Montana Grizzlies Sports, Football and Basketball : Grizzoulian

There'd been rumors floating around about where Cameron Rundles would end up transferring to, with the initial thought being Wayne State. That doesn't appear to be the case.

It looks like Cameron Rundles is headed to Wofford, the same tiny school that upset us in football. Wofford plays in the SoCon, a Division I conference. So, I believe he will have to sit out a year.

Well, good luck as a Terrier.

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It's been speculated for a while now—especially with Zach Graves and Cameron Rundles—but as of Tuesday evening, it's official: these three players will not be returning to play basketball for the 2008-2009 season.

Most Griz fans never got a chance to see what "Big Dave" or Zach could do. Everyone raved about Graves' athleticism and Vanderjagt's potential presence inside but it was never realized. With Cam, it was different.

Cameron Rundles was recruited by Larry Krystkowiak as a point guard, a gritty floor general. But the point guard spot already had depth in senior Bryan Ellis and junior Matt Martin. At the beginning of the season, these two started at the guard positions but by the ninth game Rundles made the starting lineup. In a December 9th, 72-65 win over UC Riverside, he scored 13 points in 32 minutes.

By conference play, he was a major contributor. He earned Freshman of the Year honors and was the Big Sky's best three-point shooter, beating out Stephen Sir with a .481 clip during the regular season.

On top of the numbers, there were all the intangibles. From the beginning, it seemed as though he would inevitably become the leader the Griz needed. Maybe that had something to do with his downfall. Every time I spoke to him, he referenced being a leader, a coach on the floor. It'd be near impossible to get upper-classmen to listen to a struggling sophomore.

The slump was bad, no one can deny that, but I never thought it'd do him in. This kid once re-entered a high school playoff game and rallied his team from a 12-point deficit after suffering a concussion and gashing his face but he can't overcome a run-of-the-mill sophomore slump? Come on.

To him, it's undoubtedly more than that. There's probably some tension between he and Coach Tinkle over playing time and the like. To this Griz fan, that complaint seems unwarranted. Unlike some other players—see: Zach Graves, Matt Martin—he got minutes when he played well. You don't need to look any further than end of the last regular season match-up against Idaho State and the two games that followed to see this is the case.

Fans will bash his sometimes immature ways and poor decisions but no one can deny that he played with a lot of passion and tried to spread it to others. It usually looked like he was having some fun. He always took the big shots, the daggers. When a statement was needed, he'd try to make it.

I'm not going to lie, I think it's a terrible decision. I do not know what goes on behind closed doors so my judgement could be far, far off but I believe if he averaged 15 and 5 (assists) in limited minutes in the early games next season, a starting guard spot would his before Thanksgiving.

In summary: his freshman season was amazing, the slump was too much and both sides will regret this happened.

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Coach Wayne Tinkle speaking to reporters following the Griz beating Northern Colorado 81-66.

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Editors Note: Heh, I thought I'd toss this in there as some sort of  retro homage to Danny Davis. I wrote this article for a class, so for a bit I had to pretend not to be the biased blogger who spent the entire game yelling from the student section. Enjoy.

With two games left in the regular season, the Montana Grizzlies—who were favored by the media to win the conference—had yet to clinch a spot in the Big Sky Tournament. Thursday night they kicked down the door with an 81-66 victory over the University of Northern Colorado.

"This is a game to clinch," said sophomore guard Cameron Rundles, "it doesn't matter if we're playing Duke or Northern Colorado, you have to be fired up because if we lose this game or lose Saturday, it's possible we don't make it into the tournament."

Rundles, who finished with 16 points in 21 minutes, was part of an overwhelming opening run that put the Grizzlies up by as many as 22 in the first half. After the game's opening 20 minutes, the Griz (14-14, 8-7) were on pace to score 96 points.

"I made some shots on Saturday [against Idaho State] in overtime and I was making some shots in warm-ups so I just thought, 'what the heck, I'm going to put some up and see what happens,'" Rundles said.

Early in the first half, it seemed as though no matter what the Griz did with the ball, it would end up going through the hoop. At one point, Ceylon Elgin-Taylor made a crisp pass to junior forward Kyle Sharp, who wasn't ready to receive it. The ball ricocheted of Sharp's flat hands right to Andrew Strait, who laid it up and in for a 20-4 advantage.

Both Rundles and head coach Wayne Tinkle credited Elgin-Taylor's play with getting the Griz going early. The junior point guard had 10 assists in the first half and finished with 8 points and 11 assists for the game.

"I knew he was getting guys involved," said Tinkle of Elgin-Tayor, "but then I saw the stat sheet at half-time and told him to go out and get 10 more in the second half...Maybe that was a mistake because we stopped running offense and it looked like he was just trying to make plays out there."

Things were rosy in the first half, but in the second Northern Colorado (12-16, 5-10) cut what was once a 26-point lead all the way down to 9 with a 26-9 run that stunned but didn't quiet the crowd.

"It's easy to come back, it's hard to come back and win," said Northern Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle, "I told my team I was proud of them for for about 6 minutes of this 40-minute game, but other than that I was really disappointed with our effort and execution. It's just disheartening."

On Saturday night, the Griz will bring a historic lineup into their match-up with first-place Portland State as senior guard Matt Martin's 7 points gives him 1,001 for his career. Jordan Hasquet and Andrew Strait—who along with Martin were part of the 2004 recruiting class—make this year's Griz team the first ever with three 1,000-point scorers.

"We all came in together and we're all in it together, it's pretty neat," Martin said. "The coolest part is that we all played on some really good teams."

Saturday night will be more than just Senior Night and the trio's first appearance as 1,000-point scorers. The Griz will have a chance to clinch the fourth seed in the tournament and a home game in the opening round with a win over Portland State, who blew out Montana State by 28 to ensure that the Big Sky Tournament would be held in the city of roses.

Coach Tinkle made sure that everyone knew there was still work to be done in the regular season.

"We'll see if we can send a message Saturday night...We've got bigger things in front of us and it starts with Portland State."

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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.

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Griz play like the Griz in the second half and lose to NAU 72-64. Here are notes from the second half:

• I thought the second half against MSU was the worst I've ever seen. This one comes close.
• The Griz got away from what they did in the first half. The offense was horrendous. I can't think of a single good offensive possession that stands out in the entire second twenty minutes. Just horrendous. In the first half the Griz ran a patient yet purposeful offense.
  
• Shooting wasn't there. The Griz were not getting Staudacher the ball. He also wasn't getting the same open looks. As I'm typing this in what are essentially garbage minutes, Staudacher hits a fadeaway three. Inside offense should be run around Jordo and Drew while outside game points toward him. Great personnel for an inside-out offense and we're not taking advantage of it.
  
• Free throws weren't good. The turning point in the game was probably with about six minutes left when the broadcasters said it would come to free throws. I knew we'd have a tough time from there.
• Cam fouled out really early on some terrible calls. The charge that sent him out was awful as the defender really slid in front of him. While it was going downhill before that, once he went out, the offense didn't have much flow.
• I don't know what else to say. It was your typical Griz second half. It was awful. As it was happening I wanted to tell myself that this would be different, that NAU would make a run and we'd make one and pull away. Didn't happen. They made a run, tied it, then got a few good possessions and some breaks, then it was over.
• Ceylon Elgin-Taylor's foul trouble hurt bad.
• This team doesn't have it. Not right now, probably not this season. They cannot play forty minutes. There is zero composure. None. No one—coaches, upper-classmen, not anyone—is holding this team together. No composure. Cam picked up a ticky tack charge to foul out then Jordan Hasquet drills someone and gets an intentional foul. Game was pretty much over after that.

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I decided not to to the full live blog and just enjoy the fact that the Griz are on TV. That doesn't mean you're not getting content during the game. Here are my notes from the first half.

• And I thought we didn't get enough fans. There is no one at this game. Based on TV it looks like there's less than 500 people there. No, I'll be honest. Based on TV it looks like there are less than 100 people at the game.
  
