and so the national selection committee wound up treating us like a cheap suit at the grand opening of the opera. we may be a big sky power, but to them we're still empty sky country. i thought at least there'd be some expression of outrage or sympathy for us, a la drexel on the men's side, but that was reserved for la tech and texas. we wound getting about as much respect as a fourth-grader playing mary poppins in the school play.
but after the disappointment, i have to say, if we're ever going to get any respect on the national stage, two things will have to happen:
1.) we must have two bona-fide all-time montana greats playing on the same team at the same; and
2.) no more than two years apart.
this is a theory i developed a long time ago, and it applies to both men's and women's teams. a larry kystkowiak, a micheal ray richardson, a shannon cate, a mandy morales--it's just not enough unless that one great player has the support of another great player. micheal ray was an incredible one-man-gang his senior year, bit it didn't get us past weber state in the conference championship. i'll always hold a small grudge against montgomery for being unable to recruit at least one more great player--especially a point guard--to go with krysko, who never won a big sky championship as a player. shannon cate managed to get us a victory on the road at wisconsin, but our real chance for national attention went down the drain when vicky austin, a terrific point guard and our only black recruit in the history of the program, went down for the year with an injury.
and so for this year. mandy morales is a great player, but it became apparent to me after seeing the lady griz lose in ogden that any astute coach could double-team her baseline to baseline, as weber did, and really pretty much shut down the rest of the team. the double-teaming that mandy would have seen from the quicker point guards at the bigger schools would have been ferocious, and i'm sure we'll see it at utah as well.
so what of the future?
actually, it seems to me that it's never been brighter, for either team. i'm hoping that dvera tolbert emerges as a star player, and that by the time she's a red-shirt freshman or sophomore is able to give mandy some real relief. on the men's side, we have three potential greats within a year of each other--hasquet, rundles and selvig. when i say great, i mean...great. not just good, but players that will go down as among the best in the history of the school.
that's what it'll take for us to be great on the national stage.
and, actually, that's just what we had in our two greatest national games--the narrow loss to ucla, and the win against nevada. against ucla, we had ken mckenzie, one of the all-time great post players, and eric hays, who on that night played one of the greatest single games in the history of the school. had micheal ray, who scored zero points in that game, been a sophomore or junior, we might really have gone far that year.
again, against nevada, we had keven criswell, one of our all-time greats, together with andrew strait, who on that day played to the level of an all-time great.
but it takes two, and mandy can't do it alone. here's hoping for dvera tolbert and derrick selvig.
but after the disappointment, i have to say, if we're ever going to get any respect on the national stage, two things will have to happen:
1.) we must have two bona-fide all-time montana greats playing on the same team at the same; and
2.) no more than two years apart.
this is a theory i developed a long time ago, and it applies to both men's and women's teams. a larry kystkowiak, a micheal ray richardson, a shannon cate, a mandy morales--it's just not enough unless that one great player has the support of another great player. micheal ray was an incredible one-man-gang his senior year, bit it didn't get us past weber state in the conference championship. i'll always hold a small grudge against montgomery for being unable to recruit at least one more great player--especially a point guard--to go with krysko, who never won a big sky championship as a player. shannon cate managed to get us a victory on the road at wisconsin, but our real chance for national attention went down the drain when vicky austin, a terrific point guard and our only black recruit in the history of the program, went down for the year with an injury.
and so for this year. mandy morales is a great player, but it became apparent to me after seeing the lady griz lose in ogden that any astute coach could double-team her baseline to baseline, as weber did, and really pretty much shut down the rest of the team. the double-teaming that mandy would have seen from the quicker point guards at the bigger schools would have been ferocious, and i'm sure we'll see it at utah as well.
so what of the future?
actually, it seems to me that it's never been brighter, for either team. i'm hoping that dvera tolbert emerges as a star player, and that by the time she's a red-shirt freshman or sophomore is able to give mandy some real relief. on the men's side, we have three potential greats within a year of each other--hasquet, rundles and selvig. when i say great, i mean...great. not just good, but players that will go down as among the best in the history of the school.
that's what it'll take for us to be great on the national stage.
and, actually, that's just what we had in our two greatest national games--the narrow loss to ucla, and the win against nevada. against ucla, we had ken mckenzie, one of the all-time great post players, and eric hays, who on that night played one of the greatest single games in the history of the school. had micheal ray, who scored zero points in that game, been a sophomore or junior, we might really have gone far that year.
again, against nevada, we had keven criswell, one of our all-time greats, together with andrew strait, who on that day played to the level of an all-time great.
but it takes two, and mandy can't do it alone. here's hoping for dvera tolbert and derrick selvig.
