About an hour and a half before tip-off here in Brandon between the Regina Cougars and home Bobcats in Game 2 of the Great Plains Division best-of-three series, so let’s get to a few thoughts from Game 1:

• First off, the Cougars. Not sure what to say about these guys after last night. For approximately 20 minutes of game time Friday night they did everything well: They were confident, they executed well in the half-court, they bogged down Brandon’s offence, they protected the basketball and they stunned BU. Then they looked utterly shell-shocked as they proceeded to blow a 29-point third-quarter lead and barely hung on for a win. But, that last word is the operative one. They got the win, in a VERY hostile environment and they came down and made a couple of clutch plays in the final moments to escape with Game 1.

Brandon, meanwhile, was borderline wretched save for its unreal comeback that nearly made you forget about everything before that. The Bobcats couldn’t knock down open looks, they seemed almost surprised that Regina had the gall to trap in the halfcourt — and do it aggressively — and they really didn’t deal well with the Cougars’ zone. Regina packed the zone in and did a good job of taking away the middle of the key, where the Bobcats athletes generally torch you because of their ability to penetrate and elevate. And when the Bobcats got down, they needed to be told that there were no 12-point shots. Their shot selection was suspect and they really did try to get it all back at once. When you’re in quicksand, fighting it just makes you sink faster and that is probably an apt analogy for the Bobcats’ panic on Friday.

That said, I don’t know what to expect when the ball goes up in an hour here. I think Regina is absolutely confident and collected, especially after getting a win. The Cougars, for most of the game, played like the favourite and you can perhaps chalk that up to really having no load on their shoulders — heck, no one but themselves gave them any chance in this series. So that would tend to tell you that they’ll be at ease again tonight.

However …

If they’re any kind of competitors (and I believe the are) the Bobcats have to be utterly miserable with the effort they put out in Game 1. I originally wrote in my story for Saturday’s paper (but subsequently dropped the reference) that they played like a team that felt it was pre-ordained to win the division. There was no sense they took the Cougars seriously. So I have to believe they come out blazing tonight if only because this is a team that famously gets its back up when there is any perceived slight. If the Bobcats take a punch, they generally want to respond with a head-butt.

The Bobcats were in this position — albeit with much different personnel — in 2004 when the Cougars won Game 1 after a particularly uninspired effort from the home squad. BU went on to win that series in three. The following season, however, the Bobcats weren’t as lucky, losing Game 1 and the series in three.

History will repeat itself somehow, but if the Bobcats don’t get their act together, it won’t be the one they’re hoping for.