Big Sky

2008-09 Montana Basketball Preview: #112

Joel Welser — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:53:29 -0700

Montana Grizzlies

Overall Rank: #112

Conference Rank: #1 Big Sky

2007-08: 14-16, 8-8, 4^th

2007-08 postseason: none

Heading into his third year as the leader of the Montana Grizzlies, Coach Wayne Tinkle is building something special in Missoula. The recruiting has been very good over the last few years and it is about time for that talent to turn into conference championships. However, the championships will not start rolling in until the defense improves.

Who’s Out:

Besides the defense, a lack of experience may be the only thing that could keep the Grizzlies away from the Big Sky championship. Andrew Strait was the big man under the basket and averaged 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds, ranking second on the team in both categories. Guard Matt Martin started a dozen games and was a solid shooter, usually off the bench and Cameron Rundles has transferred after averaging 6.6 points per game last year. Dave Vanderjagt, Greg Spurgetis and Zach Graves will also not be returning this season after seeing limited action last year.

Who’s In:

Only five players return to the squad, so the newcomers will have to be ready to at least play an important role off the bench. Jack McGillis, a transfer from Oregon State, probably will not have to spend much time on the bench. The former Mr. Basketball in the state of Montana, McGillis spent two years with the Beavers before heading back home. Two years ago he started six games in Corvallis and averaged 5.9 points per game. The 6-6 forward is a decent rebounder as well and should play a big role on this year’s team. Another transfer joins the Grizzlies from Eastern Washington. Michael Taylor started 25 games for the Eagles two years ago and has the experience to contribute immediately. Guard Anthony Johnson and wing Vassy Banny have some experience too. Johnson, a 6-3 guard from Yakima Valley Community College, will add some much needed depth at the point guard position and shooting guard spots and Banny can do a little bit of everything. The large group of incoming freshmen are led by point guard Shawn Stockton and small forward Mathias Ward. Those two, along with wing Tyler Hurley, forward Mathias Ward and big man Derek Selvig, might need some time to adjust to playing in the Big Sky, but there will be some minutes to be had if they can quickly show they are ready.

Who to Watch:

The duo of Strait and Jordan Hasquet dominated the opposing frontcourts in the conference. Now that Strait is gone, the pressure falls on Hasquet. The 6-9 senior led the team with 13.7 points and 7.2 rebounds, is a consistent outside shooter and a decent passer, but he needs to find his partner in crime in the paint. Enter Brian Qvale. The 6-11, 245 pound Williston, North Dakota product averaged 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds as a freshman last season. Given more playing time, those numbers should increase, but more important than scoring or rebounding is his defense. Qvale tallied 1.5 blocks per game and can spearhead the improved defensive initiative with his long arms and ability to alter shots. Add senior Kyle Sharp, who can play the three, four or five spot, and the Grizzlies have plenty of potential and talent in the frontcourt…even without Strait.

Final Projection:

Ceylon Elgin-Taylor and Ryan Staudacher started a majority of the games in the backcourt during the 2007-2008 campaign. Elgin-Taylor is not a great shooter, but he is a steady floor leader, a good passer and a senior leader. Staudacher is a great shooter. The 6-3 junior knocked down over 45 percent of his attempts from long range as a sophomore and rarely misses a free-throw. Without Matt Martin and Cameron Rundles around, Staudacher carries the scoring burden of the backcourt. And with a frontcourt that can dominate again and a senior running the point, Staudacher and the entire Montana team should be looking at a very successful season.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Ceylon Elgin-Taylor, Senior, Guard, 6.2 points per game

Ryan Staudacher, Junior, Guard, 9.0 points per game

Jack McGillis, Junior, Forward, DNP last season

Jordan Hasquet, Senior, Forward, 13.7 points per game

Brian Qvale, Sophomore, Center, 4.0 points per game

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2008-09 Preview & Awards | Coach Interviews | Discuss the Preview

Rise & Fall: Low-Major Conference Review

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:52:45 -0700

In recent weeks, the Rise & Fall series has chronicled the progress (or regress) of college basketball's major conference teams. But if I equated each team to a civilization, I was mistaken. It is really the NCAA conference that equates to a burgeoning civilization or nation, each with its sometimes stable and sometimes rotating member states. Like civilizations, the prestige and power of conferences wax and wane..