• The University of Montana needs to find a way to get on TV more. This is too good. Get on FSN Rocky Mountain. "They have professional hockey, basketball and baseball though! And bigger colleges!" So does FSN AZ. This is great. Look at how many people are at this game.Griz games would get at least three times as many viewers.
  • NAU's commercials blow.
• The offense looks good. Not great, but good. Hell, when Ryan Staudacher is in and CET is running the point, I'll give it a "very good."
• CET: He is the starting point guard and should get most of the minutes at that spot. He can't shoot. Sooo, that's why he's not a shooting guard. He's great at distributing and driving to the basket. Not great at finishing but just driving opens up so much on offense.
• Ryan Staudacher should be getting star minutes. Jordan Hasquet-like minutes. He is great. The knock on Ryan is that he can't "create his own shot." I've said it myself and I don't think it's wrong either. The thing is, he is the very best person on the team at getting open shots. He comes off his screens harder than any other Griz. Once he gets the looks, he knocks them down. The hustle is the best part though. Watch him. No one gets as open as him.
• Martin is a shooting guard. That's just the way it is. The offense slows down a bit (not a ton) when he's at the 1. He's better filling in as a shooter.
• Griz are killing NAU on the boards. It's 19 to 10. Not even close. NAU is not boxing out at all and the Griz are taking advantage.
• Griz are making the extra pass. It's happened a couple times. Both times I recall had the pass going to Drew. One where the shot clock was winding down and Cam found him for a layup. Another time, Jordo was close to the basket, went up for a shot against a double team then laid it off to Drew as he was going up. Drew finished easily.
• NAU is not a very good team. At least not right now. They're not making their shots and are getting killed on the boards. A win here could do a lot of good to the Griz's confidence considering NAU's success in past years. This year, they're a bad good team. Yes, I meant to type both words.
• Griz need to play 40 minutes. If they do, they'll pull away and the 'Jacks won't even be there at the end. That's been the knock on the Griz to this point. This is there chance to rid themselves of it.
• They showed a graphic saying the Lady Griz were down 26-3 at half to NAU. They had it wrong, it's the other way around. Ahahahahaha.

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There are some problems I wish the football and basketball programs shared, such as selling out tickets too quickly while not having a big enough stadium to hold all the fans. Having an inept offense is not one of them.

When it comes to the Griz, there's one thing a lot of things fans are complaining about. One of the most prevalent is the Griz's inability to run a efficient moving offense. A lot of fans are saying there's too much standing around. The bigs aren't getting the ball and we're not going to the line. Here's a solution: run a very basic pick and roll offense.

It sounds dumb, doesn't it? It's right there with the Princeton Offense as one of the most basic gameplans in all of basketball. Opponents should be able to pick up on it and defend easily, right? If this were the case, why would the Phoenix Suns, possibly the NBA's most effective offense, continue to go to it?

Imagine, Jordan Hasquet could be a whiter, hairier and slower Big Sky version of Amare Stoudamire. It'd be great. Toss in Cam Rundles or CET as a de facto Steve Nash and you have it. Why can't this work? Let's take a look at the possibilities while running a basic, top of the key, Cam/Jordo pick and roll:

• Cam gets pick, drives down lane and lays it up and in on sleepy defense
• Cam gets pick, defense recovers too late and he's fouled
• Defense swarms, Cam kicks it to Staudacher or Martin for wide open three
• Cam drives down lane, help-side D comes, Cam lays it off to Drew for a dunk.
• Defense tries to jump under screen, Cam hits jumper from the elbow
• Both defenders jump on Cam, bounce pass to Jordo for thunderous dunk
• Cam passes to Jordo off screen, Jordo gets fouled.
• Griz run pick and pop. Cam gets screen, D follows him down the lane, he passes back to Jordo for three.

Just a few of many plays that can come in a solid pick and roll offense. Yeah, it's basic, so what? We haven't won a D-1 game since November, anything this simple is worth a shot.

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It's not working. It isn't. No matter what the Griz have tried—which right now is pretty much limited to jacking up threes and pounding it down low—it hasn't worked.

A lot of Griz fans are arguing that we need to go with who they say are our best players and pound it get it to the bigs more. At the same time, others are calling for the guards to get more touches and have more control over the offense.

What if we did both?

Think about this: when was the last time the Griz ran a great pick and roll? When was the last time a guard knifed down the lane and kicked it out for a wide open three? When was the last time guard took a pick, got to the hoop then laid it off to a big for a huge dunk? I sure as hell can't remember.

I listened to and live blogged throughout the Santa Clara game and heard Mick and Mike constantly say things like "Great offensive possession for the Broncos"..."Really efficient play there"..."Great possession." I don't think I can recall them saying this more than once or twice for the Griz. Santa Clara had a phenomenal inside-out game.

Imagine this: "Rundles, top of the key, gets a pick from Drew, hits it hard and comes flying down the lane kicks to Jordan, swings it to Martin, wide open...DOWN THE PICKEL BARRELLLLL!"

Or: "Martin, off the pick from Jordan, hesitates, bounce pass right back and huge slam!"

It seems like every possession is an either/or. Either we swing it around and take a jumper or cram it down low to Jordan or Drew.

I hope the Griz got some good tape of John Bryant and Santa Clara's inside-out game. The Broncos probably have the best big man we've seen all year and yet they still had the most effectively balanced offense. With the even talent the Griz have at just about every position, they could learn a lot from Santa Clara.

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Tonight the Griz play the 6-3 Broncos of the West Coast Conference. The Griz have lost three straight and come into the matchup at 5-5 looking to get a win before finishing off the road trip against Cal State Fullerton.

As always, the grizzlyjournal has an excellent preview on the game.

Tonight I'll be running a live blog on the game. I've done this before, but never without TV. I'll be listening to the radio broadcast over the web and offering up any comments and insight I have. On top of that, Glenn Junkert, author of the grizzlyjournal, will be chiming in as well.

It all starts after the jump. Feel free to add whatever comments you have.

Pregame

Colin: Obviously, the Griz need a win bad. Picking up these next two would be huge for the Griz's confidence heading towards conference play. Everyone knows this. Anyway, here's the lineup I'd start if I ran the show:

1-Cam Rundles
2-Ryan Staudacher
3-Jordan Hasquet
4-Andrew Strait
5-Brian Qvale

The Griz need to go big to battle huge John Bryant (6'10", 305 lbs, 20.7 ppg) and Martin would be great coming off the bench. I'm not saying Stads is more valuable out there. I just think Martin's fire and swagger would be perfect coming off the bench. Second guy off the bench: probably Sharpie to help out on Bryant. Third off the bench: Graves. This kid needs minutes like the Chicago Bears need a new quarterback. No, I won't let MNF be a distraction during the game. Graves needs minutes because quick guards killed this team in their loss to Pacific (see video).

Glenn: Ok. Before this game even starts, my hope is that Brian Qvale gets the opportunity to match up against the Broncos' 310 lb, 6'10" center John Bryant. I firmly believe Griz are a couple pieces away from cementing into a solid team heading toward conference play. One of them is more game experience from Qvale. The more minutes he gets, the more opportunities he'll get to show what he can do. Waging battle with Bryant is an ideal opportunity for Qvale.

Colin: Agreed. I think this matchup is going to be a great test for Qvale. It'll be interesting to see how their styles of play factor into this. Qvale is a quick, agile big who goes for a lot of blocks. I do not know for sure but going in, I'm imagining Bryant as a player similar to UCLA's Kevin Love, except 50 pounds heavier. Not really quick but more powerful. He can back you down so that your head is touching the net then lay it up and in. It'll be interesting to see if Qvale can get some points and rebounds down at the other end of the court.

Colin: Still waiting on the audio feed.

Colin: Alright, here's an alternative to the audio feed because the one from MontanaGrizzlies.com isn't up yet. Heard tinks Briefly mention he wanted to run. That'd be great. Hope he has the personnel in there to do it.

Colin: Broadcasters point out we gotta make Bryant run. He's only playing 25 minutes a game so endurance is obviously an issue... woah, wait, Tinks car got broken into. Wow. Talk about a bad omen.

'Squets injury is going to be interesting. As they noted, Griz did not practice yesterday.

Glenn: Former Griz Mike Warhank, a guest color analysis commentator for Mick Holien, made a good point on the pre-game show. If the Griz can push the pace with every chance they get, they might have success in the low blocks. Andrew Strait runs the floor well, and can be very effective in the early offense. If the Griz can force the Broncos into a "faster than normal" transition game with sideline entry passes to Andrew, they could open the game up a bit.

First Half

20:00 0-0

Colin: Cameron sits to start again. Same lineup as last game. Qvale-Strait-Jordo-Martin-Stads.

19:00 4-0 Broncos

Colin: Qvale apparently got a bad call on a block and picked up a foul. Hopefully the officiating is better than last game. This isn't a great start. Looks like Broncos are willing to foul and be physical.

Glenn: Good to hear that Jordan Hasquet is starting, playing on his gimpy ankles.

4-3 Broncos after Hasquet 3, good call by Glenn

Colin: Arena seems very dead. Not much atmosphere whatsoever. I believe attendance is close to what it was at Pacific but sounds much more quiet. Students must be gone.

