Top 20 Departing: #19 Xavier Blount

I am counting down the top 20 players that are departing the Big Sky via graduation, transfer, or any other way.

It was an interesting career for Xavier Blount at Montana State. He missed the end of his junior year because of an off-court incident, and then saw a ton of roster turnover around him as he headed into his senior year. In his senior year, he never quite became the all-around, big-time talent that some people thought he might be, but he became a good, versatile player that the Bobcats could count on.

As a senior, he averaged 10.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. He had the ball in his hands a little less than his junior year, as there were a few more ballhandlers around for Brad Huse. He shot 43% from twos, and 32% from threes - just enough to keep defenses honest. He did a fairly good job of getting to the free throw line, and was a better player when he was aggressively going to the hole rather than settling for jumpshots. He had a solid 49.3% FT Rate last year, and shot 72% from the stripe.

Because the ball was in his hands less, his assist rate did go down from a respectable 16.4% to 8.2% last year. You might expect his turnover rate to see a similar decrease, but that stayed relatively constant, and even went up a little bit.

However, for the most part, Blount was a consistent performer for Brad Huse in his two years. He wasn't a guy that could be the centerpiece for the Bobcats, but he became a nice role player for them, a guy that could do a little bit of everything.

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Montana State With Comeback Road Win

 

Not long ago, Montana State was 3-7 overall, 0-2 in the Big Sky Conference, and losing two of their most talented players (Jamie Stewart was dismissed, Antonio Biglow was suspended). Things looked bleak. But then a funny thing happened. The Bobcats started playing like a team, becoming much better defensively, and attacking the rim more offensively. They became a little bit more than the sum of their parts.

After two home wins last week, MSU faced a test of coming into Greeley and playing a Northern Colorado team that was pretty desperate for a win. For most of the game, it looked like UNC was going to get it, as they led by as many as nine in the second half. But the Bobcats hung around, and made their move over the last four minutes.

They got some help to... as Northern Colorado seemed to get tight, committing turnovers down the stretch and missing some easy shots. Tevin Svihovec struggled with a couple bad turnovers, and Tim Huskisson threw a lazy pass in the last 30 seconds. Each time, MSU took advantage. When they had the ball, they were the aggressor, with guys like Xavier Blount and Mike Dison (who hit the go-ahead free throws with about 30 seconds left) taking the ball to the rim and getting fouled or getting easy baskets.

All of a sudden, the Bobcats are 3-2 in Big Sky play and playing good, team basketball. They have a nice rotation going, with Mike Dison/Marcus Colbert at the point, Christian Moon/Xavier Blount/Calen Coleman on the wing, and Paul Egwuonwu/Flavien Davis up front. They are confident and look like a team that will be playing in the Big Sky tournament.

Some other notes from the game:
- Derrick Barden was as good as advertised, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He was fantastic on the glass, skying for offensive rebounds and using his big hands to come down with them. He looked like an all-conference player in this game.
- Tate Unruh is my favorite shooter in the Big Sky conference to watch (with all due respect to Scott Bamforth). He has a great release and smooth stroke. He led the Bears with 23 points, including 5/11 from downtown. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was 1/10 from deep.
- To call UNC unsettled at the PG spot right now would be kind. Tevin Svihovec was supposed to make the leap, but he has been making some bad decisions, especially down the stretch. Paul Garnica was probably the top backup option coming into the year... but he had his pocket picked by Christian Moon early in the game and didn't play the rest of the way. James Davis was their best PG in this game. He is still trying to find his way offensively, but he is their most sound perimeter defender.
- I thought the refs got it right on a flagrant-2 foul call (along with ejection on Blake Brumwell in the second half. With Unruh going for an uncontested layup, Brumwell gave him a full two-handed shove while Unruh was in midair. It was a dangerous play, and the refs were right to boot Brumwell.
- When Xavier Blount does not settle for threes, but goes hard to the rim, he is one of the more dangerous players in the conference. He is tough to defend because he is so strong and uses his body well.
- I am not sure it is what Brad Huse intended when the season began, but I really like the PG duo of Marcus Colbert and Mike Dison for the Bobcats. They are very unselfish and give maximum effort on both ends.

Anyone else watch the game?

*Photos taken by my lovely wife!

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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 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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MSU's Xavier Blount May Be Out Rest of the Year

An already bad second half for Montana State got a little bit worse over the weekend. The Bozeman Chronicle reported that junior wing Xavier Blount was involved in an altercation outside of a bar on Saturday night, and had to be hospitalized.