Today, I'll start with the status of the low-major conferences before moving up to the big boys.

LOW-MAJORS

AMERICA EAST - DECLINING (SLOWLY )

For whatever reason, the AE's RPI rating swings wildly compared to most leagues.. anywhere between 16th and 29th in the last seven years. When teams like Delaware, Drexel, and Hofstra bolted for the CAA after 2001, it seemed like an iminent disaster (and was for a moment in 2002 with that 29th RPI). But Tom Brennan's great Vermont teams really saved the league's prestige. However, now that Vermont is still trying to regain form under Mike Lonegran and Albany's Jamar Wilson era is over, the league is retreating back into the mid-twenties RPI range where I expect them to finish in 2009.

ATLANTIC SUN - DECLINING

While Belmont was solid last year, it was an abysmal year for the ASun. The league's decline has mainly been do the negative effects of a changing league membership. Central Florida, FAU, and Georgia State have all left in recent seasons for "bigger" leagues, replaced by D1 newcomers like Kennessaw State and North Florida. Last year, 6 teams in the league finished with an RPI below 290th. This led to an overall RPI of 29th, one of the worst seasons in the league's history, and a stark change from the usual range of 20th to 23rd that the ASun enjoyed just a handful of seasons ago.

BIG SOUTH - RISING (SLOWLY)

Basically, this is all about the emergence of Winthrop in recent years. In the last 90's and early 00's, the Big south was right there with the MEAC and SWAC as the last rung on college basketball's ladder. But Greg Marshall's amazing success at Winthrop has the been the main catalyst for the league's overall improvement. While its unclear whether Randy Peele can continue Marshall's success, and UNCA might slip after last year's solid run, those worries can't overturn the league's positive momentum.

BIG SKY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

This is one of the few low-major leagues to have finished above 15th in overall RPI (ie, the top half) in the last two decades. The league isn't quite as strong as it was just a few years back though, as the subtle switch of losing Northridge to the Big West, in place of horrid Northern Colorado has hurt. For the first half of the decade, it seemed like one Big Sky team always was a serious mid-major contender, highlighted by Montana's 2006 Tournament win (and Weber's big upset back in 99). But such an upset seems highly unlikely right now.

IVY - DECLINING

The Ivy has had better success over the last decade than any low-major league, and its arguable that they should really count in the "mid-major" category. Regardless, the glory days of Penn/Princeton dominance has come to an end, and now the conference isn't really any better than geographical rivals like the Patriot or America East. Cornell is the league's main hope in the present (perhaps to be joined by Amaker's Harvard?) as Penn and Princeton try to resurrect past glory. A repeat of the Ivy's 2002 RPI finish of 13th won't come around for awhile.

MEAC - RISING (SLOWLY)

It wasn't always a given that the SWAC and the MEAC would finish dead last in the RPI. While never good, they were just one of a handful of low-level leagues like the Big South and Southland conferences. But over the last handful of years, its become a certainty that either the MEAC and SWAC will be the bottom of the barrel. Despite being 30th out of 31 conferences last year, it was actually the MEAC's most successful season of the century. Todd Bozeman has turned a dismal Morgan State program (4-26 in 2006) into a winner (over 20 wins last year) while Hampton knocked off legit programs like Tulsa and VCU. Due to these wins, the league's non-conference RPI of 28 tied their high-water mark of the last decade.

NORTHEAST - STATUS QUO

The league is slightly better than it was a handful of years back, but a repeat of last year's success is unlikely. With an RPI of 20th, it was one of the NEC's better performances due to quality seasons from Robert Morris and Wagner. But the win totals put up by those schools and others was really more due to smoke and mirrors, as the NEC's non-conference SOS was one of the worst in the nation. A usual finish around 26th in the RPI should be expected this time around.

OHIO VALLEY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

Last year's RPI of 28th and .227 non-conference winning %, were some of the worst in league history. Though a small bounce back should be expected in 08-09, the OVC has been in a steady downwards trend. Not to long ago, it seemed like two teams in the league (usually Murray State or APSU) were legitimate Top 100-120 programs that could compete with the big boys. While APSU is still decent, Murray has lost the luster of a few seasons back due to coaching changes.

