Griz lose to PSU the best way they know how
Dammit. This is getting really, really hard. I don't think a sports team could be any tougher on its fans. I've been cheering for sports teams my entire life and have never come across one that could take this much out of its supporters.
The Griz were down 17-2 early. I was at the Lady Griz game, checking scores on my phone and was so mad at how flat the guys came out that I barely noticed the ladies were pissing away their own matchup against PSU. Then things turned around. The Lady Griz won in OT and Matt Martin pulled the Griz by their shaggy, ridiculous-looking hair to a 37-34 advantage.
Back to the fires of hell it went. In the second half, Martin sees less of the floor than a blind man and the Griz are down twelve with 9:00 to go. Then CET (gets career-high 15 points) hits a three and a two. Killa Cam knocks down back-to-back treys and Stads knocks down a pair of deuces and the Griz are right there.
Flash forward. :41 left, tie game, Griz ball after Qvale's fourth block. Cam dribbles it down to nothing (intentionally, nothing wrong with that). Ball goes down to Drew. He misses. Dominguez, hustles it out, gets fouled with :05.7 left. Nails both and the Griz are in a position they've been in before. See: Weber State, Idaho State. That's just in conference. There's more.
Griz break the press and push the ball up the court. Cam gets what Mick called a good luck from 13 feet. It goes in and out. If it's me, I do give the ball to Rundles in that position only because Martin's been sitting so long and the D is looking for him.
That's the Griz season. This game defines the whole damn season more than anything else. But hey, EWU lost so we're still looking at a 6-seed. God, this season is horrendous.
Colin,
Do you remember these words of yours?
The argument undermining the quality of these wins is that the Eagles and Bears are terrible and small.
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Shown below is proof the Eagles & Bears are small, and terrible.
Tonight's game:
Portland St: --- 31 rebounds
Montana: ------ 19 rebounds
The only reason the Griz won the first half of the Portland State game, is because they played Martin's way.
The only reason the Griz lost the second half of the Portland State game, is because they played Tinkles's way.
The rebounding was a joke tonight, I will agree. But the difference between the big lineup and small one is Qvale. Are you saying we're better without his four blocks in there?
I am saying our best games would be gaurd oriented scoring games, just as I have always said.
Martin handled the first half and CET almost handled the second half. Imagine what could happen if we played GUARD ORIENTED ball, with both Martin and CET, or Cam or Stauds were made the first options to score. Tinkle isn't willing to find out, even when it is working right in front of him.
The Griz played Tinkle's way until the 13:47 minute mark. The Griz Were down 2 to 17.
Martin came in and played the way guards should play, until the 2:44 minute mark. The Griz were up 35 to 29.
At that point, Tinkle benches Martin, craps on him for not winning the way Tinkle wants to win, and the Griz go back to Tinkle's way and loose. End of story.
The moral of this story:
Martin's way works, and Tinkle is not only stubborn, but blind to reality.
Martin's 15 pts in not much more than one fourth of the game aren't the only things he was doing. He was also making his team mates better. His 4 assists show that. I remember another instance which should have been an assist. He took it towards the hoop enough to draw the defense in. He kicked it out and Stauds missed a wideopen three. Not putting anything on Stauds, just saying that Martin was feeding his team mates even more than his 4 assist would show. He went 5 for 5, drew at least two fouls, went 4 for 4 at the line, had 4 assists, and had a couple more dishes that coulda-shouda been assists ... in 12 minutes. And Tinks takes that away from the team 'cuz it doesn't fit his idea of what you need to do to win.
Tinkle, you're not just screwing with Matt's head, I'm betting no one on your team feels really confident that you've got the tools to get them where they want to go.
That was repugnant. I feel bad not only for Martin who was having a career game, but for the entire team who had the game packaged up and handed back to PSU by Coach T.
LADY GRIZ
Guard # 10 Rogers ...... 13.1 Pts
Guard # 03 Morales ..... 16.6 Pts
Forwd # 05 Closson ..... 10.3 Pts
Forwd # 22 Lohman ...... 8.7 Pts
Guard # 11 Cote ........ 7.0 Pts
Centr # 51 Guardipee ... 6.8 Pts
Check out the leading scorers on the WINNING TEAM shown above. Oh, by the way, the Lady Griz are 16 wins and 4 losses, over all. The Lady Griz are 6 wins and 1 loss in conference.
Robin Selvig understands guard play. Could that be why they win?
