Big Sky Postseason Thread - 2016

[Mvemjsunpx]

• NCAA-M

(15) Weber St. (26-8) 53-71 vs. (2) Xavier (21-10)

• CBI

Pepperdine (18-13) 72-79 @ Eastern Washington (17-15)
Idaho (21-12) 63-68 @ Seattle U (14-16)
Montana (21-11) 75-79 @ Nevada (19-13)

Eastern Washington (18-15) 70-85 @ Nevada (20-13)

• CIT

UC Irvine (25-9) 89-86 (OT) @ North Dakota (17-15)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

• NCAA-W

(16) Idaho (24-9) 59-89 @ (1) Baylor (33-1)

• WNIT

Montana St. (21-9) 61-95 @ Utah (16-14)

• WBI

(7) Weber St. (20-11) 75-67 @ (2) New Mexico (17-14)
(6) Grand Canyon (16-14) 51-57 @ (3) North Dakota (18-13)

(7) Weber St. (21-11) 76-74 @ (3) North Dakota (19-13)

(8) USC Upstate (22-11) 53-79 @ (7) Weber St. (22-11)

(7) Weber St. (23-11) 85-87 (2OT) @ (1) Louisiana-Lafayette (24-10)

[SuperHornet]

BBQ vs. Xavier

Pepperdine @ EWU
ID @ Seattle U
Montana @ Nevada

Ir-Whine @ Sioux

__________________________

ID State vs. Baylor
Kitties @ Utah
BBQ @ New Mexico
Grand Canyon @ Sioux

[Mvemjsunpx]

Web streaming info for the Montana/Nevada game has been added above. I'm not sure why, but there's no indication as of yet that the NoDak WBI game will be on Watch Big Sky.

[Vidav]

Griz start hot hitting threes like crazy and are up 28-15 7:30 left in the half.

[Grizalltheway]

Griz start hot hitting threes like crazy and are up 28-15 7:30 left in the half.

Where was that the last game?

[Vidav]

Griz start hot hitting threes like crazy and are up 28-15 7:30 left in the half.

Where was that the last game?

Lopez has 5 treys in the half. He averages 6 points a game.

Griz up 37-27 at half.

[Mvemjsunpx]

EWU beat Peppermint State… er, Pepperdine, by 7. The Montana/Nevada winner will play the Eags.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Montana blows a 10-point halftime lead & loses in Reno.

NoDak lost to UCI in overtime.

Idaho up 1 in Seattle with about 8 minutes left.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Idaho loses to a losing Seattle U team on the road by 5.

One unexpected plus: Weber's women upset New Mexico in the first round of the WBI. They will play the NoDak/GCU winner.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Montana blew a 13-point lead against Nevada and lost a game they led for more than 35 minutes, 79-75. Some may point to the free-throw disparity, but a minus-8 turnover margin in the second half and 64% three-point shooting after halftime by one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the nation were probably bigger factors. Martin Breunig had 20 points and 8 boards in his final game as a Griz, finishing as Montana's all-time leading scorer among two-year players.

EWU beat Pepperdine 79-72 to get their first-ever national postseason victory (and the Big Sky's first victory in the CBI). Bogdan Bliznyuk compensated for a dinged-up Venky Jois by registering 25 points and 11 rebounds. Austin McBroom also had 24 points and hit 6 of Eastern's 14 treys. The Eags made 7 more free throws than the Waves in a game that finished with a 7-point margin.

Idaho lost to a weak SU team in Seattle, 68-63. The best rebounding team in the Big Sky lost the glass by 10 against the 14-16 Redhawks. Victor Sanders had a really strange stat line: 10 points, 6 boards, and 7 assists on 1/11 shooting.

North Dakota lost again in overtime, this time to Big West co-champ UC Irvine in the first round of the CIT, 89-86. The Fighting Hawks were outshot, outrebounded, and out-turnovered, but they still kept it close thanks to more free throws and 12 three-pointers. Geno Crandall led UND with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists. The CIT couldn't fill out their 32-team field, so the top-3 first-round winners in the Pomeroys apparently get byes into the quarterfinals (UCI is the CIT's best team in those rankings).