PATRIOT - RISING (SLOWLY)

The Patriot is coming off of two of their best seasons in recent history, with RPI finishes of 16th and 17th. The great non-conference winning % is a bit misleading though, because they played the worst schedule of anybody in the country (even the independents somehow managed to find better competition.) Thus while American's win over Maryland was cute, and Navy's continual improvement is nice to see, there's still serious room for (more legitimate) improvement.

SOUTHLAND - RISING

Last year was the SLC's best season in recent memory.. and two of its best RPI seasons in the last decade have come in the past three years. SFA knocked off Oklahoma and NCAA Tournament team San Diego. Sam Houston beat higher-level programs like Texas Tech, Saint Louis, and Fresno. And those teams didn't even win the conference, as Texas-Arlington took the honors. While an overall conference RPI of 19 might not seem amazing, it represents a major improvement for a league that has barely outperformed the independents in the past ten years.

SUMMIT - STATUS QUO

Despite the new name, the Summit is no better than it was as the Mid-Con. Never the worst conference out there, it also never seems to have a break out year and hasn't finished above 20th in the RPI in quite some time. Oral Roberts has obviously been the leader in recent years, while Oakland and IUPUI have shown some positive momentum. But there's too many duds in the league membership (Centenary, WIU, etc) to expect a serious break from form any time soon.

SWAC - STATUS QUO

The SWAC's .085 winning percentage against non-conference teams is the worst of any team in the twelve seasons that I have stats for. In fact, previous marks of futility set by the SWAC are the only near competitors (.096 in 2000 for example.) But futility is nothing new for the SWAC, which has been the lowest ranked conference the last four years (by a large margin).. thus it deserves the Status Quo.

- Note that league power isn't quite as fluid as team power, so seemingly small baby steps end up counting more..

- Up Next: Mid-Majors

BCS

ACC

Big 12

Big East

Big Ten

Pac-10

SEC

High-Major

Atlantic 10

Conference USA

MVC

MWC

WAC

Mid-Major

Big West

Colonial

Horizon

MAC

MAAC

Southern

Sun Belt

WCC

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the Big Sky?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:54:00 -0700

Big Sky Conference Preview

CHN — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 09:32:55 -0800

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Big Sky Preview

Conference Rank: 16th

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Rodney Stuckey, EWU, G

David Schroeder, Idaho St, G

Alex Bausley, Sacramento St, F

Ruben Boykin, NAU, F

Andrew Strait, Montana, F/C

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
99	Northern Arizona	1	NCAA
128	Eastern Washington	2
144	Montana	3
172	Portland State	4
194	Sacramento St	5
215	Weber State	6
246	Idaho State	7
279	Montana State	8
321	Northern Colorado	9

Preseason Head Coach Interviews:

Brad Huse - Montana State

Other Big Sky Articles

Big Sky Preseason Coaches & Media Poll

Big Sky Preseason Coaches/Media Poll

Press Release — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:38:14 -0700

In very close balloting, Northern Arizona (21-11, 12-2 last season) was picked first in the coaches poll by just one point over Montana (24-7, 10-4). Meanwhile, the Grizzlies were picked first in the media poll by just one point over the Lumberjacks. They were followed by consensus third, fourth and fifth teams, Eastern Washington (15-15, 9-5), Portland State (12-16, 5-9) and Sacramento State (15-15, 5-9).

The 2006-07 Big Sky season will include the addition of new conference member Northern Colorado. UNC, Montana State, Idaho State and Weber State – picked in various order sixth through ninth in the polls – all have new head coaches this season. Northern Colorado will play a full Big Sky schedule, but because of NCAA reclassification requirements, will not be eligible for the regular-season title, or a trip to the postseason.

Coaches’ Poll
School (First-place votes) Points
1. Northern Arizona (4) 59
2. Montana (4) 58
3. Eastern Washington (1) 54
4. Portland State 41
5. Sacramento State 37
6. Weber State 27
7. Idaho State 22
8. Montana State 17
9. Northern Colorado 8

Media Poll
School (First-place votes) Points
1. Montana (9) 233
2. Northern Arizona (13) 232
3. Eastern Washington (7) 222
4. Portland State 149
5. Sacramento State 143
6. Montana State 109
7. Weber State 95
8. Idaho State 93
9. Northern Colorado 30