Tinkle needs to sit down with Selvig and have Selvig teach him how to coach basketball.
i really believe this team just can't finish because they don't have a whole team. when they go small they don't have a true 3 so they lose out on rebounds and another player who is quick off the dribble. they go big and block up the middle with a big man who gets alot of fouls against quick players which is no fault of his either. the coach can't coach well either without a true small forward.the whole game is a mess without the right personel. they'll be much better next year with a more balanced team. this game was close in every way except rebounding and no play from hasquet whatsoever, its amazing they played as well as they did. everyone is trying to fill the voids but the whole year is going to be tough.
To be fair, the LG have one of best guards in the nation in Mandy Morales. The other, Sonya Rogers, led the nation in 3 pt shooting percentage. I don't think the calibre of our backcourt is quite the same.
grizfan,
No team is textbook perfect in its construction. It is the coach's primary mission to employ his own team's talents in the best way possible on a game-by-game basis.
The best way possible needn't be the same way every game. For certain, sitting Martin last night during the game he was having was not the best way possible. That was just poor coaching.
Coach K went to the dance twice in two years - and won a game. He did it the first time with true freshman combo guard running the point. Talentwise, you could argue that team and today's are in about the same airspace, although I'd probably give the edge to today's team.
The point is, good coaching means using the guys you have in a way that gives you the best shot at winning. That may actually mean tailoring a game plan based on the match up between your guys and their guys. Otherwise, your season is all planned out for you on opening day. "Damn, we don't have a true 3. Guess we're screwed this year. We'll be lucky to win a game."
Colin,
To be fair ... I'm pretty sure that at least some of the success the LG guards are having is due to Coach Selvig's ability to mentor, develop, and utilize a backcourt. Or do you think none of that has happened since those women were in high school?
Tinkle is not the well-rounded coach that either Selvig or Krysko were. He was a big. He thinks like a big and acts like a big. He doesn't know how to use or develop a back court.
You were all high on Cam last season. Early this year Stauds was the greatest thing in basketball shoes. ET is now your kick-ass point, and Martin is your perfect 6th man, yet we don't have a back court?
I maintain both Coach K and Selvig know how to develop and deploy back court talent. Tinks doesn't have a clue. He needs some serious tutoring from either or both of those guys. Coach T is squandering a large part of the talent he puts on the floor every night.
colin
To be fair, the LG have one of best guards in the nation in Mandy Morales
..................
Only because she gets to play. If Tinkle were her coach, all YOU would see another Martin, an excellent guard being punished and wasted by a completely incompetent coach.
Martin would be, hell he is now, one of the best guards in the conference, if not the best, if he were allowed to actually play like Selvig allows his guards to play.
There isn't a guard in the world that would look good or have good numbers if they played for Tinkle. He would try to piss away their talent too.
Tinkle's guards have the talent to be every bit as good as Selvig's guards ... BETTER EVEN ... and would show it if they had Selvig for a coach. The Montana men's guards are, IF FACT, held down by the poor caliber of coaching they
get.
You're comparing Tinkle to one coach in the NBA and another with 700 victories... wonder who's going to come out on top. Need to face it, LK is not coming through that door.
While I've shouted the praises of several guards, nowhere have I said they were the strongest players on the team. I didn't say we didn't have a backcourt either, I said it was nowhere near the calibre of the LG... which has a guard tandem rivaling any in the country.
Agree that the guards need to get looks but I see a lot of plays run towards guards. Last night, they ran a set out of a TO set up for Cam and he drilled it. Plays are run for Staudacher all the time. I would like to see a solid pick & roll, inside-out offense but we're making progress since last year.
More than anything else, the problem is not finishing games. We've lost 6 games in the last two possessions.
- Colin
Colin,
My point is, Coach T was hired and is being paid to be a BSC-level coach.
I believe, given the talent level of the team, and the results he is producing, he is falling short.
I further believe that is because he either doesn't try or doesn't know how to produce a balanced effort by utilizing the breadth of his team's talent. He hasn't demonstrated great understanding of the importance of a balanced attack, or of adjusting on the fly.
I further believe that both Coach K and Coach Selvig could and would be great resources if Coach T would swallow his pride ... for just a little while ... and ask either or both of them for help.
I'll also suggest that, results aside, failing an opportunity to win in the last two posessions is not exactly the same as losing in the last two possessions. For my money, we lost that game a few minutes into the second half.
