The Grizzoulian : Montana Grizzlies Sports : Football, Basketball, Track & Field, Soccer, Cross Country, Volleyball, Golf, Tennis, Lacrosse : Montana Grizzlies Sports, Football and Basketball : Grizzoulian

It's been a long time since the Griz won a game like this. Over the past two seasons, the Griz have slipped from one of the conference's best teams, then to just a contender and finally to a mediocre squad stuck to the middle of the pack. With last night's 72-65 win over Portland State, a team some thought would go undefeated in conference play, the Griz may once again be one of the conference's elite.

A team that often times lacks intensity and heart finally showed the characteristics a decent team should.

Here's what Vikings coach Ken Bone had to say about the game, from the grizzlyjournal:

“They (Montana) hit some big shots, hit some big threes and... the crowd got into it, and I thought they just did a nice job of executing plays down the stretch and making baskets and we didn’t,” said Portland State Coach Ken Bone.

“I thought our guys played hard, but Montana just deserved to win,” said Bone. 

It's odd hearing that quote coming from someone other than Wayne Tinkle. Rarely do we hit the big shots, make stops and end up being the team that deserved to win.

Here's Tinkle and AJ commenting on the team's character, which is no longer acidic and cancerous.  From The Missoulian:

“I just think it says a lot about our character,” said Montana coach Wayne Tinkle, whose Griz had been outscored by the Vikings 180-101 in their previous two meetings. “It was a team that had stepped on us the last couple of times we played them. We challenged our guys to respond and show a little bit of Grizzly pride.”

“It's chemistry,” Johnson said. “We talk about potential a lot of the time. That's been the knock on us, when is our potential going to be realized. I think we saw it today, what we can do when we're firing on all cylinders. The chemistry was at a high.”

In conclusion, this victory and what it means for this program is almost bitter sweet. On the positive side, this was a much-needed win, one that thrusts this team and program back into the conference race. But when did beating a conference opponent constitute a signature victory? These are teams we're supposed to, at the very least, split the season series with and now it feels like a legit upset. I hope the next time we beat PSU, preferably in the tournament, it doesn't have close to the same feel.

Photo credit: Jerek Wolcott for Montanagrizzlies.com

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

First Half

• We have our first ill advised Jordan Hasquet three point attempt of the game.
• But still, this isn't that bad so far. 3-0 Griz 90 seconds in. So, these announces are far better than the Idaho State crew, no ridiculously huge bias so far.
• Really slow start for WSU. We also have our first AJ fadeaway dagger. Put that on the list of things worth 1 drink in the Griz Hoops Drinking Game.
• So WSU cuts the audio during breaks. Somewhat smart, but not entertaining.
• Weber State looks horrible. We're up 9-2 early. Getting plenty of opportunities for open shots but they're not falling. If they do we could end this.
• We've missed at least five three pointers so far. Depending on that a lot too much. There's another one.
• And like that, on back-to-back threes, it's 9-8. No, 11-8. McGillis has 7. I'm somewhat shocked.
• 11-10 Griz, 11 left. Hasquet is struggling a bit early. Despite the lead, shots really aren't falling for the Griz. Missing lots of open looks. Sloppy ball all around.
• Griz are now trailing 12-11.
• Here's the thing. Selvig loves to play some Dirk ball but plays center in the practices I've seen. It's probably been since high school, almost two years, since he's played that kind of ball.
• I'm watching the game with someone who doesn't understand/like sports. For those of you who've done this, you know it's bad. They resort to making fun of the whole situation. Annoying.
• Time for AJ to take over. Starts with him trying to get to the rack, gets the call, nice.
• I'm not sure Jordan Hasquet has made a shot yet.
• You can usually tell when Anthony Johnson is about to turn it on. He was right before picking up his second foul. When the team is down more than they should be, he puts it on him.
• If you were doing a drink for every three point miss from Jordan, you'd be about two beers in.
• After a McGillis trey, it's 24-19 with 4:00 left. Great game from Jack so far.
• Stockton is looking really shaky filling in for AJ at the point. It'll be interesting to see how things play out once CET gets back.
•  Half ends with a AJ turnover and Weber dunk.
• Okay, I hate this in college hoops, but with a guy like Anthony Johnson why not just put everyone on the baseline? Is there anyone in this conference who can stop one-on-one him even three times out of ten?

Halftime

• 32-23 Weber at halftime. If this creeps into double digits I'm going to be upset. We'll see how we respond. It'll be Hasquet threes and McGillis fadeaways or penetration by Anthony Johnson. I vote for the last option, opens things up for everyone else.
• If we lose this game, we're 3-3 in conference.
• It's chili time.

Second half

• The lead is 11 after a couple free throws. Second half starts a little like the first. Pretty sloppy. It's now 14. Timeout and a technical. Keep it up Wayne.
• This needs to go under 15 quick. Yeah, I'm looking at you Anthony. The announcer said he's a "guy who looks for his own shot most of the time." Nay. 
• Staudacher is getting a lot of wide open looks. And missing them. He's ice cold.
• 38-25. 16:25. No hill for a climber. Right?
• And we let the shot clock expire. AWESOME.
• 39-27 as the annoucer says "I'm not sure how they beat Montana State, other than that the game was in Missoula." We're that team, the team that surprises people when we beat mediocre teams.
• Here's a hypothetical. Say Wayne Tinkle picks up his second technical only to have the Griz storm back and win with him watching in the locker room. What are his odds of coaching here next season?
• 42-27. 13:24 left.
• Anthony Johnson has three fouls. You have to leave him in.
• AJ gives up a one-on-one chance at the hoop to have Staudacher fake a three then get a closer jumpshot swatted. Well, then he makes one. Now we're only down 14.
• Lead is back to 16 on a pair of free throws. 49-32. 11:30 left.
• 48-36 after three by Stads. 10:30 left.
• McGillis picks up his fourth foul because he didn't box out. 53-40 with 9:25 left.
• Why the f*ck did Kyle Sharp take a three? The lead is now 15 after a turnover by Anthony Johnson. YEA GRIZ.
• Anthony Johnson made a long two to have Weber make a three. 58-42 with 6:46 left.
• We're going to lose by twenty. Probably. The lead is now 17. Nope, 19.
• The lead is 11 after an AJ three. Please, don't tease. Gave up an offensive rebound, let the other team wind down the shot clock then fouled. They made both. That's the Griz basketball I know.
• Final score is 71-55.

Postgame

• People can argue all they want about whether it's coaching, talent or whatever but one thing is for sure: this team is very very bad. They don't play with any heart. They either win or get beat by double figures because most games, they just don't give a shit.
• It's getting to the point where something really drastic needs to be done.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks

First Half

• "He raped the arm with his arm." Actual call from your Idaho State radio guys. Yea, just put Mick on whenever the Griz are playing. Are there more than ten Bengal fans watching this game? Is their guy half as good as Mick? I don't think so.
• So far, Anthony Johnson is not getting the calls he gets at home. Not that surprising but some of them are pretty blatant. He got mauled on a "block" early.
• In low resolution (Big Sky Tv) Matt Stucki looks just like Michael Cera.
• No one complains about calls like Idaho State fans. Idaho State broadcasters are close, but the fans win.
• Hasquet should have a limit on his three-point attempts. Two per half, maybe. Never on back-to-back possessions.
• I should probably drop in a score. 12-9 Bengals at the moment. There's no ticker and no word from the broadcasters on time.
• Just realized Coach Tinkle is on the frontside of the quarter. Watch him for a couple possessions. For some reason it's extra hysterical when you can just see a giant black shadow.
• 17-12 now. Probably around 11:00 left.
• Michael Taylor's going to get more and more minutes as time goes in. Can he play point while we cut AJ loose? Or maybe he's the three threat you don't get from AJ.
• Anthony Johnson is just getting mauled on some plays. Maybe the refs saw how much he was going to the line and decided to make a point out of making sure every time he went it was for something legit. But this is kind of odd. Oh well.
• 26-22 with 2:15 left.

Halftime

• 33-26 at half. Kind of a sloppy end to the period.
• We have to win this. It's Idaho State. Maybe it's my disrespect for their fans, but a loss here is completely unacceptable. Lets do this.
• No, they don't take halftime off on Big Sky TV. Unfortunately.
• Okay, so AJ isn't doing great up to this point. Focusing a little more on distributing because he's not getting the calls going at the rack. However, anyone else find it somewhat incredible we actually have someone the opposing team needs to key in on because if he doesn't, he's gonna drop 25?

