Jamie Stewart Dismissed from Montana State

For the second straight season, Jamie Stewart will not be finishing the season on the Montana State roster. Last season, he had academic issues, this year, he has simply been dismissed from the team with no specifics being reported.

From Gidal Kaiser of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

While he did not divulge specifics Thursday night, head coach Brad Huse confirmed that Stewart “is no longer with the program.” Juniors Paul Egwuonwu and Flavien Davis both acknowledged Stewart’s capabilities as a player but would not comment further.

Stewart was a 6'4'' senior guard that gave them a lot of versatility with his ability to handle the ball. This year, he was averaging nine points and four rebounds per game, playing 23 minutes per night. They have the depth to make up for the loss, but still not something you want to have happen.

Coach Brad Huse is arguably coaching for his job, as he is in the final year of his contract and has a restless fan base, and this type of thing obviously never helps. As Kaiser notes in his article, it is becoming a trend for the Bobcats.

Since the start of the 2010-’11 season, 11 players have left the MSU program for various reasons, among them dismissal, academic ineligibility or NCAA rules violations. That includes at least four walk-ons.

We wish Stewart the best on whatever is the next chapter of his life.

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Southern Utah and Montana State Lose Close Games

If you just look at the box score, you see that Southern Utah lost to TCU by nine points and Montana State lost to Pepperdine by ten points. However, both games were tight deep into the second half before the Big Sky teams fell back at the stretch.

Southern Utah stayed in the game thanks to a huge day from guard Damon Heuir. He finished with 25 points on 7/14 shooting, including an impressive 9/12 from the line. The rest of the team was just a combined 11-41 from the floor. Jayson Cheesman had 9 points and 13 rebounds for the TBirds.

They lost in part because of an uncharacteristically poor game from Jackson Stevenett, who simply couldn't get the ball to go down. He was 0/10 from the floor, and finished with just one rebound and two assists in 26 minutes.

"Jackson didn't see the first couple of shots go through the net and he struggled tonight; a couple of them rimmed in and out, maybe three or four of those shots, and a lot of those were good shots, a lot were contested, but those are shots he's made before," Robinson pointed out. "I'm not worried about that, we had other guys chip in, Jayson was able to get some pretty good looks, Wade [Collie] made a couple of shots for us, and Tyson played extremely well."

Stevenett will have plenty of big games this year where he is the biggest reason that SUU wins, but that probably won't make him feel better in this one. The Thunderbirds led by a point midway through the second half before TCU went on a 24-15 run over the final ten minutes.

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Meanwhile, Montana State trailed by ten at the half before making the game very interesting late. It seems they used too much energy getting back into the game, and couldn't muster enough down the stretch. From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

“The difference was being down 10 at half,” Huse said. “They’re a hard team to come back on – we fought to get to where we were at and it comes down to a free-throw block out, a loose ball or something crazy. They converted, got a two possession lead and we couldn’t find the bottom of the net.

The Bobcats tied the game at 59 and trailed by two at the 2:47 mark, but they just couldn't make anything at the end of the game. They missed seven shots in the final 1:59 of the game.

Xavier Blount led the team with 19 points, while Jamie Stewart had 14 points. They struggled a bit with forcing some shots against the Pepperdine zone, which was not helped by an ankle injury to Flavien Davis, their best scorer inside. 

The losses dropped Montana State to 1-4, while Southern Utah is 1-5.

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Montana State Gets Their First Win

It was a rough opening game for Montana State, but they made up for it with an excellent showing in their home opener against Portland, winning 83-64.

Guard Antonio Biglow hit a three to open the game, and MSU never trailed. Biglow led the team with 23 points, and he was joined in double figures by Flavien Davis (13), Calen Coleman (12), and Jamie Stewart (11). The Bobcats shot 51% from the field and got to the line 39 times, making 27 of them (69%).

“I feel really good about this win,” Huse said. “A week ago we didn't feel like we played very good basketball (in a loss at Seattle), and today we feel good. We just have to keep working and keep practicing hard.”

MSU forced 19 Pilot turnovers, which is huge. They are going to be a team that will look to get out on the break a bit, so forcing turnovers will be critical to their success. They also had the rebounding edge, 32-23. Five guys had four or more rebounds.

The Bobcats now stand at 1-1, and will travel to take on Air Force on Wednesday.

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Montana State Will Be Off to Canada

From Gidal Kaiser at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

Antonio Biglow’s Bobcat debut will happen on foreign soil.

The soon-to-be-junior, as well as the entire recruiting class of 2012, will head to Calgary, Alberta, Canada from August 7-12 to participate in the “Battle of the Border,” an international tournament.

The tournament is acceptable under NCAA rules, which allows a member institution to participate in a foreign tournament once every four years. Montana State and the University of Wyoming are the two NCAA schools in the five-team tournament; each will play three games. The University of Alberta, University of Mount Royal and host University of Calgary will also participate.

