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Time for a Major Re-Evaluation

citygriz

Well-known member
I always say, jokingly, that the easiest way to succeed is to lower the requirements for success.

But for our Griz, this is not a joke. After that devastating, lacerating implosion last night over the past five minutes, it's time we took another cold hard look at this team.

And this from a strong proponent of this staff, their recruiting abilities, and this team--arguably one of the most athletic in the history of the program, and playing great defense. From a guy who despite our one-sided loss to Creighton, thought this team fought the good fight, did our program proud, and said so on this board.

But the idea we can knock off a Power Five team? Get a 12-seed? Not gonna happen. Win the Sky again? I think even that is now up for debate.

Here's why--and what I took from last night's game.

--We really miss Krslovic. Because he wasn't as big as Akoh or as athletic as Nicholas, I took him for granted. But last night I saw how much we miss his inside game, those sly moves, clever angles and deft shots he'd mastered, not to mention his toughness and his leadership. I'd hoped Kramer would step in and be a more athletic Krslovic, but then something bad happened--I saw him play. It was instantly evident that Kramer, together with our other young bigs, are long-term projects, not plug-in replacements for Krslovic. Right now, we have no serious post offense, and our inability to get rebounds down the stretch last night was glaring.

--Timmy Falls must play more. I don't know how deep in the doghouse he is with this staff, but he's got to be on the court in critical late-game situations. Simply: He's our best playmaker. You just see better ball movement and more passing lanes opening when he's on the court. Which leads me to perhaps the most glaring part of this team right now....

--Our offense. When DeCuire took over this program, he promised us a wide-open, fast-paced offense, and then when out and recruited the players to make it happen--Oguine, Rorie, Falls. Even national announcers have commented on Oguine's quick first step, and he's proven that again and again by how easily he can use that burst to get to the rim. Rorie's got a great handle, and athleticism to burn. Falls too. But what do we have? An offense that walks the ball up the court. Then passes the ball around and around the perimeter, until somebody launches a shot. There's absolutely no flow to this offense--no movement off the ball, few cuts to the basket, no back-door passes. A fast break? Non-existent. Urgency? Last night as we casually walked the ball up the court with seconds ticking down and up against an almost insurmountable lead, I'm screaming at my i-Pad: "Wake up! Step up! Do something!" This team down the stretch last night seemed dazed and confused, not knowing how to attack on offense, or even trying, with Oguine or Rorie slashing to the basket. For a critical five minute stretch, with the game on the line, that was perhaps the worst stretch of basketball I've ever seen a Griz team play. P.S. I give our coaches credit for one play down the stretch, the lob to Oguine off an out-of-bounds pass. Didn't work, but audacious call, and I liked it.

--Our young bigs. Ideally, we would have redshirted Anderson or Carter or both. But given the situation, I understand why we couldn't. New strategy: Play the young guys, and hope by tournament they're playing like sophomores. But knowing that DeCuire likes short rotations, was this now the best move? Is Carter now the new guy, ahead of Anderson and Kramer? If so, I don't know why this wasn't determined sooner, so we could at least have saved Anderson's redshirt. This may wind up to be the worst of both worlds.
 
Tough to play Falls a lot more
Who’s odd man out? Moorehead or Pridgett?
Then how do we rebound? Moorehead can theoretically rebound
Pridgett a scorer
Tough dilemma
 
Like I said in the 2nd half against College of Idaho...the team looked....disinterested.

amazing how much we miss Fab. 4/5 starters returning and honestly we probably would have 2 more wins had it been virtually ANY other starter graduating but Fab.
 
I always liked and defended Krslovich, but who were the posters saying last season that he would be the worst player in the NCAA tourney?
 
OK , I admit my expectations were also way out of whack, just way too high. I hoped for a 2-3 loss season , regular season champs and tourney champs and then a 12th seed. From there 2 huge upset victories and a trip to the sweet16. By what the team brought back plus Dorsey, Anderson and Manuel. I also assumed great improvement from Akoh, Pridgett and Falls. Still may see it but for numerous reasons have not yet. It seems something is missing? Maybe offense is just stale but more than likely teams have studied film and have adjusted to the strong backcourt and the team hasn't made its own adjustments to this defensive change.

Now , only 3 ooc games left and probably, at most 2 wins, then on to conf play. The bsc is better than their RPI/NET ranks and mid level teams like PSU, Idaho St.,Sac St. and S Utah will all improve and be much better along with N Col. & Weber, it will be a rough road just to get back to the tourney, even as a 15th seed. Worries me! Expectations too high? With out a doubt, now I just hope they can find that "missing" item, stay healthy and breakout half way through the conf challenge. I am with citay.
 
PlayerRep said:
I always liked and defended Krslovich, but who were the posters saying last season that he would be the worst player in the NCAA tourney?

That guy was a fucking moron.
 
My expectations weren't as high as some of you. I still feel very good about this team. Not having Akoh, and just having him back for one game so far, has been a big negative. Having Falls out and then not fully back in the mix has been a negative. I'm not sure Dorsey and Manuel are in the mix, or comfortable in the mix and their roles, yet.

There is a lot of talent on this team. More than last year. There are some younger new guys who have potential to contribute or fill in, in some roles. Much more depth this year.