Weber's women got their first postseason win since the 1983 WNIT by taking down New Mexico in Albuquerque, 75-67. The Wildcats only played 7 players for some reason and they only forced a season-low (by far) 7 turnovers, but they hit 11 treys to UNM's 3. Lobo fans obviously don't care about the WBI—they averaged about 5800 fans per game coming in (best in the west), but only had about 1/10 of that for this contest. I think it was played at UNM's rec gym instead of The Pit, which might explain why.

[Wildcat Ryan]

Man I still can't believe Montana didn't bid for a home game, and I'm guessing Idaho didn't either, considering they played at Seattle

[Mvemjsunpx]

Man I still can't believe Montana didn't bid for a home game, and I'm guessing Idaho didn't either, considering they played at Seattle

$40,000 is pretty steep, though. It's a near guarantee UM would've lost money on it, especially with little turnaround time for advertising. I wonder if EWU's athletic dept. is gonna catch some flack since they probably lost quite a bit on their game.

Not wanting to pay for these lesser tournament games seems to be gaining in popularity, as you can see by the failure of the Vegas 16 (halving their participation) and the CIT being unable to fill up their bracket. Maybe the hosting fees, etc., will get discounted next year.

[dbackjon]

Man I still can't believe Montana didn't bid for a home game, and I'm guessing Idaho didn't either, considering they played at Seattle

$40,000 is pretty steep, though. It's a near guarantee UM would've lost money on it, especially with little turnaround time for advertising. I wonder if EWU's athletic dept. is gonna catch some flack since they probably lost quite a bit on their game.

Not wanting to pay for these lesser tournament games seems to be gaining in popularity, as you can see by the failure of the Vegas 16 (halving their participation) and the CIT being unable to fill up their bracket. Maybe the hosting fees, etc., will get discounted next year.

What did Montana average this year?


NAU hosted two rounds of the CIT last year, and averaged 4K for the two games.

[AZGrizFan]

Man I still can't believe Montana didn't bid for a home game, and I'm guessing Idaho didn't either, considering they played at Seattle

$40,000 is pretty steep, though. It's a near guarantee UM would've lost money on it, especially with little turnaround time for advertising. I wonder if EWU's athletic dept. is gonna catch some flack since they probably lost quite a bit on their game.

Not wanting to pay for these lesser tournament games seems to be gaining in popularity, as you can see by the failure of the Vegas 16 (halving their participation) and the CIT being unable to fill up their bracket. Maybe the hosting fees, etc., will get discounted next year.

Montana doesn't advertise. So they'd have saved money there....

[Mvemjsunpx]

$40,000 is pretty steep, though. It's a near guarantee UM would've lost money on it, especially with little turnaround time for advertising. I wonder if EWU's athletic dept. is gonna catch some flack since they probably lost quite a bit on their game.

Not wanting to pay for these lesser tournament games seems to be gaining in popularity, as you can see by the failure of the Vegas 16 (halving their participation) and the CIT being unable to fill up their bracket. Maybe the hosting fees, etc., will get discounted next year.

What did Montana average this year?

Montana averaged 3955.

NAU hosted two rounds of the CIT last year, and averaged 4K for the two games.

I'm pretty sure the CIT hosting fee is cheaper than the CBI one, and those were both later round games.

[dbackjon]

What did Montana average this year?

Montana averaged 3955.

NAU hosted two rounds of the CIT last year, and averaged 4K for the two games.

I'm pretty sure the CIT hosting fee is cheaper than the CBI one, and those were both later round games.

Still, at $10 per ticket for even 3K, that is most of the fee.
No excuse not to host

[Mvemjsunpx]

Montana averaged 3955.



I'm pretty sure the CIT hosting fee is cheaper than the CBI one, and those were both later round games.

Still, at $10 per ticket for even 3K, that is most of the fee.
No excuse not to host

"Most of the fee" means you lose money, plus I'm not sure the average ticket price would be $10. I'm not saying UM shouldn't have hosted anyway, but I imagine it's difficult for the athletic department to justify losing ≈$10,000 on a lesser tournament like the CBI. I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd bid for the quarterfinals since there would've been time to promote it and it would've been against EWU.

