GNAC men's hoops

[tsull]

WOU loses at WWU, 82-68 ... best player Qiant Myers has now missed his 3rd straight game. Why? Who knows? Two excellent seniors, Cobb and Collins, haven't played this year. Why? Who knows, again, it's top secret. They'll be lucky to win a league game this year. One Oregon player on the roster and losing big, not a good combination. What the h-ll is the coach doing? There's no plan, no community feel, alienation of state prep coaches, bunch of bad transfers. I really thought coach was better than this. What is the plan for the program, as in growing it in wins and fan interest? Not sure anyone in Monmouth is paying attention, including the admin.

In other games, surprised CWU lost to MSU-Billings in Ellensburg, 74-59. St. Martin's beat SFU 74-69 in B.C. NNU wins 55-52 at home over SPU.

[49Mack]

Central had a horrific outing tonight and missed almost every 3pt attempt. Finished making only one out of 25!!! That’s 4%…
They are typically a VG shooting team, so this was an aberration, we hope.

[tsull]

My in-game coaching theory on if you're shooting 4% from three-point is to quit shooting them and pound the ball inside. I know 99% of most coaches don't do this and just hope the ball goes in from 25 ft.

[49Mack]

Pound the ball inside is definitely a good plan, but before Thursday nights debacle, CWU was lights out on the Three, and didn’t really have need for a backup plan. Watching the game tonight, they are still shooting at a very low clip into halftime. They seem to have a bad case of the Yips!

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Great game in Fairbanks tonight; didn't turn out the way the home town wanted, but it was a great game to watch. Really tough defense on both sides, just a few more lapses in sharpness from the Nooks on the night and they seemed to run out of gas in OT. UAA seemed pretty good, they are really organized on the perimeter in both offense and defense and were just able to convert more opportunities in OT, despite some horrible FT shooting the whole night. UAF rebounded well and played good D for 75% of the game, but gave up a few too many TOs and had trouble converting on offense down the stretch. Hopefully UAF will come out to play with the same intensity next week and maybe a bit more consistency through the game and find another win. Coach Sparling was not there tonight, but our assistant coach did a nice job on a big night with the Alaska rivalry game. Hope Sparling is just sick and wanting to keep the germs away from the team!

[tsull]

Great game in Fairbanks tonight; didn't turn out the way the home town wanted, but it was a great game to watch. Really tough defense on both sides, just a few more lapses in sharpness from the Nooks on the night and they seemed to run out of gas in OT. UAA seemed pretty good, they are really organized on the perimeter in both offense and defense and were just able to convert more opportunities in OT, despite some horrible FT shooting the whole night. UAF rebounded well and played good D for 75% of the game, but gave up a few too many TOs and had trouble converting on offense down the stretch. Hopefully UAF will come out to play with the same intensity next week and maybe a bit more consistency through the game and find another win. Coach Sparling was not there tonight, but our assistant coach did a nice job on a big night with the Alaska rivalry game. Hope Sparling is just sick and wanting to keep the germs away from the team!

Sounded like a great game, glad you could go. How was the attendance? Speaking of, CWU got 1,000K+ for their home game vs SPU, that's good.

I'll eat crow, WOU beat SFU last night, didn't think the Wolves would win a league game this year.

* Went to the WOU women's game, Wolves' best player McClave started off 0-for-13 but wisely kept shooting and finished with 18 points, including many key shots down the stretch for the win. I enjoyed the contest even if both teams were stone cold. Not sure how good the GNAC is in men's and women's hoop this year compared to the other West Coast D2 leagues.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Attendance is always up for the UAA game, I think about 600, which feels full in our gym, compared to the UAA gym. Seems like trouble might be brewing with Sparling.

[Goods]

Not sure what's up in Fairbanks. I saw there's a paywall, so I didn't get to read the story. All I know is that has to be one of the most difficult places to recruit to. It's so remote. PacWest Hawaii schools are remote as well, but we can all agree that the weather is a plus there more than Fairbanks. Maybe the magic of the improbable Sweet 16 run a few years ago has run out. All I know is that guy is such a lifetime supporter of his players. He knows so much about them and their families even years/decades after their done. I know he still keeps in touch with the guys he played with in the late 80s and coached in the early 90s. That doesn't get you contract extensions and wins, but it does show the character of the dude.

[Goods]

Meanwhile, what's going on in Billings? Women's team is ranked in top 10, men's team is very good. Even if the championship doesn't go through Montana, both teams will be factors. Good to see...........although I need my Wildcats to play well. Men going to the last frontier and women going to Bellingham and Burnaby. Whew.

[tsull]

Not sure what's up in Fairbanks. I saw there's a paywall, so I didn't get to read the story. All I know is that has to be one of the most difficult places to recruit to. It's so remote. PacWest Hawaii schools are remote as well, but we can all agree that the weather is a plus there more than Fairbanks. Maybe the magic of the improbable Sweet 16 run a few years ago has run out. All I know is that guy is such a lifetime supporter of his players. He knows so much about them and their families even years/decades after their done. I know he still keeps in touch with the guys he played with in the late 80s and coached in the early 90s. That doesn't get you contract extensions and wins, but it does show the character of the dude.

