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Colin,

I really like the twitter and flickr game-time things. Makes me feel like I'm there. I'm sitting here hundreds of miles away with my realtime stats and internet radio stream going, got your twitter running in another window. It's almost like being there!

I have a hard time imagining the lack of student body support. They're finally starting to get a nice balanced attack going every game, guys are performing, they're winning, they're at home ... the support is pathetic. I saw my local h.s. team play to nearly as many folks last night as I see in your flickr photos.

Come on. This time of year ... tell me what's even close to being as good a ticket as NCAA D-I Basketball in Missoula? Are you kiddin' me? I'm so envious.

No worries man. It's good to hear from people who enjoy this type of thing. I hope to have a few solid entries up tomorrow with some quotes from the Tinks and the rest of the team.

- Colin

Were not just gonna make it 2 the Big Sky tourney we still are in it for that first round bye or a least a first round home game...thats what our guys should be focused on...a win against northern arizona would be HUGE for us to achieve this...too bad i couldn't make it 2 the game tonight i have a bunch of tests its the first game i've missed all year and the last but i'll be making up for it when i travel 2 Pocatello next weekend for the ISU game

Sanchez,

Although I grew up in Montana, I live in Washington and have relatives in Idaho, Montana, and both Dakotas. I went to college at Montana State, but I've been a Griz fan forever. I went to 6th grade at Lowell School in Missoula while my dad was a grad student. I've seen a lot of high school basketball in all those states, and either have seen quite a few of the current and past Griz guys play in high school, or I know/knew their families. That's a lot of fun for me.

Martin is also one of my favorites for the Griz. Part of the reason is that I saw Matt as a high school sophomore play on the team that won the South Dakota State big school championship. Spearfish was the smallest school in the tournament. Matt was then, as now, a very self-confident, fiery, take it to 'em kind of player. Even at that age he had amazing poise. Student sections from other schools would get in his face ... personally chanting at him ... but he'd never get rattled. He'd have a 20 point game and get 5 assists as the two guard. He's a sharp kid with a brain wired for basketball. He comes from a family lineage of coaches and players.

The Griz were blessed for what he brought to UM as a true frosh point guard who made the BSC all-tournament 1st-team. Probably more than anyone else, he kept the Griz in the game against BC in the second game of the NCAA tourney the year he was a sophomore.

If you read my posts, you know I'm all about balance. I don't think the Griz have a guy that can do it on his own, with out any help. We don't have a Kevin Durant, a Kevin Love, a Greg Oden. Instead we have a lot of very talented, hard-working guys who can play amazing team ball when allowed to do so.

There's 200 man-minutes in a ball game. That's more than enough room for 7 or 8 guys to get 22-32 minutes a game, DEPENDING ON WHO'S HAVING AN INSANELY GOOD NIGHT.

Like you, I'd like to see Matt get more minutes. Like you, I don't get Coach T's substitutions sometimes, or even often. Sitting Matt for the second half against Portland was just plain stupid, and I don't see why Martin doesn't usually end up with 30-32 minutes.

One thing I do know, is that flow is huge for players. If you're not in the flow of the game, it's hard to make much good happen. I look at Matt's numbers, realize the minutes he often doesn't get, and further understand that much of his junior and senior years he hasn't been played in a manner which allows him to get "into the flow". One wonders just how large a contribution he could have made in different circumstances.

Martin will joint the Griz 1000 point club this year. I have no doubt he'll graduate. I have no doubt he'll be a successful coach somewhere. If you look at his stats, his numbers are good not just for scoring, but for assists, steals, and drawing fouls and getting to the line, where he's a career 78% shooter. That's a pretty big contribution for a "bench guy".

But, hey ... I'm not the coach. I remember thinking when Martin and Strait were true frosh playing in the BSC tourney and the dance ... "Man, wait until these two guys are seniors!" Somehow I had it pictured differently.

I still think the Griz can salvage a positive season. But, I don't think it's going to come down to talent in the BSC. It's going to come down to coaching. Ken Bone is a good coach. So is Randy Rahe. I see signs that Coach T is getting better, but I'm not convinced yet. His rotations don't make a lot of sense to me.

Regardless, I'm a Griz fan. I'd have liked it to be different this past couple of years.

Go Griz!

Colin,

If your comment was for me, it wasn't. I didn't say start. I only said there ought to be more minutes for a guy as productive as Martin. I think Matt's a down-to-earth enough guy that he doesn't mind being the first guy off the bench. If he doesn't mind it, why should I?

On the other hand, there have been a number of games this year that he's seen less than 20 minutes ... and the Griz lost. That's the part of Coach T's rotations that I just don't understand.

