It's a Wrap

My wise father once said, "If you keep winning you will become National Champions." I haven't been able to accomplish that feat yet, but I will say our 2011-2012 team had many successes along the way and a lot to be proud of.

Let's start with our pre season:
7-5, undeafeated at home, and only gained five pounds from the All You Can Eat Crab Leg Feast at the Colorado Thanksgiving Tournament.

Our returners Katie and Rachel led our charge, Ashley and Chelsea stepped into scoring roles from last year's injuries, and incoming freshmen Jackie and Kalli showed sparks of great potential.

Conference:
The most competitive conference race of my seven years. Nearly every game ending in single digit spreads helped me lose the five pounds I gained in the preseason.

I am so proud of the identity our team maintained throughout the year, perseverance!

Not quite getting comfortable with leads, we found ourselves losing a heartbreaker at home to ISU at the buzzer. Who knew we would be better coming from behind for the win at their place, thanks to Katie Bussey's thrilling 41 point performance to tie the Big Sky Single Game Scoring record.

Our regular season concluded with a dazzling shooting display by our entire team with 12 made 3 pointers. If only we would have shot that well at our place so we could have gotten the free Chalupas at Taco Bell. Never enough from a coaching perspective is it.

Post Season. This is what you play for! We opened up with our favorite rival, the Lady Griz. Our tenacious defense jumped on the Griz early and rode that momentum into the semi-finals. The game capped one of our most complete games of putting offense and defense together on the same night. It sounds so simple doesn't it?

We finished off our year a little short coming into the next round against a tenacious team, and once again another Bear. UNC kept the Bobcats cold that night, but the future looks hot for the Cats.

I want to congratulate Katie on another Big Sky record, most 3 pointers in a career with 254. Just imagine how many she has shot over the years! Katie was a 1st Team All Conference player and has an invitation to the Final Four Combine next week. We want to wish her the best in her professional career.

To the returners, led by senior and 2nd Team All Conference player, Rachel Semansky, we have a lot to be excited about. We will compete every day, hold the bar high for every teammate, and do it for each other.

To our newcomers, you have had unbelievable high school careers. It is time to retire your old jerseys and put on the Blue and Gold. The 2012-2013 season begins TODAY.

Coach Bin

Your Definition Of Success?

A couple of recent successes in our program:

Katie Bussey-Katie broke the Big Sky Career 3 Pointers Made record last week. She will continue to add on to her already unbelievable number, but what is truly the success is the fact that she has done that against box & ones and being fully denied by our opponent's best defenders. She is just an energizer bunny and you are right. I won't play her in a game of horse.

Sarah Balian-Sarah finished her playing career last season for us, but she is finishing her nursing degree this semester which allowed her to be our 4th consecutive Bobcat to win the All Excellence Award at MSU. She is one of 40 senior students awarded for her outstanding achievements in the classroom and in the community. I can't think of a more difficult major while playing basketball, but Sarah proved you can be great at more things than one at a time. The other night while her community service projects were being read I even asked how she had time to do all of that.

Rachel Semansky-Rachel made the Academic All America Second Team. When my Sports Information Director asked me for a quote on her, I told him Rachel is the perfect example of utilizing her God given gifts to her full potential. She was recognized as one of the top 15 student athletes in the nation for her in the classroom and on the court achievements.

I want to also wish our four incoming freshmen the best of luck as they lead their teams into tournament. They have all had incredible seasons so far and come from winning programs. I have no doubt they will use their gifts to their full potential as they each have great work ethic and a little motivation called competitiveness.

We are so proud of our graduates, our current Bobcats, and our future Bobcats.

Coach Bin

What Champions Are Made Of

The end of January to early February is probably the most challenging time period for athletes and their motivation. Let me just explain the 6 months of the basketball season.

October-Practice begins. It's exciting, new, fresh, and roles are still yet to be established.

Novemeber-Games begin. Enough said. Practice is put into action!

December-Everyone wants to finish strong before hitting conference. Preseason is now over.