You're right on remoteness, I just find it funny that it's a big deal for a D2 athlete, who isn't going to the NBA anyway. Fairbanks looks like a neat town, it's in a beautiful area. Hoop players are inside 90 percent of the time in the winter at school and in the gym. One has four years to make an adventure. I realize the idea of a different experience is usually not Fairbanks. I've known quite a few former WSU football players from SoCal, who went to Pullman because it was different. Many said they loved the snow on their recruiting trip. Many return to SoCal after graduation, but remember the adventure they took as an undergrad.

I get it, however, that it's a tough place to recruit to. Most guys think their God's gift to the sport, even small college guys. I think the best quote on this board was D2 Rover, who said guys are flexing for cameras that aren't there.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Yeah, sorry about the newspaper paywall. I tried to attach the full article in a pdf, but it was too big to upload here. The summary is that they are not speaking to what kind of leave Sparling is on, but it's not punative at this time. Not speaking to timeline, but Drew Hedman is now acting head coach and Milo Griffin is now acting assistant. I don't know much about Drew, accept that he was clear that he is up for the challenge, and is from Alaska and cares about this team. He's done really well thus far. He got the team to Hawaii, they beat Hilo and lost a close one the next day and then came home and took UAA to OT, which is always hard. I rag on UAA a lot, but they definitely have more consistency than we do and they always get up for their games against us, so it's never easy to hang with them, let alone pick off a win.

Milo Griffin on the other hand, is a legend in Fairbanks. Maybe they are the right team to pilot the ship this season and see if they can keep the team in the thick of things in the GNAC and make these guys want to stay here and finish their eligibility with the Nooks. They have had far too much turnover of eligible players every season for a while now, and always having to start from scratch every year makes it hard.

Yeah, Fairbanks is a nice place to live, there's great community here, although the sport community is more focused on hockey and nordic skiing, but in rural Alaska, basketball is king. The women's team faces the same challenges with lots of coaches coming and going, the team is in the basement, etc. I'm wishing Drew and Milo a really great rest of the season. I hope he can do as he said in the article: "whatever happens, we're going to roll with it as a team; I'll continue to coach and my guys will continue to work hard". That's really all we can do; carry on and do the best we can.

Looking forward to the games up here again this week!

[tsull]

Yeah, sorry about the newspaper paywall. I tried to attach the full article in a pdf, but it was too big to upload here. The summary is that they are not speaking to what kind of leave Sparling is on, but it's not punative at this time. Not speaking to timeline, but Drew Hedman is now acting head coach and Milo Griffin is now acting assistant. I don't know much about Drew, accept that he was clear that he is up for the challenge, and is from Alaska and cares about this team. He's done really well thus far. He got the team to Hawaii, they beat Hilo and lost a close one the next day and then came home and took UAA to OT, which is always hard. I rag on UAA a lot, but they definitely have more consistency than we do and they always get up for their games against us, so it's never easy to hang with them, let alone pick off a win.

Milo Griffin on the other hand, is a legend in Fairbanks. Maybe they are the right team to pilot the ship this season and see if they can keep the team in the thick of things in the GNAC and make these guys want to stay here and finish their eligibility with the Nooks. They have had far too much turnover of eligible players every season for a while now, and always having to start from scratch every year makes it hard.

Yeah, Fairbanks is a nice place to live, there's great community here, although the sport community is more focused on hockey and nordic skiing, but in rural Alaska, basketball is king. The women's team faces the same challenges with lots of coaches coming and going, the team is in the basement, etc. I'm wishing Drew and Milo a really great rest of the season. I hope he can do as he said in the article: "whatever happens, we're going to roll with it as a team; I'll continue to coach and my guys will continue to work hard". That's really all we can do; carry on and do the best we can.

Looking forward to the games up here again this week!

Thanks for the great report, Northern. Hope coach Spar is healthy, he's a GNAC legend. I once saw him coach a game from a wheelchair in Monmouth, I think he had a torn knee. Hope he's doing well.

[Goods]

Thanks for the great report, Northern. Hope coach Spar is healthy, he's a GNAC legend. I once saw him coach a game from a wheelchair in Monmouth, I think he had a torn knee. Hope he's doing well.

I've seen him ride a horse, the guy will do it all. LOL

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

I wonder what's up with Spar! Wishing him the best whatever it is.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Well, the Nooks didn't run out of gas this time in OT and played a really complete game, except for a few lapses with their turnovers, gave NNU everything they could handle. In the end, NNU hit a huge 3 pointer with under a minute to go in double OT and the Nooks couldn't quite answer that last call. Darn, but such a fun game to watch though. Hedman has them playing a good game right now and they are becoming a lot more balanced. Their record doesn't really speak to their potential right now, but if they can stay healthy, keep the intensity up, take it on the road, and keep improving, they should be a scary team most nights in the next months. It's just a matter of making one more FT here, one less wild pass there, and the confidence to play with the lead, and they win these games... Which is true of all games, but hey, they aren't getting bulldozed on a regular clip anymore as they started the season doing, so they are definitely putting some pieces together and in their place.