Two Northern Colorado Players Suspended

Elliott Lloyd and Aaron Hawk-Harris have been indefinitely suspended from the team, according to UNC.

Hawk-Harris has been a bit player so far this year, but Lloyd is the team's best perimeter defender and is one of the team leaders. Both guys were juniors, so the team will get even younger right now.

Let's hope that this is not for anything serious, and the guys did not do anything stupid. I will let you know if I find anything out.

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New Mexico State Too Athletic For Northern Colorado

I had the chance to attend the game between New Mexico State and Northern Colorado on Saturday, a fast paced game won by the Aggies 89-75. Some thoughts and observations from the game.

- Paul Garnica looked good, as he was 6/10 for 14 points. He drained a couple of 3s which was impressive... if he can knock those down consistently he will be the Bears best player. Garnica is also the best on the team at getting to the basket, he really had some nice drives. In addition, he has quick hands defensively, and wound up with 2 steals (though they were in part due to someone else deflecting the ball. I did think he struggled a bit with the press, as did the whole team.

- The biggest key to the game was the athleticism of New Mexico State. They are one of the top teams in the WAC, and they showed it. They put on a press all night, and forced UNC into 20 turnovers. Their athleticism also allowed them to be the aggressor, which is why they got 41 free throws compared to 15 for the Bears. They forced UNC to play too fast, and it caused them to take some quick shots. In the first half, Northern Colorado was lethal from downtown, and that kept them in it, but they cooled off a bit in the second half.

- Tate Unruh had an impressive game, finishing with 15 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He has a quick, pure release, and he will drain a lot of treys this year. He is also a good passer, and made some nice decisions passing the ball in this game. His handle is decent. He seemed to really favor going to the right, and will need to work on his left hand. Unruh and Garnica were the two Bears that most impressed me.

- I was a little surprised to see true freshman Tim Huskisson get the start, but he handled himself well. His stat line didn't stand out - 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, but his athleticism was apparent. On a team without a lot of great athletes, Huskisson will be a nice piece. Another recruit, Aaron Hawk-Harris, is a guy that they said brings intangibles and toughness, and I liked what I saw from him. He is a solid defender and does enough offensively that he is not a liability. Another guard Tevin Svihovec was solid but didn't stand out. He is a solid shooter and is fundamentally sound, but didn't really make a big impact.

- The frontcourt has some nice pieces, but nobody really stepped up in a big way. Connor Osborne looked the best to me, as he had 8 points and 7 rebounds in 23 minutes (and a couple thunderous dunks), but he still looks like he is getting into playing shape. I like his skillset a lot though. Mike Proctor played decent defensively and deflected a couple of balls, but tried to do a little too much with a couple things offensively. On the glass, he only had 3 rebounds in 24 minutes. Emmanual Addo is the most athletic of the big men, and you can see his talent as a sophomore. He had 6 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes, and showed some good footwork around the basket. I like his future. Brendan Keane got 11 minutes of action, but against an athletic Aggies frontline he looked a bit overmatched. He had 0 rebounds in his time, and you could tell it was his first collegiate game. I have no doubt he will be a fine player, but he did not add much in his first game.

- Once again, photo above taken by my beautiful wife!

Overall, Northern Colorado is definitely a talented team, and they are stocked with shooters. I like their backcourt, and I think their frontcourt will get there. However, after watching them Saturday night, I still like my original preseason analysis - they are a talented team, and they will beat some good teams in the Big Sky this year. But, I do think they are a year away from being true contenders in the Conference, and I see them settling in anywhere from 4th-6th in the Big Sky.

What is everyone else's thoughts? I'd particularly like to hear from the UNC fans that had a chance to watch the game, what did you see?

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Northern Colorado's Recruiting Class

Obviously, Northern Colorado is coming off of its best season in school history. After a slow start (4-7), Bears recovered to win the Big Sky regular season and conference title, clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

Oh yeah, this was only 4 years removed from their first season as a Division 1 program, when they went 4-24.

