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Ranking Every Big Sky Teams Offseason

Griz til I die

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I did something similar to this last year where I talked about which teams I thought upgraded and which teams didn't. Now this year, I'm gonna rank them from 10-1 and we'll see if everyone agrees.

10. Idaho - Another offseason filled with departures from the program. While the Vandy's have brought in some decent to good players to replace the deflections, if they wanna have any semblance of a program or any kind of success, they gotta be able to retain players. Zac Claus is a joke and the Vandy's are not going anywhere until they get rid of him.

9. Northern Arizona - I have the same feelings about Shane Burcar as I do Zac Claus. I think he needs to go to. While the Jacks were able to hang on to Jalen Cone and Nick Mains, they did lose Ajang Aguek and Mason Stark. I'm not really impressed with any of the transfers they brought in either, I think they're ok, but they're nothing really eye popping.

8. Northern Colorado - I know people are going to think this is a hot take, but I don't think UNC has had all that impressive of an offseason so far. With the loss of Dru Kuxhausen and Body Hume to graduation, as well as both Tre'Shon Smoots and Kur Jongkuch transferring, that's a lot of serious talent lost from this runner-up Bears team. The only positive thing they've really done this offseason is convinced Daylon Kountz to stay, but I struggle to see how UNC will have a better team next year then what they had last season.

7. Weber State - I'm ranking Weber at 7 for the sole purpose of Randy Rahe retiring and Weber making an internal hire. Rahe retired pretty late in the offseason so that didn't really leave a lot of options, but I think Weber should've just rode with an interim for a year and then make an outside hire after next season. I think some fresh voices could do Weber wonders. But who knows? This guy could end up being pretty good, and Weber didn't get killed by the portal this year, so the potential is there.

6. Idaho State - I think ISU is the poster child for what a very average offseason looks like. They didn't do anything spectacular in the portal, I like the guys they brought in, but they're not exactly great. The only good player they lost was Robert Ford and he missed half the year with injury, so I wouldn't necessarily call it a huge loss. Other then that, they were able to hang on to some of their better players.

5. Portland State - PSU has also had a pretty average offseason. Kimani Holt, Michal Carter, and Ian Burke will definitely be missed, and Jace Coburn brought in a ton of guys that I don't really know much about. Cam Parker was definitely their best pickup. Plus I think Coburn coaches really hard and despite what seems like average talent, I think they'll be competitive next year.

4. Eastern Washington - Eastern did graduate a lot of good players, but they do have Ellis Magnuson and Steele Venters both coming back. Plus I like the transfers that David Riley brought in. I do think Eastern will be a better team next year, but I'm just not sure how much better they will be. I probably wouldn't put them in the title discussion next year just yet.

3. Montana State - Make no mistake, the losses of Xavier Bishop, Amin Adamu, and Abdul Mohamed will definitely hurt. The cats did also lose 2 assistant coaches this offseason (Ken Moses to Utah Valley, Dan Russell to Weber), that said, the cats will still be very good for the sole fact that Jubrile Belo chose to take the additional year. Great Osobor I think will be on another level next year as will Raequan Battle. I do think the cats gambled a little bit in the portal bringing in 2 guys that have a bad history of injuries, but if they can stay healthy then I think they can be very good players. I think it's a 2 horse race between the cats and the Griz for the conference title.

2. Montana - Despite how some of you feel about the staff letting go of Beasley, Parker, and DCH, I think we did exactly what we needed to this offseason which was to overhaul the roster, and try to put together a cohesive group that will put us back in the Big Sky title race, and we did just that this offseason. I love our Freshmen class (Nap especially), and I love all 4 of the guys we brought in through the transfer portal (Thomas especially). I seriously give Decuire and staff an A grade for this offseaon! We will be back next year, I guarantee it!

1. Sacramento State - Give me one good reason why anyone had a better offseason then Sac State? I was a little skeptical initially about the hiring of David Patrick since he wasn't exactly stellar at UC Riverside, however he has been a big time assistant at a number of big time programs, and he absolutely killed it in the portal! This may be the most talent Sac State may end up having in my lifetime. I don't think Sac State will contend for the conference this season, but they are going to give a number of teams serious problems this year. Future's bright for Hornet Basketball for the first time in a long time!
 
I think this is excellent. A few comments:

1. I think PSU should be lower. I think the losses of Michael Carter and Ian Burke are greater than the losses of Ruffin and Holt. As a matter of fact, I had to look up who Kimani Holt was. I don’t think this is the person you were referring to. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/kiimani-holt-1.html

2. I am not as high on the net gain of Montana’s portal activity as you are. In the end you may be right, but a 4 man portal class that includes 2 non-D1 players and a player who’s only D-1 skill appears to be shooting 3’s (to a team that doesn’t believe in shooting 3’s) is not deserving of an “A” IMO.
 
I agree with you on Sac making the biggest jump, at least on paper. I don't think UNCo has dropped as far as you say, just because of good coaching. The book is certainly out on my Wildcats, but I wouldn't count us out of a title run. We certainly have the talent and you won't notice much different in the coaching. We still have two grants to give so it is an incomplete analysis right now. ISU will probably do better than most would think. They did pick up some good pieces, but more importantly, they got rid of some dead wood. I don't expect MSU's play to drop off much. Once again, I would site coaching as a big factor in that. UI, NAU, and PSU probably didn't change much from last year, even with a couple of new guys. It must suck to be a Vandal right about now.
 
