i've developed a theory over the years, whether in business or in sports, that often we worry too much about the competition, while overlooking our own strengths. a corollary to this theory comes from bob knight, who stressed to his teams that if they concentrated on their own game, executed and played well, nobody would beat them.
i'm thinking about this as we look forward to the big dance, and the array of powerhouse teams that we might draw. the instinct is to say, "oh, we can't beat any of those teams, they're the BIG BOYS," while completely overlooking our own strengths, which are:
--two agile seven footers in selvig and qvale. not many teams have two seven footers this good. remember what the coach from northern colorado said when we out-rebounded them in the semi's: "hey, they're awfully big in there!" and northern colorado was no slouch team.
--a potential n.b.a. caliber guard in anthony johnson. no doubt the next team will really clamp down on him, thinking that's all montana has, but i think this will only open opportunitites for...
--ryan staudacher, one of the best three-point shooters in college basketball. i still think he's got a huge game left in him.
--a defensive nightmare in will cherry. this kid may not be able to shoot, but he's got big-time quicks, of the sort that both the lady griz and the men's team have generally lacked once they got to the big dance.
--the possibility that you'll suddenly get a once-in-a-lifetime performance from one of the lesser players--a raason young, jack mcgillis, michael taylor. remember, mcgillis went for 24 points once at cal when he played for oregon state.
back when we played oregon in a first-round game in sacramento, i remember thinking, geez, we don't even belong on the same court with these teams. wake forest played the first game and they were big and skilled. against oregon, we hung in there pretty well, but our players were the caliber of travis greenwalt, and any time shane christiansen went to the bench, the lack of quickness and athleticism was painfully obvious.
this year, both against oregon and washington, we hung right in there, both with our size and backcourt quickness. oregon turned out to be awful, but the only things standing between us and a victory over washington on their own court were three refs.
in short, i think you're going to be pleasantly surprised at how well we do in the first round, and any two or three seed is going to get discouraged at how tough we are.
i'm thinking about this as we look forward to the big dance, and the array of powerhouse teams that we might draw. the instinct is to say, "oh, we can't beat any of those teams, they're the BIG BOYS," while completely overlooking our own strengths, which are:
--two agile seven footers in selvig and qvale. not many teams have two seven footers this good. remember what the coach from northern colorado said when we out-rebounded them in the semi's: "hey, they're awfully big in there!" and northern colorado was no slouch team.
--a potential n.b.a. caliber guard in anthony johnson. no doubt the next team will really clamp down on him, thinking that's all montana has, but i think this will only open opportunitites for...
--ryan staudacher, one of the best three-point shooters in college basketball. i still think he's got a huge game left in him.
--a defensive nightmare in will cherry. this kid may not be able to shoot, but he's got big-time quicks, of the sort that both the lady griz and the men's team have generally lacked once they got to the big dance.
--the possibility that you'll suddenly get a once-in-a-lifetime performance from one of the lesser players--a raason young, jack mcgillis, michael taylor. remember, mcgillis went for 24 points once at cal when he played for oregon state.
back when we played oregon in a first-round game in sacramento, i remember thinking, geez, we don't even belong on the same court with these teams. wake forest played the first game and they were big and skilled. against oregon, we hung in there pretty well, but our players were the caliber of travis greenwalt, and any time shane christiansen went to the bench, the lack of quickness and athleticism was painfully obvious.
this year, both against oregon and washington, we hung right in there, both with our size and backcourt quickness. oregon turned out to be awful, but the only things standing between us and a victory over washington on their own court were three refs.
in short, i think you're going to be pleasantly surprised at how well we do in the first round, and any two or three seed is going to get discouraged at how tough we are.
