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Grizzly Basketball, 2020-21

hunt-ducks

Well-known member
I have followed the comments made regarding the current iteration of the Grizzly basketball team, and would like to add some of my observations. As a former high school basketball coach, I am troubled by what I have observed from our team this season. I have watched about 8-10 games online to form my opinions. Many of my comments have been expressed by other posters before, so you may not read any revelations here. Anyway, here goes.

Offense- This is maybe my biggest criticism of the team. Our offense is, frankly, not even a sophisticated high school offense. As others have said, there is no movement of players off-the-ball. Passing is mostly done around the perimeter with seemingly no purpose in running a play. Way too many possessions result in either a turnover, or a hurried low-percentage desperation shot as the clock expires.

Anyone who has played the game knows that shooting the basketball must involve confidence in making the shot, to be effective. Yet I witness over-and-over again where Montana players pass-up open shots, and seem to lack confidence when they do shoot. It is almost like the are afraid to be slammed by coaches for missing, or even quickly removed from the game.

In my opinion, Travis has not designed an offense to utilize his strengths, which are his guards and quicker players. All of us lament the lack of having bigs who can compete is size and bulk with other teams. Yet, our slow-down style of play does nothing to feature our strengths, but only exposes our weaknesses. We have the depth of quick, smaller players, to run a fast-break, high intensity offense, which would create many more open shot opportunities (as well as open 3-point opportunities). On defense, we could use this depth to create havoc by running a Rick Petino style full-court press, creating turnovers and many fast-break opportunities.

I do not agree with Travis' substitution strategy. He substitutes way too much for me. Players can not get any flow or continuity because the get so few minutes before being taken out. The other problem I see with Travis' substitution strategy is that the team can never feel comfortable playing as a unit, with the same five players on the court. Players need PT together over a season to jell as a unit, but with Travis, players play with constantly-changing line-ups, so they can never feel comfortable with their unit on the floor. Too many seemingly interchangeable pieces which leads to never gelling as a starting five, etc.

Finally, the college game has become a 3-point game, to a great extent. Montana has the shooters to excel at the 3-point game. But their offense is not designed to get players open opportunities to shoot the "3". There are designed plays to create open looks for 3s, using motion, screens, etc., but our offense uses none of them. And when our players actually get an open look, they often don't take them.

Defense- I keep reading how great our defense is. I don't agree at all. We are near the bottom in the nation in the number of fouls we have per game, and I can not remember a game this season in which our opponent had more fouls that we did, even at our home games. Our players commit way too many reach fouls, and play poor individual defense. Because we have good quickness with our guards and wings, we make-up for some of the poor individual defense by shear athletic ability. However, if your team is always putting your opponent on the foul line, it is difficult to win games.
 
hunt-ducks said:
In my opinion, Travis has not designed an offense to utilize his strengths, which are his guards and quicker players. All of us lament the lack of having bigs who can compete is size and bulk with other teams. Yet, our slow-down style of play does nothing to feature our strengths, but only exposes our weaknesses. We have the depth of quick, smaller players, to run a fast-break, high intensity offense, which would create many more open shot opportunities (as well as open 3-point opportunities). On defense, we could use this depth to create havoc by running a Rick Petino style full-court press, creating turnovers and many fast-break opportunities.

I made this same recommendation 3-4 days ago. Run 10-deep, 40 minutes of he’ll ala Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks from years gone past....with the speed and depth we have, it certainly couldn’t be LESS successful....
 
AZGrizFan said:
hunt-ducks said:
In my opinion, Travis has not designed an offense to utilize his strengths, which are his guards and quicker players. All of us lament the lack of having bigs who can compete is size and bulk with other teams. Yet, our slow-down style of play does nothing to feature our strengths, but only exposes our weaknesses. We have the depth of quick, smaller players, to run a fast-break, high intensity offense, which would create many more open shot opportunities (as well as open 3-point opportunities). On defense, we could use this depth to create havoc by running a Rick Petino style full-court press, creating turnovers and many fast-break opportunities.

I made this same recommendation 3-4 days ago. Run 10-deep, 40 minutes of he’ll ala Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks from years gone past....with the speed and depth we have, it certainly couldn’t be LESS successful....

I think they should push the ball more and look for points in transition, but I don't think "40 minutes ala NR" is a recipe for success with this team.
 
HelenaHandBasket said:
AZGrizFan said:
I made this same recommendation 3-4 days ago. Run 10-deep, 40 minutes of he’ll ala Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks from years gone past....with the speed and depth we have, it certainly couldn’t be LESS successful....

