The Baby Griz

Loved what I saw out of our freshman last night. The bad stretch was as bad as it could get but that’s expected. Vasquez, Derek, and Owens will be real deal players. Eddy Egan will help us for sure also on both ends.It might be ugly for awhile especially in non-conference, but come tournament time in Boise, I like our guys, I trust Travis.

If Gaskin gets cleared (can be still?) we would have 5 freshman in our 9 man rotation.

Sayeed is the best player in the league.

Vasquez
Owens
Carter-Hollinger
Egun

Which one is BSC Freshman of the Year? Because with the PT these guys are getting, it's GONNA be one of them.

AZGrizFan said:

Vasquez
Owens
Carter-Hollinger
Egun

Which one is BSC Freshman of the Year? Because with the PT these guys are getting, it's GONNA be one of them.

Click to expand...

I love what I’m seeing out of DJ. He’d be my pick.

HookedonGriz said:

AZGrizFan said:

Vasquez
Owens
Carter-Hollinger
Egun

Which one is BSC Freshman of the Year? Because with the PT these guys are getting, it's GONNA be one of them.

Click to expand...

I love what I’m seeing out of DJ. He’d be my pick.

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I agree on DJ. He just has a nose for the ball. The other three are going to be off the charts too. Can you imagine all five of them (including Gaskin) after they put on 10-20 lbs of muscle in the next few years. I looked at roster from last year and Egun put on 13 lbs.

AZGrizFan said:

Vasquez
Owens
Carter-Hollinger
Egun

Which one is BSC Freshman of the Year? Because with the PT these guys are getting, it's GONNA be one of them.

Click to expand...

I'm taking a stab at KO. I'm guessing he'll do about 15 and 4 or 5 in conference play. If I'm wrong I don't really care because I could see those other guys step up as well. Will be fun finding out.

It is a good sign, when I can honestly make an argument for any 1 of these freshmen as a potential all conference type player. I feel, Owens has the highest ceiling/most potential. The others are going to be great too. With Owens though, I see a guy that truly has the length (6'8") and skill set to be a true SF with the GRIZ, with a game, size, athleticism to transition to the NBA. His natural position is SF/3, which he is playing at college. Usually, a guy of his height is forced into full time post play. Travis is allowing him the freedom to do what he is a natural fit for.

Vasquez, is my #2 choice in high potential/ceiling. He has good size, shooting, and ball handling skills to possibly build his game to. His problem is, guards are what dominate the NBA these days. Vasquez has a lot more competition that do the same as he does.

DCH is young, has a great build, and solid overall game. As is, his size is that of a NBA SG/SF. However, his game is that of SF/PF. He either has to grow another 3 to 4 inches, or show he does have the shooting range, ball handling, and perimeter defense for the NBA. I did see him handle the ball against Texas Southern, when he broke their press. I was pleasantly surprised to see him handle the ball as well as he did. With time, will he be given the opportunity, like Pridgett has been given, to showcase his overall skill set? For his sake, I really do hope he grows to 6'8".

Eddy Egun really brings the energy, attitude, and aggressiveness on both ends of the court. He is a solid 6'3" or 6'4". He is a solid ball handler and shooter. He just needs to calm down a little on the offensive side. When he is playing within himself, his shot is smooth and is a difference maker. He's got the energy of Timmy Falls. Sometimes, that energy hurts them offensively. Defensively, that energy is a huge asset. I really would hate to be guarded by either of those 2 guys.

Gaskin, right now is the most talented of these young guns. The NCAA is absolutely screwing him over. Considering the other players that have been granted transfer eligibility. I really would like to hear their reasoning behind them denying Gaskin eligibility, to date. I hope to ask Gaskin myself, when I see him again. I really do feel for the kid.

Got to admit, these young guns have me very excited for the next 4 seasons.

If you happened to watch Duke play Stephen F Austin last night you got to see a 500 team from last year beat the current number 1 ranked team in the nation. How does that happen? Duke played with 4 freshman and 1 sophomore. These are 5 of the best young players in the nation. Coach K has not forgotten how to coach. It is just a fact that youth takes time to develop and at the end of the year Duke will be pretty salty and ranked among the top 10 teams in the NCAA tournament.

We are no different! We are young and have a lot of talent. Travis is a great coach! A month from now we will see a different team as the pieces start blending together and in March we will see a very competitive team that opponents will not be looking forward to playing in the tournament. This team needs time and competition to become the best that they can be and that is what they are gettin. I am excited for the rest of the year and the future of Grizzly basketball.

Go Griz!

Griz1 said:

If you happened to watch Duke play Stephen F Austin last night you got to see a 500 team from last year beat the current number 1 ranked team in the nation. How does that happen? Duke played with 4 freshman and 1 sophomore. These are 5 of the best young players in the nation. Coach K has not forgotten how to coach. It is just a fact that youth takes time to develop and at the end of the year Duke will be pretty salty and ranked among the top 10 teams in the NCAA tournament.

