A few things that may surprise some

[mtgrizrule]

Some more interesting stats, too bad the GRIZ struggled so much early. It looks like as a whole the team has improved defensively and a few other aspects. The numbers they are putting up in team categories in conference play would be ranked nationally had they done better in OOC. Here is where they would rank nationally in a few categories had they maintained these averages for the year. Based on Conference play, it looks City should be pleased. He has preached team defense for quite sometime here.

Maybe, just maybe the coaching and team are better than many here would think and some credit is due for the players and coaches. Here is the link, the stats are coming into this weekend, and my numbers I used are after the weekend wrapped up. http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings. It looks like the future is bright again based on these things. (I just tried the link, sorry it is not working, but I found this at the NCAA.org.)

Try this link: http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings?sportCode=MBB

|---TOTAL---| |---3-PTS---| |----REBOUNDS----|
FG-FGA Pct 3FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg PF FO A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg

All Opponents
543-1306 .416 139-394 .353 387-537 .721 264 535 799 32.0 484 - 266 290 50 149 1612 64.5
Conference-Only
271-690 .393 66-219 .301 186-270 .689 137 283 420 32.3 250 5 135 148 24 67 794 61.1

Scoring defense
61.1 (33rd nationally), All opponents at 64.5 is just out of top 50

team 3 pt %
coming into this weekend we were .374 which ranked 50th. The GRIZ are now at .381, so they should move up here.

FT%

conference .782 (that would be 5th nationally), overall .725 , 50th is at .727 (thanks to AJ, quite an improvement)



3pt % defense
.301 (14th nationally), all opponents at .353 (top 50 cut off is 31.4, so that hurt us early this year) Huge improvement here though.

FG% defense

.393 (27th), all opponents at .416 (top 50 .405, so pretty close here too.)

 

[BelierPeaux]

Maybe, just maybe the coaching and team are better than many here would think and some credit is due for the players and coaches.

I don't think everyone was down on the Griz, or Tinkle, the whole time. Preseason all you could read was loft expectations and that Tinkle was finally going to kick it into gear with the team he had been working hard to build. I don't think you can blame people for coming down from their Rocky Mountain High during our wreck of an OOC. I'm stoked they have put it together this late in the season and hope that Tinkle and Co. can keep it going to the dance and into next year. I sure am glad we have AJ for another year. He makes everyone on the court better. It could be worse, just think if Tinkle had been good right out of the gates and then had people slamming him for not winning the way they thought he should.

Anyway, thanks for the stats, it is great to see how the team has come around.

 

[mtgrizrule]

I am just glad the team did not stop believing in themselves and did not take after our fanbase. Even I was down on them, after the WSU/ISU road debacle. Even the most optimistic GRIZ fan would not have expected this kind of turnaround. Who would have thought then that DEFENSE and FT shooting would be staples in success this year?

The offense still struggles some, but it is better, and I have a feeling Hasquet will be huge in the BSC tourney. The defensive and togetherness attitude of this team is so 180 degrees from the last 2 years. I have not noticed any disension during conference season. Statistically and attitude they are good. I believe in this years team again.

 

[mtgrizrule]

With as well as the GRIZ are playing right now, especially on defense, I feel one thing could happen that would be a huge positive for the GRIZ. Statistically this team is a NCAA tournament type team. However, I feel Selvig returning helps this team's depth, versatility, and defense. With Qvale and Selvig, we always have a shot blocker as an option in the lineup. Without him, we are too thin in the paint. Qvale just is not yet a big minutes player that can be consistently productive.

Has anyone heard any good updates on Selvig? Will he be back for the conference tourney?

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

Everything I heard was that he should be back by tournament.

 

[grizonbob]

I was down on them earlier in the year, as they were playing poorly on both defense and offense. That was no surprise. Both Tinkle and the players were acknowledging that.

So I've got to give both players and coaches credit for figuring out the problems and getting them fixed. I gave Tinkle most of the blame; now he gets most of the credit for getting things figured out. I didn't see that quality in him, although he did engineer a bit of a turnaround too last year, if I remember. I don't think that's an easy thing to do in the middle of a season.

I wish this year's course correction had happened a big earlier as the Grizzlies might have had a better shot at hosting the tourney. Got to give AJ a lot of credit too for taking charge and challenging his guys. He's impressive not only on defense and offense, but as a leader.

It is nice to see the team transform from one that was playing pretty sloppy ball into one that is patient, smart, team oriented. Its much more pleasant to watch and get behind a team playing that kind of ball.

I didn't say anything about it here, but I also wondered about the wisdom of O'Day signing Tinkle to a couple more years. Guess he might have had a better sense of the right move than we thought.

 

[BelierPeaux]

I didn't see that quality in him, although he did engineer a bit of a turnaround too last year, if I remember. I don't think that's an easy thing to do in the middle of a season.

Nah, I don't think he had a turnaround last season. That massacre at the hands of PSU was at home on senior night and we were one and done in the tourney last year. I think that's part of the reason so many people were concerned with his contract extension prior to this season. At least he has proved that was NOT a bad move thus far.

Oops.

 

[IronMountainGriz&Cat]

At this time I feel great optimism about 2008-9 Griz men's basketball and have to admit I was very down on them after the Portland preseason home loss and the embarrassment on Senior Night and this years snowed in loss in Portland. One thing about the stats provided is that most of them are are skewed by AJ's performance. You take his freethrow stats out of Griz team stats and they would probably be last in free throw shooting. What made aware of how essential Johnson is to the team performance is when he came out of the game against NAU the Griz went from being up by ten to being down. I feel Tinkle has done a great job this year helping the kids recognize their roles. Convincing Hasquet that he's not the primary scorer but can help the team in so many ways particularly in passing, rebounding, and hustle on defense which seems to have become contagious to the whole team.

 

[montanatarheel]

Qvale just is not yet a big minutes player that can be consistently productive.


I think Q has imporved a lot this year and defenseivly he is a great presence. He is leading the conference in blocks and averaging 5 rebounds in limited minutes. Offensively he just cant finish. He has looked confident with the ball in the post, made strong efficient moves and passed the ball out of double teams fairly well during this run, he just has no touch. I would mark down in practice everytime he layed up a dunkable ball and have him run lines for them. He needs to go up and at least try to dunk the ball force some contact.

 

[GrizLA]

Maybe it's me...everytime I travel up the coast, down the coast, across the desert to see the Griz, they play horrible, and, I, generally the lone Griz fan in the crowd over 60, leave prior to the end, swearing never to go to another Griz bball game. So, now that things seem back on track, I will not go to any games, I promise. So, Griz, feel free to win out....