2023-2024 NWMSU Bearcats

[southside]

I had to go back and look - they were picked 5th. The co-coaches of the year were both picked ahead of them, so by whatever standard you want to use, Rob should have been the choice. (Heard him do color for the home NW games - he did a nice job).

He does do a good job doing the color. He does really well Breaking down situations as the game ebbs and flows.

[northwest missouri state]

i generally agree with the league's approach. maybe they need a most improved type award - or maybe they don't - but the team that finishes first typically has the coach that did the best job, recruited the best players, did the best job developing them, etc.

save for situations when a first yr coach inherits the keys to a cadillac or inherited a clunker & made significant strides.

[D2Rover]

Kind of kills the point of a "coach of the year" if it is almost automatically given to the team with the best performance, doesn't it?

[MrAugustana]

Kind of kills the point of a "coach of the year" if it is almost automatically given to the team with the best performance, doesn't it?

I lean more toward northwest missouri state's suggestion that the coach likely had something to do with recruiting/developing/leading/coaching the team with the best performance. Coaches rarely go to bed one night and wake up the next day with the best team in the conference.

[Alfred33]

I see both sides of it…. I mean Ben could’ve won the damn award 11 straight times if you just awarded the winner every year. I mean, he couldn’t really do any better than he did by winning, and if you’re picked first, you don’t have the opportunity to exceed expectations. On the other side of it, recruiting and those things are something that takes place over time and not necessarily limited to THAT year. So I can side on giving it to the coach of a team that over-performed their expected result. Especially if they don’t necessarily have the same caliber of players, which circles back to where we started. I don’t think either one is wrong.

[D2Rover]

I'd lean towards giving it to the coach who had the best performance that year, since it is coach of the... year. If we're having a conversation about best coaches overall, there's more that goes into it, but the award should go to who did the most with what they had, even if they do kind of deal themselves a good or bad hand with the recruiting and roster management in previous years.

[Alfred33]

I'd lean towards giving it to the coach who had the best performance that year, since it is coach of the... year. If we're having a conversation about best coaches overall, there's more that goes into it, but the award should go to who did the most with what they had, even if they do kind of deal themselves a good or bad hand with the recruiting and roster management in previous years.

I don’t disagree, but winning the conference is the “best” performance someone could have. Now should it be given to who did more with less or who was the bigger surprise? I don’t know… like I said, I don’t think either one is wrong.

[NWFanatic]

Lady Bearcats make the semis with a 64-42 win over the Lady Lopers

[ZubCat81]

Enjoyed hearing our new NW President Lance Tatum during the KXCV halftime show with Coffey. Unlike some university presidents who show up to elbow their way to get their picture taken while plugging 'his' school and himself, this NW President Tatum, not only loved plugging the people of the Maryville community and the staff and students at NW, but really loved talking Bearcat basketball and plugging the individual play of Bearcat players. Nice to have a guy who already has bought into Bearcat basketball for both our men's and women's BB teams.

[ZubCat81]

Strong performance by this NW Bearcat team tonight 80-52 over a good athletic MW team. One thing I really liked seeing was this Bearcat team attacking the offensive boards like a team possessed ... 14 offensive rebounds! Don't see teams these days going after the boards on the offensive side of the court ... usually backing away from missed shots and setting up on the other side of the court to play defense. Not nearly as true in the old days. I was giddy seeing these NW players thinking there was more to play for after missed shots. Crazy stat on the MW side was that despite losing by 28 points tonight, they still basically shot 50% from the field, altho hurt a bit by their 1-10 shots falling from the 3-pt line. Bearcats shot 9-16 for 3-pts. Just an overall strong defensive performance by NW and some incredible individual hustle performances.

[Alfred33]

This team has grown so much offensively through the course of the year (I"m not sure why I ever doubt that they'll figure it out). They're movement is so much better now and they do a variety of different things from ball screens, to double screens, they'll pick and pop, pick and roll, they'll slip it, and they just seem to be making the right play most of the time. Getting Isaiah back healthy is a huge difference from the where they were the beginning of the season. Him just taking that ball handling pressure off of Bennett has helped balance the floor and has probably kept Bennett upright. I want to give some props to the only starter that didn't get all-conference recognition. Daniel Abreu has been playing as well as anyone on this team for several weeks now. He's been great... the last 7 games, he's averaged 14.2 a game. He's so unselfish, works hard and just finds himself in the right spot for rebounds, putbacks, etc., and more importantly, he's found his shot. He started the season shooting pretty miserably from 3 (2-18 before January) to the point that he shied away from shooting them. I know the whole time Ben wanted him to be a willing shooter and kept pushing him... with guys like Isaiah and Byron that don't look to shoot, Daniel has to. Once he started finding it, NW, as a whole, really started playing better. He's 18-40 (45%) from 3 since the turn of the calendar year. Not bad for your "center".

