Chase tells coaching staff he's leaving Montana!

[GUSCHASEFAN]

All of you are talking like Montana was the only D-1 program to recruit Gus. He had offers from UC-Santa Barbara, Montana State, Texas-Pan Am, Davidson and several others. The coaching staff at Montana must not have been the only ones to think that he was a D-1 player. I believe that the reason behind this failed attempt to play at the D-1 level is due to the coaching change from Coach K to the Tinkster.

I was at the game in Greeley,CO when the Griz played Nothern Colorado and both Marso and Tinkle talked to me before the game and told me how impressed they were with Gus's work ethic and his attitude. Tinkle also told me that Gus had started to earn more minutes and he would be a big part of what the team does down the stretch. Well needless to say he was filling me up with a cloud of smoke. Gus played like 3-4 minutes that night and barely saw the floor the rest of the season.

I know that Gus has a heart of gold and the desire to prove everyone wrong...and he will be successful where ever he ends up and the schools that is lucky enough to land him will no doubt have a gold prize in their program. Montana will end up on the losing end of this one.

 

[citygriz]

gus chase seems like a great kid, and it's always been my belief that in life, character is destiny. i have no doubt gus will succeed at whatever he does, wherever he goes.

but life does impose a few physical limitations on us, such as the fact that no matter how much i wish i could dunk, i simply can't do it; that no matter how much i'd like to have brown eyes, mine are blue; that no matter how much gus chase would like to be a frontcourt d-1 player, he simply doesn't have the height. i saw him play at sac state, against a team with good guard play but almost no inside presence, and i saw his first shot get swatted away like a volleyball serve. gus came advertised as kamarr davis, but played more like mouse davis.

if we have lost anything, it is that gus will become a wealthy businessman, with "guschasefan" as his attorney, and we will lose out on the $20 million donation he makes to the school he winds up with next year. i just hope for his sake, it's a d2 school.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

I know that Gus has a heart of gold and the desire to prove everyone wrong...and he will be successful where ever he ends up and the schools that is lucky enough to land him will no doubt have a gold prize in their program. Montana will end up on the losing end of this one.

Dear Mr. Chase (or is it "Gus"?),

Thanks, but I think we'll be okay.

 

[AtHomeInTheDahlbergDen]

All of you are talking like Montana was the only D-1 program to recruit Gus. He had offers from UC-Santa Barbara, Montana State, Texas-Pan Am, Davidson and several others. The coaching staff at Montana must not have been the only ones to think that he was a D-1 player. I believe that the reason behind this failed attempt to play at the D-1 level is due to the coaching change from Coach K to the Tinkster.

I was at the game in Greeley,CO when the Griz played Nothern Colorado and both Marso and Tinkle talked to me before the game and told me how impressed they were with Gus's work ethic and his attitude. Tinkle also told me that Gus had started to earn more minutes and he would be a big part of what the team does down the stretch. Well needless to say he was filling me up with a cloud of smoke. Gus played like 3-4 minutes that night and barely saw the floor the rest of the season.

I know that Gus has a heart of gold and the desire to prove everyone wrong...and he will be successful where ever he ends up and the schools that is lucky enough to land him will no doubt have a gold prize in their program. Montana will end up on the losing end of this one.

Gus is def a hard worker. In the early season he spent a lot of extra time trying to learn everything he could about the offense. It's really hard for us to judge him with the very little time we've seen. I know that — because he got into games so rarely — I probably saw about as much of him in practice as I did in games. In practice, he is great. Knocking down fades, out-positioning people for reasons. This is the reason I've been wondering, since the beginning of the season, why he never got much of a chance.

 

[Ballhog]

Gus was misled because he was led to believe that he could
compete at the D1level.
He handles his self well on the court and has a nice touch on the
ball but I don't know how he was sp highly acclaimed; there are
many JC players with obvious ability. And yeah Gus is about 6'3-
too small. However, he appears to be a fine person.

 

[GrizWhiz]

Gus was misled because he was led to believe that he could
compete at the D1level.
He handles his self well on the court and has a nice touch on the
ball but I don't know how he was sp highly acclaimed; there are
many JC players with obvious ability. And yeah Gus is about 6'3-
too small. However, he appears to be a fine person.

Gus was highly acclaimed enough to have earned JC All-American honors. Despite his size, I think he played the best defense of any Griz post player. P.S. city's "Mouse Davis" comment was uncharactersitic for city and not fair to Gus. As much as anything, Gus was a victim of being brought in to a program that was loaded with talented post players who already knew the system. :twocents:

 

[Zirg]

GusChasefan is obviously Gus's coach or close friend of some sort from his JC time at Sheridan. What was Tinkle suppose to tell you when you confronted him in Geeley? "Well to be honest coach, Gus just flat-out looks silly every time we put him in." He was being diplomatic and polite. Every kid who gets recruited doesn't pan out. Gus was given a chance. I saw him for myself. He was terrible at winning 50/50 rebounding battles and just flat-out is NOT D-1 material. Whether he ended up coming here or Bozeman or Santa Barbara or any other D1 school, the same conclusion would have been reached by any coach. He is woefully too short to be a rebounder or inside player at the D1 level and has no outside game. I know it's tough to accept for you and Gus, but facts are facts.

 

[Potomac Griz]

GusChasefan is obviously Gus's coach or close friend of some sort from his JC time at Sheridan. What was Tinkle suppose to tell you when you confronted him in Geeley? "Well to be honest coach, Gus just flat-out looks silly every time we put him in." He was being diplomatic and polite. Every kid who gets recruited doesn't pan out. Gus was given a chance. I saw him for myself. He was terrible at winning 50/50 rebounding battles and just flat-out is NOT D-1 material. Whether he ended up coming here or Bozeman or Santa Barbara or any other D1 school, the same conclusion would have been reached by any coach. He is woefully too short to be a rebounder or inside player at the D1 level and has no outside game. I know it's tough to accept for you and Gus, but facts are facts.

Zirg - Gus grabbed more rebounds per minute played than our other post players who got decent minutes (Hasquet, Sharp, Strait, Chavez). As someone who attended every home game this year, I can definitely say Gus had no trouble with rebounding. In fact I thought that was one of his strong points, as was defense.

As you pointed out, in the Big Sky a post player doesn't need to be incredibly tall (Kearny, Davis, etc etc). Gus I think could've been a good one had he got more minutes. The few games where he had a chance to get decent minutes he really impressed me.

Anyway, unfortunately for Chase, the Griz were pretty loaded with post players (and will be for many years it seems), so he did make the right decision, and I hope he does well at whatever school he chooses to go to.