 Second Half

• Refs are kind of clogging this whole thing up. Not for one team in particular.
• Griz down 7 after cutting it from 9. Just let AJ take over. Iso that up.
• Yeah. Three point play from AJ.
• 41-33 about four minutes in. Come on Griz.
• Okay. I just noticed this. Forgive me. They call Austin Kilpatrick 'AK-47.' He's number 23.
• Sharpie with a board, putback and going to the line. Forced in part by AJ driving to the rack. Seriously, someone buy a Witness shirt so I can wear one without feeling creepy.
• That was a bad charge. But here we go "That was a HORRIBLE CALL."..."I have to give Anthony Johnson a acting award for that."..."There's nothing borderline about that!" They're yelling so loud the audio is actually muffled. Imagine Mick doing that. Seriously. Just try.
• 45-44 Bengals. 12:00 left.
• Anthony Johnson is our Kobe. Unstoppable. 11 in this half.
• 48-45 now. 10:43 left. Now pull away Grizzlies.
• Wow. They call 'illegal dribbling' on AJ. Hmmm. Do what you have to I guess.
• 7:10 to go. Bengals up 4 and going to the line.
• 60-54 with about 6:00 left as Stockton is getting some big crunchtime minutes.
• Alright. Audio is going off. Can't really put up with this.
• Griz really choking down the stretch with a travel on Jordan.
• Jordan coughs it up. Lead is 13. Now 14.
• Now AJ turns it over in the backcourt. Well done guys.
• Three point shooting has been very inconsistent. But what can you do? We're an inconsistent team.
• AJ should've finished but that was a back court violation.
• Griz cut it to 9 before the guy with the hideous and oh-so-original mohawk makes a jumper in the corner.
• Final score: 77-67

Postgame

• Well, that sucked. Things really went downhill after the "illegal dribbling" call. I get a feeling Anthony Johnson isn't going to get a whole lot of slack on the road, not that he needed any for a hesitation dribble.
• We should've won this. We'll get them at home. Face them in the playoffs. Same crap. God I hate this team.
• A win today would've put the Grizzlies in first place. You had to figure they were going to lost. So, yeah, that's right, we get Weber after a loss. They'll be ready to go.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

When the Griz went down big early, like they have frequently before, I was already beginning to conjure up titles for this post. Griz are not one of Big Sky's elite stood out more than other options. This team had already gotten trounced by Portland State and looked like it was going to roll over just the same against NAU, who took those Vikings quadruple to (!!) overtime on Sunday.

It's too often that they go down early. Just as frequently, they make a run to get in the game but can't quite get all the way back. Honestly, how rare is it that Griz radio guy Mick Holien doesn't say "no hill for a climber" during a broadcast? For the first time since I can remember, the Griz actually climbed that hill.

The reason? Anthony Johnson picked up this half-assed team and threw them over his shoulder, scoring 32 after dropping 31 on Montana State. Like Tebow in last night's National Championship game, he simply said "there's no effing way we're losing this game," hitting mid-range jumpers and putting himself on the line. In the process, he fired up others, forcing them to bring their game to where he was. McGillis' late no-hesitation 3-point dagger is a prime example.

But why this game? Why did wait until now to show the potential and resilience of a decent team? Glenn Junkert of grizzlyjournal has a quote from Coach Tinkle on the rally:

“But, our rally at halftime was... let’s throw caution to the wind, in not so many words. And our guys responded. It was nice to fight all that way, and get over the top and pull out the win. So many times we’ve fought, fought, fought, fell up short. It was great. And I think that’s what you saw as the horn went off, was the excitement of coming from that much of a deficit and closing it out.”

This team played loose, they played with confidence. They looked like they were having fun. Who knew that was possible? It'll be interesting to see if they take this approach with the offense, possibly moving Johnson back to the off-guard and cutting him loose while CET or Stockton man the point.

I thought these Grizzlies had turned the corner once this season with a win over Texas-Arlington, but that wasn't the case. Maybe this win is finally it, maybe this is a major turning point for this team and Coach Tinkle. Maybe not. But we have Sac State on Saturday. I don't know what the single game scoring record is, but someone may want to check.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

It's been a while since the Griz won a game like this.

Kyle Sharp pumped his fist as the clock clicked to 0.0, celebrating the block of a last-second putback attempt. The bench streamed onto the court, high-fives aplenty after they spent the past 90 seconds bouncing around, attempting to bring the relatively few people in Dahlberg to their feet for the final crucial possessions. It was a character game, showing this team may have the heart to do something to be proud of this season.

Players are beginning to find their roles and you can see Tinkle getting a handle on exactly what those are. We're beginning to find a rotation, lineups that work best together and others that do not. Most importantly, this team played its collective ass off.

The guys showed more effort tonight than any other game I can remember under Tinkle's tenure. Guys were taking charges, throwing themselves around for loose balls and pushing the tempo when it was fitting. We're beginning to see the character of a few guys oozing onto the play of others. Jack had a great block and a sneaky steal from the weakside a la Jordan on Malone in the '98 Finals that inspired the play of others. And how many times did you see the second half of that highlight from Anthony Johnson's deadly midrange game? We've certainly found something in this kid.

This can, and probably eventually will, be spread into its own post but Johnson's already large impact on this team is growing game-by-game. Six turnovers is nothing to write home about but he's emerging as one of the team's best leaders and a fan-favorite who's positive attitude is spreading. In the second half, Johnson entered the game with 14:28 to play and the Griz down 37-43. With 6:22 left they were up 56-49, a 13-point swing. I'll acknowledge there were other factors at play but the team played noticeably harder during this stretch.

More than any other time, the last possession spoke the most about this team. You'd prefer not to have the opponent get three shots at the tie but that was a flukey situation around the rim, including one shot that hit the front rim and then clocked Jordo in the face. The Griz played tough D for the length of the 30 second possession, didn't commit a dumb foul and made sure there was no way in hell that ball was going in, no matter how many shots they had to defend. The bench was into it, everyone wanted this bad.

This team finally showed the emotion and heart it takes to be a great team. Now, onto the road we go. Up next is a road trip that includes the University of Washington and Portland State. We'll get to see if last night was was just an exception or the beginning of something good. I think it's the latter but I'll need some convincing.

Photo credit: Jerek Wolcott for Montanagrizzlies.com

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The Montana Grizzlies won a game they were supposed to win tonight, with a 83-63 handling of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. There's a lot to gain from this game. You blow them out and that's what's expected, it's close and you look bad, you lose and it's horrific.

I didn't talk to as many guys as I wanted to tonight but jumped in a little ways into the postgame presser with Coach Tinkle and got a couple quick questions in with Anthony Johnson. Enjoy.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

You know what really is a hoot? Getting up when it's dark out. There's nothing like having your phone alarm go off at 5:30 and having the first thought through your head be genuine concern because your phone must be malfunctioning. So, the first thing I have to say is that I'm impressed that they can do that on a day-to-day basis. I went to practice Thursday and had planned on attempting to go again yesterday. Not even close. Anyway, onto the observations.

• Chemistry and attention to detail are big focal points early in the season. Tinkle stressed both throughout practice. At one point he said "attention to detail cost us 5 or 6 wins last season." During the huddle post-practice he said everything that happens on the court stays there. Guys should be able to get into it, shove a bit then go get lunch later. He made sure there wouldn't be any of the pockets of discontent we saw last year. And honestly, this team does seem less clique-y. It could be that it's early in the season and tension has not come to the point where it has a real affect but at this point all is well.
• The first team consisted of Ceylon Elgin-Taylor, Ryan Staudacher, Jack McGillis, Jordan Hasquet and Brian Qvale. That's expected.
• Anthony Johnson will be starting by conference play. For those of you wondering if he's everything he's cracked up to be, he is. He's exactly what this team, or any team, needs at the off-guard position. He's more athletic than anyone on this team last season. He's a great hustle player who looks like he loves to play the game. This is purely objective but it looked like he was having more fun than anyone. At 6:15, when you're playing your ass off so you don't have to run lines, that's tough to do. He has the strength to penetrate and combines this with a merciless mid-range game. In a scrimmage at the end of practice he nailed a baseline fadeaway (with either McGillis or Selvig in his pocket) that brought out multiple expletives. Assistant coach Bill Evans had to explain that sometimes guys are just going to make tough shots and there's not a lot you can do about it. And that's the thing, if this kid falls into a grove he's going to be unguardable.
• Jack McGillis loves him some put-back dunks. I'd put the over/under on eye-opening put-backs per game (eopbpg) at 1.5 and take the over most nights. You know what you're going to get from Jack and he's ready to get this show on the road after sitting out all of last season. Like Johnson, he fits flawlessly into this team, not only in terms of skill-set and position but personality as well. He will be the type of guy hoist the team over his head and carry them if that's what it takes. He'll be the one to say, either to the team or himself, "there's no effing way we're losing this game" then kill himself trying to do something about it.
• Ceylon Elgin-Taylor has a greater sense of accountability. He's the senior point guard and appears to understand the responsibility behind that. He's a darkhorse to become one of the team's better leaders. He's vocal, providing encouragement where needed. He's also made strides in his offensive game. His shooting is a touch better while he now seems much more capable of penetrating and finishing at the basket.
• Derek Selvig played mostly at the center position. He is still working on developing his post game. Going up against Qvale rep after rep would be tough for an experienced big, but for someone who's played mostly facing the basket, it's probably especially frustrating.
• Ryan Staudacher is better than people give him credit for. The cliche knock on him has always been that he can't create his own shot, that he's just a spot-up shooter. You know what? J.J. Redick couldn't create his own shot either. I'm not saying they are on equal talent levels, but watch the highlights and tell me they're not the exact same type of player. No, it doesn't translate to the pro game but if a guy has a pure stroke and can shoot over people, it can be deadly on the college level. Staudacher went for 9 a game last season while shooting 45% from beyond the arc. It wouldn't surprise me to see him get close to 15 per this season with a 3-point field goal percentage brushing up against 50. Depending on how much he's incorporated into the offense, I could see him pushing Jack and Jordo when it comes to being the team's leading scorer. So, yeah, he looked great in practice.
• Kyle Sharp was much more confident on offense; he was making shots with his back to the basket and dropping in a few jumpers. He's a skilled player who will be a great asset coming off the bench; he may even make a start here and there.
• Shawn Stockton will make Tinkle think twice about redshirting him. He showed what he did in high school, not a lot of scoring but he's a gritty and confident player. It's not what guys want to hear—like being labeled as a 'possession receiver'—but he'll be a great player in this program. He's very intense on defense: a player built in the Bryan Ellis mold, but even better. Even so, I think he has to redshirt. Not because of skill, but because of the depth we already have at the guard position. CET is the established point guard, Michael Taylor sat last year and Anthony Johnson fits into the role of defensive stopper.
• Jordan Hasquet is Jordan Hasquet, that's probably enough to say. Outside of chopping off the ugliest haircut in the history of humanity, not too many major changes.
• Brian Qvale has definitely put in time working on his offensive game and is looking to score a bit more when around the basket. Looks a little bit bigger but nothing drastic. He'll be a great anchor around the hoop.
• Michael Taylor didn't get as much time as I thought he would. He's a solid player who will serve as a great backup to CET. He's a very balanced player: good passer, good shooter and holds his own on defense.
• Nyandigisi Moikobu and Vassy Banny got bounced around a little bit. They're both solid players but I think still need some time to adjust to everything.
• Tyler Hurley knocked down a few jumpers and should be a consistent role player when given minutes.
• Mathias Ward spent most of practice on the bike. Not sure what the injury was but he didn't play at all. Well, I got there about 15 minutes late, so he might've at first but didn't after that point.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