17:02 6-3 Broncos

8-3 After a Dunk

8-5 after bunny by Drew

Colin: Really would prefer to see the Griz take control of a game. Seems as though it always starts out like this with a medium sized deficit.

10-5 with 15:12

Colin: Hopefully the Griz can come out of the break with some fire. Look to see Cam or Graves (PLEASE). Need some fire. This is where you need the Chavez.

Colin: Cam does come in. Hopefully he can give the Griz what they need. Sharpie comes in as well. Still 10-5.

Glenn: Single-shot possessions won't do on the road. Griz will need to get some offensive boards for second shots.

Colin: Agreed. We need some offensive boards. That as Qvale checks back in. Going to be tough with Bryant.

10-6 as Ceylon Elgin-Taylor checks in

Colin: Griz seem to be drawing quite a few fouls. Hopefully someone important is getting in trouble.

11-8 after a pair of Sharp FTs

Glenn: An aside on the game: Mike Warhank is an excellent color commentator. Great observations.

Colin: Agreed. I have a terrible memory, I believe Mick was all alone last year. Mike is filling in great with the color.

It's now 11-10 with 11:00 to go, hopefully the Griz can come out of the break and make a run. One Chavez candidate is in in: Spurgetis.

Glenn: Correct with your earlier post suggesting that Zach Graves & Greg Spurgetis get more playing time. Both have energy & can help the Griz in important areas of the game.

Colin: Dave is checking in. This should be interesting. We'll see what type of minutes he can earn against possibly the best center we've seen this year.

19-10 Broncos after a pair of threes and a layup

Colin: Wow, exactly what we weren't supposed to do. Johnson has ONLY made three point shots. It's not like all 4 of his makes. It's all 15+ of the shots he's made. Amazing. Get Graves to chase that kid around.

Glenn: The three-point bugaboo is biting the Griz again.

Colin: That and missing easy shots. Come on fellas. Cannot do that when the Broncos are shooting so well.

Now 22-10 after another trey with about 8:00 to play

Colin: Boy does this seem familiar. Griz let medium lead grow due to three pointers for them and missing open shots. We need to come out on fire. Revamped. Come on Tinks, toss in something else if this isn't working. Insanity: trying the same thing over and over while expecting different results. The Griz need to show they're not insane... that'd be a good start.

Glenn: I think Mike lives in the area and is just serving as a guest for these two games.

Colin: We could use him full-time. Great insight.

22-11 after Strait makes a FT... then fouls someone on the other end

Colin: This is pretty much echoing Mike, the Griz are pretty much letting Santa Clara run their offense however they want. Get Graves in there. We need someone to get in passing lanes and screw them up a bit.

Lead is all the way up to 13 after FTs

Glenn: Disappointing start against an opponent I figured would be a decent mark. It's obvious the Griz aren't handling the Broncos inside-outside game.

Lead down to 11

Now 9 after Hasquet jumper

Colin: It's looking like Hasquet might have to carry us again. Who knows if he can on those ankles. Why Martin is still in there with this lead is beyond me. He is a great offensive player. We need a little D with the way the Broncos are shooting.

Lead all the way back to 13 after missed Martin 3 and Bryant layup... Strait gets a lay-in to move it back down to 11... but then someone rolls down the lane again.

Colin: What the hell. Get someone in there who can prevent people from walking down the lane. This is kind of a joke. The only way our D up the middle gets worse is if we put down a trampoline around the free throw line and they can just jump over us and dunk it.

Glenn: Can't see it, but it appears the Broncos are getting high post screens for easy penetration by their guards.

Colin: Yep. Mick says there's no real sense of purpose... or something close. BRING IN THE BENCH GUYS. We need some fire. We've done this over, and over, and over again. We need quick or passionate guards. Someone rip Graves' and Greg's sweats off and shove them in the game.

Colin: Mike points to lack of effort. This is unbelievable. We need new guys if this continues. The end of bunch guys are starving for minutes. STARVING. You think effort will be a question of effort there? I doubt it.

Glenn: Andrew is playing the post well tonight. But the Griz won't make any headway without someone stepping up to make some threes. Hasquet just collects his third pf.

Colin: Agreed. Don't want to see us get too dependent on that though. And they get a rebound on a free throw. Yeah, effort is definitely an issue.

1:35... 31-19

Colin: Mike says "there are driving lanes to the basket." Really, tell me I'm wrong. Tell me Graves shouldn't be in this game.

Glenn: Hmmm. Mike Warhank suggests the Griz guards have lanes to the basket. That suggests tentative play by Griz guards.

Colin: Wonder if the injury is affecting Cam. Last season he'd drive without abandon. He's been more of a shooter this year. Significantly hinders what used to be a very dynamic style of play.

33-20 at Half

Colin: That really couldn't have gone a whole lot worse. It was exactly what we've seen in our bad losses.

Colin: "Tell me what you're up to Mike"... "Well, I'm actually talking to O'Day about getting my old job back. Tinkle said he'd be fine moving back to assistant." Maybe he just takes over for one half. I'm not normally one to rail on a coach but I don't like the way this first half has been handled. The same thing keeps happening and we keep trying the same faulty solutions.

Glenn: Don't have to go any farther than the stat line: Santa Clara is shooting 52 percent from the field and 100 percent from three-point range with 22 rebounds. The Grizzlies are shooting 29.2 percent from the field, 14.3 percent from three-point range, and have 10 rebounds. If the Bronco hadn't turned the ball over six times the margin could be even greater. I don't like to think this, but the Grizzlies are starting to show the same pattern of logging disastrous halves of play much like they did last year. This is the fourth time this year they've shown this pattern.

Second Half

Colin: Griz need to come out and play a totally different game while hoping the Broncos do the same. We need a great pep talk and some phenomenal adjustments.

Colin: Mick says "you can see the energy on offense"... great... until Strait misses a lay-up.

Glenn: The Griz are shooting 55 percent from the free throw line, which is another puzzling up & down stat.

Lead is 16 after a 3 point play... then Staudacher makes a trey.

Colin: Really sounds like the Griz have some fire now. Still not making their shots though. Sounds like they are trying to run it and get to the rim. You can hear Marso screaming 'GO!'

40-25 with about 16 minutes left

Colin: If the Griz don't make a big run this will go down as an L. Chipping away is just not going to work. We need a series of stops and a lot of makes.

Lead is 16...12 after solid plays by Sharp and Rundles...13:57

Glenn: Judging by the audience, it sounds like the Griz have pretty good crowd supporting them.

Colin: Hopefully we can show them a win. Nothing like walking out of an opposing arena with a win while dressed in garb from the visiting team.

One FT pushes lead back to 13

Colin: Mick says Jordo's ankle isn't bothering him at all. Good to hear. Don't want any lingering injuries.

Colin: Seems like we're forcing put-backs a little too hard. Need to reset more. We did on the last possession after getting a second offensive rebound. Good to see the Griz hitting the glass after an abysmal first half in that category.

Glenn: Even Mick Holien is making critical comments about the Grizzlies' tentative, "lazy" play. Ouch.

Colin: He also points out that we are not picking up getting any momentum and cannot make two shots in a row. The Broncos travel on two consecutive possessions. Need to capitalize on TOs like these.

Stads puts down a 3 as the Griz cut it to ten with close to 10:00 left

Colin: Here's the goal for rallying. Just be calm, try to keep it so you're down that fewer points than minutes left.

Glenn: Would love to see Ryan Staudacher have a "break-out" game from long range.

Colin: We need it. We need someone to be there.

Lead is back to 12 after Bryant basket

Goaltending as it's back to 14

Staudacher missed 3 and Broncos run down and get to the line

Colin: This is awful. Griz make the tiniest run then give it all back and then some. No rhythm, confidence, momentum.

Lead is at 16 with 8:18 left

Colin: Running out of minutes. Pace is way off. Down twice as many points as minutes. Great.

14 after Cam FTs about 8:00 left... Cam hits a 3 and it's 11

Colin: Real risky shot by Cam. Lucky it goes down. Now Graves comes in. This should be interesting.

Glenn: Sure is nice that Cam's playing with energy once again. It might be a sign he's getting past his foot injury. Your guy's subbing in, Colin.

Colin: Not gonna lie, I'm kind of nervous.

Lead is back to 13 after a pair of FTs

Colin: Real young line-up down the stretch. This will be very very interesting. Wow, missed front end of one and one by Hasquet. FTs kill us and whatever momentum we have. It happens in almost every game.

Cam throws one away and Broncos get 2 more... back to 15... then makes a runner at the other end.

