Montana Grizzlies Sports, Football and Basketball : Grizzoulian

The Maroon and Silver Scrimmage, the closest thing we have to Midnight Madness (that's sad), is tonight in Dahlberg Arena. The men are up first, at 6:00, with the ladies following at 8:00.

Here's Tinkle on what he's looking for tonight:

“Hopefully we’ll be able to put on a little bit of show tomorrow night and let the public see our new faces and establish the way we want to play this year,” Griz coach Wayne Tinkle said. “The main thing we’re going to be looking for is the level of intensity we’re going to play with, and then the discipline and execution.

“Offensively we want to make sure we’re executing with the pace and tempo that we want. Defensively we want to make sure we’re playing with the aggression that we want.

“Our defense is probably a little bit ahead of our offense right now, so it might not be pretty at this point in the game. Hopefully it doesn’t look like a three-ring circus.”

And Robin:

“I’m hoping our fans will want to get an early peek at this team, because it’s going to be an exciting one,” Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said. “We return a great bunch of players and have added some exciting newcomers. It’s a fun bunch. We have a chance to be a really good team.

“Tomorrow will be more of a game-like situation, so it’s more fun for the players and it’s a good gauge for the coaches to see where we are. Sometimes you learn things about the players when you’re on the court with officials that you don’t find out in practice. Though hopefully not too much that you don’t already know.”

These should be a few of the more anticipated scrimmages in a few years as both teams bring in a lot of talent.

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Look for Robin at about the :45 mark.

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It wasn't just the wins. It was the way the Lady Griz played the game that drew outstanding support from the community.

The way the Griz played and the atmosphere this past weekend made those two games some of the best Griz sporting events I've ever attended. Honestly, they're up there with the Stanford upset, "The Zoo" night and Bagley's catch against EWU. The actual number of people was great—4,265 for the Portland State game and 5,016 for MSU—but it doesn't do an ounce of justice to what it was like in the D on Friday and Saturday night.

The Lady Griz were having fun and so were the fans. There were times when the Lady Griz would make a series of hustle plays—someone would dig out a rebound then kick it out for a dagger three from Cote, Mandy would give a little shimmy and knock one down right in someone's grill, Ena would bang her way to the rim before getting the hoop and the harm—and the whole crowd would stand and cheer in agreement that what they were seeing was amazing. That's how they played: filled to the brim with confidence and completely devoid of all selfishness. They supported one another and wore the Lady Griz uniform with pride.

The Lady Griz put on a show and gave the fans a good deal of entertainment, but when Lady Griz needed something themselves, the fans provided it. The fans didn't only respond to great plays, they helped cause them. When the Griz needed a stop or a run, they were there. They were there because they knew the Lady Griz would respond. When the Lady Griz were down, there was no doubt they'd make a run; whenever there was an opening, they'd stomp their collective foot on the chest of the opponent as they buried any doubt over the final outcome.

But it wasn't all like this. It wasn't all smooth. No one knows if they needed it but Coach Selvig kept them grounded. I'm damn-near 100% convinced that the reason he walks with a small limp is because he stomps so much.

There was a time in the MSU game when the Lady Griz were up comfortably by somewhere around 15 and Sonya Rogers made an ill-advised pass into the post on a fast break. It was picked off and as Sonya hustled back on defense, Robin stared into her back and screamed "SONYA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" It was terrifying. Sitting front row in the student section, his scream and stare were so intense I almost felt like I messed up. But these girls are tough. They don't get flustered, they don't think it's all a show. They know they screwed up and do not want to do it again.

There are so many things that went into this amazing season that's it's impossible to accurately describe even 1/8th of what it was like. For those of you who missed it, I'm sorry.

I'm also sorry for giving very little recognition to this great team here on The Grizzoulian. They should've gotten many more entries than the few written about them.

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Apologies for the poor image quality.

Saturday night, the Lady Griz blew the Bengals out by 22 at Dahlberg Arena. After the victory, it looks like the conference winner will have to win the championship on the same court. With the win over ISU, the Lady Griz's magic number is one with only three to play. A victory in any of the Lady Griz's final three games (@NoCo, @EWU, @PSU) means the conference tourney will be played in Missoula.

