Despite anticlimactic finish, Lady Griz had memorable season

[GrizBBIsKing]

That's a wrap: Despite anticlimactic finish, Lady Griz had a memorable season
By BILL SPELTZ of the Missoulian
Montana senior Mandy Morales gets a kiss from her dad, Jim, after the Lady Griz won the Big Sky Conference tournament championship earlier this month at Dahlberg Arena. After an outstanding season, the loss of seniors like Morales means some rebuilding for the Lady Griz next year.
Photo by TOM BAUER/Missoulian

Sometimes lofty expectations are like stratus clouds.

They cast a shadow over everything, blocking out the sun. Nothing matters but the ultimate goal, and anything less is a dreary disappointment.

In the case of the Montana Lady Griz, lofty expectations have made it harder to appreciate a season most Division I basketball teams would love to experience. A third straight Big Sky Conference regular-season title, a second straight league tournament championship and a sparkling
*
28-5 record are all worthy of celebration.

“But we didn't necessarily reach all of our goals because we wanted to win in that first round,” said forward Britney Lohman, referring to Montana's loss to Pitt last weekend in the NCAA tourney.

“We still came a long way. When we came off that first half (against Pitt), that proved we're capable of playing with a team of that caliber and we deserved to be there as much as anyone. It's just unfortunate for us we couldn't keep the momentum going.”

Montana's final half was a cruel way to say goodbye to seniors Lohman, Mandy Morales, Sonya Rogers and Tam Guardipee. Scoring 10 points in 20 minutes is something that will stick with this fiercely competitive group for a while.

But a month down the road, the quartet can look back at 2008-09 and smile.

“I thought we had a great year,” Montana 31-year coach Robin Selvig said. “There's a half I'd like to get back, but no, I thought we had a really good year.

“I think our seniors averaged 25 wins a year for four years, so they had fabulous careers and accomplished a ton. They're really good competitors. Mandy and Sonya - and Brit to a degree - they lived in the gym, getting things going in the summer, getting other kids to play. Basketball is extremely important to them and we need someone now to pick up that role.”

Montana's 28 wins matched the program record for a single season. Almost as compelling is the number 6,734 - the number of fans that watched the Lady Griz beat visiting Portland State and seal the Big Sky regular-season title on March 7. It was the best turnout in five years and the largest for any game - men's or women's - at Dahlberg this winter.

Montana beat the equally talented Vikings again at Dahlberg Arena eight days later in the conference tournament final. Those victories, and the manner in which the locals embraced the Lady Griz, make the 2008-09 season hard to forget.

“We had to play as hard as any games I've been in to beat Portland State twice,” Lohman said. “They're an awesome team and to get them twice in a row was a great accomplishment for us.”

Selvig's favorite moments from 2008-09 are all-encompassing. For starters, he was proud of the way his team posted an 11-3 mark in a tough nonconference slate.

The coach earned his 700th win against Illinois on Nov. 26 in Cancun, Mexico. But his appreciation of that victory had less to do with himself than his team.

“Mandy hitting the shot against Illinois to win - that was huge,” Selvig said. “We were in a tough stretch of games right there and we had big challenges ahead of us. To get that win was important for the team.”

In retrospect, you could argue three of Montana's best preconference performances came in losses. The Lady Griz pushed third-ranked Maryland before losing on Nov. 27 in Cancun, 71-58. The next night they pushed 16th-ranked South Dakota State before falling, 64-59.

Three weeks later Montana suffered its only home loss of the season to NCAA tourney qualifier Gonzaga, 69-63.

The Lady Griz responded by marching to their 22nd regular-season league title. Selvig earned Coach of the Year honors for the 19th time in 31 seasons.

“This is a team award so I thank them for that,” said the coach, who holds a career record of 725-203. “I share it with my assistants and team, that's generally how you win a Coach of the Year award is your team does very well so that's been a nice thing. I thank everyone in our program for helping us win that.”

Selvig's job will be harder next season with the loss of four seniors, including Big Sky MVP Morales. But his goals remain the same: Win the Big Sky and make noise in the NCAA tournament.

“That's always the plan,” he said. “We have way more questions going into next season than we have in a long time. But we've been in this situation more than once.”

The Lady Griz must replace their two best shooters in Morales and Rogers. They also lose their best defender in Lohman.

But there are reasons to be optimistic. Sophomore Sarah Ena and junior Lauren Beck will be back as starters, and reserves Jessa Loman Linford, Shaunte Nance-Johnson and Stephanie Stender have seen considerable quality minutes.

Selvig also points out that redshirt freshman Misty Atkinson was making great strides until she was sidelined by a shoulder injury. That prevented her from playing in Montana's biggest games in March.

Montana has four other returnees who may also make significant contributions, depending on their work in the offseason. The list includes junior post Shadra Robison, freshman guard Tianna Ware and redshirted freshmen Ashley Ferda (guard) and Alexandra Hurley (forward).

Ferda, unable to practice late in the season with a knee injury, will likely share minutes with Nance-Johnson at the point.

“There's going to be a whole different look next year,” Selvig said. “There's a lot of minutes gone.

“But our depth developed this year. Those kids - Steph, Jessa and Shaunte - their roles will be different and it will be interesting because a lot of roles are wide open. Any time you lose two guards that play 35-minute sets and help shape the personality of your team it's going to be different. But I'm starting to get excited.”

At least part of Selvig's excitement has to do with stellar seasons turned in by incoming recruits Katie Baker (6-foot), Kenzie DeBoer (5-11) and Alyssa Smith (6-0). Baker was named Idaho's Gatorade Player of the Year for the third straight season, averaging 21.8 points and 11.1 rebounds per game for Class 5A Lake City.

