MBBALL A Fresh Take on the Portal

[citygriz]

My Dad always said, "Kids are like curveballs, you never know how or when they're gonna break." (I definitely broke outside the strike zone.)

So with the players we've signed through the portal this year. Anderson, Betts and Hicks all had stellar high school careers but it's clear that none of their college choices for whatever reasons worked out as they'd hoped. So we enter this next season with an aura of uncertainty.

But what if all three of these players had signed with us directly out of high school? A mid-major like Montana is lucky to get one four-star recruit (only Ahmaad Rorie and Tyler Thompson come to mind) but this class would have produced three players with four-star credentials.

This might have been labeled the greatest recruiting class at Montana since the Fabulous Frosh of what...1953-54? The Ray Howard, Zip Rhodes, Al Dunham class.

So Anderson, Betts and Hicks would have been possibly the greatest recruiting class at Montana in some seventy years!

We now have the chance to put four four-star recruits on the floor at one time (with Money possibly a fifth)-- almost unheard of for a mid-major program.

But how will they break? That is the question.

And a final thought: Is this possibly the reason that Anderson Clarke left the program? That our reliance on Aussie talent is less now than it was pre-portal?

 

[Griz til I die]

Well Money will be the fifth. He is for sure back. I agree though, on paper we've brought in a lot of talent. I like Taylor and Kepley too. Both of them were highly productive at their D2 schools. How well they translate it to D1 remains to be seen but I think we did well this portal season!

 

[oldrunner]

Well Money will be the fifth. He is for sure back. I agree though, on paper we've brought in a lot of talent. I like Taylor and Kepley too. Both of them were highly productive at their D2 schools. How well they translate it to D1 remains to be seen but I think we did well this portal season!

I agree. There is no reason why UM should not be picked at the top of the BSC preseason poles next fall. The only question in my mind is at PG. Seems to me that your team has a lot of combo guards and that may get you through.

Best big man, and maybe the best player, in the conference is Brock Wisne at UNCo. Best returning guard is Money Williams. Who knows how it will all work out in the end. There are just too many new faces. I would say that UM looks to be just as strong as last year. UNCo may take a slight step back. However, with Smiley as coach, they could be just as strong. MSU seems to have strengthened their front court and could be a bit better. Same goes for ISU, with a some what weaker back court. Weber has brought in some interesting pieces, but all unproven. PSU will be what PSU always is. UI seems to have added the pieces need to take a step forward. NAU, EWU, and Shaq State look like dumpster fires to me.

Is it October yet?

 

[Griz til I die]

I agree. There is no reason why UM should not be picked at the top of the BSC preseason poles next fall. The only question in my mind is at PG. Seems to me that your team has a lot of combo guards and that may get you through.

Best big man, and maybe the best player, in the conference is Brock Wisne at UNCo. Best returning guard is Money Williams. Who knows how it will all work out in the end. There are just too many new faces. I would say that UM looks to be just as strong as last year. UNCo may take a slight step back. However, with Smiley as coach, they could be just as strong. MSU seems to have strengthened their front court and could be a bit better. Same goes for ISU, with a some what weaker back court. Weber has brought in some interesting pieces, but all unproven. PSU will be what PSU always is. UI seems to have added the pieces need to take a step forward. NAU, EWU, and Shaq State look like dumpster fires to me.

Is it October yet?

Hicks from UNLV will be the PG.

 

[mtgrizrule]

Hicks from UNLV will be the PG.

Add in Henderson to the mix too.
He's a true PG. I think too many GRIZ fans are sleeping on Henderson.
Money won't have to play much PG this next season.

 

[sacstateman]

I agree. There is no reason why UM should not be picked at the top of the BSC preseason poles next fall. The only question in my mind is at PG. Seems to me that your team has a lot of combo guards and that may get you through.

Best big man, and maybe the best player, in the conference is Brock Wisne at UNCo. Best returning guard is Money Williams. Who knows how it will all work out in the end. There are just too many new faces. I would say that UM looks to be just as strong as last year. UNCo may take a slight step back. However, with Smiley as coach, they could be just as strong. MSU seems to have strengthened their front court and could be a bit better. Same goes for ISU, with a some what weaker back court. Weber has brought in some interesting pieces, but all unproven. PSU will be what PSU always is. UI seems to have added the pieces need to take a step forward. NAU, EWU, and Shaq State look like dumpster fires to me.

Is it October yet?

I don't have a clue how good or bad we will be but I sure as hell don't see Weber as anything but a dumpster fire....tied for last place, lost your best player by far, got the worst coach....should I go on? I forgot, you have the best arena in the league, too bad you can't get it to 25% capacity....Now that Dame is going to be rehabbing for at least a year, maybe you can get him to be your GM to get some butts in the seats....I'm hopin Shaq can do the same for us....

 

[Griz til I die]

Lol I find it hilarious when fans from two other teams fight with each other on the Griz board.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

I agree 100% with mtgrizrule regarding Henderson. I can only guess re: incoming transfers I haven't seen play... but I believe Henderson has all-court physical tools to be a very promising point.