I think the team will continue to grow and improve. Hopefully, they can be winning conference games, as they learn to consistently hit on all cylinders.

The future is bright. It will be a fun season. Hopefully, the team will work up to its (high) potential.
 
who would have thunk it, the only bsc team to win , all weekend , was the 2-6 bobkittens...beat WSU in Pullman behind Harold Freys 31 pts! BSky teams will improve, will the Griz?
 
rainbear14 said:
who would have thunk it, the only bsc team to win , all weekend , was the 2-6 bobkittens...beat WSU in Pullman behind Harold Freys 31 pts! BSky teams will improve, will the Griz?

Idaho State also won at Santa Clara.
 
Relax. Not time to pee down our legs quite yet. I think we'll be fine and a better team than last year by the end of the year.
 
PlayerRep said:
AllWeatherFan said:
It’s a depth problem more than anything. We needed Dorsey.

Dorsey didn't play much or do much in the last home game.

Wait, you're talking about the game in which we didn't play Cal-Irvine? If so, I would call that a minor re-evaluation.
 
rainbear14 said:
OK , I admit my expectations were also way out of whack, just way too high. I hoped for a 2-3 loss season , regular season champs and tourney champs and then a 12th seed. From there 2 huge upset victories and a trip to the sweet16. By what the team brought back plus Dorsey, Anderson and Manuel. I also assumed great improvement from Akoh, Pridgett and Falls. Still may see it but for numerous reasons have not yet. It seems something is missing? Maybe offense is just stale but more than likely teams have studied film and have adjusted to the strong backcourt and the team hasn't made its own adjustments to this defensive change.

Now , only 3 ooc games left and probably, at most 2 wins, then on to conf play. The bsc is better than their RPI/NET ranks and mid level teams like PSU, Idaho St.,Sac St. and S Utah will all improve and be much better along with N Col. & Weber, it will be a rough road just to get back to the tourney, even as a 15th seed. Worries me! Expectations too high? With out a doubt, now I just hope they can find that "missing" item, stay healthy and breakout half way through the conf challenge. I am with citay.
I have to disagree with you thought that the BSC is better than their ranking, Idaho is way down, EWU is way way down, UNC lost their best player from last year, PSU is no better, and the Cats are even down a bit, and if you look at how we have fared against power 5 schools the average loss margin is 29pts and the closest loss was a 19pt loss...and yes i made spread sheets lol last year the BSC had 5 wins over power 5 schools and was mostly competitive. This year the separation between BSC and power 5 teams seems to be commensurate to the separation between us and the NAIA schools we play this means there is a huge gap between BigSky and SEC where most other mid major conferences like the Southern or MW are a step down or two steps down but not a leap down like the BSC.
 
Man would I Love to see our Griz fast break like they did back in the 70's & the sad thing is they have the horses to do it!
 
...many have never played the recruiting game...
...to know just how hard it is to recruit to montana...
...should be really really happy with the team we have...

... :clap: ...
 
I think a lot of people's expectations for Griz Basketball were totally unreasonable heading into this season. Last years team had one of the best seasons in Griz Basketball history, with 26 wins. The expectation was to build on that, which puts them in the 28-30 win range likely blasting through the BSC schedule and BSC tournament. Those were some of the offseason predictions. How many teams nationwide win that many games without a deep NCAA tournament run? I don't care what your schedule looks like, improving on a 26 win season is a lofty goal.

I also think that this years schedule is quietly one of the toughest we've seen in a long time. When it was released, there were comments on here about the underwhelming schedule. I think people didn't see a bunch of power 5 teams and assumed it was a weak schedule. SDSU, UC Irvine, Georgia Southern and Georgia State are all ranked in the Mid-major top 25. Creighton was flirting with the AP top 25 before a competitive loss to Gonzaga, and is probably a top 50 team right now with one of the best home court advantages in the nation. Arizona is almost always going to be at the top of the Pac 12 and is just outside the coaches top 25. Top to bottom, its one of the toughest pre-conference schedules we have seen in a long time.

The GA Southern and UC Irvine games were lost opportunities, for sure. They had a chance to send GA Southern to overtime without two key contributors. Akoh was back for his first game in a month against UC Irvine, and they were in that game until the final 3 minute collapse. I think the Creighton game was a slice of humble pie, but one to learn and grow from.

The Grizzlies three losses have been to objectively good teams, and they were in two of those games until the end. I'm disappointed in those losses, and I'm sure the team and coaches are too, but keep it in perspective. They were competitive games against good teams and the Grizzlies were playing with a limited roster. Its early in the season, and I think we'll see Manuel and Dorsey get more comfortable and integrated into the roster. Having Akoh back is a good sign, I hope that he is close to 100% and can finish his senior season strong, he will be critical to the success of this years team. Frankly I'd rather see our Grizzlies see some adversity early in the season than to head into the BSC tournament and not know how to handle it against a hungry BSC team.

Anyone who thinks its time for a "Major" re-evaluation of the team at this point either had grossly unrealistic expectations, or wasn't actually paying any attention to the strength of the schedule. I would say they are about a game behind where I hoped they would be at this point in the season. If you were expecting a 30 win season and a 10-11 seed in the tournament, you were always likely to be disappointed this year. The Grizzlies will be fine, just stick with them.

Go Griz!
 
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