PSU caught and passed us 7 minutes into the 2nd half. We were playing catch up the entire rest of the game. Our guys put on a good run and we caught them at 68-68 with 2:05 left. We got three shots after that. Drew missed a jumper at 1:19, ET missed one at :09, Cam missed one with a second or two left. The only points PSU scored after the tie was from the free throws on the "survival" foul.
In other words, we needed a play that gave us a 33% chance of scoring to put it into overtime, and that didn't happen. Not blaming Drew at all, but I'm guessing his first choice in the clutch wouldn't be a jumper.
Not blaming Cam, either. What kind of a shot do you usually get with 5 seconds to run a play the length of a court and put up a game winner? Sure it happens, but it's a low percentage deal.
I don't even blame ET for missing his jumper after we ran all that time off the clock. What I am saying is that if you get three possessions, and your team is shooting 48+% for the game, decent tactics ought to get you at least one bucket. That's all we needed to get into OT or win. One bucket. You should get that if you're doing the right things. And ... if you're not doing the right things, isn't that on coaching?
I'm not calling for anyone's head. I'm not losing sleep over it. My life pretty much goes on just fine whether we win or lose, but I do appreciate critical thinking and problems solving. I don't see that really happening with the Griz, and I think it has to start with Coach T.
Am I really so far off base in believing that?
If Mandy Morales, and Sonya Rogers played for Tinkle, they would be benched every game for daring to shoot the ball before 4 seconds left on the shot clock.
They are good, ONLY, because Selvig lets his guards actually play the game of basketball the way guards SHOULD play the game of basketball.
to:
grizfan - i really believe this team just can't finish because they don't have a whole team.
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It is not the TEAM that can't finish, It is the COACH, who won't allow them to finish.
Tinkle refuses to put in the right
people at the right times.
He refuses to see what worked to pull him out of a deep hole.
As soon as someone like Martin does what is needed to pull him out of a hole, Tinkle benches him and goes right back to the crap that got them to the grand total of 2 points to 17 points.
Tinkle is not worth spit as a coach.
FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ... FIRE TINKLE ...
DO YOU THINK THAT HAVING TO PUT EXTRA DEFENSE ON YOUR HOT PLAYER WOULD OPEN IT UP FOR THE REST OF YOUR TEAM MIGHT BE A GOOD REASON TO KEEP MARTIN ON THE FLOOR.COACH SAYS CHANGE IN PORTLANDS DEFENSE IS WHY HE DIDNT PLAY MARTIN MUCH IN SECOND HALF.
REBOUNDING IS EFFORT AND BLOCKING OUT. WHERE WAS STRAIT AND HASQUET AT THURSDAY CERTAINLY NOT ON THE BOARDS. WITH OUR BIG LINEUP IN NO ONE SHOULD BE OUT REBOUNDING US ESPECIALLY BIG SKY TEAMS.
NO MORE LOSSES IN CLOSE GAMES GUYS.
TOUGHEN UP AND FINISH. ENOUGH OF THIS BULL SHIT, GET MAD AND DONT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.
P.S. TINKS WHY THE HELL SHOULD WE BE GOING INSIDE FIRST ON OFFENSE WHEN WE CANT OUT REBOUND TEAMS IN A WEAK ASS BSC? GOOD QUESTION ISNT IT COACH!
Colin,
You think Lady Griz Morales and
Moore are better guards than Martin.
The stat sheet shows there isn't
a nickels worth of difference,
except the Ladies get about
6 more minutes per game, and are
the first option go to scorers.
I submit to you, if the Lady Griz
and the Men Griz switched coaches
and play books, The Lady Griz
would start loosing and the men
Griz would start winning. Plus,
you would think Martin was way
better than each of the two ladies.
These are the stat/FACTS
Martin MEN GRIZ
min avg- 24.5
FG pct-- .466 -68 of 146
3FG pct- .439 -47 of 107
FT pct-- .810 -47 of 58
Assts---- 55
TO's---- 29
Steals-- 16
PT avg-- 11.5 -total-230
Morales LADY GRIZ
min avg- 29.3
FG pct-- .456 -77 of 169
3FG pct- .380 -27 of 71
FT pct-- .785 -51 of 65
Assts---- 75
TO's---- 37
Steals-- 18
PT avg-- 16.6 - total-232
Rogers LADY GRIZ
min avg- 29.9
FG pct-- .489 -88 of 180
3FG pct- .465 -47 of 101
FT pct-- .792 -38 of 48
Assts---- 22
TO's---- 29
Steals-- 17
PT avg-- 13.1 - total-261