mtgrizrule
Well-known member
The GRIZ/Cat game will be the 1/2 way point in conference play. The outcome of the game will not effect my opinion of what needs to be done, and who needs to do what for rest the season.
The GRIZ need better consistency from the perimeter, FT shooting (other than AJ), rebounding., and more depth up front.
(1) I am convinced the GRIZ go as the perimeter shooting goes, regardless of other aspects of the game. We can outright dominate this conference with consistent perimeter shooting. When that is on, opponents have to play very well to beat us. This team seems to all "ON" or all "off" at the same time.
(2) AJ is not as clutch as he was last year here, but nonetheless hard to fault him for our FT struggles. Qvale has improved drastically from the line, and doing better than anyone here would have predicted from the line. However, rest of the team is inconsistent, and our better FT shooters seldom get to the line (Staudacher and Taylor). Cherry gets their a lot, but really has to improve a lot. Selvig should be a good FT shooter, but is not agressive enough to be a factor here. McGillis is unpredictable here. Young has the physical tools and game to get to the line a lot, but he is not aggressive enough either to draw fouls. Somehow this team has to get more points from the line and get opponents in foul trouble. Tinkle needs to demand the likes of Taylor, Stauds, Young, McGillis, and Selvig be more aggressive to get to the line. That is much more sensible than expecting Cherry to drastically improve in little time.
(3) I really am surprised we are inconsistent on the boards, especially with Selvig and Qvale on the court. Also Cherry and Johnson are solid rebounding guards. It is hard to pinpoint the problems from watching games on bigskytv. Is it possible teams can just focus on Selvig and Qvale off the boards, knowing they can win the board battle against everyone else on the court? In my opinion, yes. For this reason alone, I get minutes for Vassy Banny against 2's and 3's on the boards. McGillis is a good rebounding 3, but that is taken away with his minutes at the 4 (which he is at a huge disadvantage). Young is not strong enough yet for positioning, but is athletic enough to contribute more on the boards. Stauds boxes out well, but he is expected to defend the perimeter and shoot from the perimeter, so his role just not allow for him to help much on the boards. Taylor is always near the ball and in the mix, but is role is not a lot different than Stauds. Ward is solid against 3's and 4's, but at a huge mismatch against some 4's and most all 5's. His offense is solid, but boards and defense limit his minutes so far. What can be done here? Crash the boards more with AJ, Cherry, and Young. Please please expect more from Selvig rebounding. I love his game overall, but like Hasquet was not demanded to contribute every game rebounding. When he is asked to rebound in absense of Qvale or with Qvale, he does a great job. So why are there significant periods of time when we do not put him in position to be bigger contributor on the boards?
(4) We are one big man shy rebounding, and defense of being the best team in the conference hands down. Ward and McGillis are contributors, but are very overmatched the majority of time as 4's. Ward can only improve, but his inexperience really shows at times. McGillis is great defensively at any position, but his offense is near nonexistent at the 3 or 4, and rebounding wise he just is not a 4. Physically he is 3. As much as I admire his effort, attitude, and hustle, I think he is more suited coming off the bench to add intensity for us. A healthy Hutchison surely would help some here. Next year though, Hutch will be healthy, Ward will be bigger and experienced, and Qvale/Selvig will both be improved. In Selvig's case, likely to be completely healthy. What can be done this year though? Sorry, but barring a huge improvement from McGillis and/or Ward, I really do not see a logical solution for quality depth at the 4 and 5. So the best thing to do is focus on improving the other areas as much as we can. After all we have the manning and talent there, it is just a matter of desire, heart, and attitude.
One thing stands out to me as average, but can be improved. Recently teams double team Qvale inside, we lose our confidence in even attempting to establish an inside game. His production is down because of teams focusing on him now. It is not his fault we are not getting him the ball inside. This another thing Tinkle has to demand of his teammates. Double teams are hard to beat and troublesome, but with the right scouting and ball movement teams can be beat using their strategy on Qvale.
Finally, the positives. (1) Team Defense is a staple in this program now, and will only get better as we get more defenders on board. Cherry is being let loose more defensively and makes an impact without scoring. Selvig and Qvale shutdown the paint well, but we are in trouble when we have foul trouble. Team defense is to the point where it keeps us in games we have no business being in, and puts us in position to win every game. We just need to make the clutch offensive plays to take advantage of the great defense. Tinkle is on the verge of having a nationally prominent defense again.
(2) We have a lot of versatility with players that play multiple positions. We even have multiple perimeter stoppers, on the ball stoppers, and paint enforcers.
(3) Depth is finally where we really do not have a bad player any more. All our players can contribute and play roles they are asked to. Unfortunately, some of that depth has to be used out of necessity that causes matchup problems (see above on lack of one more big)
(4) Leadership is great. AJ is our best leader since Criswell and Matthews. Cherry is also a perfect leader, despite being young. The guy is not afraid of anything, and confident. He has a quiet swagger that we do not see often at Montana. Whatever "IT" is, he has "IT"! In Cherry we have the "WILL" to win the next 3 years. Rest of the players work hard and buy into their roles.
(5) Anthony Johnson on the court means we always have the chance to win.
Right now, I think we have the pieces to be dancing in March, and even do some damage. However, it is hard to overcome lack of quality big depth up front. Also hard for me to see any team going from inconsistent from the perimeter to being consistent that quickly. Sorry, but I just do not see enough turnaround from the perimeter to get us into the big dance this year. We will get to the semi's or BSC championship this year, and come up just short in a heart breaking close loss.
