2022-2023 Bearcats: A New Era

[NWFanatic]

IF NW can get their turnover issues resolved and can get Wes back they may survive losing Trevor. Isaiah and Stirtz are pleasant surprises

[NWHoops]

Embedded Tweet

I haven't heard anything about him. Maybe some of our NSIC guys in Iowa know about him.

[NWFanatic]

In Joetown for the NWMSU vs NSU game @ MoWo-should be a good one-then on to Emporia for FB

[NWFanatic]

What a game-NW squeaks out a 81-78 win. It was a win by committee again-several players in double figures. DB over 20 pts. Bennett had 16. Cool quote from Ben about Bennett-‘he sees the court and feels the game so we’ll he passes the ball before players realize they’re open

[Bearcat Moon]

The end of game execution was difficult. I know not having Waters and Mascari due to fouling out and Dreamer due to injury puts guys on the floor who are inexperienced or less than ideal FT shooters(Abreu) but the fouling and silly turnovers when you want the clock to run is concerning. But good lesson for all to learn and glad they got the win.

[Alfred33]

Crookston wasn’t very good, but it was nice to see some guys get some minutes that usually don’t. Moose had three 3’s in the second half…. I just feel like at some point this season we’re going to need him to score for us. Stirtz was really good again… It’s early, but I think we may have found another point guard to add to the list.

I’m guessing that Hinton must be redshirting.

[ZubCat81]

Bearcats only have two games scheduled the next 14 days. Nice little cooling down period?

[GoCatsGo5]

IF NW can get their turnover issues resolved and can get Wes back they may survive losing Trevor. Isaiah and Stirtz are pleasant surprises

So far, this NW team is a very enjoyable watch and they renew my faith that winning basketball can be more than a dunk contest and / or 3-pt. shoot-out. HC BM is definitely not a 1-trick pony and when the right opportunity comes along, he will make some D1 basketball fan base very happy.

[Taxman]

In the grand scheme of things, hard not to be happy about the outcome of the opening games for NW. Played 2 quality teams and won both by double digits. Played without Wes for majority of the first game and the entire second game. As has been mentioned, this team looks more balanced and deeper than previous teams.

Stirtz looks like he could be another Crooker or, dare I say, Fleming. He's so steady and calm out there. It's easy to see why he's playing as a true freshman. He may be playing a lot of minutes at PG this year.

Omg, this is exactly the comp I thought of when I saw him! Who knows how he develops going forward and where he eventually fits in on the floor as a 1 or a 2 but a righty version of Crooker is probably his floor and some version of Fleming his ceiling. Playing a lot of PG early and I expect that to continue as Diego is not a dude that excels with the ball in his hands as much as required by a true PG.

They are putting 5 dudes on the floor that are all pure basketball players. Basketball bliss.

[Taxman]

Fleming came to my mind too. He looks like he's going to be a really good player... typical coaches son. Not flashy, but very solid and smooth, finishes well around around the rim at 6'4". There's a lot to like. Stirtz doing such a nice job will allow Diego to stay off the ball when Isaiah is out of the game... I think that is probably a good thing.

We played pretty well offensively in both games and got a lot of people involved... That said, I also know from our Elite 8 trips in the past and other OOC games that teams outside of the Central region just don't defend like teams in the Central region do. It'll get tougher, but I do like our potential.

The physical conference schedule grind awaits.

[NWFanatic]

Bennett is MIAA POW his 1st week playing as a true Freshman-very impressive-congrats Bennett.

[Alfred33]

Nice to have big Wes back from injury. 17 points including 5 of 7 from 3. Great half from the Bearcats. Not sure how good Truman is supposed to be this year, but they had no answer for the Cats in the first half as NW shot 79% from the field.

[Alfred33]

Emptying both benches with the Bearcats up by 38. Just a dominating win today. Truman holds wins over SWMSU and Upper Iowa, so this feels like it should be a quality win. It’s hard to know early on how good any of these teams are, but NW has looked great so far this season. I don’t have concerns about the PG position anymore… Stirtz and has been rock solid off the bench (another 18 points today).

I guess at this point, the next challenge will be to see how we react in a tight game. So many times in the past couple of years, we would turn to Trevor to bail us out… I don’t know if we have “that” guy, but everyone looks to be playing with a lot of confidence offensively, so maybe we don’t need that. At times even early last year, we seemed to struggle a little in part because Trevor was so good and we were so reliant on him to be good, that I think we’d get to standing around watching him and expecting him to deliver, which amazingly he did over and over. We’ll see how it plays out, but I’m excited about this team and the way they’re playing together.

[northwest missouri state]

92-47?! that's embarrassing & should make it more difficult for them to claim our po spot this spring.

[Alfred33]

92-47?! that's embarrassing & should make it more difficult for them to claim our po spot this spring.

Lol