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#12 Montana versus #5 Vanderbilt
- Thread starter TrueGriz
- Start date
Vanderbilt is 27 in the RPI. 3 of their 7 losses have come to Tennessee, including an SEC tournament loss of 76-73. The rest of their losses are to LSU (2), NC State (25), Mississippi (55) and Western Kentucky (68).
Don't know too much about this team as of yet, but I plan to do some research.
Don't know too much about this team as of yet, but I plan to do some research.
TrueGriz
Well-known member
I believe Lady Griz played Vanderbilt back in 1994-95 in a pre-season wnit tournament. Lady Griz lost by a so close margin. Had lead in last minute, should have won it. But had a costly turnover in last minute, and Vanderbilt eventually won it.
From teamrankings.com Vanderbilt has a power ranking of 19. Lady Griz have a power ranking of 75. Power rankings are stronger indication of how good a team is than the RPI rankings.
Vanderbilt has a record of 11 - 7 against teams in the top 100. 10 - 2 against teams ranked 26 - 100. Never lost to anybody that is ranked below 100.
They play in the 2nd strongest conference in the NCAA.
Lady Griz have a 5 - 4 record against teams in the top 100. They haven't played anybody better than 26 in power ratings. They did beat a team ranked better than 25 in RPI though (Florida State), but that team is ranked at #33 in power ratings.
This will be a very tough game against a team that has played against the best, and were in pretty much every game they were in. In other words, they could have a better record.
Plus, if they have the same coach as the team back in 1994-95, that coach will at least be familiar with the Lady Griz's style of play and offense. Players are different, though. This Lady Griz team may be just a tad bit better now. But, Vanderbilt certainly has a better team now, than back then.
I'll let Montana Gym Rat come up with the research on the players.
From teamrankings.com Vanderbilt has a power ranking of 19. Lady Griz have a power ranking of 75. Power rankings are stronger indication of how good a team is than the RPI rankings.
Vanderbilt has a record of 11 - 7 against teams in the top 100. 10 - 2 against teams ranked 26 - 100. Never lost to anybody that is ranked below 100.
They play in the 2nd strongest conference in the NCAA.
Lady Griz have a 5 - 4 record against teams in the top 100. They haven't played anybody better than 26 in power ratings. They did beat a team ranked better than 25 in RPI though (Florida State), but that team is ranked at #33 in power ratings.
This will be a very tough game against a team that has played against the best, and were in pretty much every game they were in. In other words, they could have a better record.
Plus, if they have the same coach as the team back in 1994-95, that coach will at least be familiar with the Lady Griz's style of play and offense. Players are different, though. This Lady Griz team may be just a tad bit better now. But, Vanderbilt certainly has a better team now, than back then.
I'll let Montana Gym Rat come up with the research on the players.
theblackgecko
Well-known member
It's a lot better than last year's first round draw.
I'm telling you, this could be the year Montana goes to the Sweet Sixteen. Should be great.
I'm telling you, this could be the year Montana goes to the Sweet Sixteen. Should be great.
Ok, here are the results of my research. A little long, but hey, this is a huge game. :wink:
Vanderbilt has four girls who average 29 minutes or more/game. After that they have three others who play right around 20 minutes/game. This is a team that is only 7 players deep. Foul trouble/fatigue could be one way to take advantage of the Commodores.
Dee Davis appears to be the heart and soul of this ball club. She averages 13.7 pts/game, 6.2 ast/game, 1.9 stl/game and 3.7 reb/game. With a stat line like that, Vandy depends pretty heavily on her contributions and she has got to be a key that the Lady Griz focus on. If we can take Davis out of her game and not let her make too many plays, the odds for Montana sky rocket. Davis shoots 44.3% from the field and 35.6% from outside. She takes a fair amount of three’s, but she does a good job of balancing her play and is extremely good at getting to the foul line, where she converts 81.2% of her freebies. She also boasts an assist/turnover ratio of 1.9. A very solid player who is difficult to contain and won’t make unforced mistakes.
Ashley Earley is Vandy’s force in the paint. She averages 18.5 pts/game off of 64.3% shooting and grabs 9.7 boards/game. She’s not a shot blocker, but she’s got quick hands leading the team in steals with over 2 a game. She does a good job of getting to the foul line as well, but only converts 69% of her FT’s. Our post players have got to know where she is at all times, not only during the play, but when shots go up. Almost half of her rebounds are on the offensive end. She’s not a bad passer, but she does average over 3 turnovers/game. Hopefully that suffocating Lady Griz zone can force her to make mistakes and limit her production from the paint.
