By Jason Enes
I finally got my hands on the ISU men’s basketbal schedule earlier today and at first glance it appears to set up quite nice for the Bengals.
After the season opening road trip to Oklahoma and North Dakota, the Bengals get four of the next five at home. The only raod game in that stretch is this first ISU visit to New Mexico (and a chance for me to see former ISU SID Frank Mercogliano.)
For the second straight year the Bengals open the season in Reed Gym, with the season opener against Colorado Christian and two days later Loyola Marymount. The big game of the opening homestand is the return of Utah State to Pocatello for the first time since 2008.
The three home and homes with UND, Loyola and Wyoming are interesting and O’Brien told me Monday that the Wyoming and UND home and homes were planned and that the Loyola ones kind of fell in his lap. He jumpd at the chance at Loyola because it was an easy trip going to Los Angeles and Big Sky teams are having a difficult time scheduling home games.
The Wyoming series gives Chase Grabau to play against his little brother Riley who plays for the Cowboys.
There are only four ‘money games’ on the schedule this year, Bosie State, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Utah. That is the lowest total of money games in O’Brien’s five previous seasons. ISU won 5 non-conference games last season and this schedule gives the team the opportunity to surpass that total.
Big Sky play open Dec. 29 at Weber State and then open 2012 at Northern Colorado on Jan. 2. Twice during conferecne play ISU has a non-conference game, Jan. 9 at Wyoming and Feb. 18 an ESPN Bracketbuster game. O’Brien doesn’t really like going out of conference during Big Sky play, but had to fit the Wyoming game wherever he could. The bracketbuster game is a Big Sky commitment so it just has to be played.
The excitement O’Brien showed when talking about his team and the schedule it may be a different season for the Bengals. I can see a 15 win season assuming ISU wins some non-conference games (and hopefully more than one road game.)
But remember folks it’s only July 18 let’s look and the schedule and hope fopr the best. But as we all know until they play for real we can talk untill we are all blue in the face.
July 18th, 2011 at 9:49 pm
What has Joe O’Brien done to improve this team? He has scheduled better, no doubt. I just don’t see any significant player improvement (although I grant you the fact that we’re still in the month of July).
Last year, all we heard from Coach O’Brien was how great it was that the team was able to practice during the summer in order to make the Canada trip. He kept telling us how far ahead the team would be, and how he had an advantage which he hadn’t been afforded at ISU before. Well, all that extra practice and experience made them look like absolute crap back at home during the exhibition season – his team proceeded to lose, and look bad in the process, to NAIA school Carroll College.
I agree his previous scheduling has been crap. Nonetheless, even with all of the ridiculous money he has scheduled, his teams should still beat NAIA teams at home. They should still be, at the bare minimum, competitive with teams such as Bakersfield and South Dakota State.
The new schedule is better, but I think the best case scenario is ISU going 4-8 in the non-conference, including the Bracket Buster. O’Brien’s teams are beyond pathetic on the road. Therefore, I won’t give him an away win. I think they have a chance of beating Colorado Christian, Wyoming, Loyola-Marymount, and North Dakota in Pocatello. When it comes to conference play, I think ISU misses the tournament – again. Montana will be tough again, MSU had a surprisingly good recruiting year, and Weber has got to be the odds on favorite with Lilliard coming back. Northern Colorado will probably take a step back, but I think EWU has made the moves to improve from last year. Portland State played incredibly tough at times last year, considering they had nothing to play for.
I just don’t see a 15 win season. I think 12 wins is being overly optimistic at this point.
July 19th, 2011 at 10:04 am
South Dakota State was a very good team. They upset a lot of teams.
It all depends on if the big man is any good. 10points 10 rebounds and good on defense is what we need from him. Abner should be better.
Our guards have to shoot better. We have some ability there and at small forward.
Our offense is going to be a little more uptempo which should benefit with some easy baskets and not as many last second attempts as the shot clock winds down. That drives me crazy!!!