Colin: Maybe Cam should be taking/making more shots early. Didn't he do this the other night in Portland?

Strait picks up fouls on the offensive and defensive ends... lead goes to 16 as Bryant makes a pair of FTs then Stads hits a 3, it's 12.

Colin: We're getting homered again. Not that it'd help that much but come on. Can't put us down even further.

Down by 10 with 4:01 left..now 8... Griz get a stop and over-the-top foul on Santa Clara

Colin: Not sure if we're shooting FTs coming down but we NEED points. Either two makes at the line or a big shot. A three would be beyond massive. If Stads makes it his starting spot is cemented.

Glenn: A good late-game run, fueled by Cameron. I'm reading some stuff into this, but if Cameron's taking control, that's a good sign.

Colin: I agree. He's turned it over a couple times but made up for it on following possessions. We need him to play this way the entire game.

Jordo misses the front end of a one and one again... 3:00 left and still down 8... 10 as Bryant gets another one.

Colin: Tough basket there. Leads to an MT miss.

Still 8 with less than 2:00 left

Colin: It was there for the taking. I'm not sure it is anymore. Mike Montgomery even left.

Griz get a couple of turnovers but cannot convert.

Colin: That's game. I think. Another Griz miss.

Another turnover by Santa Clara leads to zero Griz points

Colin: The game was there and we didn't go out and take it. Just needed to make a fun more shots run a few better sets and we're right there.

Santa Clara 60, Griz 49   Final.

Postgame

Colin: The Griz lose their fourth in a row and fall below .500 for the first time with a record of 5-6. Just not a good game whatsoever. There were a few extremely short stretches where we played well but never could put together enough solid possessions. There was certainly a time in the second half when the Griz could've got back in the game but they didn't jump on it. There didn't seem to be the clutch mentality and determination to pull out a come-from-behind victory.

Glenn: The best game plan in the world won't work when your team shoots 33 percent from the field and 53 percent from the free throw line. Am I correct? -- The Griz get two 1-and-1 opportunities with the lead down to 8 points and they can't convert.

But still, they play the Broncos even in the second half. But another 20-point first half (the last time they did that was at home against the Portland Pilots) is a tough hole to crawl out of.

Colin: Agreed. The Griz didn't have what was needed to jump on a team when they had a chance. I don't know if it was effort, endurance or what. You can't play all your games at home and you can't get long breaks between every game. I don't know why the broadcasters are blaming the legs at times when the Griz played great in the final two days of the Spokane tournament. Just poor shooting, poor effort.

Glenn: I was pretty encouraged after the Grizzlies battled to overtime against Pacific. This game's a big setback. It'll be interesting to hear what coach Tinkle has to say. Of course it doesn't get any easier on Thursday.

Glenn: Did Tyler Hurley suit up? Was he even there? The official statistics indicate Hurley was suited up.

Colin: Not sure. I didn't hear anything about that.

Tinkle sounds pretty somber. Said he found a combination that might've worked... when was that? Graves maybe. I'm not going to say that. We came back for like two minutes. Tinkle sounds pleased with the play of Spurgetis and Graves. We'll see what that does. We're going to have to toss everything we have at Fullerton if we don't want to go to 5-7.

Well, that's it for me. The game was a major disappointment with very little positives. I want to thank Glenn Junkert for helping me out and sharing his thoughts on the game. Check out his blog, the grizzlyjournal.

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I realize Monday morning is a tad late to write about a game from Friday night but what the hell, here's my opinion anyway. Here's the AP story for those who missed it.

After the wins in Spokane, I was hoping this team wouldn't even sniff .500 until they started out the '08-'09 season at 0-0. After three straight losses, the Griz are back there for the first time since November 11, when they lost to Gonzaga.

I don't know if it was lack of endurance or what but the Griz locked up bad down the stretch. There were very few solid offensive possessions towards the end of regulation. I believe we freed up Staudacher for a wide open 3 in overtime but he missed it. That's the only good offensive set I can remember.

It seems like it's been forever since someone on this team made a game-winning shot. Hasquet had a chance to win the game at the end but missed. From what I heard, this sounded like another jumbled offensive possession. We swung it around for ten seconds before dumping it down to Hasquet and giving him a shot. This came after Pacific came out in a 2-3 zone, something the Griz surely weren't suspecting. Probably wouldn't have hurt to call the last timeout there and reset. We didn't, we missed and it went to overtime.

My guess on why the offensive sets aren't working: having Martin and Staudacher on the court at the same time down the stretch. They have very close to the same game. Neither of these two are particularly quick. They don't quite have the skills required to create their own shots which means they either have to take contested shots or run hard off of screens. It's not a huge knock on them, both are legit spot-up shooters capable of playing the shooting guard position, it's just that we don't need two of almost the same player out there. Staudacher's size gives him an advantage on contested shots—I recall a few occasions where he made a fadeaway with a hand in his face—while Martin has a bit more quickness.

I'm not sure who to plug in there. I've mentioned I few options in an early post: either going big at the three with Hasquet or going with a small three guard set of Rundles, Martin or Staudacher and possible Graves. Basically, the loss of juco transfer Sean Watson hurts and we need to cover up the bald spot he leaves behind as soon as possible.

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Portland was 2-6 heading into Friday night's game against the Griz. They're now 3-6. The Griz were up two with 35 seconds left—after Cameron Rundles made one of two free throws—but Nik Raivio hit a three to give the Pilots the lead and eventually the win.

It was a bad night. Throughout the game, I never really felt too positive about what was going to happen. On the last possession—one in which Cam fed a driving Hasquet—I had a feeling the shot wasn't going to fall. It was just that type of night. The Griz shot less than 25% in the first half and 35% for the game.

Going off the Missoulian article, it sounds as though players aren't buying into the coaches' gameplan.

“We get great looks out of our offense when we run it all the way through,” Strait said. “We're kind of struggling right now with that.”
...
“We give him that shot all day long,” Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said of Raivio, who scored 13 of his game-high 17 points after the break. “I am a little disappointed that we left him. We had a timeout where we said stay with their shooters, make them dribble into our big players - we were ready to take charges - and we left him alone for a split second and that was enough for him to get the shot off and make it.”

Tinkle was upset with his team's inability to execute the game plan.

“We took a lot of mediocre shots, to say the least,” Tinkle said. “For whatever reason, we weren't focused on our game plan. We came out and wanted to go 94 feet of pressure. We didn't do it the first four times we scored. Our game plan was to pound it at them, pound it at them, posts take it and finish strong.

“Maybe what happened when we threw it in to them early and we were soft going to the basket, maybe the players said we shouldn't throw it in there anymore. I thought we came out and played very soft on both ends.”

The Griz cannot lose these type of games. In the most recent simulated RPI listings, Portland was over 200. And we lost to them at home! It can't happen. Not when we have a potentially season-defining road trip on tap. I don't know if it's leadership, execution, coaching or the lineups, but it has to change.

Here's my proposal for the lineups, without really factoring in Cam's possible injury: I believe we have to either go big or go small, no more 'tweener lineups that force us to play the other team's game. We can go big with Qvale-Strait-Jordo-Martin-Cam and squash teams while potentially taking our lumps on the defensive end. One thing is for sure, teams will have to live or die by the outside shot because it'll be tough driving on those bigs. If we go small we toss in the slashers and go with a lineup like Strait-Jordo-Cam-Graves-Martin/Elgin-Taylor. Graves, who is potentially the most athletic player on the team needs to get minutes against smaller quick teams. He also needs minutes when we're trying to press. With Cam not starting and Tinks trying to press, it would've made sense to start Graves.

However, I am not laying this on Coach Tinkle. This loss was on the players. A coach can't do anything to make players shoot that poorly. With that, something does need to be done. A leader needs to step up and discipline needs to be laid down because if the Griz go on this road trip with the mentality they've had in the past two games, they'll come back to Missoula as a 5-7 team.

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Because this game was a comlpete blowout (72-47 Griz), let's start with the students' perfomance tonight. It was God awful. Really. The south student section (why the student section is split up into two halves is beyond me) sat the entire game and made zero noise. None. Wonder why the game was so close in the first half (29-27 Griz)? It's probably because the Lights were going at the end completely devoid of any activity.

The second half, the Lights were going at the north end (bleacher side) of the student section. I'm not sure how they could've possibly been rattled because we didn't make much noise. Maybe they were just intimidated by anyone that stood. If that's really all it takes, this shouldn't be too difficult. Case in point: when the Lights were going at a dead student section they were -2; when they were going at a somewhat active student section they were -23.

