Vikes Beat WSU, Butler Tonight!

[waborat]

Less than an hour away:

-Does CSU move on & meet their kryptonite tomorrow night?

-Does Pogue actually make it all 40?

-Will the bench get off the bench?

Hopefully Cole fianlly breaks out against Wright and he & Harmon show why they're one of the best backcourts defensively in the NCAA

[waborat]

Lotsa fans I see...

Just to let everyone know, Vikes won...

By 14...

Nice team effort...

Montgomery & McCoy showed up as well...

They play for the Vikings...

Both are guards...

Until tomorrow...

Out

[neoleo]

Getting big games out of Harmon and Montgomery the past couple games is enormous for this team.

This game was close for 30 minutes but you always felt like the Vikings were in control. As soon as Cole took over, the Vikes went on an 18-1 run and it was over.

Great that we got another good contribution from McCoy off the bench as well and we were able to rest all five starters down the stretch (without looking at the stats, I'd say Cole only played 30-32 minutes today).

Keys for tomorrow will be Aaron Pogue playing without fouling out. Butler can run 4-5 bigs at you (and they did in the win at the Wolstein Center when they were all in foul trouble). We only have Pogue. Our backups have no hope against Butler's starting bigs.

We also need another solid effort from the bench and Montgomery and Harmon need to show up.

And then we'll need a huge game from Cole too.

It won't be easy. Butler is better than their record, has been hot down the stretch, they're experienced in these big games and we don't matchup well with them at all.

But, if we win and Milwaukee loses, we're the home team on Tuesday for the championship.

[peeker643]

One at a time. Got where they needed to be.

Agree with NEOLeo, gotta get it from others than Cole. If they do it will go to wire. If not, well, hello NIT.

[waborat]

Unfortunately, not feelin too fuzzy about tonight's game...

Sure, Butler's offense has been inconsistent all year, but they're playing the best D in the conference right now...What do they have? 8-9 deep shut downs?

Ya throw in the 3 in 5 nights for CSU, lack of bench and Waters diggin Bulldogs from under his skin all night and it's gonna be tough gettin to Monday...

I'm sure Stevens will remind his players of '09 and Butler will love adding another decent RPI win to their resume tonight...

Hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't feel worthy

[waborat]

90 minutes away, wish the boob tube had it live...

I get tired of watching lil foosball players running around shootin & reboundin on game trackers

[Rat_Tail]

90 minutes away, wish the boob tube had it live...

I get tired of watching lil foosball players running around shootin & reboundin on game trackers

Yeah I know. I'm so glad they're putting on women's basketball instead.

Horizon League usually has live streams, but it looks like they don't tonight.

ESPN3 still has a live stream of it though.

[neoleo]

90 minutes away, wish the boob tube had it live...

I get tired of watching lil foosball players running around shootin & reboundin on game trackers

Yeah I know. I'm so glad they're putting on women's basketball instead.

Horizon League usually has live streams, but it looks like they don't tonight.

ESPN3 still has a live stream of it though.

As great as the Horizon League streams have been to me as a CSU fan, I'd much rather have ESPN3.com if it's going to be internet only. HLN has been freezing quite a bit lately and today is not the day I want to miss any of the action.

All of that said, it's really a travesty that a semi-final of a women's tournament (not even involving Tenn or UConn) is being played over a men's semi-final game, (especially involving last year's national runner up).

I think the Horizon League has done great with the web streaming and the Game of the Week package, but they really need to rethink their ESPN relationship if this is going to happen. No excuse whatsoever. They're better off producing it in-house like they did for the quarter-finals yesterday and selling it out on a market basis so local channels can pick up the games (again, like STO did yesterday).

For those that have the capabilities, ESPN3 has streamed pretty well through my PS3 in the past. At least that way you can get it on your big screen.

[waborat]

Just hooked up the lap to the tv, pretty cool...

Big crowd, almost looks like a CSU home game

[waborat]

Score says its close, so why ain't I feelin it?

CSU man-handled on the boards...

Pogue sittin in his usual chair...

Seriously, why is Stevens still @ Butler?

[neoleo]

I don't know how to look at this:

Happy that we're only down 6 after shooting in the 30's and allowing them to shoot in the 50's.

Or lucky that we're not getting blown out when they've dominated both boards and points in the paint (for the third time in three meetings).

Pogue needs to give us his best half of his career. Somehow I expect him to pick up his third foul about 90 seconds into the half.

Harmon attacking and getting to the rim is key. We need to keep that up. Cole, Harmon and Montgomery have a quickness advantage over Butler's guards. Their guys are athletic but a little bigger and rely more on physical play. That's why they were called for so many fouls on our drives. Hopefully we continue to get those calls.

[waborat]

Butler playin a bad 2nd half...

CSU playin their worse...

Decision making is baffling, you'd think they're all frosh

[neoleo]

Aaron Pogue regressed from last year. And he was pretty bad last year too. If this team had the bigs of the 09 team we'd be a sweet 16 team.

Losing Cole will hurt, but there are enough guards on the roster to make up for some of his play making. Next year's team has a chance to be good but I don't expect a run for the championship because we'll still be relying on Pogue as the only big again.

The two freshman bigs barely played this year and out of the two coming in next year, one is a stretch 4 and one is a project (the same terms used for the two guys that didn't play this year). This team needs three new big men to contribute right away and I don't see that happening.

All in all, a good season. Cole turned into the player of the year and a potential draft pick and a team that finished below .500 last year got a regular season co-championship and a probable NIT bid. Before Waters got here, this would have been a dream season but with the way the season started I think expectations got a little out of whack.