I still like O’Brian and I hope he does well this year. But if not it’s time for a change. He really was set up to fail with having all those money games. Whether by choice or not.
July 19th, 2011 at 11:31 am
Joe was in over his head from the get go.
Everybody thinks his hand was forced in accepting all of these big money games, and that just wasn’t the case. Heck, just last night on one of the newscasts he said he normally liked playing a tougher schedule because it helped ISU’s strength of schedule and RPI. Last I checked, winning games helped RPI a whole lot more. ISU’s pathetic RPI the last few years seems to back me up. He set himself up to fail.
I’ve said it a hundred times before. He’s really not a bad guy. He came into the program clueless and stubborn, a lethal combo at this level. The sad thing is, he’s finally catching a clue in what will be his 6th season, but it’s probably too late.
I think it will be an ugly year. Fans just have to wait it out.
July 19th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
A money game at Boise State? You have got to be kidding me. If ISU can’t get a home-home with Boise or Idaho don’t play them.
July 19th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Good Point “bengalfan”!
Unless some talent appears magically, this will be OB’s last season! I personally have met and like Joe O’Brien, but he hasn’t been able to consistently recruit quality talent!
July 19th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Blame O’Brien if the BSU game doesn’t continue to be a one-and-one. He cancelled it when he didn’t think he could “fit it in” last year, and I heard, whether it be true or not, that it put BSU in a hard spot to finish its schedule. All this while we continued to play multiple games in the midwest.
UFI, I agree. Recruiting is a whole different animal at the NCAA level than it is at a JC program, especially when that JC program is fed by bigger programs.
July 19th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Remember this one point everyone O’Brien can’t get a home and home with BSU and Idaho because neither of those schools want to come to Pocatello. Can’t fault Joe for going where the money is.
July 19th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Jason, Joe told your predecessor at the Idaho State Journal that he doesn’t want to play Idaho, because he’s friends with one of the Vandal assistant coaches. Idaho has approached ISU about playing a neutral game in Boise, at Qwest (Century Link?) Arena, and that would be GREAT for the Boise alum and fanbase. Joe refuses. Just two months ago, Idaho sent out feelers trying to get an opponent at Qwest. I think an Idaho-ISU game in Boise is better than traveling between Moscow and Pocatello anyway.
ISU and BSU have had an EXCELLENT relationship in basketball. They have alternated locations and played every year (with the exception of one year – I believe when BSU joined the WAC and couldn’t schedule it). BSU played in Pocatello in 2009, but JOE cancelled the series last year when BSU was set to host. How much do you want to bet that when Joe is no longer the coach at Idaho State University, BSU and ISU continue to play every year? It was just over a year ago when the two teams were in discussions about playing TWICE a year, a home-and-home.
When you have some programs “circling” their date with ISU, one of the worst division I programs in the country, because they want to stick it to us, you know this staff has alienated one too many.
July 20th, 2011 at 6:04 am
Roy, your reply squares with what I’ve heard about the situation.
For the record, I’ve never heard that ISU can’t get home and home arrangements with BSU and Idaho…. never. Well, except for right here.
July 20th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
I agree with most of the comments here. The program definitely is NOT where it needs to be after all these years.
However, we have fired a lot of coaches at ISU and all were not just JC experienced coaches. The coaches I remember all had D-1 experience and came highly regarded.
We have also had TOO many AD’s here and that is a big disadvantage for all coaches. It look s like we finally have a quality AD and one that wants to be here at ISU. Valis is also a lot more sports friendly than Bowen was. I hope if we fire OB we can get someone like Kramer on board. I’d rather see OB succeed here and I will trust Tingey on whether we keep him or not.
Has this coach made mistakes….yes. And recruiting is not good. It looks like he has finally hired a recruiter and that is a big improvement. I’m not around the program everyday so I don’t know if he was forced into money games or not.