I think they should push the ball more and look for points in transition, but I don't think "40 minutes ala NR" is a recipe for success with this team.

“I think they should score more and play better defense. That’ll help bring wins.”- John Madden.
 
Wonder if the coaching staff could check out Jud Heathcoats highlight from years past?
 
HelenaHandBasket said:
AZGrizFan said:
I made this same recommendation 3-4 days ago. Run 10-deep, 40 minutes of he’ll ala Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks from years gone past....with the speed and depth we have, it certainly couldn’t be LESS successful....

I think they should push the ball more and look for points in transition, but I don't think "40 minutes ala NR" is a recipe for success with this team.

curious, why not?
 
I had a long winded response (surprise right?) to this yesterday and my computer decided to be non-cooperative. So here it is again, in a slightly less truncated version.

As a coach who has dabbled in the dark arts of coaching basketball and running the pack-line concepts that TDC loves to use, I believe that the pack-line defensive scheme is the most comprehensive and versatile man defensive philosophy out there. There are some drawbacks to the scheme, namely the oblique angles that defenders are commonly on when defending ball handlers. Officials tend to reward crappier traditional face up defending than a defender being on a hip or funneling ballhandlers in better position. Drives me nuts, but you get a lot of trash foul calls because of it. I sort of accept this drawback and it is super effective at the HS level because teams don't shoot free throws well. Works vastly better when you have a ton of wings than being heavy on posts or guards. Out of my own personal experience, I've had to adjust concepts when we were guard or post rich.

I tend to see TDC's offensive philosophy as a part of his overall defensive philosophy. I think he prefers to ensure his teams can get back on defense and that does limit some options as to what might be best for this group. What I have seen a lot of this year, is this team isn't comfortable at a frenetic pace (see last weekend) even with the abundance of guards in the program and it has a negative impact on their defense. They take just as many poor shots within the offense with the added impact of not controlling breakouts.

I don't particularly like the offensive scheme TDC has employed over the years, but that is more to taste than anything. I think it is an offense that when run efficiently and with the right personnel, you can't argue with the results. This year the results have be obviously more miss than hit. They can't create off the wing and they are absolutely brutal at moving the defense diagonally low to high opposite or vice versa. They just don't stretch defenses with effective dribble penetration or passing. Nor do they seem capable at times to stop and pop and so much of the movement offensively is FT line extended and above the 3 point line. The offense he has used more as the season has wore on (more ball pick driven to initiate the offense) should be guard-centric but there isn't a lot of awareness at times where the soft spots are. I see that as confluence of both scheme and experience. I don't know how many times this weekend they dribbled through the window only to turn it over. Beasley and Parker seem to me right now the best at finding the channels and Beasley appears with each game getting closer and closer to being that volume scorer this team has missed all year.

Just my two cents, or twelve.
 
I think Travis and his staff are outstanding recruiters. Yes, they've missed out on some good big men, but by and large and in general, they've tried and succeeded where other Montana coaches may not have even tried. Just go to the Recruiting thread and see where the kids we've missed on have gone: Kentucky, UCLA, Stanford, Penn State, Cal, Arizona, San Diego State. The while Michael Oguine would have excelled at Vanderbilt, Ahmad Rorie was good enough to have started as a true freshman for Oregon and many Power Five programs would have loved to have Sayeed Pridgett. Not to mention our current three-star recruits Rob Beasely and Brandon Whitney. In a way, our staff's recruiting has kept us at the top of the conference.

At the same time, with a roster now dominated by underclassmen, I believe some of DeCuire's shortcomings as a coach have become apparent, mostly on the offensive side of the ball. I still could not tell you in a sentence what his philosophy is, but here is what it's not:

Fast Break a la the Runnin' Utes or Showtime Lakers.
Three-point Bombadiers a la the Utah Jazz.
Patterned disciplined basketball featuring picks and back cuts a la the style of Pete Carril at Princeton.
Low-post Power basketball a la Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing or Joel Embiid.

I dunno. What else is there? A hybrid of these? But I'm not seeing ANY of these elements in our current offense.
 
citay said:
I think Travis and his staff are outstanding recruiters. Yes, they've missed out on some good big men, but by and large and in general, they've tried and succeeded where other Montana coaches may not have even tried. Just go to the Recruiting thread and see where the kids we've missed on have gone: Kentucky, UCLA, Stanford, Penn State, Cal, Arizona, San Diego State. The while Michael Oguine would have excelled at Vanderbilt, Ahmad Rorie was good enough to have started as a true freshman for Oregon and many Power Five programs would have loved to have Sayeed Pridgett. Not to mention our current three-star recruits Rob Beasely and Brandon Whitney. In a way, our staff's recruiting has kept us at the top of the conference.

