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MBBALL Annonymous Nobodies!

C

citygriz

Well-known member
I'm old school.

To build a mid-level collegiate basketball program, I always believed in recruiting high school kids. Give 'em a redshirt year to adjust to the physicality and speed of the collegiate game, then grow within the program such that by the time they're juniors and seniors, they're be able to compete with the bigger schools that get the top athletes.

Exhibit A: Brandon Whitney. Substitute Covid year for redshirt year and look what you've got: A good player who has grown now into a special player. A player with a refined handle and the physicality to finish at the rim. The MVP of the Big Sky tournament.

Imagine my disappointment then when we brought in this cruise ship of transfers, guys I'd never heard of: Johnson, Moore, Jedkins, Pridgen, Foy, Patterson, Dargan. I mean, transfers bring baggage, most of it odious. Fights with former coaches. Attitude problems. Injury reports. Grade issues. What the hell was this coaching staff thinking?

I thought of them as annonymous nobodies.

Flash forward to the Big Sky Tournament and...Oh! I stand corrected! Pass that plate of crow!

Down the stretch of the championship game, Money Williams--the great Money Williams, the all-tournament Money Williams, the potential second-round NBA draft choice Money Williams and possibly one of the best players in the history of the program Money Williams, the Money Williams that I believed was our secret weapon and still do as we approach the NCAA tournament--that Money Williams is on the bench for the last five minutes of the game.

So who brings us home? The annonymous nobodies!

Joe Pridgen is a beast in the post, with deft moves and elevation sensation dunks.

Kai Johnson makes back to back dagger three-point plays: A deep trey, and an and-one layup.

And then Austin Patterson becomes the pastry chef with the icing on the cake--clutch free throws down stretch. No hesitation. In the past, we Griz fans would have been quaking in those situations.

Not now. He knew he would make them. The team knew he would make them. Every single Griz fan knew he would make him. Even the legendary Kato the Cat Butler up there in his Heavenly Broadcast Booth knew the "cat was in the bag and the bag was in the river."

Congratulations all around. To the coaching staff. To Brandon for being the tournament MVP. To Money for making the all-tournament team.

But a special shoutout to the formerly annonymous nobodies.

They were special. They brought it home.
 
Last edited:
citygriz said:
I'm old school.

To build a mid-level collegiate basketball program, I always believed in recruiting high school kids. Give 'em a redshirt year to adjust to the physicality and speed of the collegiate game, then grow within the program such that by the time they're juniors and seniors, they're be able to compete with the bigger schools that get the top athletes.

Exhibit A: Brandon Whitney. Substitute Covid year for redshirt year and look what you've got: A good player who has grown now into a special player. A player with a refined handle and the physicality to finish at the rim. The MVP of the Big Sky tournament.

Imagine my disappointment then when we brought in this cruise ship of transfers, guys I'd never heard of: Johnson, Moore, Jedkins, Pridgen, Foy, Patterson, Dargan. I mean, transfers bring baggage, most of it odious. Fights with former coaches. Attitude problems. Injury reports. Grade issues. What the hell was this coaching staff thinking?

I thought of them as annonymous nobodies.

Flash forward to the Big Sky Tournament and...Oh! I stand corrected! Pass that plate of crow!

Down the stretch of the championship game, Money Williams--the great Money Williams, the all-tournament Money Williams, the potential second-round NBA draft choice Money Williams and possibly one of the best players in the history of the program Money Williams, the Money Williams that I believed was our secret weapon and still do as we approach the NCAA tournament--that Money Williams is on the bench for the last five minutes of the game.

So who brings us home? The annonymous nobodies!

Joe Pridgen is a beast in the post, with deft moves and elevation sensation dunks.

Kai Johnson makes back to back dagger three-point plays: A deep trey, and an and-one layup.

And then Austin Patterson becomes the pastry chef with the icing on the cake--clutch free throws down stretch. No hesitation. In the past, we Griz fans would have been quaking in those situations.

Not now. He knew he would make them. The team knew he would make them. Every single Griz fan knew he would make him. Even the legendary Kato the Cat Butler up there in his Heavenly Luxury Suite knew the "cat was in the bag and the bag was in the river."

Congratulations all around. To the coaching staff. To Brandon for being the tournament MVP. To Money for making the all-tournament team.

But a special shoutout to the formerly annonymous nobodies.

They were special. They brought it home.
Click to expand...
Well said.
 
citygriz said:
I'm old school.

To build a mid-level collegiate basketball program, I always believed in recruiting high school kids. Give 'em a redshirt year to adjust to the physicality and speed of the collegiate game, then grow within the program such that by the time they're juniors and seniors, they're be able to compete with the bigger schools that get the top athletes.

Exhibit A: Brandon Whitney. Substitute Covid year for redshirt year and look what you've got: A good player who has grown now into a special player. A player with a refined handle and the physicality to finish at the rim. The MVP of the Big Sky tournament.

Imagine my disappointment then when we brought in this cruise ship of transfers, guys I'd never heard of: Johnson, Moore, Jedkins, Pridgen, Foy, Patterson, Dargan. I mean, transfers bring baggage, most of it odious. Fights with former coaches. Attitude problems. Injury reports. Grade issues. What the hell was this coaching staff thinking?