GrizBall said:
I think this is excellent. A few comments:

1. I think PSU should be lower. I think the losses of Michael Carter and Ian Burke are greater than the losses of Ruffin and Holt. As a matter of fact, I had to look up who Kimani Holt was. I don’t think this is the person you were referring to. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/kiimani-holt-1.html

2. I am not as high on the net gain of Montana’s portal activity as you are. In the end you may be right, but a 4 man portal class that includes 2 non-D1 players and a player who’s only D-1 skill appears to be shooting 3’s (to a team that doesn’t believe in shooting 3’s) is not deserving of an “A” IMO.
Yes my bad, Michael Carter was who I meant to say! I didn't realize Ian Burke graduated too! I'll update that in my post.
 
Here are Evan Miya's rankings of Big Sky schools transfers:
1. Sac State overall rank=38th
2. Portland St. overall rank=68th
3. Idaho St. overall rank=82nd
4. Montana overall rank=90th
5. EWU overall rank=143rd
6. WSU overall rank=144th
7.Idaho overall rank=205th
8. NAU overall rank=213th
9. Montana St overall rank=214th
10. N. Colo overall rank=281st

Here is the link https://evanmiya.com/
 
sacstateman said:
Here are Evan Miya's rankings of Big Sky schools transfers:
1. Sac State overall rank=38th
2. Portland St. overall rank=68th
3. Idaho St. overall rank=82nd
4. Montana overall rank=90th
5. EWU overall rank=143rd
6. WSU overall rank=144th
7.Idaho overall rank=205th
8. NAU overall rank=213th
9. Montana St overall rank=214th
10. N. Colo overall rank=281st

Here is the link https://evanmiya.com/

I saw this as well. What you have noted is “Transfers in” ranking. What piqued my interested was “overall transfer activity” which I assumes takes your transfers in and measure them against transfers out. In other words were your transfers in better than your transfers out? Or vice versa. I took sacstateman’s original post and then added additional data. The first number in parentheses is the overall rank of overall transfer activity, the second number in parentheses is the BSC rank based on that metric:

A couple of caveats:

1. This is only based on players that entered the portal and not seniors that have moved on. For example, to the best of my knowledge Bodie Hume had eligibility left but did not enter the Portal, so his loss would not be reflected. Neither would someone like Scott Blakney that had no eligibility left.

2. It is also unclear to me how he accounts for Non-D1 transfers. His database during the season only shows analytics for D-1 players. I have seen other sites that come up with projections for non D-1 players, but I don’t know how they come up with those projections.

Most of the rankings were relatively similar. WSU had the biggest jump going from 6 to 3 in the BSC rankings.

1. Sac State overall rank=38th (26) (#1)
2. Portland St. overall rank=68th (32) (#2)
3. Idaho St. overall rank=82nd (70) (#4)
4. Montana overall rank=90th (170) (#6)
5. EWU overall rank=143rd (123) (#5)
6. WSU overall rank=144th (51) (#3)
7.Idaho overall rank=205th (171) (#7)
8. NAU overall rank=213th (173) (#8)
9. Montana St overall rank=214th (187) (#9)
10. N. Colo overall rank=281st (193) (#10)
 
sacstateman said:
Here are Evan Miya's rankings of Big Sky schools transfers:
1. Sac State overall rank=38th
2. Portland St. overall rank=68th
3. Idaho St. overall rank=82nd
4. Montana overall rank=90th
5. EWU overall rank=143rd
6. WSU overall rank=144th
7.Idaho overall rank=205th
8. NAU overall rank=213th
9. Montana St overall rank=214th
10. N. Colo overall rank=281st

Here is the link https://evanmiya.com/

I think everyone in the know is giving Sac the Off-season props, but can they actually produce on the court and stay eligible all year? We'll see. I remember when the Griz signed Gaskin who would have been a dominant Big Sky presence, but he couldn't stay out of trouble.
 
Zirg said:
sacstateman said:
Here are Evan Miya's rankings of Big Sky schools transfers:
1. Sac State overall rank=38th
2. Portland St. overall rank=68th
3. Idaho St. overall rank=82nd
4. Montana overall rank=90th
5. EWU overall rank=143rd
6. WSU overall rank=144th
7.Idaho overall rank=205th
8. NAU overall rank=213th
9. Montana St overall rank=214th
10. N. Colo overall rank=281st

Here is the link https://evanmiya.com/

I think everyone in the know is giving Sac the Off-season props, but can they actually produce on the court and stay eligible all year? We'll see. I remember when the Griz signed Gaskin who would have been a dominant Big Sky presence, but he couldn't stay out of trouble.


BTW....Gaskin is going to be at CSU Bakersfield next season....
 
sacstateman said:
Zirg said:
I think everyone in the know is giving Sac the Off-season props, but can they actually produce on the court and stay eligible all year? We'll see. I remember when the Griz signed Gaskin who would have been a dominant Big Sky presence, but he couldn't stay out of trouble.


BTW....Gaskin is going to be at CSU Bakersfield next season....

Interesting. Thanks for that update. No doubt about his talent, but he's bad news.
 
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