Early January-Conference begins. It's a new season and every game matters for placing in your conference.

Mid January-Early February: You have played everyone in the conference once. You are now hitting the second scouting report, second time preparing for the same teams, have been practicing for four months, and are probably going through the same drills you have been running for four months. The Champion is at a heightened level of focus in this month over the details to give them an edge.

March-There is a reason it's called March Madness. It's tournament time and everyone is excited and wanting to work at tournament time. The question is whether or not it's too late.

Back to Mid January-Early February: It can be the most critical time in whether or not your team is for real, or whether or not their goals are just written on a piece of paper.

Questions to ask yourself if you are a true champion?
1) What are your individual goals today? True champions have them.

2) What sacrifices are you willing to make this week? Champions have the discipline to make sacrifices for long durations.

3) What are you doing this week that is above and beyond what's being asked of you? Champions don't have excuses as to why they don't have time. They find time by cutting something else out.

4) On a scale of 1-10 how hard did you practice today? Champions don't get bored with the process or the drill they've done a thousand times. They value repition and routine as a way to perfect their game.

5) Are you satisfied with your role and what are you doing to improve it? Some athletes give up when they see their role as one not being as big as they would hope for. No one should be satisfied with their role as there is always room for improvement.

The last question is what champion teams are made of and the answer is simple. It's a team full of individual champions pursuing the same goal. You know the one that every team in your conference has also written down as theirs.

Coach Bin

Random Thoughts by Former Bobcat Jamie Thornton

For those of you that are new to MSU women's basketball, let me introduce myself. I played for the Cats from the 2006-2007 season until the 2009-2010 season. After I graduated in May 2010 with my undergrad degree I decided to stick around Bozeman for a while and try life as a normal student as I pursued a masters degree in statistics. Nearly two years later I find myself only one semester away from having to get a real job and join the real world, and I can't help but to find myself looking back to the years I spent as a player here and all the good times I had.

Some of my fondest memories include road trips, like the time our whole flight to Northern Arizona got cancelled and we had to rebook 17 passengers to Phoenix that day. To make matters worse, we had lost a tough game to Northern Colorado the night before and no one wanted to be stuck in the airport for 12 hours while we tryed to re-book flights! But we kept a Coke in Coach Bin's hands an luckily we didn't have to run sprints in the airport.

Other memorable times are of the recruiting visits of some current players. We all clearly remember Katie Bussey's recruting trip, she probably weighed about 85 pounds when we met her. As soon as we heard she had signed, we all said "She'll have to red shirt, she'll be broken in half!" She proved us wrong! In our defense, she did gain some weight during that summer!

But this is a post titled "Random Thoughts" so here we go:

1) Is Dove chocolate and Dove body wash the same Dove? If so why is a chocolate company making body wash?

2) Why does everyone in Montana have vanity plates? And why does it bother me when I cant de-code them?

3) Are marriages legal all over the world? Like if you are married in the US are you married in China too?

4) Did you know that fog occurs when the temperature and due point are close to eachother. And it only counts as fog when visability is less than 5/8 of a mile.

5) What country is made up of over 54,000 islands? Canada!! Seriously!

6) Does anyone else think it's crazy that Christmas is in the middle of the summer in Australia? I do! Christmas is for winter, maybe they should mover theirs to July. I would go celebrate that.

7) Di-hydrogen mono-oxide and sodium chloride = salt water, why not just say salt water?

8) Why are knee braces allowed in games but not bobby pins? I'm pretty sure running into a knee brace hurts more than a bobby pin would!

And that my friends, is from the ever-pondering mind of Ms. Jamie Erin Thornton. She'll make a great addition to "the real world", don't ya think?

Super Fans

Our families of our players and coaches bring amazing support to our team whether home or away. At home some of them take up their own section in the Fieldhouse and on the road make themselves heard very early on to our officials. Fortunately, this season, no one has been asked to leave the gymnasium.