We are no different! We are young and have a lot of talent. Travis is a great coach! A month from now we will see a different team as the pieces start blending together and in March we will see a very competitive team that opponents will not be looking forward to playing in the tournament. This team needs time and competition to become the best that they can be and that is what they are gettin. I am excited for the rest of the year and the future of Grizzly basketball.

Go Griz!

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Exactly!

AZGrizFan said:

Vasquez
Owens
Carter-Hollinger
Egun

Which one is BSC Freshman of the Year? Because with the PT these guys are getting, it's GONNA be one of them.

Click to expand...

It’s gonna be some dude from Weber. Doesn’t matter who. Hell, he might not even be a Fr or a basketball player for that matter.

You definitely have some good freshmen on your squad but if you haven't seen him yet, check out EWU guard Ellis Magnuson....he has taken the starting point guard spot from the returning point guard, Tyler Kidd, who wasn't too bad......I've seen him on TV and I think he will be FOY in the BSC...nothing against your guys, just an unbiased opinion...BTW, I have seen your freshmen several times too....

I agree on one point: We Griz fans can be self-centered and myopic. Maybe winning it all two years in a row will do that to you. But unlike on the Weber board, seldom do we post anything about other schools or other players within the conference--unless a sacstateman brings it to our attention.

And there are definitely some interesting developments around the conference. Weber, for example, is 1-5, their only victory coming over West Coast Baptist. (I have no idea who or where they are.) A high-profile recruit, Caleb Nero, has left the program, and another, Israel Barnes, seems to be in Rahe's doghouse. Of course, many in Weberville are calling for Rahe's scalp.

Eastern, meanwhile, is 4-2, and has taken on a couple of notable opponents, Saint Louis and Boston College, losing at BC by only four points. Their big-gun so far is Jacob Davison, who was hurt last year during the Big Sky playoff, the while the acclaimed freshman Ellis Magnuson, scored zero points in either game, and only played seven minutes against BC. But...he does have stud credentials, as his coach calls him the best passing guard he's seen in a while.

But, hey! I'm a Griz fan! I couldn't care less! And to Mr. Sacstateman, I would say, "I'll give you that Magnuson is a good player. I'll give you that there's likely another freshman in the Big Sky that will light it up this year. But I guarantee--no team in the Big Sky has FOUR freshmen of the caliber of Montana's. That's what has to be worrisome to all members of the Big Sky. (And, oh, with another 3-star recruit coming in next year, to join the 3-star sitting on the bench this year.)

Good points, citay. Our coach is amassing talent year by year. The bench is getting longer and stronger and when you consider what is coming in next year you have to be pumped as a fan knowing the best is yet to come.

Pretty excited to see what Selcuk can do. He is available December when?

Tuesday night in a victory over Belmont (rated no. 91), Magnuson had 13 pts 5-9 from the field, 3-4 from the line, 9 assists, and a steal in 35 minutes playing the point and leading his team to a helluva win (even you have to admit that beating Belmont is an accomplishment and good for the conference)...I said you guys have some good freshmen....never said 1 word against your guys....I thought that this board was here for discussion but maybe I'm wrong...not here to piss people off, just talk hoops....If you look back at old posts when Pridgett signed with Montana, I was one of the first to come on here and congratulate you guys and give you my thoughts about Saheed because I had seen him in person a half dozen times at El Cerrito High before you signed him....I go to around 70-80 games a year (HS, JC, DII and DI) so I have a rather large sample size of players to compare to....

sacstateman said:

Tuesday night in a victory over Belmont (rated no. 91), Magnuson had 13 pts 5-9 from the field, 3-4 from the line, 9 assists, and a steal in 35 minutes playing the point and leading his team to a helluva win (even you have to admit that beating Belmont is an accomplishment and good for the conference)...I said you guys have some good freshmen....never said 1 word against your guys....I thought that this board was here for discussion but maybe I'm wrong...not here to piss people off, just talk hoops....If you look back at old posts when Pridgett signed with Montana, I was one of the first to come on here and congratulate you guys and give you my thoughts about Saheed because I had seen him in person a half dozen times at El Cerrito High before you signed him....I go to around 70-80 games a year (HS, JC, DII and DI) so I have a rather large sample size of players to compare to....

