Future Big Sky Member Beats Current Big Sky Member

Idaho State traveled to Grand Forks to take on the University of North Dakota on Tuesday night, and the future Big Sky member had their way with the current Big Sky member. The Fighting Sioux won 63-47 in a defensive battle.

Aaron Anderson led the Sioux with 17 points, including getting to the line for 9 FT attempts. Jamal Webb, a guy I believe has the potential to be one of the best mid-major PGs in America, contribued 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. It was a night when UND's most talented player, Troy Huff, contributed just 8 points, but the rest of the team was more than able to pick up the slack.

For the Bengals, it was an ugly performance. They shot 36% from the field, 14/27 from the foul line, and made just three 3-pointers. For the second straight game Melvin Morgan did not play well, this time going scoreless in 11 minutes. Jakub Kusmieruk was their best player when he was on the floor (as he should have been - UND does not have a strong or deep front line), but he only played 23 minutes.

For Joe O'Brien and the Bengals, the near upset of Oklahoma suddenly seems very far away.

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A Couple of Big Sky Links

Just a couple quick Big Sky related links for your viewing pleasure.

- There are not a lot of previews out there for the Great West, but here is one. It has North Dakota projected third in the fledgling conference, behind Utah Valley and NJIT.

- Portland State will be playing an exhibition game against Western Oregon on Friday night. As with all of the exhibitions, it should be an easy confidence booster (but don't tell that to Arizona or Butler) that will help Tyler Geving get a feel for his rotation.

- The Idaho State Sports Journal had a good article up on observations after watching a basketball practice. Of particular interest was his view that Jakub Kusmieruk was disappointing on the offensive end. If he can get a couple garbage buckets a game and grab a few offensive rebounds I think they would be happy with his offensive efforts, but it remains to be seen if he will have a role on that side of the ball.

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The Importance of Jakub Kusmieruk For Idaho State

He will be the tallest player in the Big Sky next season, and how good he is will have a huge impact on Joe O'Brien's coaching prospects. And I am guessing that most Big Sky fans have no idea who he is (before this post).

His name is Jakub Kusmieruk, and he is a 7'4'' big man that will be suiting up for Idaho State after sitting out last season. He played his first two years at Central Florida before transferring to Pocatello.

In his two seasons in Conference USA, he did not do a ton. In his last season there, he scored 1.8 PPG and pulled down 1.3 RPG in 6 minutes per game. Probably all you need to know about his time there is that in the one paragraph blurb about his time there on Idaho State's website, this appears:

in four minutes in the home win over Rice, scored three points and blocked a shot

If that is one of the highlights of his two years, he did not make a big impact. But no matter, reports about him are good and Coach O'Brien is high on his prospects. O'Brien says:

There's nothing gimmicky about Kusmieruk's role on the team. O'Brien believes his mere presence on the floor will command double teams, thus freeing up other players for open looks. And the coach thinks the big guy is pretty effective with the ball in his hands, too. Conditioning should not be a problem, either; Kusmierek has slimmed down considerably since arriving at Idaho State last year weighing 315 pounds.

"He's down to about 257 now," O'Brien said during a late August interview. "If we can keep him on the court something pretty close to 25 minutes a night, I think that's going to be huge for us."

At 7'4'', it's hard not to think that he could have a big impact on games if he can stay out of foul trouble and stay conditioned well. Defensively, he will certainly make teams think twice about taking it to the rim. Plus, it is not hard to imagine him and Abner Moreira being one of the best rebounding duos in the Conference.

Offensively, we will have to wait and see. If he really has enough skill to draw double teams, that will create some room for Idaho State shooters, which will be a huge boost to the offense (Idaho State was not a good outside shooting team last year). If Kusmieruk can become one of the better posts in the Big Sky, then maybe (just maybe) Idaho State will have a chance to be playing in the Big Sky Tournament.

Bengals fans, what are you hearing/expecting from Kusmieruk?

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