These interviews come from the Griz's first practice on Friday. I've been hesitant to put them up because the audio quality is so horrendous. The interview with Tinkle is the only one that's even partially audible. Here's the process that goes into doing these: I first record the interview in a noisy gym and then take what's already poor audio and play it into my MacBook because the Sony recorder I have isn't Mac compatible. It's absolutely fantastic. Anyway, here's coach Tinkle:

As mentioned, the interview with Jack would be impossible to make out if I put it up here as audio. Excerpts...

On chemistry

It's  going really good so far, I think Canada helped a lot. It was nice to gauge where we're at in a game-like situation...So far everything's good and I don't see it being a problem throughout the season but I think chemistry's something we have to develop...It's definitely the number one priority of this team.

On leadership

It's an important thing, I'm going to do whatever I can. Number one, lead by example... Also, with that, you gotta be vocal as well. I'm definitely going to focus on those two things but I'm really excited for games to start.

On improvements

I just tried to get better at everything: shooting, handles, mainly just the mental part of the game.

Thoughts on the younger players

They've all done really well so far, they've all stepped up to the challenge of being a freshman. Like all of us, they've got to learn a lot of stuff and go through the process but they're doing really good so far. The JuCo kids are doing really good as well.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

 Wait for about the 35 second mark. Yeah, this should be fun.

Woods is a supposedly underrated prospect out of hoops powerhouse Dominguez High School in Compton, California. Last month, he was MVP of the 16th Annual Fullcourt Press Fall Hoops Classic, as he led his team, 'The Hood,' to a title in that tournament's 'Gold Division.' Past winners of that award include Paul Pierce, Tayshaun Prince, Rashard Lewis and Tyson Chandler. 

Here's a description of his performance, via Fullcourt Press:

Of the nation’s top sleepers, Woods was an “impact” player all weekend long – scoring inside at a very high clip, showing off a potent mid-range game and flushing down thunderous dunks in transition. Very good student (getting serious attention from Ivies like Columbia) had 25 points/12 boards in a semi-final win over California Select. Top 100-150 caliber prospect with potential to be higher.

Another great get for Tinkle. I'm kind of upset I won't be here to see him play. May have to do something about that.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The complete 2008-2009 Montana men's basketball schedule has yet to be released but we may already have our two marquee games. Last year, it was Gonzaga and Washington State. This season, the Montana Grizzlies will face off against the Duke Blue Devils and the Washington Huskies.

It's been rumored for a few weeks that the Griz would travel to Cameron Indoor but an abcmontana interview with Wayne Tinkle makes it official. The game is set for November 23rd.
 
"It's not like we were trying to send a statement," Tinkle said in the interview. "As a student-athlete, you want to play teams that you kind of grow up idolizing and we just kind of thought it'd be a neat experience."

There hadn't been any word on a matchup with the Huskies, official or otherwise, but UW released their schedule yesterday and the Grizzlies are on it. Montana will play at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on December 28th.

The two games present two different experiences. Duke will once again be one of the best teams in the ACC and the nation. Andy Katz of ESPN has them as the 6th best team in the country with the Blue Devils only losing two players from last year's squad. The Griz will be playing in one of the college basketball's most intimidating venues. No matter who you are, walking onto the floor at Cameron Indoor will be something to remember for the rest of your life. Last season, the Griz faced off against a similar crazed atmosphere against Gonzaga in Spokane and it did not go well. The Griz will need to have more than a "gee, isn't it neat being here?" if they don't want to get embarrassed again.

The game at Hec Ed will be very different. The Huskies should be in the middle to bottom half of the PAC 10 again as they continue their rebuilding since the Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy days. They have solid recruits coming in but won't have nearly the talent level of Duke.

This game will also be drastically different in terms of atmosphere. It's three days after Christmas and many students will be far away from campus. I went to a UW/Loyola Marymount game two years ago over winter break; the student section was half empty and the arena was far from sold out. Unlike last season's game in Spokanistan, any Griz fans wanting tickets to this matchup should be able to get them fairly easily. If a conscious effort was made amongst Seattle-area Griz fans and others willing to make the drive, we could have a very respectable cheering section. More than Duke, Gonzaga and WSU, this game is the most likely for an upset.

Lastly, major props to Tinkle for putting together what's looking like a very tough schedule. This is the most talented and athletic Griz squad since LK's tourney teams. Tinks could've easily laid out a few cupcakes and tried to put together a 20-25 win season in an effort to get some fans off his back but he didn't. Ballsy. He's challenging himself and his players while trying to force this program to take a step forward. For the Griz to get quality opponents coming to the Zoo on a regular basis, they'll have to beat a few on the road first.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Two straight NCAA Tournament appearances in 2005 and 2006 should've been enough of a base for the Montana Grizzly basketball program to build upon. It was not.

The legacy Larry Krystkowiak left behind before leaving for the NBA fizzled over the next two seasons, Wayne Tinkle's first as a head coach, as the Griz went 31-31 over that stretch. Only two seasons after Krystkowiak's departure, just a couple of his recruits remain with the program as numerous players transferred to play their hoops at schools in lower divisions, a sign to many that they couldn't cut it at this level.

Through the strife, clashes in chemistry and failure to meet expectations, Tinkle has found the team's foundation: a pair of near 7-footers ready to put the program on their backs. Derek Selvig and Brian Qvale are not the first prominent big-man tandem in the history of Griz hoops. Decades ago, Krystkowiak and Tinkle themselves led the Grizzlies. What recent success the program has seen is due, in large-part, to bigs Andrew Strait and Jordan Hasquet. Those four did great things for the program but none came in with the size, skill and history these two have.

Qvale and Selvig have known each other since they were in elementary school but were not always as buddy-buddy as they are now.

“We really did not like each other when we were growing up” said Qvale, the 6-foot-11 center from Williston N.D. “We were mortal enemies.”

Speaking not only of their familiarity, but also their ability and willingness to play at a higher level, the two first met in 3rd grade when their traveling select teams played regularly in weekend tournaments, usually in the championship game.

While the two played each other numerous times during elementary and middle school—upwards of 20 games—their high schools teams only met once. Selvig's Dawson County High School beat Qvale's Williston High School by 13 during their senior years. Selvig remembers Qvale getting a technical for hanging on the rim. Qvale says he hardly touched it.

The two even faced each other in Little League baseball, with both Qvale and Selvig playing first base and pitcher. Selvig stopped playing after elementary school while Qvale continued through high school. He said his fastball eventually topped out around 85 mph.

Besides basketball and baseball, both lettered three times in football, but the pair never faced each other in a game. Qvale did receive offers to play college football as a tight-end and defensive end from North and South Dakota schools but most colleges shied away as they knew he would eventually choose hoops.