Please prove me wrong guys. I know you guys can do it. What do you all think?
The GRIZ need better consistency from the perimeter, FT shooting (other than AJ), rebounding., and more depth up front.
(1) I am convinced the GRIZ go as the perimeter shooting goes, regardless of other aspects of the game. We can outright dominate this conference with consistent perimeter shooting. When that is on, opponents have to play very well to beat us. This team seems to all "ON" or all "off" at the same time.
(2) AJ is not as clutch as he was last year here, but nonetheless hard to fault him for our FT struggles. Qvale has improved drastically from the line, and doing better than anyone here would have predicted from the line. However, rest of the team is inconsistent, and our better FT shooters seldom get to the line (Staudacher and Taylor). Cherry gets their a lot, but really has to improve a lot. Selvig should be a good FT shooter, but is not agressive enough to be a factor here. McGillis is unpredictable here. Young has the physical tools and game to get to the line a lot, but he is not aggressive enough either to draw fouls. Somehow this team has to get more points from the line and get opponents in foul trouble. Tinkle needs to demand the likes of Taylor, Stauds, Young, McGillis, and Selvig be more aggressive to get to the line. That is much more sensible than expecting Cherry to drastically improve in little time.
(3) I really am surprised we are inconsistent on the boards, especially with Selvig and Qvale on the court. Also Cherry and Johnson are solid rebounding guards. It is hard to pinpoint the problems from watching games on bigskytv. Is it possible teams can just focus on Selvig and Qvale off the boards, knowing they can win the board battle against everyone else on the court? In my opinion, yes. For this reason alone, I get minutes for Vassy Banny against 2's and 3's on the boards. McGillis is a good rebounding 3, but that is taken away with his minutes at the 4 (which he is at a huge disadvantage). Young is not strong enough yet for positioning, but is athletic enough to contribute more on the boards. Stauds boxes out well, but he is expected to defend the perimeter and shoot from the perimeter, so his role just not allow for him to help much on the boards. Taylor is always near the ball and in the mix, but is role is not a lot different than Stauds. Ward is solid against 3's and 4's, but at a huge mismatch against some 4's and most all 5's. His offense is solid, but boards and defense limit his minutes so far. What can be done here? Crash the boards more with AJ, Cherry, and Young. Please please expect more from Selvig rebounding. I love his game overall, but like Hasquet was not demanded to contribute every game rebounding. When he is asked to rebound in absense of Qvale or with Qvale, he does a great job. So why are there significant periods of time when we do not put him in position to be bigger contributor on the boards?
(4) We are one big man shy rebounding, and defense of being the best team in the conference hands down. Ward and McGillis are contributors, but are very overmatched the majority of time as 4's. Ward can only improve, but his inexperience really shows at times. McGillis is great defensively at any position, but his offense is near nonexistent at the 3 or 4, and rebounding wise he just is not a 4. Physically he is 3. As much as I admire his effort, attitude, and hustle, I think he is more suited coming off the bench to add intensity for us. A healthy Hutchison surely would help some here. Next year though, Hutch will be healthy, Ward will be bigger and experienced, and Qvale/Selvig will both be improved. In Selvig's case, likely to be completely healthy. What can be done this year though? Sorry, but barring a huge improvement from McGillis and/or Ward, I really do not see a logical solution for quality depth at the 4 and 5. So the best thing to do is focus on improving the other areas as much as we can. After all we have the manning and talent there, it is just a matter of desire, heart, and attitude.
One thing stands out to me as average, but can be improved. Recently teams double team Qvale inside, we lose our confidence in even attempting to establish an inside game. His production is down because of teams focusing on him now. It is not his fault we are not getting him the ball inside. This another thing Tinkle has to demand of his teammates. Double teams are hard to beat and troublesome, but with the right scouting and ball movement teams can be beat using their strategy on Qvale.
Finally, the positives. (1) Team Defense is a staple in this program now, and will only get better as we get more defenders on board. Cherry is being let loose more defensively and makes an impact without scoring. Selvig and Qvale shutdown the paint well, but we are in trouble when we have foul trouble. Team defense is to the point where it keeps us in games we have no business being in, and puts us in position to win every game. We just need to make the clutch offensive plays to take advantage of the great defense. Tinkle is on the verge of having a nationally prominent defense again.
(2) We have a lot of versatility with players that play multiple positions. We even have multiple perimeter stoppers, on the ball stoppers, and paint enforcers.
(3) Depth is finally where we really do not have a bad player any more. All our players can contribute and play roles they are asked to. Unfortunately, some of that depth has to be used out of necessity that causes matchup problems (see above on lack of one more big)
(4) Leadership is great. AJ is our best leader since Criswell and Matthews. Cherry is also a perfect leader, despite being young. The guy is not afraid of anything, and confident. He has a quiet swagger that we do not see often at Montana. Whatever "IT" is, he has "IT"! In Cherry we have the "WILL" to win the next 3 years. Rest of the players work hard and buy into their roles.
(5) Anthony Johnson on the court means we always have the chance to win.
Right now, I think we have the pieces to be dancing in March, and even do some damage. However, it is hard to overcome lack of quality big depth up front. Also hard for me to see any team going from inconsistent from the perimeter to being consistent that quickly. Sorry, but I just do not see enough turnaround from the perimeter to get us into the big dance this year. We will get to the semi's or BSC championship this year, and come up just short in a heart breaking close loss.
Please prove me wrong guys. I know you guys can do it. What do you all think?