 

[oldrunner]

I haven't seen Henderson or Hicks play enough to know who may be the best pick for PG duties. All that I intended to say is that PG is the biggest question mark on your roster. You graduated a very good one. One or both of your potential PGs could be as good or better, I just don't know for now. Just going by his numbers at UNLV, Hicks doesn't seem to be a natural PG. He shot 18% from 3 and had more TOs than assists. He averaged 19 minutes per game, so he was in the main rotation. Probably a good defender. There were no stats listed for Henderson, so he is an unkown.

 

[Griz til I die]

My biggest concern about Henderson is how he comes back from his wrist injury. He literally had a brace on the entire season. Which leads me to believe that he did not practice at all last season. So god only knows when the last time he picked up a Basketball was.

And I’ve talked about Hicks but I wouldn’t dwell on his 18% 3pt shooting. I chalk it up to an off year. That happens sometimes. You get in a slump and it’s hard to break out. And it affects other parts of your game sometimes. His freshmen year he shot 40% from 3. Plus let’s remember that UNLV hasn’t exactly been stellar the last few years. I think the Griz could’ve beat them last year.

Regardless, I think we got two good options headed into next season. They both have some question marks right now, but the good news is they have an entire offseason to work it out.

 

[oldrunner]

One of the good things about transfers is that they get the chance at a fresh start. Hopefully they learned from all the mistakes they made at their previous stops and have a plan to avoid all of those mistakes at their new home. Stats can lie sometimes. A player can be quite different in a new program, with new coaches and new teammates. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting off to a better start and staying positive. The PG that you haven't mentioned is the kid from Colorado. He was not in their main rotation. That makes him an unkown as well. He could be the best of the bunch, as far as we all know. Too many unkowns at PG to be 100% confident in predicting much.

With the high number of transfers, in and out, across the BSC, it's hard to know who might be good and who may not be. All I know for certain is that the games will be just as fun to watch as always.

 

[citygriz]

I wouldn't mind seeing Money at the point. If he has NBA potential it will be as a PG not a SG. His strengths are his quickness and driving and passing abilities. I'm not totally sold on his shooting ability though that might improve this year.

Defense has always been our calling card. We need one or two deadeyes from deep.

 

[GriznMN]

I wouldn't mind seeing Money at the point. If he has NBA potential it will be as a PG not a SG. His strengths are his quickness and driving and passing abilities. I'm not totally sold on his shooting ability though that might improve this year.

Defense has always been our calling card. We need one or two deadeyes from deep.

I just don't see Money as a legitimate PG. I may be wrong and set in my ways but Money's offensive game says off guard to me. In today's modern basketball offensive philosophies, you really don't need a true PG. You can have multiple people bring the ball up the court, including a big, to get you into your offense. I can see Te'Jon a big bringing the ball up the floor more often for the Griz next season.

 

[mtgrizrule]

I just don't see Money as a legitimate PG. I may be wrong and set in my ways but Money's offensive game says off guard to me. In today's modern basketball offensive philosophies, you really don't need a true PG. You can have multiple people bring the ball up the court, including a big, to get you into your offense. I can see Te'Jon bringing the ball up the floor more often for the Griz next season.

Money needs more consistency and fewer turnovers at pg. However, his higher ceiling is at pg. When he's locked in, assists come easy for him. He's capable of being a high assist pg.

Personnel wise, he fits the sg role better.

 

[MikeyGriz]

Money needs more consistency and fewer turnovers at pg. However, his higher ceiling is at pg. When he's locked in, assists come easy for him. He's capable of being a high assist pg.

Personnel wise, he fits the sg role better.

In Billings, Travis said with the news guys coming in, Money wouldn't be playing as much point guard.

 

[Griz til I die]

In Billings, Travis said with the news guys coming in, Money wouldn't be playing as much point guard.

Did he give any hints about the schedule?

 

[MikeyGriz]

Did he give any hints about the schedule?

Still a work in progress. Said it would be similar to last year.

 

[Griz til I die]

Still a work in progress. Said it would be similar to last year.

He didn’t give any hints about opponents or what conferences they’re from or anything?

 

[LivingstonNative]

I don't have a clue how good or bad we will be but I sure as hell don't see Weber as anything but a dumpster fire....tied for last place, lost your best player by far, got the worst coach....should I go on? I forgot, you have the best arena in the league, too bad you can't get it to 25% capacity....Now that Dame is going to be rehabbing for at least a year, maybe you can get him to be your GM to get some butts in the seats....I'm hopin Shaq can do the same for us....

Sac barely has any seats. Won’t take much to fill them.

 

[sacstateman]

Sac barely has any seats. Won’t take much to fill them.

Guess you havent been keeping up with Sac St BB.....we are going to be playing in a 3,000 seat facility next season....not exactly Dee Event Center standards but a far cry from our old facility too....