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Bannon

Good for him. Bad for the Griz. Who replaces his versatility. We'll miss his distribution skills the most. Hopefully, we have a true pg for this. Does Nap become a distributor? Who are we pursuing in the portal?
 
Awesome to see Griz continue to send players to the pros. That should be the goals for some of these young men and this program. But yea that one hurts the line up next year. Gonna need a big splash transfer.
 
Sad and surprised to see Josh leaving. He’s a great young man and will do well if not in basketball he’ll do well in life. I had reasonably high expectations for next year but now that’s a big question mark. Even if Trav is able to bring in a drop down big man it will take him sometime to adjust to Travis’s style of play and get familiar with his teammates.
One thing that became clear to me in watching the tournament besides the skill level and athleticism was the trust that the players had in each other. That comes from not only bonding but playing together for a period of time. Knowing where your teammates will be in certain situations on the court is crucial in games.
Unless Travis can come up with some kind of silver bullet for next year, meaning finishing in the top three in the conference, then I feel his tenure as the head coach of the Griz could be in serious jeopardy. I like Travis a lot but the name of the game is win or go home. Not a lot different than life itself.
 
https://missoulian.com/sports/college/big-sky-conference/university-of-montana/all-big-sky-forward-josh-bannan-leaves-montana-grizzlies-to-chase-professional-dreams/article_1738cbba-3d61-562b-a219-420eea570800.html#tracking-source=home-sports
 
I remember hearing rumblings about this but I didn’t think it would actually happen. Best of luck to Bannan! We’re pretty thin at the 5 spot now. Gonna have to hit a home run in the portal now! This may be the most important decision of Decuire’s tenure. Can’t afford to not get it right.
 
Sport said:
Sad and surprised to see Josh leaving. He’s a great young man and will do well if not in basketball he’ll do well in life. I had reasonably high expectations for next year but now that’s a big question mark. Even if Trav is able to bring in a drop down big man it will take him sometime to adjust to Travis’s style of play and get familiar with his teammates.
One thing that became clear to me in watching the tournament besides the skill level and athleticism was the trust that the players had in each other. That comes from not only bonding but playing together for a period of time. Knowing where your teammates will be in certain situations on the court is crucial in games.
Unless Travis can come up with some kind of silver bullet for next year, meaning finishing in the top three in the conference, then I feel his tenure as the head coach of the Griz could be in serious jeopardy. I like Travis a lot but the name of the game is win or go home. Not a lot different than life itself.
Click to expand...
I feel that TD is quite safe at UM. If he can land the right guys in the portal, UM will be right back to where they were this past year. After losing a player like Bannon, finishing where you finished, and unless you recruit someone a lot better than Bannon, you shouldn't expect to finish any better than 4th. TD might hit a home run in the portal and UM finishes in the top three, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. MSU, EWU, and WSU get almost all of their starters back and don't lose anything close to what UM has now lost. I guess you could say that MSU losing Bello was just as big of a deal, but they have another post man who was nearly as good. EWU lost a good wing player, but get everyone else back and a high percentage of their scoring. WSU gets 100% of their starters back and has signed some upgrades to the line up. I expect UM to be right in the mix for a top 6 finish, but top 3 is a stretch. It could happen if, like I said, TD hits a home run in the portal this spring.
 
Germer's in Portal. Is he good enough for 5 depth, or just a skinny 4? Cam Krystkowiak is graduating at Dartmouth and in the Portal. I think he wants to go to a good program in So. Ca. or somewhere closer to home, and see if he can contribute and have some fun. He was a captain this season. 6-9, 210. Career: 57% shooting, 44% from 3.
 
Not familiar with foreign pro leagues, but obviously he can make plenty of money by returning home. Also not sure about the education process in Australia, but does he have a degree to fall back on or is his fallback basketball. In any regards, hopefully this will open up a scholarship to help in recruiting. We need some help in that area. I wish him good luck.
 
Sport said:
Sad and surprised to see Josh leaving. He’s a great young man and will do well if not in basketball he’ll do well in life. I had reasonably high expectations for next year but now that’s a big question mark. Even if Trav is able to bring in a drop down big man it will take him sometime to adjust to Travis’s style of play and get familiar with his teammates.
One thing that became clear to me in watching the tournament besides the skill level and athleticism was the trust that the players had in each other. That comes from not only bonding but playing together for a period of time. Knowing where your teammates will be in certain situations on the court is crucial in games.
Unless Travis can come up with some kind of silver bullet for next year, meaning finishing in the top three in the conference, then I feel his tenure as the head coach of the Griz could be in serious jeopardy. I like Travis a lot but the name of the game is win or go home. Not a lot different than life itself.
Click to expand...

Come on man. Travis's job is not in jeopardy. If his job is in jeopardy then every coach at UM in every sport (outside of women's soccer) is in jeopardy.
 