Carla Thomas (no not that one :wink: ) is VU’s other post player. I use the word other lightly because she is almost as big a threat from inside as Earley. She gets just about the same number of shots that Earley does, but only converts 55.7% of her attempts, averaging 15.9 pts/game. She doesn’t get to the line quite as often either, but she shoots a better percentage at 78.9%. She doesn’t do quite the rebounding that Earley does, averaging 6.4 reb/game, with most of them coming on the defensive end. She’s not as good of a passer and could be susceptible to turnovers as well.
Abi Ramsey is the team’s outside threat and she rounds out the main four for Vanderbilt. She’s taken 278 shots this year with 196 of them coming from outside, making 40.8% of them. About the only other thing she does for the team is contribute to the defensive pressure. The Commodores average 10 steals/game. She does get a couple assists/game, but more importantly she doesn’t make very many turnovers. This is the girl we can’t leave open from outside.
The three other players that VU rounds out the lineup with are Caroline Williams (11 starts), Katie Antony (15 starts) and Cherish Stringfield (3 starts). Of the three, Antony plays the most. She’s not a great scorer or shooter, averaging 5.5 pts/game and shooting 42.7%, only 19.2% from three. She gets a couple boards, a couple assists, maybe a steal or two. She spends most of her time inside the 3-point line. Williams is a dead-eye from outside knocking down 53.0% of her three-pointers. 83 of her 105 shots have been from outside, but she doesn’t do a whole lot besides that (5.6 pts/game, 1.7 reb/game, 0.8 ast/game, more turnovers than assists). Unlike Antony, she spends most of her time outside the 3-point line. Stringfield rounds out the seven girls who see a significant amount of playing time for VU. Half of her shots come from three (30.3%), and only shoots 38.7% from the field (4.4 pts/game, 1.7 reb/game, 1.2 ast/game). As with all of these players, she basically fills out the 5th spot on the floor. After the first four above, you can see that Vandy’s depth drops off pretty quickly.
Montana will probably see Nicole Jules, Katie Eggers and Erica Grimaldi on the court for short stints, but they are basically in to give one of the big four a breather. The way I see it, Vandy is a team of 4 incredible players. Montana should focus on these players and make sure none of them get anything easily. With the success these four players have seen throughout the year, I wonder how they will react if they aren’t able to maintain an 80 point pace game. However, the Lady Griz haven’t been exactly slowing it down the last couple of games, so maybe Robin will let his team try to run with VU.
Thomas is 6'3", but after that, Earley is 5'10", Ramsey is 5'10" and Davis is 5'7". Nobody else is over 6'0" that sees significant playing time. It will be interesting to see how much of an advantage the Lady Griz’ size will give them. Florida State had a very athletic team, but they just couldn’t matchup one player on Hollie. If VU decides to double team, Montana has to have a player or two step up. The best thing going for Montana is their depth and the number of weapons they have. There are 7 or 8 players on UM’s team who can get 15-20 points. If you don’t double team Hollie, she’ll get 20 points, if you do double her, somebody is going to step up and hurt you another way.
You have to like Montana’s chances in this one. Vandy is travelling across the country, lost their depth that carried them deep into the tourney last year, and is giving up quite a bit of size. Montana has the core back of a team that gained some big time experience in the tourney last year. The Lady Griz are playing with a lot of confidence on offense after their last three games. And probably most important of all, they have a group of girls who felt like they should have won in the tourney last year and are determined to get that big tourney win this year.
Vanderbilt has four girls who average 29 minutes or more/game. After that they have three others who play right around 20 minutes/game. This is a team that is only 7 players deep. Foul trouble/fatigue could be one way to take advantage of the Commodores.
Dee Davis appears to be the heart and soul of this ball club. She averages 13.7 pts/game, 6.2 ast/game, 1.9 stl/game and 3.7 reb/game. With a stat line like that, Vandy depends pretty heavily on her contributions and she has got to be a key that the Lady Griz focus on. If we can take Davis out of her game and not let her make too many plays, the odds for Montana sky rocket. Davis shoots 44.3% from the field and 35.6% from outside. She takes a fair amount of three’s, but she does a good job of balancing her play and is extremely good at getting to the foul line, where she converts 81.2% of her freebies. She also boasts an assist/turnover ratio of 1.9. A very solid player who is difficult to contain and won’t make unforced mistakes.
Ashley Earley is Vandy’s force in the paint. She averages 18.5 pts/game off of 64.3% shooting and grabs 9.7 boards/game. She’s not a shot blocker, but she’s got quick hands leading the team in steals with over 2 a game. She does a good job of getting to the foul line as well, but only converts 69% of her FT’s. Our post players have got to know where she is at all times, not only during the play, but when shots go up. Almost half of her rebounds are on the offensive end. She’s not a bad passer, but she does average over 3 turnovers/game. Hopefully that suffocating Lady Griz zone can force her to make mistakes and limit her production from the paint.