I want to get this across. The north end was standing the entire game but made almost no noise. Things finally got going when a few rowdy kids walked in with five minutes left and the Griz already up twenty. When we start playing better teams, the students cannot wait til the end of the game to make noise. We also can't wait til we face the good teams to be loud the entire game. Teams practice before they play anyone and we should get this cheering thing down before we play half-decent teams.

Oh, yeah, and almost no one wore the student shirts. I saw less than 50. The marketing department gives out a thousand student shirts and more than half the students show up in ridiculous looking non-Griz attire. You know when you try and look good by wearing Abercrombie and Fitch or Hurley to a sporting event? Yeah, it doesn't look good at all. It's like trying to wear fancy fake athletic shoes to go work out. You're trying to look stylish but the look is doing the exact opposite of what's intended. You know, at most other schools students have to pay for the shirts and they still all wear them. Unbelievable.

Onward with game-relevant material. Martin looked amazing. He drained shot after shot and finished with 13 points. The Griz were led by Hasquet, who was his usual self. His line: 19 points, 8 boards and 4 assists. Tonight the reboarding looked solid, especially from players coming off the bench. Both Qvale and Sharp finished with 10 boards while neither could've played more than 15-20 minutes. Qvale also finished with 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting. Other scoring notes: Drew had 12 and Cam had 13.

While the numbers don't really show it, Zach Graves also impressed tonight. He's easily one of our most athletic players. When he gets in, he puts forth more effort than anyone, as evidenced by his 3 steals (leading the team) in 13 minutes. He finished with 4 points and 1 assist on 2 of 3 shooting.

Back to the crowd thing: besides the students, there was no one there. The official attendance:3,334. Come on. Seriously? We can get behind a football team that plays down to every opponent and has players who terrorize the town but we can't draw 7k for hoops? I'm not saying people should follow basketball more than anything else or that people should abandon our football team. I'm saying anyone who calls themself a Griz fan should actually be a Griz fan, not a Griz football fan.

Edit: the directions were off. The south side is the chair side, the north side has bleachers. Thanks Mr. Gregory McDonald, who apparently hates Griz basketball.

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MSU-Northern Lights. The name alone makes them sound unimpressive. Not only does it start off with MSU but it ends with the region of a state. Usually never good. The grizzlyjournal points out that this team comes in with a 6-0 record and looking good on offense.

Lights Out: Montana State Northern, the Grizzlies’ Wed. opponent, rolls into town with a 6-0 record, which includes an interesting comparison against a common opponent. The Lights -- an NAIA Div. I school and a member of the Frontier Conference -- are averaging 92.3 points per game. Included in the 6 wins is a 93-82 victory over the University of Regina, which beat the University of Great Falls 84-59. The Griz beat UGF 77-46 in a pre-season game Oct. 31.

Against this small, quick, fast scoring offense, it'll be interesting to see if Tinkle changes the lineup a bit. The Lights seem like the type of redshirt freshman guard Zach Graves would do well against. He's a quick kid who could penetrate on a team without a decent shot blocker. The Lights' roster says they have a few guys who are 6'7" and 6'8" but this really means they're about 6'5" and 6'6". I want to see a lineup that includes the 3 guard trio of Martin, Rundles and Graves. Rundles and Graves can fly around while Martin spots up from beyond the arc.

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I hope to have some media up later and possibly even a little video but for now, here are my impressions from the game. It's a work in progress...

One thing I really liked tonight is that it looked like a completely revamped offense. We weren't jacking up threes or clogging up the tempo by running every play through our bigs. There was a lot of movement and great balance between driving to the basket, taking jumpers and running it through the posts. The shooting could've been better but that's expected this early in the season.
 
Jack McGillis: I know he's not playing this year but tonight he was easily the most impressive player on the court. That's why I'm starting with him. An excerpt of my notes on him read "GREAT...really, really, good." At the beginning of the scrimmage he was going to the basket a lot but as it went on he showed his range of skills. He made 3's, a tough fade-away, layups and a couple dunks. On one of them he was one on one with Greg Spurgetis on a fast break. Both players went up, Jack let Greg fly by before throwing it down. There really should be an exception to the transfer eligibility rule if said player fits so perfectly onto a team.

Brian Qvale: One of our two young (very) bigs. He's a bit more filled out than Selvig. He's a very aggressive defender. On one possession, he went one on one with Drew. Drew made his usual low post move. You know, where he does a bit of a dipsy-do before he lays it off the glass. Well, Drew has him beat with the spin and as the ball kisses the glass, Qvale smacks it off the backboard. Lookin' good. Besides that, he also was great on the boards.

Derek Selvig:  His style, figure and demeanor remind me a bit of Spencer Hawes. He's all arms and legs. He's willing to take the 3. To be honest, I think the only shots I saw him take were from beyond the arc. If he can consistently knock that down and bring a center out to guard him, it'll be good news for our quick guards, especially...

Zach Graves: He's a great Nellie-ball type player. Great bursts of speed. Flies around the court offensively and busts his ass getting to the basket. However, against our defense, he had some trouble. With all the talented bigs, that lane just fills with arms. If someone tries to play small-ball, he's the type of player who can make them pay.

Matt Martin: His shot was falling tonight and he was taking it. He played with a lot of intensity, and rightfully so. He's trying to get his starting gig back. A spot he'll be battling Ceylon Elgin-Taylor for. It was interesting seeing them go head-to-head, easily the most competitive part of the scrimmage. Martin runs a bit slower offense than the other guards. He runs the play and waits for it to set up. It's not a bad thing, he just runs the offense with a slightly different style than Elgin-Taylor or Rundles.

Ceylon Elgin-Taylor: He reminds me a lot of Bryan Ellis. He's a bit bigger. He has that same defensive intensity, he'll take chances and go for the ball. His offense game is somewhat similar to Ellis' as well. More of a distributor than an offensive threat and why not? He's a pure point, exactly what we need.

Cameron Rundles: Cam performs a bit better when there's something on the line, which makes sense. Even so, he still looked good tonight. As far as his offensive style and pace goes when running the point, his is the fastest. It's more improvisational and not as stuck on the play. If he sees something, he'll jump on it. Besides that, he has a great looking shot.

Greg Spurgetis: He was out there, getting bounced around a bit but still working hard, trying to be more than just a "practice player." Made a few shots, hustled on D. The type of player every team needs.

Ryan Staudacher: Pure shooter. He's a big, strong player and that helps him on getting boards. Need him to consistently deliver that dagger 3 and most of the time he does. He must run off screens well because he almost always finds a way to get open beyond the arc.

Michael Taylor: Another guy that won't play this year due to the transfer rule. He's a guard that's in the Steve Kerr/John Paxson mold. A solid shooter who can make passes. Maybe he'll eventually be  a GM too, who knows.

Jordan Hasquet: You know the deal, this Jordo is a beast. He's a leader on the team who can overpower almost anyone you put on him. A lot of other guys were taking shots tonight and it's tough judging any possible improvement in an intrasquad scrimmage.

Andrew Strait: Similar to Jordo. You know what he does. He was going to the basket a bit more of the post up. He was trying to get to the hoop for layups as opposed to settling for the baby hooks. Something I liked to see.

Kyle Sharp: Looked good defensively, didn't do a ton on offense. He grabbed a few boards. He's gotten a lot bigger over the last two seasons.

Tyler Hurley: Didn't get much playing time so I can't really leave any notes. Looked a bit timid. Too early to make any real judgement.

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I'm going to take this football bye week as an opportunity to jump into hoops news and analysis. There's a lot to be talked about when it comes to basketball. This team has changed quite a bit with several important cogs leaving and a bunch of new guys coming in.

I plan on doing a series of previews on the basketball team. Up first is analysis on who we lost.

Here's the list and after the jump is a complete rundown of what each loss means.

• Matt Dlouhy
• Bryan Ellis
• Austin Swift
• Stuart Mayes
• Gus Chase
• Mike Chavez
• Charlie Cox

There are some significant losses to the team but nowhere near what was lost after the 05-06 season. Ellis and Dlouhy were both starters most games but they weren't quite stars on this team. Cameron Rundles is very ready to take over for Ellis at the 1. Rundles' sophomore season should be devoid of freshman mistakes so his offensive game is leaps and bounds above BE's. Bryan Ellis took a couple game-deciding shots last year that I would've much rather had Cam take. While the Griz can easily make up for the loss of BE on the offensive end, it will be tough to match his leadership and defensive intensity. I know BE tried to pass on all the leadership and knowledge he could but only time will tell how Cam adjusts to a bigger role. He has the personality, swagger and confidence to be the leader of this team. It will be much harder to be the defensive stopper BE provided.