[Mvemjsunpx]

NoDak's women got past Grand Canyon at home in the WBI, 57-51. As usual, the F-Hawks lost turnovers noticeably & won rebounding noticeably. Mia Loyd had 12 points and 10 boards, the only UND player in double figures for either. They will host Weber in a rubber match (they road split in the regular season) Sunday.

[Jjoey52]

Even with the slow start this year, Imo the Vegas concept will catch on and outdo the CIT and CBI in future years.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Weber couldn't overcome a bad start and lost to Xavier 71-53. The lead ballooned a bit late so it wasn't quite as lopsided as the final score indicates. The Big Sky regular-season MVP—Joel Bolomboy—had a double-double in his final game. Unfortunately, the Big Sky Tournament MVP—Jeremy Senglin—failed to show up as he went just 3/11 from the field. Surprisingly, the Wildcats won turnovers against the harassing Musketeers but got killed on the glass.


As expected, the Idaho Vandals went down hard to #1-seed Baylor in the women's tourney, 89-59. They tried to channel Sac State, but failed miserably and went 9/43 from the arc. UI also lost the boards by 23. Ali Forde had 17 points and 9 rebounds in her final game in the black & gold.

The WNIT couldn't right the Bobcat ship as MSU was humiliated in SLC by Utah, 95-61. The Utes won shooting 50%-31% and went 14/29 from the arc. Peyton Ferris had 15 points and 10 boards, but none of the Bobcat seniors finished in double figures and regular-season MVP Jasmine Hommes shot a miserable 3/15 from the field. This loss ended a 3-year streak of the Big Sky getting wins in the WNIT. Montana State finishes the season on a 4-game skid and a 5-game losing streak away from Bozeman.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Weber State, the team that had 8 straight seasons without even a conference tournament appearance coming in, is now the only Big Sky women's team left standing after they upset North Dakota in Grand Forks, 76-74. It was a surprisingly offensive contest as NoDak shot 51% and Weber shot 47%. Deeshyra Thomas & Kailie Quinn combined to score 54 points on 70% shooting for the Wildcats (Thomas also scored the game-winner). Mia Loyd only scored 8 points in her final game for UND, but she did have a game-high 17 rebounds. Even more surprising than the win for Weber is they will host South Carolina Upstate in the semis as USC Upstate is the only team seeded lower than them in their half of the bracket.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Nevada dominated the second half to beat Eastern Washington, 85-70, and end the season for the men's Big Sky. Both teams shot over 50% in the first half, but the Eagles made just 29% of their field goals in the second. Tyron Criswell & Cameron Oliver combined to score 60 points on 23/36 shooting for the Wolfpack. Austin McBroom had 17 points, 6 boards, and 7 assists for the Eagles in his final game, but EWU's other senior of note—Venky Jois—did not play.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Weber blows away Upstate at home in the WBI semis, 79-53. Nothing fancy statistically about this one: the Wildcats just dominated overall shooting 54%-34% and dominated outside shooting 48%-14%. Weber's three-point specialist, Kailie Quinn, had her first career double-double while Emily Drake went 5/6 from the arc (Thomas led WSU in scoring with 20). The Wildcats will head to Lafayette, LA, to play defending WBI champ ULL in the title game Saturday. It'll be the third time in four years a Big Sky team will play in a postseason tournament championship game.

[Wildcat Ryan]

Go Weber ladies

[Mvemjsunpx]

Despite shooting 56%, the Weber women fail to give the Big Sky its first ever postseason tournament win as they fall to Louisiana-Lafayette 87-85 in double overtime. Weber's hot shooting was offset by a season-worst 28 turnovers and a season-worst minus-13 TO margin. It was a real war of attrition as both teams had three players foul out. Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman and Emily Drake were both knocked out in regulation while Brittney Dunbar, who had 23 points in her final game, fouled out with 1:31 to go in the second overtime. Cajun star Keke Veal had a game-high 32 points in her final contest, but she fouled out late in regulation to seemingly open the door for the Wildcats.

This was ULL's second-straight WBI championship, which is kind of a dubious honor given the relatively low status of this tournament. If they were improved over last year, they wouldn't be in this thing in the first place.