While the two played and saw each other often in both baseball and basketball, it wasn’t until they joined ECI Select—an AAU team out of North Dakota—following their sophomore year that they became friends.

“We were good for a bunch of western North Dakota and eastern Montana kids,” Qvale said. “We beat some highly recruited teams with Division I scouts all around them and us just playing against the world. We beat them and that got us some recognition too.”

These two, a couple "big, giant, skinny white guys" as their coach Nathan Stover described them, would outwork other guys for wins over teams they weren't supposed to beat.

Stover tells of Selvig dropping 30 points on close to 10 3-pointers at a gym in Fort Wayne, Ind. This was in front of a Bob Knight assistant and with Selvig coming off a bad ankle sprain. Of course, "The General" offered him a scholarship to play at Texas Tech, one of the many universities interested in his services.

Qvale and Selvig spoke frequently throughout the recruiting process, discussing offers that came in, the merit of different colleges and how sick they were getting of the all the phone-calls.

Despite similar statistics and accolades, Selvig was the more highly regarded recruit. According to recruiting website Rivals.com, Selvig was a 3-star prospect coming out of high school while Qvale was only a 1-star.

Selvig eventually signed with Montana after limiting his choices to five schools: the University of Montana, University of Oregon, Washington State, USC and West Virginia.

“Derek was being recruited nationally and we knew that he was going to be a tough get, but we outworked everyone and won him over,” Tinkle said. “I think being a small town Montana kid helped our cause as well.”

He was right. Selvig, whose parents Doug and Anita Novak both played for the Griz while his uncle, Robin, also played and has now coached the Lady Griz for 30 years, was dedicated to staying close to home.

“It came down to family, just knowing people and staying in the state of Montana,” said Selvig, whose only school visit was to UM.

Even though family and tradition were a big part of Selvig coming to Montana, he was never pushed by his family to attend their alma mater.

“That was his decision, I basically wanted him to take his time and think about it,” said the elder Selvig, who even pushed for his son to visit a few more schools.

While the two were rated on different levels by some, they both received offers from a lot of the same schools including Washington State, who’s now ranked 21st in the nation.

The whole recruiting process got stale before Selvig told Qvale “I’m just gonna do it.” He committed to Montana in late October of 2006. Qvale committed two weeks later.

A lot of schools drool over 7-foot prospects, but they knew that while they were trying to get two guys similar in stature, they were also trying to pull in two very different players.

With his developed perimeter game, Selvig is not the typical 7-footer. Think Dirk Nowitzki as far as style of play. As far as looks and build, think white Kenyan runner with 15 to 20 more pounds stretched over an extra foot. He's not built to play down low and tailors his around it.

"I could not get him to post up," said Stover, "I'd run isolation things where he'd put it on the floor then pull up and shoot over someone...He's kind of a floater, it's sort of annoying. Sometimes you thought he should get in there and be more of a physical presence and try to use his size to get easy baskets but it just never seemed to evolve that way and in the end he was still being pretty darn effective."

Coach Tinkle said he will start playing Selvig at the post, in the power forward and center positions, with the possibility of moving him out to small forward.

"I'll play wherever he puts me, I'm just happy to be on the floor and get some playing time," said Selvig, who spent the season practicing at power forward and center.

Derek’s father Doug said he also sees his son eventually playing out at the wing because of his ability to pass the ball.

"Derek has always seen the court very well and I thought that would be an advantage being as tall as he is," Selvig said.

Stover compared Selvig's ability to make an outlet pass to UCLA's Kevin Love.

"He'd get the rebound and throw a long outlet pass so as soon as Derek would get the rebound Brian Qvale would just start running the floor like a deer. Just one pass, lay-up."

Selvig also had other ways of getting Qvale the ball: through a lob play he'd drawn up. With his dad being his high school coach and uncle Robin Selvig one of the best college coaches in the nation, it was a skill he no doubt picked up from them. Stover said of the few plays his team ran that summer, the alley-oop was used the most. When you have a guy with Selvig's passing ability and Qvale's athleticism, of which Stover raves about, why wouldn't you?

Where Selvig is the gifted aberration, Qvale is the prototypical 7-foot shot-altering center.

"When guys get to the rim, he's there to block shots," Tinkle said.

Qvale established this from the beginning, starting in the preseason Maroon-Silver game.

In an early possession, senior forward Andrew Strait had Qvale on the low post and gave the true frosh a move Griz fans had seen hundreds of times: with his back to the basket, he'd make one short fake left towards the hoop, pivot hard to the right as if he was going up for a baby hook before going all the way back to the left and laying it up off the glass. Qvale bit hard on the ball fake to the right, but as Strait went back to the left for the up and under, Qvale was there. He smacked the ball hard the backboard.

Qvale said he learned a lot about playing the post from the veteran Strait but Strait called it a “two-way street” with the bigger Qvale improving his play as well. This was one of those times then the mentor gave the teacher a lesson.

For the many memorable blocks, there's one miss that stands out the most. In an early-season game against Gonzaga, guard Jeremy Pargo went up and over Qvale like a dunk competition finalist leaping over a ball cart.

Qvale said teammates still rib him about it every time the Bulldogs are on TV. "I'm just waiting for him to graduate so I don't have to see that anymore," said Qvale as he laughed about the incident.

Simply put: if the Gonzaga bookstore sold Jeremy Pargo posters, Brian Qvale's face would be on dorm room walls all over campus. Instead, he'll have to settle for Selvig mockingly putting the picture up on Facebook. That is, of course, what good roommates do.

The pair shares a dorm room on campus, where their cleaning habits tend to differ.

“I’m a little more messy,” Selvig said of their living arrangement. “Brian’s kind of a neat freak.”

Brian described it as a little more than that: “He’ll never do laundry, he’ll leave his shoes everywhere, just walk into the room and throw his stuff down and just leave it.”

Misty Atkinson, a friend of both and a freshman redshirting with the Lady Griz, agreed and added that Selvig likes to stay up until 3 a.m. doing homework and drinking Mountain Dew.

Atkinson also said that while the pair hangs out all they time they do have their disagreements as well: “They argue sometimes and Derek always thinks he’s right.”

Inside the dorm, the two spend time playing video games like Halo and College Hoops 2K8. In College Hoops, the two fair a little differently according to the game’s rankings. In the game, Selvig starts while Qvale is the self-proclaimed “worst player on the team.”

In real life, things were different.

Selvig decided, with input from coaches, to redshirt his first year on campus. Selvig sat out while Qvale played as a true freshman, cutting their years together in a Griz uniform from four to three before either had played a game.

“It would’ve been nice to have four years together,” said Selvig, “but I know I needed a redshirt year.”

Sitting out was hard on him at first but as it settled in, he and others acknowledged it was the best thing to do.

“I think it was tough at first just because anyone that competes would like to be out there playing,” said Doug Selvig “but I think it’s certainly going to help him.”

While Selvig played only in practice, Qvale saw minutes in games early on and eventually started several games during Big Sky Conference play before an ankle injury sidelined him for a couple weeks. Even after the shin-high plastic boot came off, his playing time was hindered and he says he still hasn’t completely recovered.

As both Qvale and Selvig’s first years as part of the Grizzly basketball program were not what they might’ve expected, they and their coaches try to anticipate the impact they’ll have in the coming seasons.

“We play well together,” Qvale said. “We always know where each other are. If I roll [to the basket,] he’ll see me and if he throws it into me and he gets wide open on the outside I’ll kick it back to him.”

The duo’s presence will also alter the overall style of play: Tinkle said next season the team will “will spread the floor and play more motion next year with our improved skill and athleticism.” Exactly what Qvale and Selvig are looking for.

“More picks, more screens, get everybody involved,” Selvig said while Qvale agreed, saying he’d like to see the team get out and run more.

With established leaders already present in senior Jordan Hasquet and junior transfer Jack McGillis, their role right now may only be to play ball but they’ll be the ones leading this team in the future.

Their two styles of leadership may be different in the coming years. Selvig is the more laid-back of the two, with his attitude toward picking up his room reflecting his personality. It’s not laziness or carelessness; it’s just not being worried about it. He sits back in his chair and speaks quietly. He’ll be type of senior who offers tactics while leading by example, letting his game give the pep talks.

Qvale will be the motivator. He speaks with fire as he discusses playing and competing with teams like Washington State and Gonzaga, an atmosphere where AAU coach Stoven said he could play “on a different level.”

His tapping of fingernails stops, “It’s not that we can’t do it, it’s just mentally knowing we can.”

Just like the last few Griz basketball teams, the squads that come over the next couple years will be seen by many as some of the most talented in the Big Sky. It remains to be seen whether this base of Qvale and Selvig will prove sturdier than the ones that came before it. The duo is convinced it will.

“We’re going to play well.” Qvale said. “We’re going to be good later. We play well together. We’re definitely going to win some Big Sky Championships and head to the tournament and see what we can do there.”

