Is Eastern Washington the team with the Highest Upside?

Now that the non-conference season is over just looking at the results if I was picking a team from the BigSky that I would want to represent our conference against tournament competition it somehow EWU might be that team...at least they have a case. I am speaking just by the stats and W-L results against bigger conference teams, I have not had a chance to see EWU play this year.
It seems kinda unbelievable how well they are playing this year (3rd in scoring 7th in team D, 6th in 3pt shooting, 3rd in FTs and Rebounding. Plus they have 4th leading scorer in BigSky. The program seems to have financial instability and wow did they lose a lot of talented personnel. See Below...

Shantey Legins (BigSky coach of the Year and 75-49 @EWU and has Portland at 9-6)
Jack Perry (45% 3pt shooter...seems to be hurt this year @Portland)
Mike Meadows (10pts/gm and leading Portland in Assists)
Tyler Robinson (15pts/game leading Portland in scoring)
Tanner Groves (BigSky MVP leading 11-2 Oklahoma in scoring with 15pts/gm)
Jacob Groves (All-Bigsky Tournament team last year. Averiging just 3.5pts and 2.3 Rebs/gm for Oklahoma)
Kim Akien Jr. (1st Team All-BigSky playing 15min/gm with 5pts/game and 54% from 3 for #9 Arizona)
Jacob Davidson (2x All-Bigsky putting up 11pts/gm on a 3-8 Cal Poly team)

After losing all this they sit at 8-6 2-1 in conference with a win against Pac12 Washington State who pounded Wubber State by 34pts. They also also lost in last 2min 57-60 against Pac12 Colorado. Their 3rd game against Power Conference teams they lost by 32 against #25 Texas Tech.
The rest of the BSC (mostly) has gotten any trappings of respectability sand blasted off of them when they have played Power Conference teams so it caught my eye that EWU seemingly had a high enough ceiling to hang with 2/3 teams Power teams they played. While the rest of the league....wellllll....they struggled.

EWU (+5 vs Wash St., -3 v Colorado, -32 v Texas Tech #25)
UNC (-13 v Texas #8, -25 v Arizona #9, -26 v Wash St.)
Weber St (-34 v Wash St, -28 vs BYU, -15 vs Utah St)
Idaho (-48 vs Wash St.)
Idaho St. (-18 v Nebraska, -26 v Cal)
SUU (-19 vs St. Mary's, -7 v Cal, -37 vs Michigan)
Sac St. (-33 v Utah, -46 v Arizona, -?? Oregon St.)
Portland State (-9 v Oregon St., -34 vs Iowa, -19 v Utah St.)
NAU (-29 vs Arizona, -11 v Washington, -56 vs Zags)
Montana State (-4 vs Colorado)
Montana (-37 vs Miss St., -40 vs Oregon)

Best Results beside EWU:
MSU 4pt loss to Colorado
SUU 7pt loss to Cal
PSU 9pts loss or Oregon St.
NAU 11pt loss to Washington
UNC 13 pt loss to #8 Texas (Probably BSC best result in actually)
All other games 15pts or worse....or MUCH worse :'-(

So back to the question...is EWU the best team in BigSky? Do they have the highest ceiling?
To answer the first question...I think clear Washington State is the best team in the BigSky! Weber looked strong early but stepped up to play WSU, Fresno St. Utah St. and BYU and got blasted each time and we just beat them (good win but shows Weber are not exactly a standout/special team).
To answer the second question....Maybe? Idk they did the best at playing up to better competition...let me know what you think.

They beat a WSU team that was without their top 3 players due to Covid and injuries. I think they’re headed in the right direction, but they’re not there yet. They’re pretty young. I think by next year when Weber, msu, and UNC graduate all their seniors, I think UM and Eastern will be the top 2 teams. It’s a re-building year for Eastern, I don’t think they’ll be a major factor this year, but next year watch out. They’ll be damn good the next few years after this season.

I’d be surprised if we lost to them on Thursday, and I think they’ll struggle with Weber, msu, and UNC this season. It’ll be a quick re-build for Eastern, but they’re not gonna get there this year.

Meh. The GRIZ pounded wazzu in one of those "closed" games also. Sometimes it's about match-ups. Ewoo is always good. But I think it's a little early to crown 'em. "They are who we thought they'd be!!!!"

EverettGriz said:

Meh. The GRIZ pounded wazzu in one of those "closed" games also. Sometimes it's about match-ups. Ewoo is always good. But I think it's a little early to crown 'em. "They are who we thought they'd be!!!!"

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Idk if it was reasonable to expect EWU to just be good considering they lost more talent than almost the rest of Bigsky has combined (slight exaggeration). They should probably be closer to ISU than to the top of the league.

I think it depends how upside is defined. Will they be the BSC team that outplays its pre-season prediction by the most? Probably. Will they contend for the title? I would say no, but its still early. KenPom has them favored +2 on Thursday.

EWU did what most teams in their situation would do, which is bring in an assistant that could bring players with him. Roberto Bergensen brought in his son and another player from UNC Greensboro that he coached in prep school (Allegri). His son and Allegri both have a chance to be named to at least 3rd team All-Conference. Bergensen is well known in area and will be a great recruiter and is a good basketball mind, so its not like hiring some random AAU coach. They basically immediately replenished their line-up with two potential all-stars. They also found a diamond in the rough with Acliesse from San Francisco State. That in itself can get you from the bottom of the pack to the middle or above, especially in a transition year for EWU. The downside is that they may already be in a hole again next year because I believe all 3 players will be out of eligibility (don't quote me with the discrepancies in the way rosters are being listed). They also are very top heavy (like Weber) where 4 players log very big minutes. This seems to work well early in the season, but players tend to wear down towards the end, so time will tell.

Very informative description.

Tough to tell.

Eastern was absolutely decimated by the transfer portal last year so it’s a bit of a surprise they are this good. Eastern has some talented freshmen but did a great job bringing in quality transfers (which they had to do). Eastern has always done a good job finding new coaches and Riley and his assistants have been great. Bergersen was a great asst hire to bring in some great players.

I think the big sky is wide open this year and at least Eastern has a shot at it, you would have never said that 6 months ago…

Griz just downed EWU 90-78 and led it most of the game, so if EWU has the "highest ceiling" in the BSC...I'm happy where UM is playing right now. Grizzlies now sit at 4-1 in conference and 11-5 overall. Go Griz!!

KILO217 said:

Griz just downed EWU 90-78 and led it most of the game, so if EWU has the "highest ceiling" in the BSC...I'm happy where UM is playing right now. Grizzlies now sit at 4-1 in conference and 11-5 overall. Go Griz!!

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Lots of talent on O, they don't play D like last years' team. That limits their upside.

Agree with HW. Eastern has some nice pieces, especially guys who can score. But they don’t appear to do a whole lot else particularly well.

And to be honest, there wasn’t one point in that game where I thought they threatened and that their talent was equal to that of Montana’s. They will win plenty of games, though.