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Montana at Pitt

grizzlyjournal

Well-known member
Do the Montana Grizzlies have a (ghost of a) chance for a win at Pitt tonight?

Despite the odds of beating a major college team on their home court, Travis DeCuire’s players love the challenge of getting just that opportunity... not once, but five times this season. They’ve gotten close... but several Montana teams over the years have gotten close. The few Griz wins against major opponents over the years are rare: a couple against Stanford and Washington and one over Kansas in the mid-80s. Other big wins usually came against favored but “beat-able” teams (the most recent a 2010 home court win over Oregon State).

This season offers some intrigue. The Griz will face a Washington team in transition later this year. Stanford struggled last night against Pacific. But on paper, Montana’s game against Pitt tonight might represent the Grizzlies’ best chance for a win.

I’ve subscribed to the Kenpom.com Advanced Analysis of College Basketball over the past five years and have found it to be the best analytical “predictor” I’ve followed.

Last week’s KenPom ratings raised an eyebrow. Their pre-season rankings had Pitt ranked 121, somewhat lower than its normal “Top 100” yearly residence. Montana was ranked 153, perhaps inflated a bit now because of Donaven Dorsey’s inability to play.

Some intrigue: Ranked at 154 (1 behind Montana), Navy proceeded to beat Pitt by 9 on Navy's home court last Saturday. Navy then traveled to Miami and lost by 34... dropping to 168, while Pitt slid four slots to 125.

The statistical analysts here can speculate. To me, it indicates that the Griz -- on paper -- have a team capable of playing with the young Panthers. There are so many other factors (the bright lights, the officiating etc.).

Who knows? KenPom predicts a 75-70 Pitt win tonight. I’ll take those odds any time.

Go Griz...
 
grizzlyjournal said:
Do the Montana Grizzlies have a (ghost of a) chance for a win at Pitt tonight?

Despite the odds of beating a major college team on their home court, Travis DeCuire’s players love the challenge of getting just that opportunity... not once, but five times this season. They’ve gotten close... but several Montana teams over the years have gotten close. The few Griz wins against major opponents over the years are rare: a couple against Stanford and Washington and one over Kansas in the mid-80s. Other big wins usually came against favored but “beat-able” teams (the most recent a 2010 home court win over Oregon State).

This season offers some intrigue. The Griz will face a Washington team in transition later this year. Stanford struggled last night against Pacific. But on paper, Montana’s game against Pitt tonight might represent the Grizzlies’ best chance for a win.

I’ve subscribed to the Kenpom.com Advanced Analysis of College Basketball over the past five years and have found it to be the best analytical “predictor” I’ve followed.

Last week’s KenPom ratings raised an eyebrow. Their pre-season rankings had Pitt ranked 121, somewhat lower than its normal “Top 100” yearly residence. Montana was ranked 153, perhaps inflated a bit now because of Donaven Dorsey’s inability to play.

Some intrigue: Ranked at 154 (1 behind Montana), Navy proceeded to beat Pitt by 9 on Navy's home court last Saturday. Navy then traveled to Miami and lost by 34... dropping to 168, while Pitt slid four slots to 125.

The statistical analysts here can speculate. To me, it indicates that the Griz -- on paper -- have a team capable of playing with the young Panthers. There are so many other factors (the bright lights, the officiating etc.).

Who knows? KenPom predicts a 75-70 Pitt win tonight. I’ll take those odds any time.

Go Griz...
in your game summary of Whitworth, you mentioned the Griz had difficulty in stopping the back court scoring...this is exactly what Pitt did on TV last week. If the Griz can handle that without fouling out, and make a good percentage of their 3pt shots, they can win handily. Pitt plays a very fast game and I think Oguine is up to that.
 
I hasten to respectfully remind grizzlyjournal that our Griz have won two big games on the road against major teams in (fairly) recent years. The year Qvale was a senior, we took apart UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. I don't remember the final score exactly, but I remember this: UCLA made some shots in garbage time, or it would have been about a 20-point Montana victory. We had a superior center in Qvale, and the better point guard in Will Cherry. The game was not close.

Ditto a game at Oregon. Qvale too was on that team, though I don't remember the exact year. (The next couple of nights we played at Washington, and got HOMERED. They made damn sure of that. Or we would have won there too.)

Proof?

I was at the UCLA and Oregon games; the Washington game was on TV.

Of course, we almost beat Cal in Berkeley as well in DeCuire's first (?) year. Game went into overtime, if I remember correctly. We missed a three-pointer that would have won it in regulation. Those refs were very fair.
 
citay said:
I hasten to respectfully remind grizzlyjournal that our Griz have won two big games on the road against major teams in (fairly) recent years. The year Qvale was a senior, we took apart UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. I don't remember the final score exactly, but I remember this: UCLA made some shots in garbage time, or it would have been about a 20-point Montana victory. We had a superior center in Qvale, and the better point guard in Will Cherry. The game was not close.

Ditto a game at Oregon. Qvale too was on that team, though I don't remember the exact year. (The next couple of nights we played at Washington, and got HOMERED. They made damn sure of that. Or we would have won there too.)

Proof?

I was at the UCLA and Oregon games; the Washington game was on TV.

Of course, we almost beat Cal in Berkeley as well in DeCuire's first (?) year. Game went into overtime, if I remember correctly. We missed a three-pointer that would have won it in regulation. Those refs were very fair.

Of course! I stand corrected. I particularly remember the UCLA game (now that you cite it). I also remember that game @ Washington... the Griz were winning until a strange 3-minute span of bizarre ref's calls reversed the outcome. Apologies.I confess I was trying to write a post about tonight's game without doing adequate archive sourcing.
 
FYI, for those of you with a DTV/ATT account, I suggest checking it with ESPN3 before the game. I had to have ATT/DTV customer service sync my 2 accounts to access ESPN3. It works great now.
 
Please post updates on here as much as possible. I won't be watching again...stupid meeting.
 
citay said:
.....Of course, we almost beat Cal in Berkeley as well in DeCuire's first (?) year. Game went into overtime, if I remember correctly. We missed a three-pointer that would have won it in regulation. Those refs were very fair.

UGGGGH, that CAL game. Had the Griz made more of their free-throws down the stretch, they probably would have won.
 
These are the types of games we need to win as we climb up the steep mountain. Our guys need to be confident that they can play with the Pitts of the world - and DeCuire is just the guy to make 'em believe.
 
Griz looking good so far. Up 9-7 with 15 mins to go in the first half. Oguine seems to be the quickest guy on the court. He's got 5 so far.
 
15-11 Griz with about 12 to go in the half. Real nice pass from Pridgett to Nicholas for an easy bucket. Getting good looks from 3 too, but not falling yet (0-4 from 3, but 7-14 overall). Hopefully those start falling soon.
 
Pitt up 24-17 thanks to a 10-0 run. GRIZ cannot throw it into the ocean. At least the offensive rebounding looks good.
 
10-0 run for Pitt, Griz down 24-17 with about 8 mins to go in the half. Threes still not falling at all, 0-7 from 3 and Pitt is getting aggressive on offense piling up some fouls on the Griz. Pitt shooting 9-15 now, Griz down to 8-21. Need to get going again on O.
 
Not sure about that blocking call on Akoh. Looked like he was set and outside of that circle. Pitt going to the line, Griz down 28-27 with about 3:30 to go in the half. Rorie starting to heat up. He's got 8 now after hitting 2 threes. Oguine has 9.
 
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