Blount, a junior from Virginia Beach, Va., was taken to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital with shoulder and facial injuries, his stepfather told the, Chronicle.

The injuries were not life threatening, Bozeman police officer Jonathan Barge said Monday morning.

In a statement released Monday, MSU sports information director Bill Lamberty said the injuries were “severe” and that they may end Blount’s season.

Many things come to mind after something like this, but the first is the wish for a speedy and full recovery for Blount. You obviously never like to hear about a guy getting sent to the hospital with neck and facial injuries.

The second thought that comes to mind is a hope that Blount (and others) learn from this incident. Off the court, Blount got charged with disorderly conduct and minor in possession. He also obviously has to deal with the injuries, and hopefully they won't cause any long-term damage. On the court, at the very minimum it appears that his junior season is over. It wouldn't be a surprise to see further ramifications from this.

MSU Athletic Director Peter Fields said (via the Bozeman Chronicle), “We are cooperating as Bozeman and Montana State University police and the MSU Dean of Students Office investigate this matter. The behavior alleged is unacceptable. We will not stand for it and will deal with it in an appropriate manner through our Student Code of Conduct and Student-Athlete Code of Conduct.”

These types of incidents are a black mark to the university in general and to the basketball program in specific. Charles Barkley doesn't like athletes being role models, but the fact is that when a lot of people think about Montana State, the first thing that comes to mind is the athletes. They are ambassadors of the university, and they are people that kids in the community look up to. It is more than a little disconcerting when something like this happens.

The third thought is that this is a big blow to the MSU basketball team. Blount was the team's leading scorer and arguably their best player. For a team on a five game losing streak and struggling for their Big Sky lives, this is a back-breaker. Their depth was already being tested by the removal of Jamie Stewart from the team due to academic issues, and they will be even thinner going forward.

Just a sad situation all-around.

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Northern Colorado Stays Alive

Yesterday was an absolute must-win game for Northern Colorado if they wanted to have a chance to make the conference tournament. Sitting at 4-8, 4-9 would not have been a hole they would have been able to come back from, looking at their schedule. However, for 25 minutes, it looked like that was where they were headed, as Montana State led by as many as 16 points early in the second half, before UNC pulled it out for a 77-64 win in OT.

Some thoughts from the game (I was in attendance) in bullet point fashion.

- The key spark for Northern Colorado was that they got into a full-court press (54 press, they called it) early in the second half. BJ Hill said in an interview after the game that it was a staff suggestion, while a member of the staff told me that it was all Hill, and he was just being modest. Whoever's idea it was, it was absolutely huge, and may helped turn this around. Montana State led by 7 at half, and UNC seemed to come out very flat to me in the second half.

So the press did two things - one, it gave the Bears more energy. Coach Hill said, "It gave us some confidence that we could make plays and get some defensive stops which allowed us to get back in there." Two, it took the Bobcats out of their rhythm, and made them take some quick shots at times or hurry more than they would have liked.

- One thing I noticed from MSU, and Bobcats fans have noticed too, after they got a nice lead, they changed from being the aggressor to being a bit more tentative. One reason Hill said they went to the press was that MSU started to take 30 seconds per possession. It seemed like they were content often to do a three-man weave 40 feet from the basket for 20 seconds of the shot clock, eventually leading to a jacked up three (where they finished 4/24). Don't know why they got so tentative.

- Tate Unruh finished with 20 points, including a particularly big three in OT that knocked MSU out. He is fun to watch shoot because his stroke is so pure. He is 34/35 from the FT line, which, needless to say, would put him #1 in America if he had enough attempts to qualify. If he gets an opening, the shot is likely to swish through so well it will barely touch net.

- Mike Proctor had a nice day with 8 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists, but it was something that won't appear in the box score that may have been his best attribute on the day. You can clearly hear him in the back of the defense, communicating and talking with his teammates, telling them where he was, or if he saw a specific play coming. That is the kind of thing that coaches love.

- Paul Garnica provided a nice spark for the Bears in the second half with a couple nice assists and a couple of nice threes, probably playing the best game he has played in a while. He has a tendency to go for the spectacular play rather than the smart and solid play, which usually doesn't go over so well with coaches. In this one he did much better at playing within himself.

- Emmanual Addo showed the whole variety of his offensive game, and why he has the chance to be such a big-time player. He hit two threes, but also showed good fluidity and moves near the basket, finishing with 13 points and 5 rebounds. He still will make a couple head-scratching plays per game, but he has the talent to be one of the best big men in the conference, without question.

- For the Bobcats, for long stretches it seemed like Shawn Reid was their only offensive weapon. It seemed like their best plan of attack was to give it to him to take a stepback jumper with a hand in his face, which can only work so many times (though it was impressive how many times he did make that shot). He led the team with 18 points. I was excited to watch Christian Moon play, but he had no impact. He scored 4 points and finished 0/5 from downtown. He seemed to sit for long stretches, which I am not sure if that was a result of him jacking up a couple threes early in shot clocks.

- Xavier Blount struggled as well, only finishing with 8 points. It is hard to imagine, but the game and the following thoughts on the game would have been a lot differentif Blount had made an extra free throw. With a little under a minute to play and UNC up 55-54, Blount was sent to the line. He made just 1 of 2, and it went to OT tied at 55..

- I know that MSU fans aren't very happy with Rod Singleton at PG, but there are not a lot of options right now. Michael Dison played 19 minutes but had no impact. Without Jamie Stewart, it is tough for them to find the depth to have Blount play the PG more often. It is clear they could have used Antonio Biglow this year.

- In the overtime, MSU never had a chance, as they came out lifeless. Northern Colorado scored 22 points in the five-minute period and put any doubt to rest quickly about who would win. For MSU fans, it is deja vu. Another promising start to the conference season has led to another second half collapse. They should make the conference tournament (since they play one more against NAU), but it is hard to see them making a run.  UNC still has a long way to go to make the conference tournament, but they can at least take some positives out of this one. It is tougher to find them for MSU.

Thoughts?

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Kenny McGowen is Mr. Clutch

Within a week, Kenny McGowen has transformed from being a solid senior guard for Idaho State to a guy that the other team does not want to see with the ball in his hands late in the game.

Last Saturday he hit the buzzer beater to shock Weber State, and on Thursday night against Montana State, he was up to it again.

In regulation, it was McGowen that drained a 27 footer with 15 seconds left to give ISU a 77-75 lead. On the ensuing possession, Rod Singleton found Tre Johnson for a dunk, tying the game and eventually sending it into overtime. In the extra frame, with the Bengals trailing 86-85, it was McGowen that drove to the lane and scored a reverse layup with 10.3 seconds left to give ISU the 87-86 lead.

Then, it was almost MSU's chance for magic:

The Bobcats got a desperation last chance at the win: an inbounds play under their own basket with one-tenth of a second left in the game. Sophomore forward Tre Johnson, whose dunk with 4.2 seconds left took the game into overtime, rose up for the inbounds pass and tapped it toward the rim.

The ball went towards the orange cylinder, arcing ever so slightly. Then the Bobcats' golden egg broke as the ball hit the back of the rim and bounded out, giving the Bengals an 87-86 victory.

It ended a wild game in Bozeman that saw Idaho State open up a 20 point lead in the first half, MSU crawl back to have a five-point lead with 2:48 to go in regulation, and lead by as many as four in overtime. It was a back-and-forth, thrilling game, which has become the norm for Idaho State recently.

McGowen led the Bengals with 30 points, including making 7/14 from downtown. Chase Grabau chipped in 16 points, while Abner Moreira had 14 and 7.

For the Bobcats, they struggled at the line (20/31) and in getting stops at key moments. But they did have some players make big plays. Xavier Blount led the team with 24 points and 8 rebounds, while Christian Moon chipped in 22 points (and 6 treys), as he was excellent in the second half. Tre Johnson (11 and 9) and Jourdain Allou (13 and 12) had their names called very often, as they were active throughout the game.

Montana State falls to 11-10 overall, 6-4 in the Big Sky, while Idaho State improbably improves to 8-14 overall, and also 6-4 overall. The team that everyone thought would finish at the bottom of the Big Sky (myself included), has now won four straight games, is tied for third in the conference, and has become must-see viewing for followers of the Big Sky.

Basketball sure is great.

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Montana State Beats Portland State, Moves To 1-1

Montana State had been struggling a bit offensively, but they found out something I think a few times will find out this year - a game against Portland State cures some offensive ills.

The Bobcats hit their first 9 shots en route to an 86-74 victory at home over the Vikings, improving to 1-1 in conference play, dropping PSU to 0-2. For the game, MSU shot 53%, including knocking down 9 threes. Xavier Blount got back to being their go-to guy, scoring 24 points and showing a lot of good aggressiveness. He got the line 10 times, which shows he was going to the hoop often in this game.

