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Criswell To Western

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OK...I know how this rumor started now as I'm pretty confident who the player at Western you talked to is. Kevin has been to Western probably 3 or 4 times recently, you are right about that. The reason however was to watch his good friend Matt Leudtke, not to visit the campus for recruiting purposes. He also gets along with a couple of the other guys on the team and has played with them in summer tournaments.

I'm shootin' this one down, on the spot. I would have done it sooner, but I haven't had the chance to get to my computer in the last couple of days.

Really, think about this one, and maybe you can tell your source to give it a good hard thought. Kevin is one year away from getting into the PT school at UM, which is a very good program at Montana. He is going to be Montana's main threat next year. He's an all-conference player. He's 10th on the all-time scoring list.

He has been open about how hard its been for him to figure out Krysko's style and where exactly he fits into the game plane. But he's not so selfish that he's unhappy only taking 10 shots as opposed to 15 per game. His main concern is winning. Look at his last 4 games. He's only taken 6 shots/game, but has still managed to average 15 points/game. It looks to me like maybe he's starting to get it figured out.
 
:o :o What is PT school? I saw Kevin talking to someone Saturday after the game. Not sure what they were talking about? :o :o
 
MslaCat is one of the most astute BB posters on this board. I don't think his post regarding new coaches and personnel changes was out of line at all. It routinely happens. It certainly was not a shot at Krysko and the crack about meth dealers and pedophiles was out of line. Mslacat- stay on the high road as you always do. :wink: I go over to Bobcatnation just to read your recruiting related BB posts.
 
GrizWhiz, I agree with you re Mslacat's posts.

And, BARNBALL, I think "PT" school is "physical therapy." If someone else knows differently, please do chime in.
 
Physical therapy. It's another couple years of school for that degree. It's a solid program at Missoula.

I thought of another reason why this rumor can't be true. There's no way in hell his dad would let him transfer. :wink:
ESPECIALLY to Western. MSU-B is out of the question as well. Carse tried to recruit him, then after Kevin decided to walk on at Missoula, Carse told him he wasn't good enough to play D-I.

After the game...talking about the game, travelling to Portland, playing MSU on Tuesday, the Lady Griz game that night, the EWU-SAC women's game, Western-LC State game...typical conversations.
 
Both Mick and Mark Durham were at the last Hellgate / Butte game. Charlie Cox took an recruiting trip to Western a week or so ago.
 
BozoneCat said:
Bear Axed said:
If we started a "RUMOR" about a school that hired Meth dealers as coaches & gave scholarships to pedophiles, would you try to defend those "RUMORS" ? Does the kitten Athletic department garner respect?
Click to expand...

Just wanted to pass along a nice little incident from one of your own players, since you felt compelled to bring it up...

http://www.kaimin.org/viewarticle.php?id=4051
Click to expand...

I can't believe the crap that gets posted on these boards sometimes. It's too bad that some (Bear Axed & Bozone Cat) aren't strong enough to stay out of it. It's sad.
 
I could see Criswell transferring to Western for the sole purpose of "getting his." Throughout his entire career, including high school (where he absolutely launched), the guy has never met a shot he didn't like. It's been quite obvious watching the entirety of the season, he is main foucus is getting his touches. Fourtunately, although it took the majority of the season, he finally took a back seat and realized that he wasn't the number one option. Since this has occurred, the Griz have been playing better basketball with better results. These results are due to him not heaving up some off-balance runner or a contested three (29%) when he hasn't seen the ball a couple of trips up and down. Somebody might want to cue him in during the offseason on what an "assist" is.
 
Anklebreakers said:
I could see Criswell transferring to Western for the sole purpose of "getting his." Throughout his entire career, including high school (where he absolutely launched), the guy has never met a shot he didn't like. It's been quite obvious watching the entirety of the season, he is main foucus is getting his touches. Fourtunately, although it took the majority of the season, he finally took a back seat and realized that he wasn't the number one option. Since this has occurred, the Griz have been playing better basketball with better results. These results are due to him not heaving up some off-balance runner or a contested three (29%) when he hasn't seen the ball a couple of trips up and down. Somebody might want to cue him in during the offseason on what an "assist" is.
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Where to begin...I'm lickin' my chops on this post.

Anklebreakers said:
I could see Criswell transferring to Western for the sole purpose of "getting his."
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First and foremost, Kevin is not about "getting his". If that was the case then he wouldn't work as hard as he does on defense and in other aspects of the game. Nobody can knock his work ethic. He has been doing a good job of buying into Krysko's system as of late.

Anklebreakers said:
Throughout his entire career, including high school (where he absolutely launched), the guy has never met a shot he didn't like. It's been quite obvious watching the entirety of the season, he is main foucus is getting his touches.
Click to expand...