Losing Matt "Doc" Dlouhy hurts but it doesn't kill. Neither the effort nor leadership were never at the level a senior starter should display. He had the ability to take some outside shots and throw down a few dunks, but for the most part, it is not a huge loss.

Like the departure of Doc, the loss of Stu Mayes hurts but it does not drastically alter the team. Mayes played incredible perimeter defense and did what many NBA summer leaguers couldn't do in shutting down Rodney Stuckey. There were some disciplinary issues early in the season but his contributions were vital down the stretch. The Griz will miss his senior leadership and defensive prowess, but not sometimes lackluster attitude.

Mike Chavez was not the type of guy you could consistently rely on for incredible play. That being said, it doesn't mean Chavy won't be missed. Mike didn't start or put up huge numbers but he was great off the bench. He was middle-inning reliever who could come in and fire 99 mph fastballs one after another. Chavez would come in, make a great play or two,  and fire the crowd up. The crowd would in turn get the rest of the team fired up. In those instances where the Griz came back from double digit deficits, the rally was usually started by Mike Chavez.

Gus Chase and Austin Swift are in similar positions. Both came to UM with high expectations. Chase was one of the top JuCo forwards in the country and Swift was a great 3-4 combo with a ton of versatility. I hate to see Chase go. Whenever he got in, he busted his ass in an attempt to get a bit more playing time. His game wasn't the pretties but he got it done. I think his size created some prejudice amongst the staff. It created this belief that he couldn't score in the post or rebound. From what I saw, he could. He dominated at the practices I went to and made positive contributions when he got in the games. He powered into the paint, made some ugly baskets and got to the line. He struggled defensively at times but he hustled for rebounds and got his fair share. There was great chemistry between him and the young core in Rundles and Graves. He was a fan favorite and always played like his hair was on fire. His lack of playing time and departure is one of the biggest critiques I have for this coaching staff.

Swift was Chase's opposite at times. When he got on the floor, his effort never matched his talent. I remember one game where he got in, picked up two fouls in about 35 seconds and was almost content spending the rest of the game on end of the bench. At times, he did have the effort but frustration got in the way. Swift also displayed chemistry with the younger core of players. It'll be interesting to see how they develop after seeing their teammates depart.

And finally, Charlie Cox. In this program, Cox was going to be, at most, a third string point guard. He just didn't have the size to make it here. I hope he's seeing success elsewhere.

Looking back, the Griz lost several important players. All of these guys contributed in their own way. I mean this as no disrespect to these guys, all of whice advanced the program a little bit farther, but none of them were true star players. Only Ellis, Mayes and Dlouhy were all potential starters but the Griz should be able to make up for all these losses with the amount of talent coming in.

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The Florida Gators won back to back with what amounts to a group of talented college buddies. Pretty sure my college buddies couldn't band together and win the smallest athletic competition. After seeing how we did in intramural 3-on-3 hoops, the only championship we could maybe win is one in which we had to consume as much as Pabst Blue Ribbon as possible.

With the Fab 4 or whatever they're called on this Gator team, you rarely saw one without the other. Random pictures would surface of them at random places with the quad constantly being intact. This off-court chemistry contributed to major success on the court. I read somewhere that, as freshman, this quad and some other guy beat the starters in a scrimmage.

I don't understand how something like this isn't possible with our Griz. They don't have nearly as many distractions. I mean come on, is Sharpie gonna be selfish to try and crack the SC Top Ten or is Drew considering jumping early just so he can go off and make it rain? I don't think so. Everyone is here for four years, there is no TV and no Florida girls. Come on guys, just be friends.

For those of you that aren't on campus and don't get a chance to see the "quasi-celebrities" that are the Griz hoopsters, they really aren't a solid group of buds. I mean I'll see them eating together every now and then but it's rare and they're usually split up into a couple groups. The two main one's I've seen are the middle guys of Swift and Sharp, they seem kind of inseparable, well, until one bolts. Then there's a duo/trio of Gus, Cam and Zach. As with the Sharpie/Swift combo, part of this group is gone as well. Besides thinking Gus is a really solid player, his chemistry with the young great players is another reason I hate that he left.

As far as the upper classmen go, they tend to be a off on their own. I'm going to stop with the stupid speculation and say that everyone is friends but the team is just not as close as it could be. Come on guys, head up to Canada, bunk together, do what ya gotta do. Lets get this rolling.

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Well, the season is over and it's time to grab the reaction pieces. There's a pretty good one in the Kaimin today that mentions how a few guys went straight to the gym for some hoops only a few hours after getting home from Ogden. Maybe they worked on free throws a bit.

“Basketball is my life and I love it,” said Cam in the article. Who doesn't want to hear what this kid has to say about this and next season? Well, here is my email interview with Cam:

Grizzoulian: When you came to this team it was coming off a 24-7 season where they were a win away from the sweet 16; did the team meet your expectations and did you reach your own goals this season?

Cam: No the team didn't reach my expectations at all, we went to the final 32 and personally I think we were a better team this year even though cris and virg were huge, and we didn't even make it to the big sky ship. Personally I reached some goals but not the ultimate goal. I wanted to play a lot minutes and contribute right away for the griz. but i also personally wanted to make it to the ncaa tourney and that was disappointing that we didnt.

Grizzoulian: I understand you spent a lot of time working on shooting this past offseason (it's definitely shown); what aspects of your game do you hope to improve on during this coming offseason? What other plans do you have for the offseason?

Cam: I plan on focusing on 3 things....ballhandling, getting stronger and quicker, these 3 things take time and consistent hard work so ill be busy...I also plan on going home this summer to play in some leagues and work out with my best friends (Jamar and Treasure).

Grizzoulian: Many Griz fans believe you have the potential to be the leader this team needs. What do you believe your role will be on this team next year?

Cam: I believe my job will continue to be the energy man on the court and the bench and the floor general and an extension on coach Tinks on the floor...I might have to score a little bit next year because we're losing a key scorer in Matt D.

Grizzoulian: Many Griz fans are disappointed at where this year's hoop season ended. Where do you see this team going next season? Any specific goals?

Cam: Well next season is a long time away and right now the griz are just focusing on getting better day by day...But with the tradition U of Montana holds, a goal every year is to host the big sky tourney and advance to post season play.

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Going into this season many fans expected this talented Griz hoops program to continue its upward trend. This really didn't happen as the Griz season ended in a BSC semifinal loss to NAU. I thought I would take a look at a couple reasons why this team fell short of high expectations.

Note: Yeah, Danny Davis did something similar but I did start first.

This season started with the Griz hoops program returning almost everyone from a team that finished as one of top 32 teams in the country. Returners included the Griz's best player and all-conference performer Andrew Strait as well as freshman stud and Big Sky Tournament MVP Jordan Hasquet. Things weren't looking too bad after losing guards Kevin Criswell and Virgil Matthews. Most Griz fans thought we'd still be fine even though Larry Krystkowiak left for the Association. Well, as we know now, it didn't go smoothly.

Seems like we should've known after all the previews pointed to these things as a reason we wouldn't be as good. However, it wasn't Criswell and Matthews' 26.1 combined ppg or Krysko's X's and O's that led to a subpar season. It was something you can't teach. It was leadership.

After the jump I'll take a closer look at the leadership on this team.



When looking at leadership, one has to start at the top. On a basketball team, it's the head coach. Wayne Tinkle had a tough spot to fill replacing one of the most popular figures in Griz hoops history. Many now are pinning the failures of this season solely on him, and even I have had my frustrations, but blaming the coach is too easy and too cliche; that's not how we roll around here.

I do acknowledge that coaching was one of the reasons that for the Griz's poor performance this year but it wasn't because Tinkle is a bad coach. One reason coaching hurt is is that Tinks took over after long tenure as a Griz assistant. It must've been hard for veterans like Matt Dlouhy so see Tinks as THE guy instead of just the backup coach. Here's a little analogy: remember the feeling when you walked in for a grade school class one day and instead of seeing  your usual teacher you saw some random sub? Sure, there may have been a good lesson plan and this individual may have even been a better teacher but you know you were planning on spending the next eight hours staring out the window.

Just take a look at how some of the freshman — who never had the LK experience — have done. Cameron Rundles was playing way above his head this year as he, a true point guard, started at the two and even finished the Big Sky regular season as the best three point shooter in the conference. Ryan Staudacher also made the most of his minutes and contributed as a freshman. Then look at Dlouhy; Matt had Tinkle as an assistant for the three years prior to his senior season and sometimes it seemed as though he'd rather be in bed than trying to get a stop on the defensive end.