The foundation is set. Now it’s time for them to build on it.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (21)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (4)
• Trackbacks

I cannot imagine how that could've possibly gone any worse. Here are Tinkle's words with reporters. Sorry for the low volume. As could be expected, everyone was a little quiet tonight. The second question is about Jeremiah Dominguez.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks

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

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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."

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (16)
• Trackbacks

Big game on the road. Griz looking to rebound from a tough loss. Need to move up in the standings. Guess what happened. Yep, they played terrible.

Well, the Griz made it drought (opposite of make it rain?) at the Dee Center tonight. The Griz shot 32 percent for the game, 20 percent in the first half. The Grizzlies shot 30 3-pointers tonight, they made five. Well done. One Matthew Martin led the way, shooting 1-10 from outside the painted arc and 3-13 overall. Fraught naught Gar and Sanchez, I have your Jordan Hasquet numbers: 2-8 from outside and 2-11 overall.  13 points, 0 rebounds. Interesting stat: CET led the scoring with 14.

The Griz trailed by 15+ the entire game and the final score was closer than it should've been. Anyone who takes solace in the fact that we made a run in garbage time is pathetic. I'd rather be a somewhat talented inconsistent team who plays crappy half the time and gets blown out by 10-15 than be the type of team that feels a certain pride when they say "hey, at least we made a run at the end" and still loses by 9.

The Griz need to win out to finish above .500 in conference and overall. Amazing. Who the hell let this happen? I mean you can blame coaches all you want but even if you have a knucklehead coach (I am not saying we do) a player has to step up and lead the guys. Even if your coach is an amazing leader of men, you still need a player to lead. Where has that been?

Seniors, I'm looking at you. Sure, do all you can with the minutes provided but sometimes that's not enough. I mean if I'm a senior, or pretty much anyone in the rotation, I'm legitimately furious as soon as things start dipping south. I start blowing people up and melting faces. Does anyone remember any player being seriously fired up at all this season?

Ohhhh, they have the flu. You know what, I shouldn't know that. This game came with built-in excuses. Players can't have that back-door. The Missoulian's preview article for this game was titled "Ailing Griz look to get back into groove." The lead quote is Tinkle saying people are sick. Why? He doesn't name names, but if you're stubborn enough not to name names, why not just not bring it up?

You know what you do... show them this, tell them to nut up because it's the stretch run then say that when they have a phenomenal game you'd not only say they had the flu but had been randomly experiencing paralysis on the right side of their body. On top of that, they did it for testicular cancer awareness. Hero.

At this point, anything short of making a run into the NCAA Tournament will be a gigantic disappointment. Even if they make the championship game. Because let's be honest, that championship game should've been played in Dahlberg OR after only one playoff game. You put yourself at the bottom of this hill, now climb it.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (20)
• Trackbacks

This game never felt right. From about Friday afternoon on, it never felt like we were definitely going to win. The buzz wasn't there. I walked in about a half hour before the game and was close to the first student there. Then the game started and the almost-numb feeling stayed. In the early stages the Jacks lead varied but stayed within five points. There was no fire, no attitude.

The Griz made a few runs and even led by as much as 7 (48-41 15:41 left in the second) but they could not get legitimate separation. After the game, coach Tinkle spoke about the Griz's inability to get any momentum.

"It seemed like anytime we got momentum going, it was somehow taken away from us," Wayne Tinkle said.

I hate to do this and I don't want this to be one of those instances where I blame the officiating —the referees did not shoot 71 percent in the second half—but it was definitely a factor. The goal of any officiating crew should be to go unnoticed. If the game is well officiated, no one says anything about it. No one remembers it. Tonight, it lingers.

There were several instances when I thought they controlled the game when they didn't need to, almost as if they felt they needed to be a part of it. After a past game, I asked one player about the officiating and he echoed the same thing, saying "I know he was just trying to control the game."

Even without the poor officiating, the Griz would not have won this game. They were 19-28 from the line (3-11 in the first half) and were out-rebounded 35-24.

Tinkle said the loss of center Brian Qvale hurt on both ends of the floor. "When guys get to the rim, he's there to block shots and we really miss that presence underneath."

Besides Qvale's presence underneath, there was another key barometer for a win missing from tonight's game: Ryan Staudacher's outside touch.

For those who made it to the game, his 2-7 from beyond the arc isn't very telling. He wasn't forcing up shots and he wasn't missing badly. Every time he shot it seemed like there was a piece of plexi-glass about four inches beneath the rim. I counted three or four shots that seemed like they were almost all the way down before popping out. Ryan spoke about it after the game.

"Sometimes you just have those nights, but it was frustrating. They all felt good, I thought they were all in but they just rattled in and out. There's nothing you can do about it."

Just not a very enjoyable game all-around. Weber State on Thursday. One game at a time.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

That gimmicky cliche seems to be the mantra for this team. After the game, I spoke with Coach Tinkle, Dave Vanderjagt and Andrew Strait about how their goals may have been altered since a few weeks ago, when the team was just hoping to make the Big Sky Tournament. Below are their responses in the order mentioned above. Sorry for any annoying clicking sounds.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In last night's blowout win over, Andrew Strait (21 and 10) passed Wayne Tinkle for 5th on the all-time scoring list with 1,520 points. Tinks helped recruit Drew and then coached him for four years. After the game I asked both of them what it was like to the student pass the mentor. Both said it was great and joked a bit.

Tinks:

"You know, I didn't know what to expect and he's had a great career. I couldn't be more proud of him being the one to pass me just because of everything we've been through as coach and player.

I threated that I wasn't going to play him at all tonight and stick him on 1,499. He had a great game, he's a super kid.  He's obviously a corner stone, one of the pillars of our team. It's exciting for him that he was able to accomplish that."

Drew:

"It's pretty special. I mean, he's kind of bitter about it but he's a good sport and it means a lot just to be up with that group of guys who are on that list...it just says a lot about my career here at the University of Montana. It's been a great experience for me, I love the coaches and couldn't of been a better place.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

On December 18th, I wrote a post titled "Griz need to wake up before they hit the ground" and started it off with this quote from Lou Holtz.

Every week we say "Well, it's gonna get better the next week." It's like a guy that fell out of a 20-story building and every time he went by each floor he hollered "Hey, I'm doin' okay so far!" Lou Holtz

The Griz kept falling and according to Wayne Tinkle, it sounds like they're still saying "Well, it's gonna get better next week." This from The Missoulian:

“We're past the point of screaming and yelling to try to motivate and keep guys focused,” Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said. “We're past the point of doing a bunch of break-down drills in practice. Our guys know how to defend ... they know how to run our stuff offensively, and when we do all that, we're pretty darn good. Now we have to do it from tap to finish.

“We're just short of that one breakthrough. If we can do that in one of the games this weekend ... everybody's going to be able to take a deep breath and say, ‘OK, we finally did it for 40 minutes.' That's the point we're at.” [...]

“If we come out with the energy and focus that we have every game to this point, we'll be in good shape,” Tinkle said. “But if we let them come out and throw the first punch ... it could get ugly. I'm confident our guys will come out with the right frame of mind.”

I don't want to be one of the fans who's beginning to turn on Coach Tinkle because I'm not. However, I do not like what he's saying in these quotes. The middle one is alright but the other two sound terrible if you take a slightly closer look at them. They have a "we've done all we can, it's on the players now" theme to them. Sounds like he's saying "I've tried screaming and they just won't respond... I've taught them how to play defense and run the offense, they just won't. If they don't come out fired up they're going to get killed."

I know you can only blame the coaches so much, the players have to go out and do what they're supposed to do. I'm just sensing a small rift between the players and the coaches that first reared its head when Tinkle first called out his guys, telling The Missoulian that their play in the second half of the MSU game was "a joke."

Who knows, maybe this is what they needed. Maybe it will push them to get their act together and win a Division 1 game. They need something. I personally don't think this is it but I'm also not a Division 1 head basketball coach.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (8)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This morning's Missoulian has a great article on the student section. The Kaimin, not so much. They could've run a well-written letter to the editor by AD Jim O'Day but instead the editors discussed it and decided as a consensus to publish "Around the Oval." Well, it's good knowing that Bill Lower would most like to steal Hugh Hefner's identity while Brook Ostahowski would rather be Jennifer Aniston.

Anyway, here's Tinkle on what he hopes to see from the students tonight:

“I hope everybody is just in a frenzy,” Tinkle said. “It would be nice to get as close to that Zoo atmosphere as we can. That gets the rest of the crowd into it. Maybe we can get some folks up out of their seats, making some noise. Hopefully our guys will perform well and make it a real positive start to what could be an exciting season.”

“I know it would be thrilling for them,” Tinkle said of his players. “Matt Martin pulled me aside when he was a freshman and said, ‘Coach, I've heard stories of how this was when you played. A goal of mine is to have this place filled by the time I leave.' I think it would really mean a lot to have that atmosphere we see at so many other colleges with the students on the sideline. I know it would set the tone.”

