern Arizona 0-5

But we've only played 2 road games and lost both. After a home game this week versus North Dakota, 7 of our 11 remaining games are on the road.
 
Bye week so no game for us tonight. UND comes to Greeley on Saturday. UND was 0-4 in the BSC but have won their last two, a 21 pt blowout of IDST and an upset of Weber (who we couldn't beat). They also upset NDSU in a non-conference game Tuesday on the road.

Tonight's games suggest four yawners and Vegas agrees:

Eastern Washington at Northern Arizona (EW 8.5)
Idaho at Southern Utah (Idaho 9)
Sacramento State at Weber State (Weber 8 )
Portland St at Idaho State (PSU 8 )
 
bearadactyl said:
Bye week so no game for us tonight. UND comes to Greeley on Saturday. UND was 0-4 in the BSC but have won their last two, a 21 pt blowout of IDST and an upset of Weber (who we couldn't beat). They also upset NDSU in a non-conference game Tuesday on the road.

Tonight's games suggest four yawners and Vegas agrees:

Eastern Washington at Northern Arizona (EW 8.5)
Idaho at Southern Utah (Idaho 9)
Sacramento State at Weber State (Weber 8 )
Portland St at Idaho State (PSU 8 )
Click to expand...

All games went as expected.

That leaves UNC tied at 5th with PSU.

Izayah Mauriohoohoo-Le'Afa had 19 for Sac State.
 
With a 4 game lead on the rest of the BSC and a 6-0 record, Montana looks like a lock for the 1 seed at the BSC tournament come March.

If the tournament began today, UNC would be the 7 seed and play the 10 seed (currently Sac) for the right to play a rested 1-seed Montana right off the bat. Assuming we beat Sac, and somehow get by Montana, then it's two back-to-backs, and the other teams don't have to play Montana. That's a very unlikely road to victory.

So the remainder of the regular season is about getting one of the 2/3/4 seeds and avoiding the play-in game. That sets up an easier first game, and saves energy for a back-to-back second game, increasing the likelihood of reaching the finale, and allows for Montana getting upset in the meantime.

Idaho and EW will win tonight. IDST should win at home against Sac. And we should beat UND (we're 7 pt favorites at home). That leaves MO at MSU (MSU's at home and it's their in-state rival, but they're 7 pt underdogs), and PSU at Weber (Weber's a slight favorite, but my money's on PSU). If the above scenarios all play out the standings would be as follows:

Montana 7-0
Idaho 5-2
Eastern Washington 5-2
Portland St 4-3
Weber State 4-3
Montana State 4-3
Northern Colorado 4-3
Idaho State 4-3

We would only be one game behind Idaho and EW for the 2nd seed. And Idaho/EW are next week's opponents.
 
bearadactyl said:
With a 4 game lead on the rest of the BSC and a 6-0 record, Montana looks like a lock for the 1 seed at the BSC tournament come March.

If the tournament began today, UNC would be the 7 seed and play the 10 seed (currently Sac) for the right to play a rested 1-seed Montana right off the bat. Assuming we beat Sac, and somehow get by Montana, then it's two back-to-backs, and the other teams don't have to play Montana. That's a very unlikely road to victory.

So the remainder of the regular season is about getting one of the 2/3/4 seeds and avoiding the play-in game. That sets up an easier first game, and saves energy for a back-to-back second game, increasing the likelihood of reaching the finale, and allows for Montana getting upset in the meantime.

Idaho and EW will win tonight. IDST should win at home against Sac. And we should beat UND (we're 7 pt favorites at home). That leaves MO at MSU (MSU's at home and it's their in-state rival, but they're 7 pt underdogs), and PSU at Weber (Weber's a slight favorite, but my money's on PSU). If the above scenarios all play out the standings would be as follows:

Montana 7-0
Idaho 5-2
Eastern Washington 5-2
Portland St 4-3
Weber State 4-3
Montana State 4-3
Northern Colorado 4-3
Idaho State 4-3

We would only be one game behind Idaho and EW for the 2nd seed. And Idaho/EW are next week's opponents.
Click to expand...

1-5 SUU upsets 4-2 EW in OT. That's good for UNC. At the end of the day there could be a massive logjam at 4-3 like this:

Montana 7-0
Idaho 5-2
Portland St 4-3
Weber State 4-3
Montana State 4-3
Northern Colorado 4-3
Eastern Washington 4-3
Idaho State 4-3
 
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