Another problem with coaching (once again, Tinks is not a bad coach) was the giant difference in coaching styles. Krysko was a very very passionate and fiery coach while Tinkle has a much more laid back personality. Many use a "good cop/bad cop" analogy bud I'd rather use a Chicago Cubs manager analogy. Larry Krystkowiak is your Lou Pinella, the total hardass and hothead. He would be all over his players and the officials. Tinkle is your California-style Dusty Baker. Baker once said that when he was a player and his manager flipped over the locker room food table in anger, he'd just pick up a hot dog and eat it. Now before you point to the fact that he ruined my favorite team, remember what Baker did with the strong veteran leadership of Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent. This is where the loss of Criswell and Matthews comes into play.

The Griz just did not have the strong veteran leadership that Criswell and Matthews gave the 05-06 team. Here are the seniors on this team: Bryan Ellis, Stuart Mayes, Matt Dlouhy and Michael Chavez. Only two of these guys start. Two of them served suspensions and Matt Dlouhy just isn't really a leader.

The next step in the search for a leader would be to look at the team's best players. In my opinion, there's a trio of Griz "stars" including Jordan Hasquet, Andrew Strait and Cameron Rundles. Hasquet and Rundles especially are probably too young to be respected and heard by the upperclassmen. Then from what I've seen of Drew that he's really kind of a quiet guy, kind of like Tim Duncan. Has anyone ever seen him get really fired up during a game?

Going into next year many fans, including myself, believe that Cameron Rundles will be the primary leader on this team. His position and demeanor just make it seem so inevitable; like how every thought that Avery Johnson becoming a good NBA head coach was inevitable.

A real wild card could be Matt Martin. Martin has a confident, sometimes arrogant personality, that could make him a leader. An MJ/Kobe personality maybe... maybe not. Even so, he may start at the 2 next year and if he contributes look for him to be even more vocal than he already is.

You may disagree with me on some of things (if so, voice your opinion) but every Griz fan knows that this years team was in desperate need of a strong leader. If this team wants to return to being a formidable Mid-Major foe, this is one area they will definitely need to improve on.

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After beating Idaho State, the Griz advance to play the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona. Whenever one talks about the 'Jacks, they have to mention the great shooting of guard Stephen  Sir, who has been in Flagstaff since around the time when Limp Bizkit was popular. It's interesting to note that Sir, who led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage last year, did not grab the regular season Big Sky crown.

This is from a preview of the Griz/ISU game:

With his five 3-pointers Monday at ISU, Rundles qualified for the league leaders in 3-point percentage and finished first in the league at .481, just ahead of NAU’s Stephen Sir.

Sir has jumped back ahead of Cam, .479 to .471, with Cam's 2-6 performance in the quarterfinal game. This matchup will be an interesting one as outside shooting could play a big role in deciding who goes on to play Weber or Portland State.

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The more I see Cameron Rundles play, and the more and more I hear about him, I can hardly believe we got this kid playing out here in the Zoo. Cam led De La Salle High School (of Minneapolis, Minnesnowda) to back to back state championships and was a finalist for Minnesota's Mr. Basketball his senior season. However the most impressive thing on Cam I've seen is an article from his team's playoff run last year.

I can't get  a link to the actual article but the complete text can be found in a comment on this blog. Here's a longish excerpt:

Cameron Rundles walked off the court following DeLaSalle's 61-56 victory over Minneapolis Henry wearing a smile that somehow looked out of place with the large bandage wrapped around his head.

The senior guard had just led the Islanders to a victory in a Class 3A, Section 5 championship game at Osseo so brutally physical that shoulder pads would not have seemed odd.

Rundles took the biggest hit of the game, colliding with Henry's Al Nolen Jr. while going for a rebound with 5 minutes, 32 seconds left in the first half. The two banged heads and Rundles landed hard on the floor.

The result was a dislocated left shoulder and a nasty gash over his right eye. The shoulder was popped back into place, but he left the court for the remainder of the half and, presumably, the rest of the game.

However, Rundles came back into the game with four minutes gone in the second half, and he didn't miss a beat.

He scored all nine of his points in the second half and dished out five of his game-high seven assists as the Islanders rallied from a 12-point deficit with a 19-6 run.

"I've been in Minnesota since 1986 and I've seen a lot of basketball," DeLaSalle coach Dave Thorson said. "And I've never seen a player as tough as Rundles. He may not be the best player I've seen, but he is the toughest."

Are you kidding me? This is insane. If having his arm being popped out of its socket doesn't prevent this kid from taking over a game, Big Sky defense sure as hell isn't. This is like Dwayne Wade-esque, minus the tears and being carted off in a wheelchair.

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This morning's Kaimin had a pretty decent article about Cameron Rundles that I was able to read before Terrorism class; no, it's not what it sounds like.

The article itself is about how he's a "mama's boy," which I guess is kind of interesting, but more importantly, there are some great quotes in there on his capabilities as a leader.

I can't get a link because the Kaimin's site isn't updated but here are the typed up quotes:

"I'm not leading any of the categories or anything," he said, "but I'm OK with that. I just want to help us win. I try to be the vocal man."

"First I look at myself as an extension of a coach on the court. I'm a great communicator and a leader, so I try to communicate what coach Tinks says to us, on the other players."

Tinkle, in his first year as head coach agrees that Rundles' effectiveness lies in "intangibles" such as aggressiveness and leadership.

I've been on the Cam Rundles bandwagon from the very start and these quotes just further my belief that he can and probably will have a significant impact on this program. This young team is in desperate need of a strong leader. Cam may be too gain the respect of all his teammates right now, but over the next three seasons he will become a dominant coach on the court; a Peyton Manning for Griz hoops, if you will.

On top of the intangibles, Cam has all the essential tools to be a great guard in the Big Sky Conference. He's been working on his shooting and it's shown this year as he's hit some big shots from three point range. He also has the athleticism to get to the basket but still needs some work on finishing. It will come in time and Cam Rundles may go down as one of the better guards ever to play for the Griz.

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You know what, I hate Dick Vitale and I'm sorry for any reference to him. I hate Joe Buck too but that's not the point. The point is that Cam Rundles is a stud.

The Griz won a grinder over the rival Cats with a lot of help from their frosh. Rundles scored 15 big points in the second half. It was like he just decided that after going scoreless in the first half, he was going to carry this team.

However, it wasn't the normal way someone carries a team by making spectacular plays and obviously playing superior to everyone else on the court. Instead, he just made shots when he needed to.

I remember once when the Cats made a big basket to cut it close, Cam got the ball behind the three point line with no less than 25 seconds on the shot clock and just decided he was going to knock down a three. He rose up with a defender all over him and knocked down like he was just shooting around after practice.

Does anyone know where the ceiling is on this kid? Seriously, a freshman that runs the point and is possibly the most dynamic player on the best team in the conference. I don't think he'll ever reach the Stuckey stratosphere but Cam is good, damn good.

Fellow freshman Ryan Staudacher also played well as hit three big threes coming off the bench. As did Mike Chavez. Stads is finding his spot in the rotation but Chavy is really fighting for more playing time. That's kind of scary seeing as this team needs role players but it's great to see his effort.

The Griz are starting to find out who they are. Good timing too with league leaders Idaho State and Weber State rolling into town this week.

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With last night's road victory over the Portland State Vikings, Wayne Tinkle moved within 872 wins of Bobby Knight.

In more important news, this Griz team is starting to play like they're supposed to and Cameron Rundles is the future.

The Griz came to the Stotts Center, where PSU was 6-0, and won a game that was far more important to their confidence than their overall record. They go into conference play and another big game against the Eagles knowing that they are not a flop but potentially the most talented team, top to bottom, in the Big Sky Conference.

True freshman PG Cameron Rundles showed that this will not only be his team in the future, but right now has as much of an impact as the players with more seniority. Cam finished with a career high 20 as he led all scorers. He also made this team run and flow. Once last night he got a defensive rebound and just took off for the opposing team's basket, not stopping until he was fouled in the lane.

Stu Mayes, who earlier this season was kind of in the dog house with Tinks, played great off the bench as he scored 10 big points including a tip-in with 13 seconds left that sealed the win.

This team is completely coming together as everyone is finding out what their role is and going out and doing it. Like I sort mentioned before, this team is finding it's identity as a team that can go out and run.

Next up is EWU on Saturday. They were shocked by MSU at the buzzer so Rodney Stuckey -- this kid needs a nickname, like Mamba and Agent Zero -- is going to be pissed.

A win in this could be just as big as the PSU win, except this time for the standings. Two road wins in the conference would be a great jump start. And because I thought this was hilarious when i saw it on TV last night, another great jump start after the break.