Tinks also offered some good examples from the past:

Late in Tinkle's career, Weber State brought star player Rico Washington to Dahlberg Arena.

“He was a pretty darn good player,” Tinkle said. “He and one of our forwards, Ossie Young, were kind of getting into it. I went to separate them and we were right in front of The Zoo. (Washington) went to say something and I told him, ‘Listen, you've got to stop right now or I'm going to throw you into the second row. Those are two of my football buddies and I don't think you'll make it out of there alive.'

“He turned and looked and smiled and said, ‘You're right.' ”

If the students put just a little effort into this, they'll get a lot in return.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The '07-'08 season will be Wayne Tinkle's second as the head coach of the Montana Grizzlies. This season brings with it a whole new feel. We're not coming off an NCAA Tournament victory and assuming a new coach will give us another one. There's a whole new chemistry and attitude surrounding this team. The likely reason: coach Tinkle is starting to make his mark on this program.

Here's five questions with Griz head basketball coach Wayne Tinkle.

Grizzoulian: In terms of your comfort level coaching this team, how does the beginning of this season differ from your first year as a coach?

Wayne Tinkle: The biggest change for this year is that my staff and I have had a complete off-season to prepare for this season. I got the job in late June of 06 and we were in the middle of summer camps. Now we have had a complete off-season to implement our plan.

Grizzoulian: What's one thing you really want your team to focus on more than anything else this season?

Wayne Tinkle: Defense and rebounding are the two areas that we are really focusing on this year.

Grizzoulian: What are your thoughts on the tough schedule?

Wayne Tinkle: Our schedule is very challenging…we play a reinvigorated Colorado State, Gonzaga which may have its most talented team ever, and Air Force and Washington State, all in the first few weeks. We will definitely be challenged early and often.

Grizzoulian: Going into last year, you'd lost all the senior leadership. This year you lost several players but I'm not sure the impact on leadership will be the same. What are your thoughts on the chemistry and leadership of this team as we head into the season?

Wayne Tinkle: We will certainly miss some of the qualities that last years seniors left behind, but I truly believe with the upper classmen we have this year that our chemistry is much improved. Our guys are battling each other every day but it’s for the good of the team. In years past we had some guys that just wanted to humiliate their teammates, not trying to get one another better for the good of the squad.

Grizzoulian: What do you want from the fans? As you've heard, the students will be sitting courtside for the opener and possibly Griz-Cat. How big of a role do the students play in the game and in getting the rest of the community excited about Griz hoops?

Wayne Tinkle: We truly want a loud, loyal, consistent fan base supporting us throughout the year. It’s great when we go recruiting and run into coaches that talk about playing here in front of a raucous crowd and how it affected their team. We need to get back to having an intimidating atmosphere where our opponents fear the friendly confines. I really believe that this starts with our students. They are the straw that stirs the drink. Hopefully we can get things going and make it fun for the students to get involved.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

Tonight, the University of Montana basketball team will hold its first practice. The amount of talent coming in is overwhelming and the expectation amongst many fans is that this team will be hosting the Big Sky Tournament come March.

From the Missoulian:

“This year there's a lot more feeling of calm,” said Tinkle, who guided the Griz to a record of 17-15 and a berth in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament in his first year. “It's not only that I have a year under my belt, it's that I know our staff is more cohesive and the group of guys we've got are at the head of why I have a pretty good feeling.”

“Our chemistry is just great,” Tinkle said. “They worked hard and we really pushed the kids in the fall. They really compete, but when they walk off the court it's pretty much arm-in-arm.”

That wasn't always the case last season.

“Last year we had some guys who were a little too worried about their station in life instead of the good of the team,” Tinkle said. “It hurt us for a while early on.”

“The first thing we're going to do is set the tone defensively, establish our philosophy right away,” Tinkle said.

The Griz did not have enough senior leadership going into last season so it's no surprise that last year's losses didn't overly affect the chemistry of this team. As far as this being a calmer situation, I think the players are starting to see Tinkle as the head coach instead of the assistant who took over by default. With the talented bigs coming in, Tinkle will have a great chance to stamp his mark on this program as he molds the young frontcourt players.

On the defense: this area needs the most improvement. I know last season started out with a similar tone but the defense never really developed. With Bryan Ellis and Stuart Mayes gone--both great perimeter defenders--it will be interesting to see who steps up.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The first Griz basketball game I attended was in the fall of '05 against Stanford. Since then I've been obsessed. Like nerds and World of Warcraft obsessed. Everyone else, not so much. The game was unbelievable. It was like playing a basketball game inside a packed Metrodome. You know, like it was when Kirby played. Those who filled Dahlberg that night showed that Griz fans are some of the best in the country -- when they're motivated.

Since then, there hasn't been a game where the crowd -- and the student section especially -- has reached the same excitement level. Outside of a few select games,  the '05-'06 season was disappointing from an atmosphere perspective. The team played great but fans didn't come in earnest until the meaningless regular season finale against NAU. I didn't get it. After football season and the Stanford upset, I thought obsessive insane fans were the norm out here. That wasn't the case for hoops.

Turns out it wasn't always this way. Hoops used to be big, real big. Bigger than football. The students used to stand in the courtside seats, not sit in the baseline bleachers. The frenzied pack of undergrads was dubbed "The Zoo." Since then, the students were moved and "The Zoo" disappeared along with the overwhelming enthusiasm for the basketball program.

Well, The Zoo may be on it's way back. This comes from Griz basketball head coach Wayne Tinkle:

We are planning on putting them there for the CSU game, and IF there is a great showing we’ll entertain the idea of putting them there for the MSU game. We really need to make a push for the students to show up in droves in order to influence the administration. I believe the lack of student participation has severely declined since the late 80’s…due to multiple factors. I know that we coach’s are working hard to make it exciting now the fans need to buy in and stir up the frenzy!

It's tough not to look ahead to a time when the students are back where they belong. However, UM Athletic Director Jim O'Day points out some big issues that may prevent a permanent move.

We have many issues to consider first, such as hearing from those who pay higher prices to sit there, and what to do about the media tables … or more importantly, what to do about the signage for the corporate sponsors. Where can we put them? Also, we have to look at court space for adding additional media benches on the west side if such a decision is made… to make sure we have enough room for the teams. We are looking at all avenues --- and may only be able to do it for one game, if at all, this year, as an experiment.

Oh no, not this again, right? Just like all the roadblocks preventing a move to the FBS, there's financial stuff with this too. Well, don't fret too much, O'Day seems to be a bit more enthused about this idea.

As a former member of “The Zoo” while in college, I know how special that was… and if we do it and the students are challenged to fill the seats and create atmosphere, we’d have to look at a permanent situation if it made a difference. If we took such a gamble, I would only hope that the students would respond in force… to demonstrate interest for men’s basketball.

So it's all up to those it benefits the most. Let's do this students.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

On Friday, I wrote that Lloyd Phillips and Sean Watson were in as Griz recruits and Ceylon Elgin-Taylor still needed to get some paperwork figured out. Well, I was wrong.

Tinkle announced Friday that junior college transfers Sean Watson and Ceylon Elgin-Taylor would join the Griz for the 2007-08 season. They join prep recruits Derek Selvig of Glendive and Brian Qvale of Williston, N.D., in the 2007 recruiting class. Selvig and Qvale signed last November.

Tinkle said the Griz have one more scholarship to give and “we have a guy that we're trying to work all the paperwork out with.” Jucojunction.com reports that player is 5-10 point guard Lloyd Phillips of Allen County (Kan.) Community College.

Tinks on Watson:

“He handles the ball, he's athletic, can shoot it and score,” said Tinkle, who added that Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, St. John's and Texas Tech were some of the other schools recruiting Watson. “When I saw him play I thought what a great defender. He keeps his man in front of him.”

Info on Elgin-Taylor:

Elgin-Taylor is a 6-1 point guard who averaged 13 points and 5.5 assists for Irvine (Calif.) Valley College last season. He was named first team all-conference.

“He can play both guard positions,” Tinkle said. “He's a quarterback who runs the team. He's a very, very tough-nosed defender, just a tough-minded point guard who runs your team and sets the tone defensively.”

It's looking good so far. Tinks says it best later in this article, "It looks like a talented group. The challenge will be getting them to gel." Just like last year, this year's team looks phenomenal on paper but it doesn't mean a thing if they don't fill their potential and gel as a team.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

An official announcement is expected to be made later today but Wayne Tinkle spoke last night in Great Falls about the class of incoming recruits.

"We've signed a couple of junior-college players, one from Texas and one from Kansas, who I think will really help us in the backcourt," Tinkle said. "Along with the high school kids we signed in the fall, it really is shaping up to be a pretty darn good class."

"One kid's a 6-1 combo guard. The other kid's a 6-3, 6-4 wing who will add a lot of toughness and athleticism. Both are highly touted players," Tinkle said. "Then we've got a third kid who we've got to go through the process and finish the paperwork on who I think will really add to the class as well. We're pretty excited and looking forward to it."

