grizzlyjournal
Well-known member
mthoopsfan said:Cats beat Lady Griz 73-59. The teams shot about the same, poorly, but the LG were only 3-13 from 3 and 16-28 from the line. Rebounds were about even, but LG had 5 more TO. Fatkin had 24 points on 10-15 shooting. The LC looked better than the LG and then much better in the 2d half.
The LG seem better this year, but haven't played the best competition. The LG are 12-5 and 5-3 (tied for 4th), compared to last season. The LC are 6-2 (3d) and 11-8. It looks like the LG have 4 more at home, and 6 on the road. The LG were 12-11 and 9-8 last year.
So which is it (see below)?
The LG are better this year, due to the new coach,
or due to the returning players getting a year better, 2 new good frosh (recruits by prior coaches) arriving, and former player Fatkin returning?
and, would this have happened under Petrino, OR
The LG didn't have the talent to compete in the conference last year and prior years, so had to bring in a new coach? But all of the players contributing now were recruits of the prior coaches, except for 1. She played 5 minutes tonight. No other recruit of the new coach played at all tonight, and they have't been playing. So, where are the new coach's great recruits? Yes, Fatkin was allowed to come back. Would Petrino have allowed her back? OR
The LG are not much better this year? If so, why didn't the new coach upgrade the talent, and why isn't he coaching better.
I don't pretend to know the answers to any of these questions, except that the team looks better. I worry about being able to beat the better teams in the conference, but I'm hopeful.
From looking closely at player comments in articles, it seems that they like the new coach, or new coaching staff.
I'm not close to the program, so would be happy to see comments from others who are. Also, does anyone know why Fatkin left the program earlier. She always seemed like a good player to me. I assume there was a Shannon problem, but I have never heard anything.
These are all pertinent, observant points, mthoopsfan. Some can no longer be answered (similar to a question I ask: How Mike Petrino would be doing if this were his second season as H.C.?). Other aspects/questions you raised... will obviously be a part of the program and the process going forward. I didn't see much difference in talent between the teams last night. I DID see a difference in team culture and high kudos to coach Binford on the culture she's built at Montana State. It's a known fact/concept in college coaching that the process of building a program commonly takes five years (not 3 as some believe). So coach Holsinger is working with players who've been coached for up to 5 seasons (etc. etc) by two former coaches, one of whom had an impossible task, given the dreary circumstances of covid. I listened to coach Hosinger's extended comments in his post-game radio interview with Riley Corcoran and he took 100% blame (repeatedly) for the loss, explaining that he was simply not prepared for how mentally "beaten" (my words, not his, which were much longer) the Montana players were before the first minute was played. He cricicized himself for not being prepared as a start. It will be interesting to see how the coaches and players respond. I do not think it was as bad a loss as the "atmospherics" suggest. Montana lost for two general statistically indicative reasons, I believe: 57% shooting from the free throw line (12 lost points), and NOT locating and defending two identifiable perimeter shooters in the 3rd quarter who proceeded to make 6 treys over a 4-minute span (that should be on the coach!). Otherwise, this Montana team has a solid rotation that's still shuffling. They have the ability to finish conference play in the upper tier. Go GrizWBB.