[NWFanatic]

Daniel had 20 pts and several key rebounds in 35 minutes( he never came out til the game was well in hand). He’s been an early game spark several times recently and tonight he never let up. If he keeps this up he may have a shot at the all tourney team😎

[libertybearcat]

This team has grown so much offensively through the course of the year (I"m not sure why I ever doubt that they'll figure it out). They're movement is so much better now and they do a variety of different things from ball screens, to double screens, they'll pick and pop, pick and roll, they'll slip it, and they just seem to be making the right play most of the time. Getting Isaiah back healthy is a huge difference from the where they were the beginning of the season. Him just taking that ball handling pressure off of Bennett has helped balance the floor and has probably kept Bennett upright. I want to give some props to the only starter that didn't get all-conference recognition. Daniel Abreu has been playing as well as anyone on this team for several weeks now. He's been great... the last 7 games, he's averaged 14.2 a game. He's so unselfish, works hard and just finds himself in the right spot for rebounds, putbacks, etc., and more importantly, he's found his shot. He started the season shooting pretty miserably from 3 (2-18 before January) to the point that he shied away from shooting them. I know the whole time Ben wanted him to be a willing shooter and kept pushing him... with guys like Isaiah and Byron that don't look to shoot, Daniel has to. Once he started finding it, NW, as a whole, really started playing better. He's 18-40 (45%) from 3 since the turn of the calendar year. Not bad for your "center".

So much fun watching them play. Funny how most teams can't figure out how sharing the ball, being unselfish and making the extra pass makes them so much better...NW's Men have been showing that for many years.

[NWFanatic]

I won’t mention the team or players name but at a NW win this year a certain player came out of the game as often as possible when his team was on defense. It appeared he was only interested in scoring. Don’t think you’d ever see that with one of Ben’s guys.

[Alfred33]

So much fun watching them play. Funny how most teams can't figure out how sharing the ball, being unselfish and making the extra pass makes them so much better...NW's Men have been showing that for many years.

This team is different than what we've had. I don't think they're as talented as some of our championship teams... the 2019 team and 2021 team were teams that had a national player of the year, but you could make an argument that said player wasn't even the best the player on the team. Withus (Hudgins), Hudgins (Hawkins). Then of course the 22 team still had Hudgins, who could just carry them for stretches. This team may not have that kind of guy, but they play well together and anyone of them can step up and beat you on a given night. Dreamer was the conference player of the year, and obviously, they are better with him, but they persevered and were undefeated while he was out. Stirtz is just a steady presence and quietly gets his night after night. You have to keep Mitch off the 3 point line, but he's also shown the ability and the willingness to go to the rack if you close out out of control. Isaiah is quick enough to go by just about anyone, big enough to back down little guards, can finish at the rim, but he's an even better distributor when the help comes. Abreau does a little bit of everything, and I mentioned how well he's been playing earlier. Alexander off the bench gives you some toughness, hustle and rebounding, and at different times this year, it's been somebody else off the bench that has unexpectedly provided a spark... Schomers, Danitshcek, Ratigan, Moala. I don't think teams look at us like "what are we going to do with so and so" like they used to... there isn't necessarily a guy(s) that scares you, but it's more the team that is still good. I don't know if they're a National Champion, but I do think they can beat anyone on a given day.

I thought Andy Peterson described their "struggles" this season perfectly on the broadcast yesterday. I put quotations around "struggles" because they are 25-4, but if you watched them the first half of the season, everything was hard. Anyway... he said that their best individual strengths are one of their biggest weaknesses. That everyone of these guys is very even keeled...that they don't ever get too high or too low... that they move on to the next play whether the last one was good or bad. That is typically a strength, but they missed having a guy like Diego that provided that fire and motivation to fight and take it up a notch. I think Ben has had to do more this year in regards to providing that, especially early. I heard him talk a few times that it was never an issue of effort or playing hard, but they needed to learn how to or be willing to bring the fight instead of responding to it. That's probably not a perfect representation, but something to that effect. I think they've learned to do that over the course of the year.... I guess we'll find out if it's enough to propel them through the postseason.