Well, this is kind of what we expected. I'm almost certain the first two players are Lloyd Phillips and Sean Watson with the third questionable kid being Ceylon Elgin-Taylor. Phillips is listed at 5-10 and is more of a strong shooting speedster than a combo guard. He's closer to a pure point than people like Zach Graves and Matt Martin.

There was also news on the upcoming schedule:

"We're looking to go over and play Gonzaga in Spokane and it looks like we'll be in a tournament with Washington State in Spokane also," he said. "Air Force and Mississippi Valley will be there.

"We open up with Colorado State in Missoula. So we're going to be challenged the first couple of weeks out of the game, but that's the way we wanted it."

The games against Gonzaga and Wazzu in Spokane were expected but it's good to hear about some other teams. I love that we now know who we'll be opening with. It makes hoops season seem just a little bit closer.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Montana Grizzles head basketball coach Wayne Tinkle will be in Great Falls tonight at Montana ExpoPark to meet Griz fans. So, if you're there, can you please bug him about recruits and when on Earth we are going to hear anything.

I exchanged emails with him ten days ago, upon which he said the names of signees would be released "in the coming days." Coming days is like three, right? If it was a week he would've said "next week." Something's up.

The show will also roll into Butte on Friday. Fellow head coach, Robin Selvig (women's basketball) , as well as assistants Kraig Paulson (football), Andy Hill (men's basketball) and Harry Clark (track and field) are also expected at the event.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

It's been known for a bit that the Griz coaching staff knocked down three recruits — Sean Watson, Lloyd Phillips and Ceylon Elgin-Taylor — during the spring signing period. What hasn't been known is when the coaching staff was planning on making an official announcement. Here's what head coach Wayne Tinkle had to say on the matter:

We will be releasing the names of our signees in the coming days.  Not trying to hold out on anyone, just making sure that all of the paperwork etc is correct!  It should prove to be one of our better classes in some time!  Thats on paper anyways...they still have to get here and perform both in the classroom and on the court!

Well there you go. He sounds pretty enthusiastic.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

An article in USA Today points out some interesting contractual obligations and incentives presented to college hoops coaches across the nation. The first one on the list belongs to Montana Grizzlies head coach Wayne Tinkle.

Montana's Wayne Tinkle and his staff must have CPR certification and first aid training, which is mandated by the school and recommended by the Big Sky Conference.

Yep, that's right. Tinkle is certified to give you mouth to mouth if the need be. It's really interesting when you look at some of the things on other coaches' contracts.

Ohio State's Thad Matta has use of a private plane for recruiting and other business trips — a private jet when he's traveling more than 200 miles from Columbus, Ohio — up to a cost of $65,000 annually. He also gets 10 hours of private use of a personal jet each year.

You really can't help but think "Well, that's why we're Montana and they're Ohio State."

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks

It'd be hard for one to make an argument that this year's Griz team is not the most talented team in the Big Sky Conference so it's easy to understand why so many fans were frustrated when the team was struggling. Many questioned the coaching and team chemistry with no definite answer ever found. This morning's Missoulian has some interesting information on team chemistry and why the Griz seem to play better away from the Dahlberg Den.

Here's an interesting quote by Wayne Tinkle from the article mentioned above:

"...It was one of those deals where the 20 or so of us in the room said let's buy in and stay together.

“That's been an issue with us a little bit. We have so much depth that we've had some guys with frustration with playing time and it's caused us problems, especially at home. Here on the road lately guys are swallowing their ego and buying into putting the program first and it's paying off for us.”

I've mentioned before that this team is almost clogged with talent. They are loaded in the back and front-court but if their bench players don't get any time because of others in front of them, they can't get in a rhythm and play to their potential. It's odd that these players only voice their frustration at home. What, they need to impress the femininas?

Important stat: During the preseason, the Griz were 0-6 on the road but during BSC play they're 4-2 away from home, the same record they have in the Zoo.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Yeah, Yogiisms tend to be a bit cliche when used in headlines but this one fits pretty well when describing the basketball teams at the University of Montana and Montana State University. They both come into this game at 7-4 in conference play and in a tie for second-place but they've done so very differently.

Fans of the two teams come probably come in in with very varying opinions on their respective seasons. First off, the Bobcats. This team came into conference play looking pretty talentless and like a team that would go pretty quietly into the abyss. That hasn't happened.

Head coach Brad Huse has this Bobcat team playing way over its head and right in the thick of the Big Sky race. It was them who ended Idaho State's undefeated stretch and sent the Bengals into chaos. The Cats also beat Weber State at home. It hasn't been this way throughout all of BSC play as they started 1-3. Then it started. They beat Weber at home and won six of seven.

The Griz are sitting a little differently. They also are 7-4 in BSC play but they arguably have the most talent, top-to-bottom, in the entire conference. This means they;re doing the exact opposite of the Cats and playing below their talent level.

When a team appears to play below its talent level, fans start questioning coaching. This has happened as several Griz hoops fan aren't has happy about Tinks as Cats fans are about Huse. I don't agree with this. Many fans expected this team to continue on its upward track but are disappointed to find them in a transition year. No matter who the coach was, this team was going to be in transition after losing the chemistry it had this year. This is more due to the loss of seniors Kevin Criswell and Virgil Matthews.

However, all Griz and Cat fans would have to agree: this game is big and the rivalry only adds to it.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Last night's game sucked but there were a couple positives, one of which was the improvement of the environment inside Dahlbergh Arena. The fans at the game were some of the best I've seen all year and the Montana Kaimin has an article containing a lot of good quotes about the raucous student section.

From PSU head coach Ken Bone:

“It’s hard to win on the road,” he said. “Let alone win on the road here at the University of Montana.”

“First and foremost, they’re good,” Bone said of the Grizzlies. “Second of all, usually there’s a really great crowd here. If the crowd really gets fired up it’s like the sixth man approach.”

“They’re fun,” he said. “There’s some nut up here that yells and screams and thinks he’s funny. They’re fun and they’re great, that’s what college basketball’s about. I wish we had crowds like this.”

From Anthony Washington:

“I like the crowd (in Missoula),” said Vikings senior center Anthony Washington. “No offense to our fans at Portland State, but I wish we had more of a presence.”

“I think for the opponents it can make some of them frustrated,” he added. “Especially the freshmen that have never heard anything like that before, but for the most part you block it out.”

From Juma Kamara:

“They’re just regular old fans,” he said. For Kamara it was the first time in his career that he had won in Missoula.

“It’s a nice environment for basketball,” Kamara said. “Especially in this conference, to me it’s like the best gym in the conference – nice crowd, nice everything.”

From Griz head coach Wayne Tinkle:

“Well it’s great,” he said. “Once we hit some shots and we started showing some hustle, they rewarded us by cheering and making some noise. That’s awesome, but we can’t wait for them to get us going. We need to get ourselves going.”

“Hopefully we can come out Saturday night and we’ll have even a bigger crowd.”

This team really thrives when Dahlberg is loud. The more students that come and make noise, the better this team will do.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

As announced yesterday, the University of Montana will face Pacific as part of ESPNU's BracketBusters series. Both teams probably wish this game would've come sooner, after each time had actually busted some brackets.

These two teams almost met last year as the Griz pulled off the 12-5 upset over Nevada and Pacific was close to pulling off an even bigger upset over 4th seeded Boston College. The Tigers were up 6 in overtime before losing in a second OT, which was forced by a controversial call.

The Tigers led 74-72 with five seconds to play in overtime when Christian Maraker fouled Boston College's Craig Smith. Smith, a poor foul shooter who was 3 of 7 on the day, made two free throws to send the game into double overtime. Thomason insisted Maraker hadn't committed a foul and later said video replays provided proof, but the call stood.

This was the second time the Griz and Tigers almost faced eachother in the second round of the tournament. In 2005, the Griz hung with 1 seed Washington for a bit before eventually getting beat by double-digits while the 8th seeded Tigers beat 9th seeded Pittsburgh before losing to UW in the next round.

Many Griz fans see this game as kind of a letdown, as they play a struggling team in a non-televised game but the Tigers are a better foe than most realize. I know they lost a lot of players after last year but this team has made the tournament the last three seasons, and advanced the second round twice in the span. This team is one to be reckoned with, and head coach Tinkle knows that.

"Yesterday, when we walked out of the office, the last thing I said is, 'I sure hope we don't get Pacific,' " Tinkle told reporters Tuesday in Missoula. "My first year here, I think in '01, they beat us by 20 (actually 77-64). They've gotten better. They're just a great, great program.

"I know they're a little down this year. Their record reflects that, but they're still a very, very talented team, and it's going to be a big challenge for us."

This matchup also means the Griz will have to face Pacific on the road next year. They could combine this with a game or two against a couple good California foes to make an exceptional road trip.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

It seems that "power rankings" have reached almost Livestrong bracelet caliber trendiness amongst sports sites with just about everyone with an opinion ranking select group of teams by, um, power.