At the same time, with a roster now dominated by underclassmen, I believe some of DeCuire's shortcomings as a coach have become apparent, mostly on the offensive side of the ball. I still could not tell you in a sentence what his philosophy is, but here is what it's not:

Fast Break a la the Runnin' Utes or Showtime Lakers.
Three-point Bombadiers a la the Utah Jazz.
Patterned disciplined basketball featuring picks and back cuts a la the style of Pete Carril at Princeton.
Low-post Power basketball a la Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing or Joel Embiid.

I dunno. What else is there? A hybrid of these? But I'm not seeing ANY of these elements in our current offense.

I don't think there's any doubt that individual talent (Oguine, Pridgett, Rorie, for example) over the past several years has "hidden" some inherent flaws in the offensive scheme; or maybe it really DOES take that level of talent to effectively run TD's scheme? :? :?

We bitch a lot on here about lack of size underneath, but it didn't seem to stop Pridgett last couple of years....he was an assassin with that drop step move under the basket....if Steadman could have developed THAT shot instead of relying solely on that soft baby hook he might still be here getting quality minutes....and we might not be 5-9 in conference (and sinking fast).
 
AZGrizFan said:
don't think there's any doubt that individual talent (Oguine, Pridgett, Rorie, for example) over the past several years has "hidden" some inherent flaws in the offensive scheme; or maybe it really DOES take that level of talent to effectively run TD's scheme? :? :?

We bitch a lot on here about lack of size underneath, but it didn't seem to stop Pridgett last couple of years....he was an assassin with that drop step move under the basket....if Steadman could have developed THAT shot instead of relying solely on that soft baby hook he might still be here getting quality minutes....and we might not be 5-9 in conference (and sinking fast).

I think this is true. I don't think the scheme is that complex, I could be wrong, but there are some eccentricities to it that may make it more fluid and flexible depending upon who you have. Before Pridgett's senior year he played more in Kyle Owens/Bannan's role than the isolated post guy that Steadman played this year. Pridgett got a ton of clean looks on diagonal hi to low opposite that we aren't seeing a lot this year. Rorie and Oguine passed exceedingly well in traffic and Pridgett felt that response to stepping into vacated spots on the low block. This year Owens, DCH, Bannan are less agressive in that role mixed with Whitney's (primarily) struggle to navigate that FT line and blow collapse of the defense on him. He turns over hte basketball or misses or passes out to players who are in a less of a position to score easily.
 
HelenaHandBasket said:
AZGrizFan said:
I made this same recommendation 3-4 days ago. Run 10-deep, 40 minutes of he’ll ala Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks from years gone past....with the speed and depth we have, it certainly couldn’t be LESS successful....

I think they should push the ball more and look for points in transition, but I don't think "40 minutes ala NR" is a recipe for success with this team.

Ok we start with 20 minutes, the team is built for this right now, Beasley and Parker would love it.

The fans would go crazy and more fans would come and they would sell beer and.........
 
:lol: Fans? What fans? Fan of Zoo?The ones standing outside Dahlberg Arena? The cardboard cutouts placed in the seats? The handful allowed in the stands? The ones who can watch the game from home? H-E-L-L-O!?!

OK, next year....or the year after that...or the year after that. UM is still in Missoula County, dude. Maybe UM should form it's own county, #57, or autonomous zone.

I have eMailed the Governor on the need to reign in the likes of Missoula County to end this arbitrary bullshit. I believe there are 3-4 Bills pending in the Legislature in this regard. What have you done?

Until the Health Board is out of the picture, the future of Griz athletics, and therefore the entire UM, is at stake. At $30 per seat, the University loses $750,000 for each home game, minimum. UM is cash strapped. Go figure. :roll:
 
tourist said:
:lol: Fans? What fans? Fan of Zoo?The ones standing outside Dahlberg Arena? The cardboard cutouts placed in the seats? The handful allowed in the stands? The ones who can watch the game from home? H-E-L-L-O!?!

OK, next year....or the year after that...or the year after that. UM is still in Missoula County, dude. Maybe UM should form it's own county, #57, or autonomous zone.

I have eMailed the Governor on the need to reign in the likes of Missoula County to end this arbitrary bullshit. I believe there are 3-4 Bills pending in the Legislature in this regard. What have you done?

Until the Health Board is out of the picture, the future of Griz athletics, and therefore the entire UM, is at stake. At $30 per seat, the University loses $750,000 for each home game, minimum. UM is cash strapped. Go figure. :roll:

all this talk you know is for next year, this year is......
 
tourist said:
:lol: Fans? What fans? Fan of Zoo?The ones standing outside Dahlberg Arena? The cardboard cutouts placed in the seats? The handful allowed in the stands? The ones who can watch the game from home? H-E-L-L-O!?!

