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What will it take? (I have an answer!)

citygriz

Well-known member
To bring real passion back to Montana basketball. I mean, if it weren't for women's softball, or a new facility at Idaho, or any number of my asinine posts, this forum would be as dead as Bannack, Montana at four in the morning. Meantime, over on the football board, if I'd started a post asking who would be the most improved player or top newcomer next year, they'd be up to five pages right now, and still typing. Over here? Eleven tepid responses.

Here we are, in my opinion, with one of the top up-and-coming coaches in all of college basketball, our very own Travis DeCuire, a guy who treats Montana both in recruiting and scheduling like we were Cal or Washington State. We enter next season with possibly the deepest most talented roster in the history of the basketball program at Montana, one that can compete in size and quickness with any program in the country. (Yes, we've certainly had better individual players, but never an entire roster with this much potential.) Many of us await the new schedule with the eagerness of a kid opening presents for the first time Christmas morning, knowing that one gift is UCLA.

Ho-hum.

So what will it take to stir some excitement on this board, to return Montana basketball to its former glory?

Not a conference championship. We've done that.
Not an NCAA appearance. We've had four the past ten years, with two blowouts, but also one victory, and one very close game. So: Done that. Hardly moved the needle.

Here's the answer.

A Sweet 16 appearance. A low-seed Cinderella underdog actually knocking off a major program or two, while garnering all the attention that goes with that kind of run at the Big Dance. The publicity would be unprecedented at Montana, far more than a championship at the FCB or BCF or whatever level division 1-aa is now called--enough that even some over on the football board would take notice.

Possible?

I believe it is.

But back to Tristin Achenbach. Or Idaho's wood palace. Sheesh.
 
citay said:
To bring real passion back to Montana basketball. I mean, if it weren't for women's softball, or a new facility at Idaho, or any number of my asinine posts, this forum would be as dead as Bannack, Montana at four in the morning. Meantime, over on the football board, if I'd started a post asking who would be the most improved player or top newcomer next year, they'd be up to five pages right now, and still typing. Over here? Eleven tepid responses.

Here we are, in my opinion, with one of the top up-and-coming coaches in all of college basketball, our very own Travis DeCuire, a guy who treats Montana both in recruiting and scheduling like we were Cal or Washington State. We enter next season with possibly the deepest most talented roster in the history of the basketball program at Montana, one that can compete in size and quickness with any program in the country. (Yes, we've certainly had better individual players, but never an entire roster with this much potential.) Many of us await the new schedule with the eagerness of a kid opening presents for the first time Christmas morning, knowing that one gift is UCLA.

Ho-hum.

So what will it take to stir some excitement on this board, to return Montana basketball to its former glory?

Not a conference championship. We've done that.
Not an NCAA appearance. We've had four the past ten years, with two blowouts, but also one victory, and one very close game. So: Done that. Hardly moved the needle.

Here's the answer.

A Sweet 16 appearance. A low-seed Cinderella underdog actually knocking off a major program or two, while garnering all the attention that goes with that kind of run at the Big Dance. The publicity would be unprecedented at Montana, far more than a championship at the FCB or BCF or whatever level division 1-aa is now called--enough that even some over on the football board would take notice.

Possible?

I believe it is.

But back to Tristin Achenbach. Or Idaho's wood palace. Sheesh.


Finally! All that gibberish to get to the end game. Seemed like foreplay in here for a minute.


I kid...I kid...I think it's more than that. I think it's creating a game day atmosphere the fans are proud of, to go with winning games. Make it hostile to visit, and difficult to win in. Create the environment, and they will come. A sweet 16 would help too! Hahaha
 
This isn't just an isolated issue for Montana. College basketball as a whole is suffering except for a few. Personally, I don't think there is much that can be done.
 
Here's a glimmer of hope. We have been missing the energy of student since they were moved and absent due to long vacation between semesters. Understand that beginning in 2019 that break will be shortened. That's a good start.
 
mondayamqb said:
Here's a glimmer of hope. We have been missing the energy of student since they were moved and absent due to long vacation between semesters. Understand that beginning in 2019 that break will be shortened. That's a good start.

You still have to get them back in the stands.
 
I agree, citay, almost word-for-word with your description of this year's Griz as having... "possibly the deepest most talented roster in the history of the basketball program at Montana, one that can compete in size and quickness with any program in the country. (Yes, we've certainly had better individual players, but never an entire roster with this much potential.)" This team has everything to prove, of course, but enters the season at least two deep at every position... something I've never seen in my years of following the Griz. I can envision at least one 5-player sub team combo that'd be as good as the starting five... and several combinations of the top 8 players.

Interestingly, many mid-major prognosticators are depicting the Griz as a second-tier Big Sky team, though (see below), citing Montana's 2016-17 team's poor shooting, "soft D," and an inability to win close or big games. Even Ahmaad Rorie is not appearing in some "Big Sky pre-season Top-Five" lists. I sort of like where they are: from the coaches on down they have a long list of things to prove, first to themselves. I have heard that the entire team (besides a possible walk on) is registered, on campus and ready for an authorized 10 summer team practices prior to their trip to a pre-season team camp & competition called (I believe) "Beyond Sports" in Costa Rica.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/CondorianFM/status/882021977623478273[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/CBB_Central/status/881651930099048448[/tweet]
 
You want a thread to go multiple pages here? Start one saying that Hauck is coming back to coach the bball team. Jokes aside though, Helena is on to it. Basketball is a distant second to football all over the country minus a few select schools. Alabama had a great coach in Avery Johnson come in a few years back and has had two top 10 recruiting classes the last two years and most people could give a rats behind weather they win or lose. Football has become America's sport and most people watch other sports to pass the time tell football rolls around again. Yes, a sweet 16 appearance would deffenetly be sweet and boost support and national recognition but a mid performing football team would still probably receive more eGriz traffic. Not trying to burst your bubble though citay. I for one appritiate the bball forum more due to the over abundance of negativity in the fball forum. I rarely post there anymore. I still wish they would start a softball forum so we wouldn't have to hijack bball' space anymore. 'Course, there would only be like five of us that would post there. At least we'd have our own space then instead of fealing like outcasts posting in the "other sports not worthy of their own forum" forum or stealing bball's space.
 