Here's an interesting tidbit on what Selvig & Co. used as motivation going into the game. From the Missoulian:

Doma, who entered the game needing 26 points to pass Montana assistant coach Shannon (Cate) Schweyen as the Big Sky's career scoring queen, finished with her lowest points total (12) of the season. She didn't score at all in the 10 minutes Lohman was assigned to her in the first half.[...]

“A lot of her shots weren't falling that maybe might have other nights, but it was nice to hold her to 12. Shannon (Schweyen) has the conference record right now so we were like, ‘We can't let (Doma) beat Shannon's record in our house.' We were talking about that before the game and used that as a little energy.”

Here's some audio from my post-game interview with Coach Selvig.

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Stuck between an overtime win with fellow conference-frontrunner Portland State and next weekend’s looming rivalry game with Montana State, Saturday night’s matchup against Eastern Washington was the definition of a trap game. The Lady Griz won 77-59, but it wasn't without a little bit of trouble.

In the first seven minutes, I believe the Lady Griz were shooting somewhere around 25 percent from the field. At that 13:00 mark, the Lady Griz were down 18-6.

Then a 3-pointer by senior guard Laura Cote sparked a 11-2 run in which she hit another jumper while Johanna Closson knocked down a pair of shots from beyond the arc. After another Closson 3-pointer put the Lady Griz ahead 22-20 at the 5:46 mark, the Lady Griz didn't trail again.

I got a chance to speak with Coach Selvig and Britney Lohman after the game. They left a similar impression: the Lady Griz play with a perfect balance of confidence and respect for the opposition.

I first asked Lohman what coach Selvig says coming into games like the one against the Eagles (who have yet to win a conference game). Her response: "It's a big game no matter who we're playing." When asked about falling down early, said the shots just weren't falling but everyone was confident they'd make their run.

Selvig, almost the same thing: "We make every game the biggest we got." Also: "Our girls play with a lot of confidence."

Perfect mentality.

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The men's and women's basketball teams host their annual open scrimmage tonight in Dahlberg Arena. The men's scrimmage start at 6 while the Lady Griz will follow at 8.

From The Missoulian:

“We're excited to be able to get out in front of some people,” second-year coach Wayne Tinkle said. “We've been going at it hard for about a week and a half, so it will be nice to have a little more of an open environment and let the guys get some of the nerves out.

“It'll give us a starting point so we can continue to correct mistakes and get the guys better as we move forward.”

“I think the ladies are always excited for this scrimmage,” 30th-year coach Robin Selvig said. “It's nice to get in front of some people.

“We have quite a bit of our stuff in so it should be a good gauge of where we are. The freshmen have been learning quickly so we should be able to put together a decent performance.”

I'm really looking forward to getting to my first solid look at this team. I hope to have some detailed impressions up tonight.

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Yes, this makes two entries in a row containing media from Deadspin, but I'm not going to talk about how great it was to see Tennessee head coach going topless or how Tinks should do the same. Instead, take a look at the bottom line: Gonzaga @ Portland. Yes, I know you and pretty much everyone didn't care about this game but for some crazy reason it was shown on the 'family of networks' Monday evening.

I watched this game and it was pretty awful. I don't understand why ESPN sends a crew to the tiny gym in Portland but can never bring one to the Zoo. I often watch these games and wonder how all these other schools can have such great fans but I've started to see what's going on. A majority of these big schools consistently have great fans but a lot of these other places have fans who are getting up and coming out for the game because it's being brought to you by the mightiest four letters in sports.

How great would it be to have ESPN in Missoula for a basketball game? I know I want to see painted fans and an absolutely packed Dahlberg. Seriously, ESPN and ESPN 2 do not have much better to show at some of these times so they might as well take a chance on a BSC game. They have billiards, darts and ping-pong on sometimes, why not some college hoops from out in the boonies?

And if we can't see Wayne Tinkle painted and shirtless then how 'bout Robin Selvig?

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