The Big Sky Conference will now have two sets of power rankings, with Ian Ruder over at Vikings Blog throwing his first set of rankings up today. Kellis Robinett also does BSC power rankings over at his blog in connection with the Pocatello Journal.

In Ian's rankings, the Griz sit at second, behind Weber State and in front of Northern Arizona and Idaho State. This definitely is a bit iffy (the very goal of "power rankings" is to stir up discussion) seeing as the Griz beat WSU last week and are tied in the loss column after road wins over NAU and Northern Colorado.

Here's the caption next to UM's ranking: "If Krystkowiak was still coaching, this deep, talented group would run away with the league. As is, the team seems to be jelling under coach Wayne Tinkle."

I would've agreed with this statement earlier in the season, but I'm not so sure now. This is a very talented team, but they also are team filled with diverse personalities and no real leader. It has taken a lot for this team to come together and I'm not so sure it would've happened any faster under LK.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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?

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Fawkward. It means more than just awkward, or f***in' awkward.

Tonight may be a little fawkward for the Griz as they face off against the Cats, coached by former Griz assistant Brad Huse. There are articles on the idea of facing a former friend here and here so I'm not going to go too in depth on that issue.

Instead, here's what former head coach Larry Krystkowiak had to say about these two coaches.

LK on Huse:

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, what he's gone through and how he goes about his business,” Krystkowiak said. “He's one of those people you can tell he's constantly observing and assessing. He's not full of a lot of talk. Ask Brad about a team and he wasn't going to overwhelm you with 10 bullet points. He'd have it narrowed down to two, maybe three things. With as many things as you have on your plate as a head coach, that was valuable to me.

“He gets the big picture.”

LK on Tinkle:

“He'd probably be the first to tell you we had a good cop-bad cop thing going on,” Krystkowiak said. “I didn't have to be a nice guy. A certain amount of fear has to be instilled in the players. Wayne will differ from me in that way, but he may actually harden over time. I don't know too many head coaches who are good cops.

“That's the way I did it, but just because I did it that way doesn't make it right. He could probably do a great job being a nice guy too.”

I overheard someone at the bowling alley last night talking about Tinks and LK and they were saying what I'm kind of thinking after seeing this. Maybe Tinkle is still too much of a "good cop" and needs to learn how to get in his players heads.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Take a look at this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article and tell me you don't miss Larry Krystkowiak a little bit. Yes the program will be just fine in the giant paws of Wayne Tinkle but I have to say these second half runs/adjustments were what made last year's Griz team as good as it was.

Lost in the hoopla surrounding guard Mo Williams' first career triple-double in Wednesday's victory over Miami at the Bradley Center was the fact that assistant coach Larry Krystkowiak deserved an assist for the victory.

Krystkowiak entered the halftime locker room and reminded the Bucks - a team that likes run for a living - that they had exactly zero fast-break points at that stage of the game.

Asked about Krystkowiak's halftime message, guard Michael Redd said, "That was shocking to us. We were scoring but we didn't get any fast-break points and we were like, 'Wow.' So we made an effort in the second half to go out and push it."

The Bucks only ended up scoring 7 fast break points in the game but the change to the offense was drastic.

How dramatic was the change in style from half to half?

Let's put it this way. In the first half, the Bucks scored 53 points on 44.2% shooting. In he second half, the Bucks scored 68 points - two shy of their season high for a half - and shot 61.5%.

Miami, on the other hand, scored 56 points in the first half on 55% shooting. In the second half, the Heat scored 39 points on 35.1% shooting.

The Bucks have been searching all season for an identity and might finally be finding one as an open-court team.

This happened too many times to count last year. If the over/under for years until Krystkowiak is head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks was 2.5, I'd have to take the under.

Update: The Bucks have won five in a row with their win tonight over the Spurs. The game mentioned above was the second in the stretch.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In case you missed it, Griz basketball is back like Jay-Z with five days of practices already in. Here is an excerpt from a  preview on the Griz from The Bracket Board:

Tinkle was a Krystko assistant, so fans can expect more of the razor-sharp offensive execution and shooting (#11 nationally in Adj Off Eff) they have grown to love. The defense was only average (#166), but it was good enough to win 24 games. The Griz will need some folks to step up in the backcourt, but the frontcourt is stacked with size and skill, and the bench has some meat on it. The most jarring part for [Hill]Topper fans is that Montana was 13-1 at home last season (including a 19-point pasting of Stanford), and that lone loss was by 4 points to a very good UW-Milwaukee team. It will be tough to come out of Missoula with a win.

Tinks is certainly well aware of the Griz's  defensive inabilities last year and has been working hard at improving them this year. A common theme throughout the practices so far is the confidence that the Griz will not have any problems scoring. Tinkle has said over and over they have the weapons to do so but just need to improve on the defense end of the floor. This morning's 7 AM practice was devoted almost entirely to the defensive end of the floor. At the end of practice Tinkle said the Griz D had definitely improved.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments
• Trackbacks

MontanaGrizzlies.com reports who will be filling out Tinks' coaching staff:

University of Montana men’s basketball coach Wayne Tinkle announced this week the hiring of Nate DuChesne to an assistant coaching position. DuChesne, who played for the Grizzlies from 1986-89, most recently served as the head coach at Edmonds (Wash.) Community College.

“Nate has Grizzly blood in him, which was really important to me when I was looking at applicants,” Tinkle said. “He’s a guy that understands our program and the way things are done in the Big Sky Conference.”

“It’s an honor to be a member of the Grizzly coaching staff,” DuChesne said. “The program has great tradition and the last few years it has gotten back on track. I’m looking forward to the challenge of building on the team’s recent success.”

The Griz hoops program continues to reward its own with the hiring of DuChesne. I'm definitely not going to argue with the idea as it certainly worked with LK.


Also on: ESPN (AP)

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Here's a story  on Montana Grizzlies head basketball coach Wayne Tinkle, done by Troy Oppie of KECI-TV. Please ignore the part about the donut burgers, your arteries may clog at the sight alone.

"There's players overseas that could play in the NBA. There's players in the NBA that couldn't play overseas."

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

They're not just changing their uniforms. The revamping of the Milwaukee Bucks has hit Missoula, hard. The big Australian tight-wearing #1 pick couldn't turn the team around on his own in his rookie season so they had to go and steal our coach.

Head basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak has resigned to join the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played four years and earlier today signed, of course, a multiyear contract. There will be more griping in this post about how we should have offered more years and more money. Coach K (oh how we loved to call him that) has made his inevitable departure from The Zoo. As AD Jim O'Day said in yesterday's press conference, "We knew we could only keep him so long." Now it's time for the Tinkle Takeover.

After being an assistant for five years and three head coaches, it's finally time for Wayne Tinkle. No one knew for sure when the Takeover would happen, but everyone knew it would. To return to Jim "cliche" O'Day, this from a piece in the Missoulian:

“Wayne has earned his stripes,” UM Athletic Director Jim O'Day said while introducing Tinkle at a press conference at the Adams Center Sky Club. “This is his time to shine.”

Many will doubt Tinks' promise to "not lose any momentum;" I don't. I stand by him as a fellow Cubs fan (another example of his dedication) and a coach who I know has the respect of both the players and the fans.

Tinks' reputation as a leader has even spread as far as the Missoula Police Department. In May, as part of a J270 Reporting class, I did a ride-along with Officer Pat Malone and Griz hoops  became the topic of conversation. He mentioned how whenever one of the players got in trouble they'd neglect to mention LK, it'd always be something along the lines of "Man, Tinks is gonna kill us."

Wayne also stands out to me as a great fans' coach. As an assistant he'd walk along the baseline giving high fives to the student section (I'm calling hit right here; now the "Dahlberg Den") every single game. One game, when I forgot a certain piece of apparel he even remarked "Hey, where's your Cubs hat?" I also exchanged emails with him yesterday congratulating him on his promotion and could not have recieved a better response.

Plain and simple, Tinks has the expertise to keep the program rumbling towards the postseason every season. From Tinks himself in Andy Katz's ESPN article (yes, they know we exist):

"I've had a hand in recruiting every player that is on the roster, as well as the incoming players, and that will help with the transition," he said. "Our players are excited about the direction we are heading. I am humbled and proud to pick up the torch, and we're not going to lose any momentum."

Tinks in the Missoulian:

“I think I have a better understanding of what makes 18- to 22-year-olds tick,” Tinkle added. “How to motivate them. X and O-wise, I have a better understanding of the game. The big thing is, in the five years I've been here I've worn a lot of different hats. Coaching is not just about running a team during a game. It's preparing them in the classroom to become better students, to become better people in their community so that when their playing days are over they can succeed."

What does he not have? Respect, knowledge, leadership abilities, dedication; all there. He doesn't have the glamour that was "Coach K." Not yet.

• Send To A Friend
• Print This Article
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks