nothing like a harsh defeat to point out your deficiencies. what ensues is nothing startling, much of it old tired yakety-yak that everybody on this board together with our coaches and adminstrators have heard before, but might bear repeating.
coaching...turn the clock back to the first year krysko took over. in the midst of the pat kennedy mess, here's what was ahead: three trips to the ncaa tournament, including a win over nevada and credible showings against boston college and new mexico; three consecutive victories against weber state in big sky championship games, with a stunning upset at ucla tossed in for good measure. so what? so this: it depended on good coaching (and recruiting.) and for something like eight years now, montana has depended on the hometown advantage to get and keep its coaches. this cannot continue. tinkle is too good to stay, and i don't know if our basketball program yet has the appeal of the football program as a stepping-stone for great young coaches on the way up. if we're gonna play, we have to pay. we've got to figure this out.
recruiting...with seconds to go in today's game, and our small knot of griz faithful clinging to one last tiny goal (reach 50 points), jordan wood steps to the line to shoot two. certainly we reach 50. instead, clang and clang, almost a metaphor for jordan wood's career at montana. as good as cherry and jamar have been as recruits, woods and chase adams were as bad. when you only have 13 scholarships available, you can't afford mistakes--and you can't have kids flunk out.
redshirt policy...no, i'm over qvale, but not henderson and gregory. if montana is to be anything but a sacrificial lamb to higher seeds at the big dance, we've got to go in with a few mature experienced fifth-year seniors to help offset the talent gap we'll inevitably be up against. henderson and gregory contributed nothing this year, except some stupid antics from the bench. they would have been better off this year with bullhorns and pompoms standing with the cheerleaders.
scheduling...many times today, you could tell our players were just not used to faster taller opponents. both selvig and stockton made lazy passes that got stolen. on several occasions cherry, jamar and ward had shots rejected or altered at the rim. you can't go from playing big sky caliber basketball one week to competing against the wisconsins or baylors or indianas of the world the next week. we need to do what long beach state did this year, and gonzaga long before that. we need to get out and play some great competition, adjust our sights to a higher level. if that is impossible for administrative purproses, so be it. but the result will show up on the floor. it did today.
coaching...turn the clock back to the first year krysko took over. in the midst of the pat kennedy mess, here's what was ahead: three trips to the ncaa tournament, including a win over nevada and credible showings against boston college and new mexico; three consecutive victories against weber state in big sky championship games, with a stunning upset at ucla tossed in for good measure. so what? so this: it depended on good coaching (and recruiting.) and for something like eight years now, montana has depended on the hometown advantage to get and keep its coaches. this cannot continue. tinkle is too good to stay, and i don't know if our basketball program yet has the appeal of the football program as a stepping-stone for great young coaches on the way up. if we're gonna play, we have to pay. we've got to figure this out.
recruiting...with seconds to go in today's game, and our small knot of griz faithful clinging to one last tiny goal (reach 50 points), jordan wood steps to the line to shoot two. certainly we reach 50. instead, clang and clang, almost a metaphor for jordan wood's career at montana. as good as cherry and jamar have been as recruits, woods and chase adams were as bad. when you only have 13 scholarships available, you can't afford mistakes--and you can't have kids flunk out.
redshirt policy...no, i'm over qvale, but not henderson and gregory. if montana is to be anything but a sacrificial lamb to higher seeds at the big dance, we've got to go in with a few mature experienced fifth-year seniors to help offset the talent gap we'll inevitably be up against. henderson and gregory contributed nothing this year, except some stupid antics from the bench. they would have been better off this year with bullhorns and pompoms standing with the cheerleaders.
scheduling...many times today, you could tell our players were just not used to faster taller opponents. both selvig and stockton made lazy passes that got stolen. on several occasions cherry, jamar and ward had shots rejected or altered at the rim. you can't go from playing big sky caliber basketball one week to competing against the wisconsins or baylors or indianas of the world the next week. we need to do what long beach state did this year, and gonzaga long before that. we need to get out and play some great competition, adjust our sights to a higher level. if that is impossible for administrative purproses, so be it. but the result will show up on the floor. it did today.