Gidal hit on it right away... but it is huge that Antonio Biglow will be with the team. He was supposed to be the best newcomer in the conference last season, but did not make it because of some academic hiccups at his junior college. Now, he is with the team, and will be a junior this year. If he is as good as advertised, this season could end more pleasantly for the Bobcats than the past few seasons, and it could save Brad Huse's job.

Also key is that Jamie Stewart and Xavier Blount are on the team roster, according to Gidal. If those three can all make it to start of the season on the team, MSU could be a major darkhorse in the Big Sky.

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Jamie Stewart Officially Off Montana State Team

From Gidal Kaiser of the Bozeman Chronicle:

Jamie Stewart, a 6-foot-4 junior guard from Detroit, Mich., "is no longer a member of the team," according to head coach Brad Huse after his weekly press conference on Tuesday. Huse did not elaborate, and Stewart's biography was taken down from the team roster.

Stewart played in 12 games this season, with seven starts, and averaged 9.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and one steal. He played nine minutes in the Big Sky Conference opener against Eastern Washington Dec. 28 in Bozeman (an 82-66 MSU loss), Stewart's lowest amount of court time all season. The junior has not played in a game or been a part of practice since.

The article also mentioned that Stewart said he was looking forward to spring practice. Hopefully he can get past whatever poor decisions he made (his words), and be back and contributing to the team next year.

And so ends (I think), the Jamie Stewart updates for a while.

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Montana State Roster Updates

Over at the Montana State message board, Gidal Kaiser gave a couple of updates on Montana State guys, including Jamie Stewart:

According to Brad Huse, Jamie Stewart "is not currently a part of the team." He would not elaborate. I asked if Antonio Biglow was going to be here at the start of the semester (Wednesday) and I was told "I can't tell you yes or no." ... Since this morning's presser, I saw Stewart walk into the weight room in street clothes to say hi to a couple people, then leave with a pile of books. He obviously did not practice. I have been told that Biglow will be here on the 10th & he and Huse will sit down and discuss future plans.
UPDATE: Stewart is off the official roster as of today. If it matters, Jeremiah Tardy (a walk-on) is off the official roster as well.

Hopefully Biglow will be open to a redshirt... certainly he could help the Montana State program right now, but he would be a real force for the Bobcats if he played the full two years. We will see what happens.

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Uncertainty Around Jamie Stewart of Montana State

News out of Montana State is that junior wing Jamie Stewart has possiblyy quit the program. Or not. Nothing official has been reported yet, but he did not play in the team's last game (and was not even on the bench). Blue & Gold has this to say both about Stewart and Antonio Biglow (a highly touted recruit who did not qualify academically in the first semester).

All right, time to address the oddity. Jamie Stewart did not play, and wasn’t even on the bench. There’s speculation which centers around grade troubles and/or issues with his role (which he’s talked about on Twitter), but there is no official word on his status changing as of Sunday night. In other news, Antonio Biglow is expected in campus when the second semester starts, but will most likely not play at all this season. If he sticks with MSU his semester and through summer, he’ll have two years of eligibility when the 2012-13 season begins.

Stewart has been a solid contributor for them, as he was expected to be. He was one of their best recruits heading into the year. He has averaged about 22 minutes and 9 points per game, and has been one of their more versatile guys.

He has been able to get to the line and draw fouls with good frequency, which is obviously a great skill to have. He does not shoot a lot from downtown, but he is efficient when he does. He is also a solid playmaker and has a pretty good assist rate. Bottom line, Montana State is deep on the wings, but Stewart would be a big loss, and his presence would be missed on the court.

He was a JUCO transfer, so he has not been in the program very long, but has shown himself to be a talented guy. Assuming there are no off-the-court issues (and I have no idea if there are or if there are not), Montana State's program as a whole would be worse without him than they are with him.

Obviously I will update if I hear anything (and if I do, it will probably come from Gidal Kaiser, the czar of Montana State hoops).

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Montana State Topples Utah

I am guessing that a lot of teams are going to have the pleasure of beating Utah this year, but it still feels good to get a prediction right for a change. I said earlier today that the Bobcats were simply the more talented team, and they showed it on Saturday.

Montana State jumped out to a 9-0 run and never looked back, winning 70-64 in Utah. Rod Singleton led them with 18 points, while Tre Johnson contributed 15 points and 6 rebounds and JUCO big man Mohammed Fall showed he was worth the hype with 12 points and 6 rebounds.

The game recap said that the game was tied with just under a minute left when Christian Moon hit a bit 3, which helped jumpstart a 9-3 for the Bobcats which gave them the win. For all of the preseason talk about JUCOs Xavier Johnson-Blount and Jamie Stewart, Moon might be the one that has had the biggest impact. He is a great shooter and is a valuable role player for the Bobcats.