UncleRico said:
Sport said:
Sad and surprised to see Josh leaving. He’s a great young man and will do well if not in basketball he’ll do well in life. I had reasonably high expectations for next year but now that’s a big question mark. Even if Trav is able to bring in a drop down big man it will take him sometime to adjust to Travis’s style of play and get familiar with his teammates.
One thing that became clear to me in watching the tournament besides the skill level and athleticism was the trust that the players had in each other. That comes from not only bonding but playing together for a period of time. Knowing where your teammates will be in certain situations on the court is crucial in games.
Unless Travis can come up with some kind of silver bullet for next year, meaning finishing in the top three in the conference, then I feel his tenure as the head coach of the Griz could be in serious jeopardy. I like Travis a lot but the name of the game is win or go home. Not a lot different than life itself.
Click to expand...

Come on man. Travis's job is not in jeopardy. If his job is in jeopardy then every coach at UM in every sport (outside of women's soccer) is in jeopardy.
Click to expand...

Don’t be so sure UncleRico. And yes every coaches jobs is in jeopardy if they fail to win. Just look at the football program. Even making the playoffs last year and prior years Kent did not extend Bobby’s contract which is up next year. And Hauck was the golden boy. Not sure when Travis’s contract renewal is due but there are rumblings amongst several big dollar contributors that the mens basketball needs to right the ship.
Im a big fan of Travis and I hope he’s able to find the right players to bring the program back to prominence.
 
Travis's job shouldn't be in jeopardy. No matter how many 'big dollar' boosters have serious qualms with how Travis goes about things. I have heard endless blabber over the past few years in and out of this forum about Travis this, and Travis that. He's been more successful here, in any metric and in the Big Sky conference than just about any coach in BSC history.

Josh Bannan was always going to have pro opportunities in Australia whether it was last year this year or next year. From what I gather is that this decision wasn't a haphazard choice, but something the staff was very aware of could and probably would happen. There was hope that he would see out his college career here, but when push came to shove the ability to go pro and do it in Australia was probably an offer or an opportunity he couldn't refuse. Best of luck to Josh.

On paper right now, it hurts to lose a first team all conference player, but the roster is hardly slim pickings:

C: Laolu Oke
PF: Di. Thomas
SF: Jaxon Nap
SG: Aannen Moody
PG: Brandon Whitney
6: Josh Vasquez (G)
6: Isaiah Kerr (G)
6: Money Williams (G)
7: Zack Davidson (PF)
7: Do Thomas (SG)
7: Chase Henderson (PG)

That may not be top 2 on paper but it isn't bottom 2 either. That is a pretty athletic group and flexible group.

Judging by who the Griz are after in the portal they seem to be into the market for a bigger scoring wing. Some of their early targets have had a ton of Power 5 interest (Tonje- Missouri Verbal), McMillan (GCU), Williams (Nevada). They seem to be in on some posts as well. They contacted the NAIA player of the year from Jamestown State (So has the rest of the BSC), Graham Ike (Wyoming), likely reaching out to Dischon Jackson (WSU), Jack Wilson (WSU) and Jackson Grant (UW).

MacMillian would be a real coup if they get him (offered in HS), but odds on he ends up at a MWC or Pac12 school and the same with Williams (also an offer from HS). Jackson, Grant, Wilson all fit guys that Travis has had prior relationships with, bigs.

If they are able to find a perimeter scoring wing and add some post depth, this will still be a very formidable team to deal with next year. Just my two cents.
 
Sport said:
UncleRico said:
Sport said:
Sad and surprised to see Josh leaving. He’s a great young man and will do well if not in basketball he’ll do well in life. I had reasonably high expectations for next year but now that’s a big question mark. Even if Trav is able to bring in a drop down big man it will take him sometime to adjust to Travis’s style of play and get familiar with his teammates.
One thing that became clear to me in watching the tournament besides the skill level and athleticism was the trust that the players had in each other. That comes from not only bonding but playing together for a period of time. Knowing where your teammates will be in certain situations on the court is crucial in games.
Unless Travis can come up with some kind of silver bullet for next year, meaning finishing in the top three in the conference, then I feel his tenure as the head coach of the Griz could be in serious jeopardy. I like Travis a lot but the name of the game is win or go home. Not a lot different than life itself.
Click to expand...

Come on man. Travis's job is not in jeopardy. If his job is in jeopardy then every coach at UM in every sport (outside of women's soccer) is in jeopardy.
Click to expand...

Don’t be so sure UncleRico. And yes every coaches jobs is in jeopardy if they fail to win. Just look at the football program. Even making the playoffs last year and prior years Kent did not extend Bobby’s contract which is up next year. And Hauck was the golden boy. Not sure when Travis’s contract renewal is due but there are rumblings amongst several big dollar contributors that the mens basketball needs to right the ship.
Im a big fan of Travis and I hope he’s able to find the right players to bring the program back to prominence.
Click to expand...

Does basketball have any big dollar contributors?
 
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