How do they top that? Well, it will start with BJ Hill's first recruiting class, a 5 man group that looks solid on paper. According to Coach Hill:

“In terms of talent, upside and potential and character, as a group, this is the best class we’ve signed in the five years I’ve been here -- there’s no doubt,” Hill said of his first class as Northern Colorado head coach. “I love what each brings to the table, in terms of what they eventually can be. This is a class that two or three years from now, we’re all going to be really excited about.”

Let's take a look at them.

Arguably the best is forward Brendan Keane, who is 6'9'' and a very skilled forward. He has a solid body, and should be ready to play physically right away. He has some solid post moves, and is very good fundamentally. He should have success with the Bears, and will be in the mix immediately for playing time.

Another solid player is Tim Huskission, a 6'5'' forward out of Missouri, who committed to UNC after his junior season. He is the most athletic player of the recruiting class, which helps him on both ends of the court. It is easy to envision him getting some run early on in his career also.

Aaron Hawk-Harris is the only JUCO player in the group, so you have to think he will be counted on to play right away (or else they wouldn't have brought him in). He is a combo guard at 6'4''. At the JUCO level last year he averaged 6.5 PPG, about 3 RPG and 2 APG. Hill says he brings intangibles and toughness, but I won't likely see starter's minutes with some of the soon-to-be sophomores and other incoming freshmen at the guard spots.

Dylan Elias is a 6-foot PG out of Texas, who comes out of the same program that current Bear Paul Garnica came from. He has been committed to the program for awhile, and should be a solid contributor to the program, though it looks tough for him to get a lot of minutes this year.

James Davis Jr. is the last member of the class, a 6'3'' shooting guard from California. He is an excellent scorer (almost 22 PPG as a junior), that could have the ability to play both guard spots, though he will primarily play off the ball. He has a chance to be a big-time scorer for the Bears.

Who do you guys see as the best of the class? Who will contribute right away?

How Will Northern Colorado Replace Devon Beitzel?

Of all the player leaving the Big Sky, none will be more difficult to replace than Devon Beitzel. He was the conference POY in 2010-11, was one of the most efficient offensive players in the country, and helped lead UNC to their first NCAA Tournament berth. Not a bad senior year.

His ORtg of 123.1 was a robust 36th in the country. He had a True Shooting % of 65.5%, good for 15th in the country (thanks to shooting 57.3% on 2s, 39.4% on 3s, and 90% at FT line while getting to the line often). Simply put, he was a great player for the Northern Colorado, and he will be greatly missed.

So how will they replace him? As is often the case when you lose a great player, it will not fall on a single person.

The player who it seems will get even more of the ballhandling duties will be Elliott Lloyd. As a sophomore, he averaged 7.5 PPG and 3.3 APG, posting the best assist rate on the team. However, he also had a very high turnover rate, and that will need to change. He is a bit of a 3-point specialist, as he shot more 3s than 2s, which was ok since he converted 41.9% of those 3s.

Then there are a couple of guys that played modest mintues as freshman last year, but will be counted on much more heavily this season. The first is Paul Garnica, who as 6'1'' as a solid all-around game. He had a decent rebounding rate for a guard, but a high assist rate. However, like Lloyd, he had a high turnover rate, and he will need to learn to take better care of the basketball. He has the potential to be a defensive playmaker for the Bears, as his 4.3 Stl% just barely trailed Will Cherry of Montana (4.7%). However, Garnica needs to become more efficient scoring the ball. Despite being only a 27% 3PT shooter, he took 56 3s (as opposed to 74 2PT attempts). To become a potential All Big Sky player like he has the potential to be, he has to either improve his outside shot or quit taking it so much.

Another freshman that will see bigger minutes in his sophomore year is Tate Unruh. If you could extrapolate his efficiency over more minutes, you would have a star (if only basketball worked that way). In limited time he was 8/16 from 2PT range, and 13/31 (12%) from downtown. Nothing wrong with that. Without Beitzel, they will need him to score points.

UNC does have some recruits that could see immediate time. Aaron Hawk-Harris is a bigger guard that could have an immediate role. Tim Huskission is 6'5'' and could immediately be the best athlete on the team. These guys have definite upside, and some will definitely need to play a bit right away, so it will be interesting to see who emerges.

How does everyone else think UNC will go about replacing Beitzel?