There can't possibly be a GOOD reason that he sometimes ... as you once put it ... gets lost on the end of the bench. That's a coaching error, in my opinion. And when Martin ... or anyone else for that matter ... is playing like his hair's on fire you don't sit him down and say "Thanks for getting us back in the game." You keep him in there, run sets for him, let him stay until they quit dropping ... which is different than missing one ... and then say "Thanks for getting us on the right end of a blow out."

As far as the streak we're on, I agree. Don't fix it if it ain't broken. Of course there's the matter of the previous 20 games or so when the biggest spark plug, the most spirited guy on the team, the team leader in points-per-shot, points-per-minute, and someone with near point guard assist numbers is "lost on the end of the bench." There's something definitely wrong with that.

JMHO

Last night Martin shot 4-10 from the field and 1-5 from the line. Not great. While Hasquet didn't have better numbers, Martin can't play the 4.

Here's my proposal. If Martin was some godly cure-all for every problem the Griz have, something would've happened. Because you feel so strongly about this, here is my proposal: take it to Tinkle. You keep beating the same drum and there's only four games left in his regular season career, you might as well. Tinkle's email address is tinklewf@mso.umt.edu. I've emailed him several times and heard back from him immediately almost every time. Also, if you are in Missoula and make it to the games, he is very available afterwards. Just wait for him to speak with the players, finish his radio interview then maybe meet with the beat reporters and he should be able to spare a few minutes to speak with you. I hope you do and also hope you let me know about any response he gives you.

- Colin

Colin, Gar,
Lively, interesting discussion. I love it.

I did notice last night that Staudacher went 2 for 7 from the arc, yet still got 36 minutes.

If that had been Martin he would have been benched for a week.

You know, it would have been considered Martin had gone wild because his shots were not falling. Shooting lots of shots that aren't
falling seems to always have been enough in the past to bench Martin.

I wonder why Staudacher got 36 minutes. He had obviously gone wild and was missing a lot.

When Martin does that he gets benched. Heck, when Martin is on fire from 3 point land he gets benched on the idea he MIGHT cool
off. God forbid you wait to find out for sure if he cools off, he needs to be benched because he might cool off.

Nice phrase, "operating in impulsive panic mode". It fits Tinkle to a tee.

Colin,

I really enjoy your blog. We don't always see eye to eye, but that's what makes blogs and discussions interesting. You and some of the other guys on here have some very obvious, heartfelt differences of opinion. FWIW, I'd just offer up this: don't take it personally. I'm a veteran of some of the unmoderated blogs on the Seattle Times, The News Tribune, and just plain old unmoderated Usenet.

Every single post and comment I've read on your blog ... started reading you last season ... is rational, well thought out, and downright courteous compared to much of the stuff you see on usenet or in the larger papers in the larger cities.

Another FWIW, Mark Few and Wayne Tinkle ... way far apart on the coaching spectrum. Mark Few didn't play roundball past high school ... though he was a stand out point guard in h.s. Wayne Tinkle had an illustrious big man career. He's still pretty much a rookie coach. Right now, today, who do you think would get more out of the athletes playing for the Griz? Yet, both of these guys are living testimony to the fact that no coach nor any player are ALWAYS right.

I'm sure there are folks reading your blog that are very good coaches at some level lower than NCAA D-I. That doesn't mean they know less than Coach T. Thirty years of coaching high school probably teaches you a few things about basketball, people, and life. Does a guy who wins State Class C championships know less about the game than Coach T simply because Coach T is at UM? Do you think Coach Selvig knows less than Coach T about basketball because he coaches the ladies? Sometimes ... maybe often ... Coach T is wrong. He's in transition from player to coach. He's still got some things to learn about coaching.

One the main things that make sports blogs fun is arm chair quarterbacking. Take away the arguments and second guessing about coaching and tactics and blogs will just degenerate to a few fans who applaud every win and commiserate over every loss.

Take heart, you're writing a blog that people are reading and responding to. That in and of itself should be pretty rewarding. If all your readers agreed with you, your blog probably wouldn't have the reader base it does. If some posters irritate you, ignore them or attack their arguments with better arguments.

Hopefully, I haven't said anything here that you didn't realize before you started a sports blog. As I mentioned before, I've seen people on other blogs that you just know can't string together two sentences, understand a box score, or even recognize a rational argument. That doesn't stop them from expounding ... complete with profanity and obscenities ... to anyone with whom they disagree. To the best of my knowledge that doesn't happen here. For that I'm glad.

Again, I enjoy your blog and thanks for doing it.