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Don’t get too upset. I am glad you posted. Hadnt heard of the kid. All on here, I am sure, appreciate basketball talk rather than smack talk as on the football board. I think Citay is just excited about our freshmen and honestly thinks we have something unique there and was just protecting that notion. I think all Griz fans are pretty enamored with our young guys and probably will be a little homerish about them. After all this is Egriz. In any case, thanks for posting makes EWU more interesting to watch and you certainly have good info for us given we recruit California pretty hard.

cmtgrizzly said:

sacstateman said:

Tuesday night in a victory over Belmont (rated no. 91), Magnuson had 13 pts 5-9 from the field, 3-4 from the line, 9 assists, and a steal in 35 minutes playing the point and leading his team to a helluva win (even you have to admit that beating Belmont is an accomplishment and good for the conference)...I said you guys have some good freshmen....never said 1 word against your guys....I thought that this board was here for discussion but maybe I'm wrong...not here to piss people off, just talk hoops....If you look back at old posts when Pridgett signed with Montana, I was one of the first to come on here and congratulate you guys and give you my thoughts about Saheed because I had seen him in person a half dozen times at El Cerrito High before you signed him....I go to around 70-80 games a year (HS, JC, DII and DI) so I have a rather large sample size of players to compare to....

Click to expand...

Don’t get too upset. I am glad you posted. Hadnt heard of the kid. All on here, I am sure, appreciate basketball talk rather than smack talk as on the football board. I think Citay is just excited about our freshmen and honestly thinks we have something unique there and was just protecting that notion. I think all Griz fans are pretty enamored with our young guys and probably will be a little homerish about them. After all this is Egriz. In any case, thanks for posting makes EWU more interesting to watch and you certainly have good info for us given we recruit California pretty hard.

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Amen! I welcome sacstateman on this board (as well as mslalcat from Montana State and Oldrunner from Weber.) He always brings good information, and I'd appreciate hearing more from him about his own team, because I think they are going to be good this year. In addition, on many occasions he has "edited" my comments to clarify names, dates, et. al., so let me now happily return the favor by reminding him it is "Sayeed" and not "Saheed."

citay said:

cmtgrizzly said:

sacstateman said:

Tuesday night in a victory over Belmont (rated no. 91), Magnuson had 13 pts 5-9 from the field, 3-4 from the line, 9 assists, and a steal in 35 minutes playing the point and leading his team to a helluva win (even you have to admit that beating Belmont is an accomplishment and good for the conference)...I said you guys have some good freshmen....never said 1 word against your guys....I thought that this board was here for discussion but maybe I'm wrong...not here to piss people off, just talk hoops....If you look back at old posts when Pridgett signed with Montana, I was one of the first to come on here and congratulate you guys and give you my thoughts about Saheed because I had seen him in person a half dozen times at El Cerrito High before you signed him....I go to around 70-80 games a year (HS, JC, DII and DI) so I have a rather large sample size of players to compare to....

Click to expand...

Don’t get too upset. I am glad you posted. Hadnt heard of the kid. All on here, I am sure, appreciate basketball talk rather than smack talk as on the football board. I think Citay is just excited about our freshmen and honestly thinks we have something unique there and was just protecting that notion. I think all Griz fans are pretty enamored with our young guys and probably will be a little homerish about them. After all this is Egriz. In any case, thanks for posting makes EWU more interesting to watch and you certainly have good info for us given we recruit California pretty hard.

Click to expand...

Amen! I welcome sacstateman on this board (as well as mslalcat from Montana State and Oldrunner from Weber.) He always brings good information, and I'd appreciate hearing more from him about his own team, because I think they are going to be good this year. In addition, on many occasions he has "edited" my comments to clarify names, dates, et. al., so let me now happily return the favor by reminding him it is "Sayeed" and not "Saheed."

Click to expand...

WOW... This hurts my feelings.

Moving on... The Cats are still a work in progress, but what has been the greatest improvement i have seen from the Cats is their Defensive play... they are holding teams to under 40% shooting for the year (7th in the country)... YES, not everyone we have played have been great teams, but it is something we haven't seen for YEARS here in Bozeman... I would put Frey right up there with Sayeed for best in the Big Sky...

I would have to agree with saccat66. Frey from the cats is an excellent ball player and with his international experience brings a high basketball IQ to the game. So far the Griz have pretty much held him in check but then We have a pretty new front line. It will be interesting to see him match up with Falls. Timmy just needs to avoid those ticky tack fouls. Harold Frey has a very % from the line also. I think when Frey brings the ball up court we need to meet him at half court and limit his penetration.

Sport said:

I would have to agree with saccat66. Frey from the cats is an excellent ball player and with his international experience brings a high basketball IQ to the game. So far the Griz have pretty much held him in check but then We have a pretty new front line. It will be interesting to see him match up with Falls. Timmy just needs to avoid those ticky tack fouls. Harold Frey has a very % from the line also. I think when Frey brings the ball up court we need to meet him at half court and limit his penetration.

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Frey is a very skilled player and does have that extraordinary court vision that not that many guys possess. It will be a battle within a battle watching Timmy play D against him this year. He won't be able to afford cheap fouls in that matchup. I wouldn't be surprised if Carter-Hollinger guards him at times. He is looking more like a defensive stopper every game.

These are some snarly young Griz, when they mature..watchout! Hopefully we can retain, and keep w/o major injuries!