Some of our recent road trips:

Las Vegas Tournament. If you are not sure if Katie's sisters are at the game then they are NOT. You will know when they are there. This year, however, we welcomed the additional loud section of the Mendiola family.
They have had some education on how to cheer at games. I now know where Giulianna gets her loud clapping from. Just watch her during introductions. I am personally flying the Mendiola's in for our Cat Griz rivalry(on Giuli's dime of course.)


Our Eastern Washington trip brought in incredible family support, including returning parents and even former player's parents. Jamie Thornton came in to do the radio with Tyler which brought Joe and Sandy back for another round of stress. Jeff and Patty Seidensticker also showed up for support which was most crucial as Coach Starr found out after the game that she had a hole in her pants. Thank you to Patty for sewing them after the game and Lisa Semansky's teamwork for bringing them to Portland the following day.

This year I have lost 10 pounds since we don't get to see Anne Strand after every game with 5 loafs of banana bread.

I feel a sense of comfort this season knowing that if I tweek my knee in my high heels I have Dr. Elliott there.

Most importantly I don't ever have to worry about getting over confident as Duane Bussey is always there at his usual 6'9 self to come over for support after games and remind me I am still only 5'6 even in high heels.

Thank you to all of our parents for your support of your daughters and our team. It's going to be an exciting Big Sky season, and it would not be the same without all of you joining us for the ride.

Now to our Super Fan Competition. If you want to get in the running the only stipulation is that you can not be related to any of the Bobcat players or coaches as family should automatically be super fans.

To our two front running "super fans" Carrie Benke and Bob Schwann you better show up with Blue and Gold face paint on Thursday because we have plenty of Super Fans that will be here at 7:00pm as we take on the ISU Bengals!

Coach Bin

A Savior Is Born

Christmas marks a day of celebration, hope, and joy.

I can't describe what joy is any better than the excitment on our kid's and neighbor Ella's faces last night when they heard Santa's Reindeer bells outside Brooklyn's window. (My niece Ashley was outside their window jingling the bells off her phone.) All of the kids sprinted out of their rooms and screamed, "We heard Santa's reindeer bells!"

My sister and I told them it means Santa is close so we better get to bed. That's when they all sprinted back into Brooklyn's room, including Ella. Ella's mom Angela and I just cracked up and after gathering ourselves, clarified they needed to go to bed in their own rooms.

At 5:55am this morning we heard 6 feet shuffling down the stairs as my oldest nephew Tyler throws the door open, "IT'S CHRISTMAS!" I said, "Don't you remember our agreement, 6:50am is when we get up." He comes over to me and gives me a big hug as for me to get up. What stories of joy.

As we watched our kids overwhelmed with joy unwrapping presents, I think of how Jesus must feel and the excitement He must have when seeing a new believer receive His wonferful gift of salvation. It feels so good to give and thank you Jesus to the best gift ever to receive.

Have a Merry Christmas,

Coach Bin

Scheduling

Since I have been asked the question daily why we have two weeks between our North Dakota and Illinois games I thought I could just tell you all on my blog.

Scheduling preseason games is one of the most challenging tasks we have here at Montana State. That's why I gave the task to Amy!

Scheduling away games is easy as EVERYONE wants a home game. Home games, however for a remote, and winterland tropicana, NOT SO EASY. If I was a California school I would be jumping at our offer to come play us. How many times do your players get to make snow angels or have a snowball fight.

The two week downtime is mostly because we couldn't get one more home game and that we wanted next week off so our athletes could be steller students and Ace their finals. That we will certainly accomplish.

In the end, I think our schedule has been fantastic. It has been difficult, compact, and about to take new heights as we take on Illinois and Georgia in Las Vegas. It will have prepared us for the upcoming Big Sky season especially with the home and home games we have against UND to see how to prepare for a familiar foe a second time around.

Most importantly, this downtime will give us the recovery we will need to be truly at our best when conference play begins.

If you are interested in coming to Bozeman to play, please don't hestitate to call!

Coach Bin

Coach Bin