Football is much easier to talk about year round. We have 15 players 7 of which we've never actually seen play. I'm as excited as anybody else but there isn't much to talk about.

As for sustained excitement winning, upsets and competitive tourney showings with a win or 2 are the only things
 
Alabama's comment is pretty much on point. A national championship in football for us would drive WAYYYY more egriz traffic, but a sweet 16 appearance would get us more national pub. I'm a lifelong Griz football fan and am as proud as anyone about our history and tradition, but after moving out of state i've found how irrelevant our program is on the national scale. Folks from our state argue this with me all the time but i've had more people ask me about our basketball program than our football program. Thanks to march madness and tons of folks filling out brackets i'd always get the "how good is Montana this year" question when we make the tournament. On the football side i've had many people ask me if we even have a football team, and when i first heard that it pissed me off but now I realize that we have a special tradition at Montana and who cares what others think. Griz nation is awesome and I feel like I had an experience like none other growing up. Anyways, back to Idaho's stadium and Tristin Achenbach.
 
I get it too Cheif. There are some people down here that have heard of Montana football but they insist we're division 2. When I try to explain we're also division 1, just a split level, they look at me like I'm trying to call NCAA bball a lower NBA level.

Also, I've started posting softball threads back in the completely irrelevant "other" forum, not that anyone's interested.
 
Unfortunately, college basketball interest is suffering the same fate as MLB: over-proliferation. When you can -- quite literally -- watch 200 DI games a week if you want, the product value gets watered down.
 
EverettGriz said:
Unfortunately, college basketball interest is suffering the same fate as MLB: over-proliferation. When you can -- quite literally -- watch 200 DI games a week if you want, the product value gets watered down.

I also feel like Griz basketball is more of a Missoula thing where as Griz football is a Montana thing. People come from all over the state to see the football games, where the basketball games are a challenge for folks outside of Missoula. Hard to make a Thursday night game in Missoula when you live in Billings.
 
The_Real_Chief said:
EverettGriz said:
Unfortunately, college basketball interest is suffering the same fate as MLB: over-proliferation. When you can -- quite literally -- watch 200 DI games a week if you want, the product value gets watered down.

I also feel like Griz basketball is more of a Missoula thing where as Griz football is a Montana thing. People come from all over the state to see the football games, where the basketball games are a challenge for folks outside of Missoula. Hard to make a Thursday night game in Missoula when you live in Billings.

Very true. I'd love to get to more BB games, but living in Seattle, and with winter weather....
 
Also true that college football players have to stay around for three years before they can bolt to the NFL,where in basketball it's one and done--and they're even trying to eliminate that rule. There's no time in college basketball for rivalries to develop (a la Bird v. Magic, or Lew Alcindor v. Elvin Hayes.) Back in the day, those rivalries helped make college basketball special, where today a Lonzon Ball v. DeAaron Fox that might have produced a good rivalry is now a subject for the pros. I guess in football it's well recognized too that a high school kid is not prepared for the NFL, while in basketball, there are high school kids ready almost immediately for the pros.
 
I am open to suggestions. I will take ideas back to the Advisory Board and see if we can make anything happen.
 
BDizzle said:
I am open to suggestions. I will take ideas back to the Advisory Board and see if we can make anything happen.

I think it starts with seating. Make it a hostile place to play. Let the college students get involved.
I think contests that don't suck, advertising/promoting around missoula and surrounding areas, community involvement with the players, and lastly...I'd call up Gonzaga and ask what they did. Simple, costs nothing, and may go a long way to figuring out how to run a ship like that. I know they played anyone, upset a few, won conference, and won a few games in the Tourney. Took a while, but look what happened last year. Certainly could've won that championship game.
 
Until the students are back in school during early January and are willing and exited to be Griz basketball fans, I don't think anything is going to change from what it's been like for the past 20 years or so. I'm not being hyper-critical of UM students -- they are like kids at all but a very few schools (i.e., Kansas, Duke, etc.) nationwide. College students generally don't give a rip about basketball.
 
citay said:
Also true that college football players have to stay around for three years before they can bolt to the NFL,where in basketball it's one and done--and they're even trying to eliminate that rule. There's no time in college basketball for rivalries to develop (a la Bird v. Magic, or Lew Alcindor v. Elvin Hayes.) Back in the day, those rivalries helped make college basketball special, where today a Lonzon Ball v. DeAaron Fox that might have produced a good rivalry is now a subject for the pros. I guess in football it's well recognized too that a high school kid is not prepared for the NFL, while in basketball, there are high school kids ready almost immediately for the pros.

If anything it's gonna go to a two year minimum for college ball I think.
 
I don't think a Sweet 16 appearance is the key. I think winning is the key. We need to run the conference slate (or come close) consistently, win the close games we've lost to our non-conference opponents, and become a Top 25 team. That's what it will take.
 
Make it a party. Encourage tailgating, sell some beer at the game and cut it off at halftime. Seriously, a lot of people go to the Griz Football games just because it is a social scene. The same could be done with Basketball.
 
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