Kameron Pearce Leaves Idaho State

It has been reported that Kameron Pearce has left Idaho State due to personal reasons:

POCATELLO,Idaho- Idaho State men's basketball coach Joe O'Brien has announced that Kameron Pearce has left the program and voluntarily withdrawn from Idaho State as a student due to personal reasons.

Idaho State was already reportedly still recruiting players for this year (and just signed Vishal Banipal within the last 2 weeks), so the loss of anyone hurts right now. Add to it that Kameron Pearce could have been a starter and looked like he could be a solid contributor for the next 3 years, and this is a blow to the program.

It is another hit for Coach Joe O'Brien, who from all accounts is coaching for his job this season. The loss of guys like Pearce will not make matters any easier, that is for sure. If I hear more, obviously I will update.

I know there are quite a few Idaho State fans that read this blog (if you don't believe me, check out the poll to the right)... Have you guys heard anything more about this?

Big Sky Interest In D'Vonne Pickett Jr.

From JUCO Recruiting, both Montana and Eastern Washington have shown interest in D'Vonne Pickett Jr. out of Central Arizona College.

Central Arizona College point guard D’Vonne Pickett Jr. has seen his stock rise quickly throughout the summer. Pickett had an excellent freshman year at Central Arizona averaging 18 points, 5 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game. He knows how to control the game and is at his best with the ball in his hands. He is very vocal on the court and obviously can do a little bit of everything as you can tell by his numbers from last season

Just by looking at those numbers, he looks like he would be a nice get for these teams.

First seen on the twitter feed for mslacat (who is, by the way, a must follow and must read for Big Sky fans).

100 Posts

Well folks, this blog has hit 100 posts!

A small milestone, but all milestones are worth celebrating. Thanks to all readers (over 5,000 visits and counting) who have made this fun so far! My first official post was on July 3, 2011, and continued with 36 total posts for the month of July.

August was even better, as this will be the 64th post of the month, with a couple more at least to follow tomorrow. Hopefully things will continue to grow in September and as we get closer to the start of the season! I never expected so many people to visit a start-up blog in the middle of the offseason, so again many thanks to all who read, comment, and email, it would be a lot less fun writing this blog without you.

As always, feel free to comment on anything, send me questions or links, and just interact in any way. I feel confident that I can speak for all blog writers out there... the more participation from readers, the more fun it is for us, and the harder we will work!

100 posts in the book, hopefully there will be many hundreds more!

Jake Owsley Decides To Go To NAIA School

A few weeks back I passed along the news that JUCO big man Jake Owsley was going to be heading to Montana State next season, declaring that he would be a solid big man addition for the Bobcats.

Owsley won't be a star in the Big Sky, but he should be a solid big man for Brad Huse. Skilled big men are not exactly easy to come by in the Big Sky, and Owsley has some skill. For one of the best JUCO teams in the country, he averaged about 15 minutes a game during the season, and represented himself well when he got the chance to start a couple of games.

However, it looks like he has changed his mind. He will now be headed to NAIA Montana Western, according to kbzk.com:

Montana Western head men's basketball coach Steve Keller announced the signing of Jake Owsley, a 6'8" post player from Bozeman and North Idaho College (NIC), to a Frontier Conference/NAIA letter of intent.

We wish him the best of luck.

Portland State Posts Solid Academic Scores

For a school that had some problems with the NCAA under Ken Bone, this has to be good news.

From the twitter feed of Head Coach Tyler Geving:

Summer school grades out this week and a great job by our players. Back to Back years of perfect APR scores. Off to a good start again.

The Other Side of the Andre Drummond Signing

Check out Searching For Billy Edelin for an excellent article on the other, forgotten side of Andre Drummond signing with UConn - the fact that someone is forced out of a scholarship.

Makes you stop and think.

Who Is The Third Best Team in the Big Sky?

From what I have seen, read, and know about the Big Sky, Weber State and Montana look like they will be ranked 1-2 in the conference this season, and in my mind, they look like the favorites. But the race is wide open for third. Ranking from (in my opinion and subject to change!) least likely to most likely:

- Sacramento State - It will be a tough season for Coach Katz. They were one of the worst offensive and defensive teams in the country last year, and I'm not sure there is a lot of reason to be more optimistic this season. Dylan Garrity looks solid, but there are simply not a lot of impact players on the Hornets roster.

- Idaho State - By all accounts Joe O'Brien is almost definitely on the way out after this season, so he will try to make it count. He shouldn't expect any miracles. He lost his two best players, and while there are some decent players back, the cupboard is not too well stocked right now. A lot of their hopes will rest on how quickly Melvin Morgan can become the leader of the team.

- Northern Arizona - In my opinion, spots 3-7 are all pretty close, and things could go any direction. I wouldn't want to bet against Mike Adras, but NAU did lose some good talent off a team that finished 4th in the conference. Gone is Cameron Jones and Shane Johannsen, with no clear replacements for either. Gabe Rogers will be called upon to be the star, and he does have the talent to the an All BigSky performer. Perhaps the biggest key will be the development of Danny Cheek, one of the top incoming recruits in the Big Sky. If he can be productive early, NAU will be very competitive.

- Northern Colorado - It is tough predict what UNC will do this season after losing 4 key contributors, notably Devon Beitzel and Neal Kingman. They have some talent and BJ Hill put together a nice recruiting class, but it is a team that relied heavily on Beitzel last year, so there will be an adjustment period. Who will step up and be the go-to guy for the Bears? I'm guessing even the coaches are wondering at this point.

- Eastern Washington - There are a lot of unknowns with a new coach, so it will be interesting to see how things play out for Jim Hayford (last year's first year coach in the Big Sky was BJ Hill, and that turned out ok). EWU has a lot of solid returning guards, and they have brought in a solid recruit in Collin Chiverton. If their frontcourt can produce, they will be dangerous.

- Montana State - The Bobcats will be very interesting, as they will be bringing in a ton of talented new guys, so they will be as good as the team can learn to play together and Brad Huse can find a consistent rotation. The word is that Antonio Biglow, one of their most highly rated newcomers, might not play until January (if he plays this year), which is definitely a blow. Still, JUCO wings Jamie Stewart and Xavier Johnson-Blount should be a nice duo. They have the talent to be one of the best teams in the Big Sky, but it is difficult to say how quickly Huse will be able to mold the talent.

- Portland State - Craw's Corner really opened my eyes that they could be the third best team in the Big Sky, and it seems like they now have the talent to do it. Two solid holdovers are Charles Odum and Chehales Tapscott, both seniors with a year of Big Sky experience under their belt. Lateef Mcmullan looks like he will be a nice contributor right away, Michael Harthun is ready to play after sitting out a year (after a transfer from Washington State), and Brandon Cataldo could be a big contributor if he is healthy. The Vikings are a bit of a darkhorse, but if they can find a way to improve the defense from last year, they will be dangerous.


Would love to hear thoughts on who everyone else thinks will be the third best team in the Big Sky. I also have a poll up, so please vote, and leave your reasoning in the comments. I think it could be a pretty fun debate.

Departing Stars of The Big Sky Conference

It may be bad form to link to your own posts, but so be it.

Just in case you missed it (I posted these awhile ago, and readership has gone up since then), I wrote up some posts about how certain teams will replace their departed stars. In case you are interested, here are the posts:

Eastern Washington - Glen Dean
Idaho State - Broderick Gilchrist, Deividas Busma
Montana - Brian Qvale
Montana State - Bobby Howard, Erik Rush
Northern Arizona - Cameron Jones
Northern Colorado - Devon Beitzel

If you are interested in having me look at any other departed players and the holes they are leaving, just let me know and I would be happy to write up my thoughts.

An Early Look at Montana's Schedule

I have looked at a few of the other schools, and now it is time to take a look at the schedule for the Montana Grizzlies, who look to be one of the top two teams in the Big Sky Conference once again.

They will start off the season with a bang, traveling to Fort Collins to take on Colorado State, an upstart program under Coach Tim Miles who will be looking to build on the momentum created last season. It should be an interesting matchup right out of the gate, as it will be a nice resume booster for whoever wins. It looks like a pretty even matchup to me, and one I hope to attend.

There are a couple other interesting non-conference road games. They will take on San Diego, who had an eventful offseason for all the wrong reasons. The Toreros struggled last season, but they had a young team and they have a solid coach in Bill Grier. Then the Grizzlies will travel to take on North Dakota, in a preview of what could be a solid rivalry for years to come, as UND joins the Big Sky.

The other remaining road games are Portland(who was in the middle of the pack in a solid WCC), Oregon State (which will look to be improved behind the play of Roberto Nelson, who will be eligible all year long), and a bracket buster game. Montana needs to go at least .500 in these games, and going at least 4-2 seems like a reasonable goal.

At home, the big game is against Nevada, which will be one of the best non-conference games of the Big Sky season. The Wolfpack have been down a bit, but they are projected to be near the top of the WAC with budding stud Deonte Burton. This would be a very nice resume booster for the Griz, and a game they surely have marked on their calendars. They will also take on Idaho out of the WAC, a team that finished 4th last season, so they are certainly no gimme.

They will get couple other solid home games against San Francisco (who finished behind only Gonzaga and St. Mary's in the WCC as one of the youngest teams in the country), and Long Beach State, a team that sees itself as a potential at-large possibility.

The other non-conference home games included games against usual suspects - low level teams that shouldn't provide a huge challenge. Games against Great Falls, Montana Tech, and Utah Valley are schedule fillers, ones that every Big Sky team needs to have on their schedule.

Add it all up, and I think it is a pretty impressive schedule for the Grizzlies. Other than Oregon State they don't play any BCS Conference teams, but they have a lot of games against solid mid-major opponents. It will be a nice test for Montana, and if they can win some of these games, it will go a long way to helping their seeding if they are able to make it to the Big Dance.

Julius Thomas Playing Tight End for the Denver Broncos

Proving that the Big Sky does have elite athletes is Julius Thomas.

He began his career playing basketball for Portland State, and now is a promising looking TE for the Broncos.

Thomas was a power forward in college who was a bully in the blocks, swatting 62 shots and pulling down 520 rebounds. He set school records in games played (121) and career wins (78).

Once he exhausted his basketball eligibility, and with one scholarship season left, he contacted Vikings football coach Nigel Burton about stepping onto the football field for the first time.

Thomas was a quick study, catching 29 passes for 453 yards and earning All-Big Sky Conference first-team honors. His stock soared at the East-West Shrine Game, where he captured the attention of scouts with his athleticism and grabbed a 5-yard TD pass.

We wish him the best of luck representing The Big Sky.

An Early Look at Southern Utah's Schedule

I have not written a lot about future BSC member Southern Utah, so to rectify that, let's take a quick peak at their 2011-12 schedule.

They will start off at the BTE Classic, with their first game coming against San Diego State. You might remember them as the team that made it to the Sweet 16 last season. While the Aztecs will lose a lot of talent, they should still be one of the four best teams in the MWC, and so it should be a barometer for how far the Thunderbirds need to go. Their other two games in the classic will come against UC Davis and Bryant University.

They will have a couple road games of note, as they travel to take on Weber State (obviously future BSC opponent) and Utah State. Both are big games against Utah rivals, and the Thunderbirds would be ecstatic if they could steal either game. Don't foresee that happening, however, as both teams are clearly a step above Southern Utah (harsh, but fair).

The rest of the schedule is predictable. Home games are against Montana State Billings, Southern Virginia, Troy, and UC Davis. Their other road game is against Troy. That is correct, they will play Troy and UC Davis twice each this year.

The conference schedule will obviously come against the Summit League, in their final season of the being a member of the Conference. Last season they finished 7-11 in conference. While they only lost one contributor from that team, I think finished about the same in conference is a reasonable expectations for the Thunderbirds. Time will tell, as they would love to leave the Summit League with a bang (and not a whimper).

Article on Future Montana State Bobcat Antonio Biglow

Nice article to be found here on Antonio Biglow, who will be joining Montana State next season.

According to what some people have told mslacat, Biglow could be the best recruit coming to MSU next year, and figures to factor big into the success of the team.

Tip of the cap to Gidal Kaiser for the link.

Jordan Loveridge Commits to Utah

I have commented a couple of times on Jordan Loveridge, the best recruit in Utah, and how Weber State was in his final four.

Loveridge announced today that he would play for the University of Utah, and it sounds like the fact that they are in the Pac-12 was a huge factor in his decision.

Jordan Loveridge, the 6-foot-7 forward who shot up national rating charts after a dazzling showing in the Adidas Super 64 last month in Las Vegas, will join the Utes in 2012 after playing his senior year at West Jordan High School.

"I have a great relationship with every single coach," Loveridge said. "I just want to be a part of the rebuilding we’re going to get the program back to where it was and we’re going to do it in the Pac-12 one of the biggest conferences."

Loveridge put Arizona in his final four, even though they had not made an offer.

If he is looking for exposure, Utah might be the best play to go, as they are in a power conference and so he has a better chance of being seen on national TV. Also, Utah is very down right now, so he could have a chance to play relatively early in his career.

However, he certainly would have had a better chance of being in the NCAA Tournament if he had gone to Weber State. The Wildcats have been contenders for the Big Sky title almost every season under Randy Rahe, and that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. Loveridge is the type of player that would have been a star in the Big Sky.

But alas, it was not meant to be. New coach Larry Krystowiak recruited Loveridge hard, and in the end, it was enough. It will be interesting to see how early he is able to get on the court. He has been rising up boards quick, so this commitment could look even better for the Utes a year from now.

Montana State Adds A Walk-On

The Bobcats have added 6'4'' guard Mitchell Schwab will be joining the team this season, as I first saw over at Blue & Gold.

Also Gidal added a pretty interesting blurb that I hadn't seen before:

He’ll help more with depth and experience and has four years to play (as noted), which is all fantastic for obvious reason. It also helps MSU for another reason. I’m still trying to confirm this, but Antonio Biglow might have run into some issues coming to Bozeman to start the season. He’s tweeted to that effect, saying he might have to sit out this year. Once more becomes available, I’ll pass it along.

Safe to say, I'll be watching to see if I can find out anymore.

Excellent stuff as always from Gidal.

Weber State is the 77th Best Team in the Country

According to The Sports Bank.

Damian Lillard was supposed to help the Weber State Wildcats win the Big Sky Conference last season. However, a foot injury forced the dynamic point guard to miss the majority of the year causing the Wildcats to finish slightly below expectations. With Lillard healthy, Weber State should once again be the Big Sky favorite.

I have a funny feeling they could be seen as being better than 77th best team in the country by the end of this season.

The Key For Eastern Washington: Tremayne Johnson

In Jim Hayford's first season for Eastern Washington, they will be deep at guard, even with the transfer of Glen Dean. A lot of guys got valuable experience last season, and they should be the strength of the team.

This, if EWU is going to be successful this year, the onus will fall onto the frontcourt to produce. They have some experience there also. We know Laron Griffin is one of the best rebounders in the Conference, after getting 6.8 per game in about 23 minutes a game last season. Cliff Ederaine is solid also, averaging 8.5 PPG and 7.4 RPG, also proving to be an excellent rebounder.

So they know what they have in those guys. It seems to me that the wildcard is Tremayne Johnson, who had a solid season in his first season in Cheney, but has the ability to improve.

For starters, he was not a very efficient scorer last season. He shot 46.6% from 2 point range, and 29.7% from downtown (on 64 attempts). He was a 76% FT shooter, which suggests he could become more efficient FG shooting. And perhaps take even less threes, as it was not effective for him last season. He is also good at drawing fouls (4.9/40), which is especially effective with his excellent FT shooting. He should look to get to the hole and to the line more often this season.

He was a good rebounder (8.0 OR%, 17.8 DR%), but his athleticism suggests he could improve a bit there. He had a 5.4% Block Rate last season, which was 4th in the Big Sky, so he will have a chance to lead the Conference in blocks if he can get enough minutes. That athleticism also suggests he can be a more efficient offensive player.

One thing that will be key is what type of offense Hayford runs. Last season, even though they were small, they had a pretty slow pace (246th in the NCAA). Johnson seems to have the skillset that would thrive in the open court, which seems to make sense with this guard-oriented roster, so it will be interesting to see Hayford's philosophy.

Eastern Washington has a chance to be very solid this year, thanks to a solid backcourt and the addition of Collin Chiverton. The key will be the frontcourt, and the wildcard there is Tremayne Johnson. He has the potential to be an excellent player for the Eagles, and how well he fulfills that promise could determine how high EWU climbs in the Big Sky.

What are all of your thoughts?

Dylan Garrity (Sacramento State Recruit) Highlights

A look at possibly the best Hornets recruit this season, Dylan Garrity. Have a feeling that he will be called upon to play early on in his Hornets career.

Northern Colorado Releases 2011-12 Schedule

Will have more on this in the near future, but for now simply take a look at the announcement of the release of the basketball schedule.

Some interesting games this year, including non-conference home games against Colorado State and New Mexico State, and road games (or some technically neutral site games) against Marquette, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa.

Upon first glance, I like the schedule.

Idaho State Signs Vishal Banipal

There has been a lot of talk about how Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien was still recruiting players for this season. Well, they just recently signed one.

Vishal "The Sniper" Banipal will be headed to Idaho State this season. He is a 6'1'' combo guard originally from Alberta, Canada, who played one year in the USA at Southwest Academy in Lansing, Michigan.

In the midst of a strong year, Banipal received NCAA interest from Liberty, Central Michigan, Idaho State and a load of Junior College offers.

"The Sniper" as his teammates referred to him, figured he would need to take the JUCO route in order make the jump to the NCAA, however when he received the call from Idaho State, the rest was history!

"It was the happiest day of my life," expressed Banipal.

"Thank God I got that call from Idaho State. I knew I could play D1 basketball but I was prepared to take the JUCO route."

The Alberta product will enter his freshman year with the ISU Bengals, who compete in the Big Sky conference. The official visit has been taken, the papers have been signed, and this Canadian will be on campus sooner than later.

It certainly is late for a player to sign for this season, but such is life for Bengals basketball. He is a solid outside shooter (hence the nickname) and appears to have decent athleticism. Still, being signed so late, it is hard to envision him having much of an impact this season.

Portland State Interested in Dalante Dunklin

From the excellent twitter account of Alex Kline of @TheRecruitScoop:

Dalante Dunklin, a 2012 PG from Francis Parker (CA), has cut his list down to UC Santa Barbara, Portland State & San Diego.