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Anybody know if tonight's scrimmages will be streamed?

I feel a Whitney/Moody/Martin perimeter would be very weak on rebounding as all them are below-average to average-at-best rebounders for their positions. I also feel they would run into some trouble guarding bigger 3's such as EWU's line-up, Dillion Jones/Zahir Porter or Raquan Battle. I do believe Martin has the ability to do a competent job on some of these 3's, but it wouldn't be an advantage. In addition, those 3 averaged only a combined 3.8 assists a game last year. Whitney's likely will go up due to increased ball handling duties. I think he is a competent passer, but I wouldn't consider it a strength.
 
GrizBall said:
I feel a Whitney/Moody/Martin perimeter would be very weak on rebounding as all them are below-average to average-at-best rebounders for their positions. I also feel they would run into some trouble guarding bigger 3's such as EWU's line-up, Dillion Jones/Zahir Porter or Raquan Battle. I do believe Martin has the ability to do a competent job on some of these 3's, but it wouldn't be an advantage. In addition, those 3 averaged only a combined 3.8 assists a game last year. Whitney's likely will go up due to increased ball handling duties. I think he is a competent passer, but I wouldn't consider it a strength.
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Ball distribution is question mark going into this season. This area is where Parker excelled. If, the scrimmage is an indication of how and who will fill that role, I honestly expect it to be more of a collective team effort.

Whitney and Vazquez will start the season as primary ball handlers. However, in the scrimmage Martin, Brown, Moody, Kerr, Nap, and Bannan all hanled the ball consistently and looked to distribute in the scrimmage.

I'm guessing, Kerr will redshirt. Unless, he proves to be a better option than Vazquez. To me, Vazquez looked pretty comfortable handling the ball. His scoring was great for 2/3 of the scrimmage. Then, he struggled with his shot.

It'll be interesting in who steps to the forefront in ball distribution.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
Excellent scrimmage report from mtgrizrule. Here are a couple of things I observed & settled on via my own internal replay:
1. This year's squad is strong where it was weak last year, especially after Mack's shoulder injury: frontcourt double-post, hi-lo versatility, power and depth. Dischon Thomas showed signs of being a versatile double-pivot mid-key offensive force capable of shooting with both hands. His move to the right featured a modified hook while moving left showed him capableof driving for a kind of 5-6 ft. angled push-shot. From there he also had a quick stop for a fade away jumper. Also: he could be Montana's best perimeter shooter. Really? Add Bannan's known offensive skills -- his ability to stretch the high post O with his ft-line jumper, but especially his sideline attacks -- and the Griz could have a very versatile double-post attack. Oke adds yet another dimension as a rebounder. He was in the midst of nearly every mid-key rebounding battle I saw & converted at least one O-rebound on a putback. When Mack hits the floor, I like how this group can extend Montana's defense. Too early for me to say much about Dischon's defense, but he moves laterally very well for a big. Add John Solomon to that group as a very aggressive defender. Don't know how that'll turn out, since he got called for I think four fouls... but I love his in-your-face defense.
2. Lonnell Martin played a relatively quiet game, but to me he looks to have increased full-body strength considerably. He's a horse. I liked how he handled the ball on in-paint slashes a couple of times. I can see him on a steady arc of improvement, because he's going to be pushed by D. Thomas, Brown and Kerr (who's got a lightning quick first-step on dribble-enter drives).
3. I hope mtgrizrule is right about Moody. His "tweak" happened right in front of me and made me queasy.
4.I love the wing/slasher play of Solomon (a huge surprise to me) and Nap. Solomon's got a very good baseline corner shot and Nap is a kid who could explode once he adjusts to the college game. I admit Nap didn't remind me of Kareem, but rather Bobby Moorehead. He's got great lateral and vertical balance and a jumper with a high release that'll be hard to block. Solomon looks to me like he's still growing. Hmmm 6-10? 6-11? If so, he's got good ball-handling skills for a young big.
5. Lastly: Did anyone else see that Josh Vazquez played point guard for the slilver most of the game? Coach has but the ball in Josh's hands and he seemed to be loving every minute of it. His shot (inside & outside) was off, but if my observation is right, then I can see first: an increase in confidence from playing more aggressively offensively, and second: the task of getting the ball to others first as a distributing point rather than doing the standard catch and shoot of a perimeter guard. I'm intrigued by this. Hope what I think I saw gives Josh a chance to develop.
6. DecCuire's Montana teams have always played tough man D, but I saw signs of them extending pressure more than in the past. The Griz help D at the wings gave a few hints last night. Too early to tell though.
7. Brandon Whitney seemed a bit angry at himself, but I saw many more signs of him looking to dish the ball from his mid-paint drives. And if that's the case, it'll be really good for Thomas and Brannan.
8. Lastly, this team is much deeper than last year's squad. Hope they build chemistry fast. But there's unlimited potential in this group. I personally hope pre-season games will provide many opportunities for all the players to get a lot of time on court. Go Griz.
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So, I took some shots at the scrimmage. Whew. I'm pretty rusty. I don't know how to post them live in eGriz, but the following links are to my own smugmug photo site (secure & safe).
 
grizzlyjournal said:
8. Lastly, this team is much deeper than last year's squad.
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This is a great write-up as always.

I think it depends on what “deeper” means and if it really matters with a DeCuire coached team that generally goes with tighter rotations.

Last year the rotation (prior to Anderson’s injury) was Bannan, Beasley, Whitney, Parker, DCH, Martin, and Anderson. Players 8-10 in the rotation were Blakney, Owens, and Vasquez. 9 out of the 10 had played D-1 basketball with Martin the only player making his D-1 debut. 6 of those players had played 3 years or more of D-1 basketball. The other 3 combined to set Montana freshmen records.

Based on this thread, I would assume the rotation would be Bannan, Whitney, Martin, DT, Anderson, Vasquez and Moody. Are Oke, Brown and Nap a better 8-10 than Blakney, Owens and Vasquez? Granted I haven’t seen any of the newcomers other than on highlight tapes, but it is hard to imagine 3 players with zero D-1 experience are better than Blakney, Owens and Vasquez all of whom at one point were D-1 starters.

While I do agree you have more flexibility and depth in the front court, I think there are a lot of redundancies in the backcourt and no one with the playmaking skill sets of Beasley and Parker.
 
Griz til I die said:
I'll take a stab at the opening night starters. 1. Whitney 2. Martin 3. Moody (if healthy) 4. DT 5. Bannan. 6th man Anderson, 7th man Oke, 8th man Vazquez, 9th man Brown. We can easily run a 9 or 10 man rotation this year and still be in a good pot.
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I don't vehemently disagree with this, but I think Anderson will definately start sometimes is my guess, even if he doesn't play starter minutes.
 
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