OK, next year....or the year after that...or the year after that. UM is still in Missoula County, dude. Maybe UM should form it's own county, #57, or autonomous zone.

I have eMailed the Governor on the need to reign in the likes of Missoula County to end this arbitrary bullshit. I believe there are 3-4 Bills pending in the Legislature in this regard. What have you done?

Until the Health Board is out of the picture, the future of Griz athletics, and therefore the entire UM, is at stake. At $30 per seat, the University loses $750,000 for each home game, minimum. UM is cash strapped. Go figure. :roll:
I guarantee you there will be no restrictions in Missoula next sports season. The county is already considering lifting them shortly. Try coming to Butte.
(P.S. Gianforte’s not gonna help you, likely won’t even see your email).
 
Fan of Zoo, I believe FUBAR is the description you were looking for.

Griz til I die, you are probably right about eMails to the Gov. I emailed 3-4 times, and checked the reply box. Still waiting. What else can I do?
So, what's up with Butte? Been a left wing stronghold for 140 years, so I can imagine. Just no news has gotten to me.
 
tourist said:
Fan of Zoo, I believe FUBAR is the description you were looking for.

Griz til I die, you are probably right about eMails to the Gov. I emailed 3-4 times, and checked the reply box. Still waiting. What else can I do?
So, what's up with Butte? Been a left wing stronghold for 140 years, so I can imagine. Just no news has gotten to me.

Every email and text I send to Gianforte is answered. Do you have the right address? Hal
 
Had a smart phone for about six weeks now. I'll do some checking. Smart phone does not mean smart user.
 
citay said:
I think Travis and his staff are outstanding recruiters. Yes, they've missed out on some good big men, but by and large and in general, they've tried and succeeded where other Montana coaches may not have even tried. Just go to the Recruiting thread and see where the kids we've missed on have gone: Kentucky, UCLA, Stanford, Penn State, Cal, Arizona, San Diego State. The while Michael Oguine would have excelled at Vanderbilt, Ahmad Rorie was good enough to have started as a true freshman for Oregon and many Power Five programs would have loved to have Sayeed Pridgett. Not to mention our current three-star recruits Rob Beasely and Brandon Whitney. In a way, our staff's recruiting has kept us at the top of the conference.

At the same time, with a roster now dominated by underclassmen, I believe some of DeCuire's shortcomings as a coach have become apparent, mostly on the offensive side of the ball. I still could not tell you in a sentence what his philosophy is, but here is what it's not:

Fast Break a la the Runnin' Utes or Showtime Lakers.
Three-point Bombadiers a la the Utah Jazz.
Patterned disciplined basketball featuring picks and back cuts a la the style of Pete Carril at Princeton.
Low-post Power basketball a la Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing or Joel Embiid.

I dunno. What else is there? A hybrid of these? But I'm not seeing ANY of these elements in our current offense.

I agree with your post. I also agree with the poster who stated that having players like Rorie, Oguine, and Pridgett masked some of the deficiencies in Travis' offense. I was critical of his offense even during the years when those great players played. Many times those three waited until the shot clock was winding-down, then just went iso to penetrate and score.
Frankly, like Citay, I can not even identify what the offense is that Travis is attempting to run. There doesn't seem to be any purpose to either the passes made, nor the movements or screening done in his offense.
One more point that I would make regarding the continued excuse used about having so many freshmen playing, as the excuse for the poor play. As Al McGuire stated.... "the best thing about freshman, is that they become sophomores". However, McGuire also stated "as their freshman season progresses, they should stop playing like freshmen."
I just don't see the progress being made by our team as the season progresses. We seem to make the same mistakes now as we did early in the season. And on defense, we still play poor individual defense, still have too many silly reach-fowls, and still consistently have more fouls committed every game than our opposition. It is difficult to label our team as being a great defensive team when we are near the bottom of all Division I teams in the number of fouls we commit each game.
 
PlayerRep said:
tourist said:
Fan of Zoo, I believe FUBAR is the description you were looking for.

Griz til I die, you are probably right about eMails to the Gov. I emailed 3-4 times, and checked the reply box. Still waiting. What else can I do?
So, what's up with Butte? Been a left wing stronghold for 140 years, so I can imagine. Just no news has gotten to me.

Every email and text I send to Gianforte is answered. Do you have the right address? Hal
You’re lucky enough to know him personally though unlike the rest of us.
 
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