After another great weekend of Big Sky action, let's take a quick action of what happened, and some of the storylines heading into the final week.
- Weeber State had their record long conference home winning streak snapped by Northern Arizona... and clinched that the conference tournament will be in Ogden anyway. That is probably fitting for this season in the Big Sky. By virtue of that home-court advantage, they are the favorites right now.
- Montana controls their destiny for the two seed, as they would win a tiebreaker if both them and UND finished with identical records. However, they have a tough roadtrip to end the season, so I think North Dakota is likely the favorite right now for that two spot (at SUU, home against UNC) after a big two game homestand. However, I'm not sure there's much difference between the two and three seed... mostly, you want to avoid the 4/5 spots.
- Northern Colorado went into the weekend trying to stay undefeated at home for the year... and promply lost by 14 to Eastern Washington and 9 to Portland State. The early signs that their defense would be much improved are a distant memory - they've been the worst defensive team in the Big Sky over the second half of the conference season. They once looked like the Big Sky favorites - now, they might need the help of tiebreakers if they can't get a win in the final week.
- If Montana beats Montana State tonight (as we learned last Monday, that is no guarantee!), that would leave four teams at 9-9, with Idaho State at 8-10, all battling for the final two spots. I will try to break the battle for those spots down tomorrow, after the Montana/Montana State game.
- Northern Arizona got that huge OT win over Weber State, and that puts them in good position heading into the final week. At 10-8, they potentially need to only beat Montana State or Montana in Flagstaff, and they could be in line for a four seed. After their performance the past couple weeks, it's hard to know what to expect from them right, but we know they can beat anyone, anywhere, on a given night.
- It was not unexpected, but disappointing for Sac State to follow up their 7-1 stretch with two straight road losses to fall back to 9-9 and on the bubble. With two home games coming up, they should still be in pretty good shape.
- After an OT loss to Montana State on Thurday, Southern Utah is down to two chances, as they host North Dakota and Northern Colorado. That just doesn't seem to bode well for them getting a win.
Thoughts? Anything you want to see broken down this week?
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Man, this is a terrible time to be a UNC fan. Those last two games against Eastern and Portland State were incredibly bad. I have never experienced more boring games, and fans are starting to get extremely frustrated with Coach Hill. There is no urgency for them to win, and watching it, one would think that they had either already clinched the 1 seed, or were already out of the tournament. They have no fight, and their offense is really what is killing them. We dribble the ball around for 30 seconds and throw up a bad shot. When backup point guard Cory Spence is in the game it gives the defense an extra defender because he can't do anything outside of the paint (even in there he's not very efficient). It's a frustrating time for a Bear fan, I think BJ's job could be in jeopardy if we don't make the tournament.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of fans were frustrated with him, and that seemed to subside at the start of this year when things were going so well... but the last month has been pretty ugly. If things don't turn around quick here at the end of the year, the grumbling will get VERY loud!
ReplyDeleteAre you coming to Ogden for the Big Sky Conference tournament?
ReplyDeleteI can't make it Thursday or Friday because I can't get off work... but I am hopeful that I will be able to make it Saturday for the title game...
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