Christian Moon is showing he might be the best 6th man in the Big Sky, as he finished with a cool 21 points on 6/8 from downtown. He is challenging Scott Bamforth to be considered the best shooter in the conference at this point. He keeps getting better and better. Other Bobcats in double figures were Shawn Reid (14) and Mohammed Fall (12).

For the Vikings, Charles Odum continued his extremely efficient year, as he had 20 points on 7/8 shooting. He has been an excellent scorer for them this year, as he has a knack for getting into the lane. Chehales Tapscott had an excellent day as well, with 15 and 11.

For PSU, the story of the game (and their season so far) could be found in the game notes on PSU's website. In their last seven games, the Vikings have given up an average of 88 points per game, and their opponents are shooting 52% from the floor. It doesn't matter how good your offense is (and make no mistake, PSU has some good talent), that tough of defensive deficiency is hard to overcome.

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Eastern Washington Scores Road Win Over Montana State

Jim Hayford and the Eagles are off to a great start in the Big Sky. Anytime you can get a conference road win you have to be very pleased, all the better when you can do it in convincing fashion like EWU did, beating Montana State 82-66.

“What a great way to open the Big Sky Conference schedule,” said Hayford. “There is no better way to start league play than with a road win, especially at such a tough place to play as Bozeman. I’m very proud of our team.

EWU jumped out to a 25-10 lead and never looked back from there. The Bobcats cut the lead to 9 at intermission, but it seemed like EWU's advantage stayed between 10-12 for most of the second half. Their key was two fold. One, they forced 22 MSU turnovers, which led to 26 Eagles points off turnovers. Second, they simply shot the ball better. They made 50% of their shots, including 11 treys.

Cliff Colimon looked like the best player on the floor, though he did have 5 TOs. He scored 22 points and knocked down some big shots in the second half when MSU was trying to put a run together. Cliff Ederaine had a solid day, scoring 16 points and 7 rebounders, but he did turn it over 6 times. He is a decent ballhandler for his size, but definitely has times where the dribbles the ball a bit too much. Collin Chiverton also had 12, but only 3/11 shooting. Chiverton has not yet met a shot he did not like.

For MSU, they continued their shooting woes, shooting below 40% for the fourth straight game. Montana State was able to do some things well - they forced 21 Eagles turnovers and got to the line often - but it was not enough to overcome their poor shooting. Christian Moon was their star and kept them in the game, finishing with 20 points (including 3/5 from downtown). He has a great stroke and is a great piece for them.

Xavier Blount, however, struggled for the third straight game. He finished with just 5 points on 1/7 shooting, and didn't look at any time like he would be able to take the game over or give them a nice run. He needs to be a lot better.

For Eastern Washington, the optimism around the program will only grow after a game like this, a nice conference road win where they never trailed. For Montana State, they are left to ask more questions as they go into a Friday night home game against Portland State that looks very big for them.

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Montana State Loses Heartbreaker to UC Riverside

On Sunday afternoon, Montana State lost a wild, crazy game at UC Riverside, and one they certainly think they should have won. UC Riverside won 75-73 in Bozeman.

Montana State was eventually ahead 73-69 near the end of the game. UC Riverside hit a basket and got sent to the FT line with a questionable foul call. They missed the FT, but Montana State was called for a lane violation. He missed the second FT, but the ball was tipped out to Riverside G Robert Smith (who appeared to push Rod Singleton out of the way). He threw up a desperation 3, and it fell through with 0.7 seconds left.

“It was wild,” said Montana State coach Brad Huse of the closing sequence. “We had the game in hand, we made free throws, we just didn't finish it off. Credit Riverside, they got the right bounce and made the shot. We have nowhere to point fingers but ourselves.”

It was a game of questionable officiating on both sides, according to people who watched the game. The Bobcats shot 40-52 from the foul line, but they came up just short.

There were some good things from the Bobcats though. I liked their 1-3-1 zone, as they are athletic enough to be a problem for offenses. In particular, Mohammed Fall is an athletic big that is tough down low, and he had 4 blocks on the day.

The other big thing, and this has been happening over the last few games, is that Xavier Blount has emerged as their go-to guy. He had 21 points and hit a big jumper down the stretch.

It will be a tough one for the Bobcats to swallow, and they will have a week before they get back on the court. They take on Pepperdine next Sunday.

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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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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.