About the Southern Utah Thunderbirds

[CDC84]

Southern Utah is a new member of the Big Sky conference this year. They joined back in July. The Summit League was never a good fit from a geographic standpoint. They now have a proper home.

The Thunderbirds also have a brand new head coach. Some of you may remember Nick Robinson, the former Stanford player who played for both Monty and Trent Johnson. He previously served as an assistant under Johnson at LSU. He's also one of the youngest head coaches at the D-1 level.

Southern Utah has a couple of good wing players. Jackson Stevenett averaged 14.1 PPG and 5.7 RPG last year. He's explosive and does most of his damage inside the arc. Damon Heuir in an Aussie shooting guard who averaged 10.8 PPG last year. Again, another player who does most of his damage inside the arc. The rest of the roster consists of guys who had more limited roles prior to this year. There are some newbies as well.

The Thunderbirds are projected by most publications to finish near the back end of the Big Sky this season.

[Kiddwell]

T-Birds Roster

Thanks, CDC. Methinks we vaporize these guys. Roast 'em. Serve 'em for dinner.


:]

http://www.suutbirds.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=20100&SPID=11728&SPSID=95897

[hooter73]

gotta have a primer before you put on the finish. It's the right game to come out and play, there are no misconceptions about who will win.

[U Zig, I Zag]

The logo is cool...

think I am going to be at this game. Should be fun to get the season kicked off finally!

[LongIslandZagFan]

The logo is cool...

think I am going to be at this game. Should be fun to get the season kicked off finally!

USF should hire THAT graphic artist.

[Pleasant Peninsula]

Some of you may remember Nick Robinson, the former Stanford player who played for both Monty and Trent Johnson. He previously served as an assistant under Johnson at LSU. He's also one of the youngest head coaches at the D-1 level.

Oh, wow. Nick Robinson was the guy that hit the three point runner at the buzzer for Stanford against Arizona in 2004, much to the elation of the raucous Cardinal crowd that included Tiger Woods. Stanford was atop the college basketball world that year, going undefeated until March, and having been one of only two teams to beat the Zags that regular season. Unfortunately for both, they fell flat in the second round of the tournament and were gone early.

[007Zag]

That was an amazing shot...remember watching the opening game against St. Joe's in Crosby--the other unbeaten team that also beat the zags that year, IIRC.

[CDC84]

What was amazing about that Stanford team was that it wasn't close to being Monty's most talented team.

[Rangerzag]

........Stanford was atop the college basketball world that year, going undefeated until March, and having been one of only two teams to beat the Zags that regular season........

That Stanford gave was another example of poor prior planning exhibited by a game of that consequence with an opponent of that caliber being scheduled directly on the heals of finals week, December 20th to be exact.

The first game after finals usually sees the Zags with a sluggish game start. I have always felt a game scheduled at a more reasonable time would have given the Zags a good chance to win instead of racking up a 87-80 loss.