Carla Thomas (no not that one :wink: ) is VU’s other post player. I use the word other lightly because she is almost as big a threat from inside as Earley. She gets just about the same number of shots that Earley does, but only converts 55.7% of her attempts, averaging 15.9 pts/game. She doesn’t get to the line quite as often either, but she shoots a better percentage at 78.9%. She doesn’t do quite the rebounding that Earley does, averaging 6.4 reb/game, with most of them coming on the defensive end. She’s not as good of a passer and could be susceptible to turnovers as well.
Abi Ramsey is the team’s outside threat and she rounds out the main four for Vanderbilt. She’s taken 278 shots this year with 196 of them coming from outside, making 40.8% of them. About the only other thing she does for the team is contribute to the defensive pressure. The Commodores average 10 steals/game. She does get a couple assists/game, but more importantly she doesn’t make very many turnovers. This is the girl we can’t leave open from outside.
The three other players that VU rounds out the lineup with are Caroline Williams (11 starts), Katie Antony (15 starts) and Cherish Stringfield (3 starts). Of the three, Antony plays the most. She’s not a great scorer or shooter, averaging 5.5 pts/game and shooting 42.7%, only 19.2% from three. She gets a couple boards, a couple assists, maybe a steal or two. She spends most of her time inside the 3-point line. Williams is a dead-eye from outside knocking down 53.0% of her three-pointers. 83 of her 105 shots have been from outside, but she doesn’t do a whole lot besides that (5.6 pts/game, 1.7 reb/game, 0.8 ast/game, more turnovers than assists). Unlike Antony, she spends most of her time outside the 3-point line. Stringfield rounds out the seven girls who see a significant amount of playing time for VU. Half of her shots come from three (30.3%), and only shoots 38.7% from the field (4.4 pts/game, 1.7 reb/game, 1.2 ast/game). As with all of these players, she basically fills out the 5th spot on the floor. After the first four above, you can see that Vandy’s depth drops off pretty quickly.
Montana will probably see Nicole Jules, Katie Eggers and Erica Grimaldi on the court for short stints, but they are basically in to give one of the big four a breather. The way I see it, Vandy is a team of 4 incredible players. Montana should focus on these players and make sure none of them get anything easily. With the success these four players have seen throughout the year, I wonder how they will react if they aren’t able to maintain an 80 point pace game. However, the Lady Griz haven’t been exactly slowing it down the last couple of games, so maybe Robin will let his team try to run with VU.
Thomas is 6'3", but after that, Earley is 5'10", Ramsey is 5'10" and Davis is 5'7". Nobody else is over 6'0" that sees significant playing time. It will be interesting to see how much of an advantage the Lady Griz’ size will give them. Florida State had a very athletic team, but they just couldn’t matchup one player on Hollie. If VU decides to double team, Montana has to have a player or two step up. The best thing going for Montana is their depth and the number of weapons they have. There are 7 or 8 players on UM’s team who can get 15-20 points. If you don’t double team Hollie, she’ll get 20 points, if you do double her, somebody is going to step up and hurt you another way.
You have to like Montana’s chances in this one. Vandy is travelling across the country, lost their depth that carried them deep into the tourney last year, and is giving up quite a bit of size. Montana has the core back of a team that gained some big time experience in the tourney last year. The Lady Griz are playing with a lot of confidence on offense after their last three games. And probably most important of all, they have a group of girls who felt like they should have won in the tourney last year and are determined to get that big tourney win this year.
TrueGriz
Well-known member
Thanks for the report.
I will be going to the game, unless something comes up. Bought a ticket for the first game. Couldn't afford to pay for both sessions and then find out I couldn't go. If I do go, and Lady Griz win, I will have to find someway to get a ticket to the game afterwards.
Anyway, I consider Lynsey Monaco the key for the Lady Griz. She has been playing very well lately and a large reason the Lady Griz won the Big Sky Tournament. It will be key that she continues to play well, keep the turnovers low like she has done the past 4 or 5 games.
Holly Tyler can't shoot 4 - 17 and expect Lady Griz to win.
I hope every Lady Griz will be able to play this week so they can gain experience playing in the NCAA tournament.
I will be going to the game, unless something comes up. Bought a ticket for the first game. Couldn't afford to pay for both sessions and then find out I couldn't go. If I do go, and Lady Griz win, I will have to find someway to get a ticket to the game afterwards.
Anyway, I consider Lynsey Monaco the key for the Lady Griz. She has been playing very well lately and a large reason the Lady Griz won the Big Sky Tournament. It will be key that she continues to play well, keep the turnovers low like she has done the past 4 or 5 games.
Holly Tyler can't shoot 4 - 17 and expect Lady Griz to win.
I hope every Lady Griz will be able to play this week so they can gain experience playing in the NCAA tournament.