I thought of them as annonymous nobodies.

Flash forward to the Big Sky Tournament and...Oh! I stand corrected! Pass that plate of crow!

Down the stretch of the championship game, Money Williams--the great Money Williams, the all-tournament Money Williams, the potential second-round NBA draft choice Money Williams and possibly one of the best players in the history of the program Money Williams, the Money Williams that I believed was our secret weapon and still do as we approach the NCAA tournament--that Money Williams is on the bench for the last five minutes of the game.

So who brings us home? The annonymous nobodies!

Joe Pridgen is a beast in the post, with deft moves and elevation sensation dunks.

Kai Johnson makes back to back dagger three-point plays: A deep trey, and an and-one layup.

And then Austin Patterson becomes the pastry chef with the icing on the cake--clutch free throws down stretch. No hesitation. In the past, we Griz fans would have been quaking in those situations.

Not now. He knew he would make them. The team knew he would make them. Every single Griz fan knew he would make him. Even the legendary Kato the Cat Butler up there in his Heavenly Broadcast Booth knew the "cat was in the bag and the bag was in the river."

Congratulations all around. To the coaching staff. To Brandon for being the tournament MVP. To Money for making the all-tournament team.

But a special shoutout to the formerly annonymous nobodies.

They were special. They brought it home.
Click to expand...

This post was a completely different take than I thought it would be. What a nice surprise and I completely agree.
 
UncleRico said:
Well said.
Click to expand...
City Griz,
While I don’t disagree with your statement it’s just not the reality in today’s world. With NIL and the portal today’s college basketball players, and it’s hard to argue against, but the almighty dollar rules the day. I don’t like it, I think it taints the image of amateur athletes. But like city Griz I’m old school.
Too take this one step further and play out CG’s scenario of bringing in a freshman, redshirt him, invest the time and dollars to develop his skills and as a mid major program if he’s good enough and the Power 5 conferences come calling with big NIL dollars isn’t in his best interest to take the money? Think of a kid from the inner city like Watts or even Oakland who’s trying to improve his situation. Perfect example is Money Williams. He’s the surrogate parent, along with his sister, of 4 siblings. That’s a pretty big responsibility for a 19 year old to shoulder. It would be irresponsible of him to not take the NIL dollars.
For the most part every situation is different. You have the Money Williams’ of the world who really need the help and then you have the players who are just selling themselves to the highest bidder.
This whole dialogue about paying young men and women while they’re in college has merit. But the whole NIL program needs to be made equitable so the smaller schools like U of M and msu at least have a chance to compete for the services of the talent,
 
Sport said:
City Griz,
While I don’t disagree with your statement it’s just not the reality in today’s world. With NIL and the portal today’s college basketball players, and it’s hard to argue against, but the almighty dollar rules the day. I don’t like it, I think it taints the image of amateur athletes. But like city Griz I’m old school.
Too take this one step further and play out CG’s scenario of bringing in a freshman, redshirt him, invest the time and dollars to develop his skills and as a mid major program if he’s good enough and the Power 5 conferences come calling with big NIL dollars isn’t in his best interest to take the money? Think of a kid from the inner city like Watts or even Oakland who’s trying to improve his situation. Perfect example is Money Williams. He’s the surrogate parent, along with his sister, of 4 siblings. That’s a pretty big responsibility for a 19 year old to shoulder. It would be irresponsible of him to not take the NIL dollars.
For the most part every situation is different. You have the Money Williams’ of the world who really need the help and then you have the players who are just selling themselves to the highest bidder.
This whole dialogue about paying young men and women while they’re in college has merit. But the whole NIL program needs to be made equitable so the smaller schools like U of M and msu at least have a chance to compete for the services of the talent,
Click to expand...
Fully understood. That's why I mentioned Old School. Those days are long gone. I fully agree with your post.

We now have several potential talents among our underclassmen: Money, Henderson, Thompson, Jedkins, Davidson and Bradtke, and add a New Meixco Gatorade Player of the Year, Kenyon Aguino. Be interesting to see what paths their careers take.
 
Money was on court less than 2 minutes in the last just over 7 minutes and went out at 5:44 for good. Griz have a lot of good and unselfish players, and almost all can score. Pretty impressive. They obviously wanted it. Liked Citi's post.
 
I think the reason Money was on the bench for the last 5 minutes is twofold; he tends to turn the ball over and secondly he’s a defensive liability. Not to bash Money but his talents are offense, when needed, and passing the ball. He is very talented and I think he’s a future star. My one concern is will he be coach able? He has a tendency to get out of control at times. I hope he stays for his 4/5 years (Travis too) because I think Travis can have a lot of influence on his growth.
 
Sport said:
I think the reason Money was on the bench for the last 5 minutes is twofold; he tends to turn the ball over and secondly he’s a defensive liability. Not to bash Money but his talents are offense, when needed, and passing the ball. He is very talented and I think he’s a future star. My one concern is will he be coach able? He has a tendency to get out of control at times. I hope he stays for his 4/5 years (Travis too) because I think Travis can have a lot of influence on his growth.
Click to expand...
Hopefully money can get some NIL deals rolling here to make it worth his while. I will not be surprised if he leaves. If Travis leaves, I think Money will follow no matter what.
 
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