The Bobcats improve to 2-1 and own a win over a Pac-12 team. It's a solid start for Brad Huse, who is starting to settle into a bit of a rotation.

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Montana State Hosts Exhibition Tonight

Montana State will host Colorado Christian tonight in an exhibition, which should be one of the most interesting exhibitions in the Big Sky.

The Bobcats are breaking in a lot of new guys, and I would say their starting five and rotation is a bit more fluid perhaps than any other team in the Conference, so the start of play (other than the intrasquad scrimmage) could tell us a few things about the team.

"I can't say we've had a bunch of guys step forward and grasp spots yet," he said. "We obviously have a starter back at the point guard in Rod Singleton, but Mike Dison has had a great fall. At virtually every other spot we're almost a two-headed monster. We have a couple options at every position, each with different strengths. We're not going to get too caught up in who's starting, especially early on."

If I had to guess, I would say the starting lineup will look something like:

1 Rod Singleton
2/3 Xavier Johnson-Blount
2/3 Jamie Stewart
4 Mohammed Fall
5 Jeff Budinich

But a lot of things are very unsettled, especially in the post.

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Jamie Stewart (Montana St Recruit) Highlights

The video is from his high school days, so a couple of years old, but gives a good look into his talent level and overall athletic ability.

While it is tough to say how all of the roles for the new MSU players will fall, it seems fair to say that Stewart will be needed to have a solid season in Bozeman for the Bobcats to compete.

How Will Montana St. Replace Bobby Howard and Erik Rush?

Midway through last season, Montana St was sitting at 11-7 and 5-1 in the conference, and thinks were looking up. They had already beaten the favorites (Weber St 75-72 at home), another team projected to be in the top 3 (Northern Arizona), and were coming off a 12 point win against Eastern Washington. They had a big game against rival Montana coming up, but overall they looked like legit contenders in the Big Sky.

Then they lost 9 straight games (7 of them in conference), and staggered their way to a 13-18 finish, going 7-9 in conference play before losing in the Big Sky opening round against Northern Arizona. However, there were a couple bright spots on the Bobcats.

The first was Bobby Howard, who was a 2nd Team Big Sky performer and finished with a almost 15 PPG and 7.2 RPG, posting an excellent DR%. Erik Rush was another guy that excelled for them, as he was the team's leading scorer at 15.1 PPG, and he also had 1.4 steals per contest and almost 3 assists a game, making him perhaps their best all-around talent. For this he earned Honorable Mention All-Big Sky.

But how will Montana St. replace these guys? Probably the first guy that will get a crack is Shawn Reid, who showed good potential as a freshman and "has the look of an explosive scorer." He was a solid outside shooter, but was not very efficient inside the arc, and didn't create a lot of offense for others. But he will be counted on in his sophomore year.

At 6'7'' Tre Johnson is another sophomore-to-be who could play a lot of minutes, though his game is different that Reid's. He is a solid rebounder and plays more of an inside game (47% from 2PT). All of those same things could be said of Jordan Alou, though he will be a senior. He showed a solid ability to pull down offensive rebounds.

After these guys, there are unknowns. Coach Brad Huse has brought in a lot of JUCO players, so it will be interesting to see who emerges from that group and how quickly everyone can gel. One of the transfers is Xavier Johnson-Blount, who averaged 22 points and 5 RPG last year at 6'4''. He is a good athlete and should be in the mix for minutes at the 2 guard spot. From mslacat:

Johnson-Blount is a scorer. He is a good athlete, has a strong frame, and can create his own shot. He is deadly from 3 point range but can also post up and take the ball inside. He should be a great compliment to Huse’s other All American Jamie Stewart who Huse signed last fall. Stewart, an uber-athlete, is more of a slasher and explosive player. Johnson Blount is physically stronger, but more of a pure shooter. Both are scorers and can play both the 2 and three.

Another JUCO guard is Christian Moon. He is only 6'2'', but plays shooting guard. He averaged 14 PPG and 5 RPG, and was excellent scorer, so he figures to be involved heavily in their plans next season.

Another JUCO player that should get a chance to break the lineup is Jamie Stewart, and he might be the most versatile of the bunch, as he can play the 1, 2, or 3 (though at 6'4"" he is more of a natural 2 or 3). Last year as a JUCO AA he averaged 17 PPG and 8 RPG, and showcased himself as an excellent athlete and very good all-around scorer. He should be one of the most talented players on the roster next season.

Who do you guys think will get the most playing time out of this group? Are you hearing anything about all of the JUCO guys, and who is looking good?

It will be an interesting season in Bozeman... they will be working a lot of new faces into the lineup after the loss of Howard and Rush (who scored 45% of the team's points last year), but they will be bringing in some solid talent.