In high school he was worried about casting shots??? His junior year he only average 12 points/game because he had so many talented players on his team. Robert Shotgunn, Rich Sanders, Jeff King, Jody Jensen...they were all seniors that could get 15-20 points on any given night. Yet Kevin was the State 'A' MVP that year when they won the state tournament. After those seniors left it was Kevin and Marcus Simonich. They didn't have any serious threats after that. Those two had to carry that team. Kevin averaged 33.5 ppg, 12 rbg, 4 spg...and oh yeah 4 assists/game as well. Don't tell me his main focus was on getting shots.

Anklebreakers said:
These results are due to him not heaving up some off-balance runner or a contested three (29%)
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You want to talk about shooting percentages? Here's Criswell's shooting percentages: 40.6% FG, 29.5% 3P, 78.0% FT. That's about what you expect a guard to shoot, not great, but not bad either. Here's the rest of Montana's guards...

Farr: 39.4% FG, 33.3% 3P, 60.9% FT
Lynch: 34.0% FG, 33.3% 3P, 75.0% FT
Martin: 39.4% FG, 33.6% 3P, 78.8% FT

My oh my, Kevin's percentages are just terrible compared to the rest of our guards aren't they? :roll:

Anklebreakers said:
Somebody might want to cue him in during the offseason on what an "assist" is.
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Somebody might want to clue you in on a couple stats before you spout a bunch of garbage. Criswell is one of only three players on the team that has a positive assist to turnover ratio. Kevin is also 2nd on the teams in assists, averaging over 2 per game.

As in the words of Tony Kornheiser, "I WIN!" :lol:
 
Oh yeah...I forgot my main point.

He is not going to transfer to Dillon and if you could see him transferring there, you need to take a class in common sense.

He's got way too much going for him to just leave Missoula. Basketball wise as well, but there are more important things in life.
 
I don't see how anyone can criticize Criswell as not being a team player. He hustles every time down the court on offense and defense, and is one of the better rebounding guards in the league. It isn't like he is hanging around he 3 point line waiting for someone to pass to him.

I still think he is a streaky shooter, but I don't mean that as a criticism - when he is hot there are few better, but when he isn't he struggles.

I think he had to learn this year that to go fast sometimes you have to slow down, meaning he couldn't carry the team, and his teammates, especially Martin, sometimes need to learn the hard way. Even if it meant a lot of turnovers he needed to share the load with the rest of the team (both in scoring, and ball handling) so they could grow and learn as well. Watching the last couple of games I think he understands that now, and it is bearing fruit.

If I have one knock on Criswell it is that he doesn't look like he is having fun most of the time. Hopefully that will change when he cuts down the nets tomorrow in Portland. :lol:
 
Of the guards, Matthews is actually the one shooting the best. He's at 58.7% FG, 37.5% 3pt, but only 47.8% FT. He really doesn't take many shots though. I kind of wish he would though..he has a real nice looking shot.

As for Criswell, yes he does occasionally try to force shots. He's done a good job lately in not doing that. When he does force a shot or two, I really doubt its due to him wanting to 'getting his'. Sometimes he just really tries to do too much out there. In my opinion there is no way he's doing that just for himself. I seriously doubt he has anything else in mind other than doing what's best for the team.

I really don't get the comment about him not knowing what a assist is. As Gym Rat pointed out (Ya beat me to it) Criswell is 2nd on the team in Assists right now, and one of the 3 Griz players with a positive assist/turnover ratio (The other 2 being Martin & Matthews).

One thing that doesn't show up in the stat sheet is how hard he plays. He plays good defense & I really don't think there is a better player on the Griz team at getting fouled and getting to the line.
 
Kevin has been settling for too many outside shots I think. He's not the most consistent shooter out there, I agree.

Grizbeer, you hit the nail on the head. If he would just loosen up and have fun out there like he did his freshman year, he would do much better out there. He used to think like he had to prove that he belonged out there every night. I wish there was a way to get that attitude back.
 
Dexter X...

You are right about Virgil. He is doing an incredible job for us as of late. I've told a lot of people I think he is the main reason for our team playing so well the last couple of games. I hope that he hasn't been discouraged by the amount of playing time this year. He's going to be a key for us next year.

I didn't mention him because he hasn't taken as many shots as the other guys. (Plus, it didn't help my argument...so I left it out :lol: )
 
Criswell is one of the most unselfish, hard-working players that you will find anywhere. I think that when the Griz have struggled, he took it personally and tried to make things happen more than he probably should have. I see people on here state how it is a known fact how he has struggled with Coach K because he is not the number one guy but I will tell you that Criswell's ultimate goal is to win!!! He is a class guy and I do not believe for a minute that he would leave UM because he can't be the ball hog that you all are claiming him to be. This sounds a lot like the rumors that Lex Hilliard is leaving for Wyoming, it aint true, move on!!!!!
 
Cox didn't visit Western a week or two ago! He actually was visiting Montana Tech, I saw him there at the game. He is actually planning a visit to Western still, he's gonna take it with another kid from Missoula.
 
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