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Tonight the Griz face Portland State in their first Big Sky Conference game. It's only the first game in conference where many are predicting a deadlocked race  where the BSC regular season champ might be only a few games above .500.

That doesn't matter, this game is huge. It is. I wish I could get the Donald Trump impersonator screen thing from Conan just so I could get him to say "it's huuuge" and then you might really understand.

This team needs to figure out exactly who it is, a talented flop or returning BSC contender? They go into the game with a long list of things to prove. Some of those are after the jump. First off, the Griz need to show that they can play on the road. They have yet to win a game in an opposing team's gym. Their shooting has been horrendous and they lack the swagger they used to have. They lost to lowly Portland on the road in their last game.

The Griz need to show that they can play with small, great-shooting teams. In this article, Tinks says it's likely the Vikings will have four guards out there most of the time. That's scary considering  the way this team played against small teams earlier this season.

Wayne Tinkle, show me you are ready to coach this team and make the talent match the results. Tinks has yet to put a great spark into this team while LK had these guys playing like their hair was on fire. Unite them and get them pumped to play a good team on the road.

Killa' Cam Rundles, show me you are ready to handle the point. You've shown flashes but still make freshman mistakes. Prove that this team is yours. Put it together and make them run.

Andrew Strait, show that you can not only lay down a good stat line but can also lead your team to a victory.

Matt Dlouhy, show me that you will never ever go out and toss up a goose egg again.

Bryan Ellis and Matt Martin, prove to me that you should earn the #1 point guard spot. You two are older and should have this job.

Jordan Hasquet, prove that those big games last year weren't a fluke and come out with consistent play.

Ryan Staudacher, show me you can do what you came here to do and that is consistently drain threes.

Gus Chase, show me you're as good as you were touted to be coming out of JuCo. Make the most of the minutes you get.

I could go on, but won't. Everyone on this team has something to prove and should be playing like so. Most of all, the Griz need to prove they are as good as they were made out to be. They need to come out with the swagger that a team with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances should have. Play like these guys can't even play with you. Run the court, shoot well and beat them playing small ball. Bang it low, box out, get the boards and beat them playing big. Play with confidence and show me you're still having fun.

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The Montana Grizzlies lost third straight road game as they fell to Oral Roberts, whose season will likely be highlighted by their victory over then #2 Kansas in the second game of the year.

This comes after three straight wins, all at home, over teams that my high school (led by Gonzaga commit and sister's ex-boyfriend Steven Gray) could contend with.

The Griz beat the Golden Eagles by 15 last year at home as part of the Bracket Buster series so they had to return the favor. I don't think they know that they just had to play them at home, not return the favor of supplying a double-digit victory. The Griz ended up losing 69-58 in a game that felt a lot like the loss to Western Kentucky. The Griz went into the half trailing by 5 but ORU went on a run to start the half (we used to do that) and the Griz never really got all the way back into the game.

Somewhere towards the middle of the second half -- well somewhere between 5 or 10 minutes in -- Bryan Ellis went to bench with four fouls. The Griz were down by 12 and it seemed like it was only going to get worse. But in came Cameron Rundles.

Shortly after that the Griz went on a 7-0 run with Cam scoring at least four and dropping a dime during that period. The lead was down to 6 before ORU scored and then Tinks inexplicably pulls Cam for BE and the lead blows up faster than a tennis ball filled with match-heads. This didn't make sense to me. You're on a run so you pull the player that triggered it.

I mean go ahead and put in BE, a good on-ball defender, but don't kill the run. I don't think I've ever seen a game swing so dramatically on a couple of poor substitutions.

Cameron Rundle's play has been convincing enough to me; this will be his team for the next three seasons so why not hand it to him now? Cam should start on Friday at Portland and throughout conference play, which starts after Portland with three games on the road.

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What is wrong with the Griz basketball team? Honestly, this team is just as talented, if not moreso, than last year's team and it just isn't showing. When talent is not meeting expectations, coaching has to come into question.

The following clip is from a recent Bill Simmon's article on Doc Rivers. The Griz players don't give too many quotes after games but if they did I guarantee they would be saying some of the things listed below.

See, it's not hard to tell when your coach stinks. You usually know when your players are constantly saying things like "We just need to sustain that intensity for four quarters," "We need to play the kind of defense we're capable of playing," "We can take big leads, now we need to learn how to keep them," "We're a young team, so we're still learning how to bring the same consistency every night," "We have to start getting stops," and my personal favorite, "We need to learn how to execute down the stretch."

In last night's 81-65 blowout, the Hilltoppers made a run at the end of the first half to go into the break tied after trailing double digits previously. After the half the Griz came out flatter than a Monopoly board and Western Kentucky went on a 22-5 run. This would've never happened with last year's team. Last year the Griz would ALWAYS come out on a high and make a big run to start the second half. These runs were a staple of Larry Krystkowiak's motivational skills.

Coach K's recruiting skills also showed last night as Cameron Rundles looked very capable of running the point. He had 13 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes.

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The Griz open their exhibition schedule tonight at 7:05 with a scrimmage against Concordia of Portland. Here's what Tinks had to say on tonight's lineup:

Tinkle said Strait, the Grizzlies' leading returning scorer (16.6) and rebounder (6.4), will start along with sophomore Jordan Hasquet and senior Matt Dlouhy, who both started last season. Sophomore Austin Swift will start at a wing, with either junior Matt Martin or freshman Cameron Rundles at point guard. Martin has had a flu bug that has bitten about half the team in the last week or so, Tinkle said. Senior Bryan Ellis, who saw plenty of minutes at the point last season, tweaked an ankle in practice and will suit up, but his minutes may be limited.

It's really good to see some of the younger guys in Swift and Rundles make it into the starting lineup. Swift, a sophomore, is one of the most improved players from last year's team and Rundles is a freshman out of Minneapolis, Minnesnowda who is very capable of running the point.

From what I've heard at practice, the Griz will have a size advantage and will be looking to really control the glass. With the size advantage, look for Gus Chase and Andrew Strait to put up some numbers. Also, look for Kyle Sharp and big Dave Vanderjagt to get in there for some major minutes if the Griz get up. Greg Spurgetis is another player to watch; he shot the ball exceptionally well in the Maroon Silver scrimmage last week.

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I've been busy the last couple days doing a story on the proposed Missoula County Charter (it's a hoot) so I'm kind of backed up on all the basketball information coming out. There's really a lot with the scrimmage, season previews and polls so I'm going to try and toss it all up in one post.

Silver/Maroon Scrimmage
There was a lot of coverage on last night's scrimmage, with some articles even declaring a winner; this doesn't really make sense seeing as the the scrimmage was split up into two 16 minute games and another 5 minute one with the teams getting changed up after each.

The bigs were probably the most impressive as Andrew Strait and Gus Chase put up 25 and 18 points respectively. Sophomore Jordan Hasquet also looked good as he hit a big fade-away late in the second scrimmage with someone practically inside his jersey. Frosh Cameron Rundles also looked very capable of managing the 1. Interestingly, Matt Martin played a majority of the scrimmages at the 2-spot. If Martin and Ellis struggle I could definitely see Rundles getting some major minutes at the point. Greg Spurgetis, a sophomore, was on fire at one point hitting shot after shot from behind the arc.

Related articles in: Montana Kaimin, The Missoulian, The Great Falls Tribune and on Montanagrizzlies.com.

I wasn't able to stay for the Lady Griz scrimmage but here is the Kaimin article on that.

Season Previews
A couple of season previews have come out from CBS Sportsline and Athlon Sports over the last two days. The Athlon article picks the Griz to finish first in the conference while the CBS Sportsline piece has them all the way down at third with NAU at 1 and EWU at three. The article raves about EWU's sophomore guard Rodney Stuckey, who will be playing the two this year instead of the point.

The Polls
Here are the polls, from a Sac State press release.
COACHES’ POLL
School (First-place votes) Points
1. Northern Arizona (4) 59
2. Montana (4) 58
3. Eastern Washington (1) 54
4. Portland State 41
5. Sacramento State 37
6. Weber State 27
7. Idaho State 22
8. Montana State 17
9. Northern Colorado 8

MEDIA POLL
School (First-place votes) Points
1. Montana (9) 233
2. Northern Arizona (13) 232
3. Eastern Washington (7) 222
4. Portland 149
5. Sacramento State 143
6. Montana State 109
7. Weber State 95
8. Idaho State 93
9. Northern Colorado 30

One last note: Both men's basketball coach Wayne Tinkle and women's basketball coach Robin Selvig signed multiyear contracts.

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