“All three had great years,” Selvig said. “Katie Baker had a phenomenal year. Smith was MVP of her league and her team finished second in the state (in Washington's Class 2A). DeBoer was MVP of her (Washington 1A) league. They're talented kids and they'll be in the mix.”

For the first time in a while, the Lady Griz won't be the favorite to win the Big Sky next winter. That honor will likely go to Portland State, which returns all-league point guard Claire Faucher.

Selvig and his troops plan on embracing their underdog role.

“It will be exciting to see,” said the coach, whose team opens on the road at Wyoming and Colorado State. “I think we can be a real good team. How quickly we can get there will be a question.”

Sports writer Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or [email protected].

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

Disappointing Dance does not a season make
By BILL SPELTZ of the Missoulian


Sweat trickled down Mandy Morales' face like rain on a windshield.

All she could do was watch as the final seconds of her Montana basketball career ticked away last weekend. Her expression was one of disbelief - a warrior who never imagined the outmanned Lady Griz would be ousted by Pitt in the first round of the NCAA tourney.

This was supposed to be Montana's redemption game after a 2008 first-round loss. Everything was in place after a promising first half, then the bottom fell out.
*
Fans are left to ponder: If Morales, the greatest UM player this side of All-American Shannon Cate, couldn't get it done on two occasions with an experienced supporting cast, will it ever happen? Will this string of eight straight first-round NCAA tournament losses ever come to an end?

“It's always been difficult, and it's probably more difficult now,” Montana coach Robin Selvig said. “There's a much deeper pool of really good teams out there and all the big schools have money and access to players.

“It used to be there were three or four teams in the country better than everybody else. Now they're all good in those big conferences.”

Skeptics wonder why UM can't keep pace with the Vandys and Pittsburghs, not understanding the Lady Griz are operating on a fraction of their recruiting budgets. They hold up Gonzaga as a mid-major that gets things done, failing to remember the Bulldogs don't have a football program to fund.

It's easy to get spoiled by the consistent success of the Lady Griz. To overlook the rare loyalty of Selvig and his longtime assistants.

Together they cultivate the state's best Division I program. No other D-I program of any kind comes close.

A winning climate fuels Montana's players to push harder and aim higher. The Lady Griz didn't have any more talent than Portland State this season. In fact when it comes to natural athletic ability, they weren't that far ahead of anyone in the Big Sky.

But once again it was Montana that punched through to the Big Dance, using mostly Treasure State players and a helpful boost from faithful fans. It's a tradition that shows no signs of ending.

Yet the tournament dilemma persists. Montana is the only team in the Big Sky Conference to win in the Big Dance. The last time was 14 years ago.

One concern is the Big Sky representative will drop down to a 14 or 15 seed in the future. That the days of 13, 12 and 10 seeds are numbered.

Selvig isn't too concerned.

“They base it all on what you did that year, like we had a good RPI this year,” he said. “I think we've been seeded as high as 9, but not lately. Our league hasn't ... you know we have to have a good nonconference schedule.

“We could have been seeded higher this year. Had we beaten Maryland or South Dakota State, that's how you get more attention. I think we were seeded a little lower to get us to Seattle. Gonzaga could've been 10 or 11. We could've been 11 or 12.”

You can't help but wonder if things might have been different had the Lady Griz beaten Gonzaga on Dec. 19. Montana drew an unusually small crowd that day because Griz Nation understandably had its mind on Montana's national championship football game that night.

Gonzaga beat the Lady Griz by six points and ended up earning a No. 12 seed for the Big Dance. It opened the door for the Bulldogs to beat No. 5 seed Xavier in the first round of the NCAA tourney while 13th-seeded Montana fell to a much tougher No. 4 seed.

It's water under the bridge now. But from a matchup standpoint UM has drawn a short straw two straight seasons. It would have been fun to see it matched against, say, a Big Ten team.

Some are beginning to think Montana is out of its league in the NCAA tournament. That things would've been better had the Lady Griz played in the WNIT. One Missoulian reader wrote in recently that the NCAA needs to create a mid-major tournament.

But anything less than the NCAAs would be a hard sell to the players.

“The WNIT is a great tournament, but there's nothing like going to the Big Dance,” said Montana senior Britney Lohman, who has played in both.

“There's no equal. It's an entirely different experience. When you're younger and growing up the WNIT isn't glorified.”

Like Selvig said, we're at a point where it's never been more difficult for mid-majors to reach the Sweet 16. The edge the Lady Griz have in coaching experience is neutralized by big-time programs that draw more quality athletes and are paying to keep their coaches from bolting.

It's a great thing for women's college basketball, not so great for a team like Montana. But I'll bet my favorite pair of sneakers Selvig finds a way to buck the trend.

Until then reaching the NCAA tourney is nothing to sneeze at. There's a Pac-10 program 260 miles from here that hasn't been to the Big Dance in 18 years.

Selvig's team has been there four of the last six years and it tied a school record with 28 wins this season. Be he'll never take success for granted - even if some fans do.

“Believe me, I wasn't sitting around thinking, ‘Oh boy. I hope we can get 25 wins this year,' ” the coach said Friday. “With our tough nonconference I was hoping we could win one game.

“I had all kinds of questions going into this year. So our consistency is something to be proud of. There's no reason for anybody to feel bad about the year we had, that's for sure. It was a fabulous year.”

Sports columnist Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or [email protected].

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

Lady Griz lose 4 players. All from Montana. But, really, Lady Griz lost 5 players from Montana consider Dvera Tolbert left before this past season started.

Who is replacing them?
A player from Idaho, and two Washington players. The one from Idaho (Baker) did live in Hamilton at one time, so she is coming back home. Where the other two come from we will know come spring signing period this april.

If they come from out of state, next years team could be one of the first teams with most of the players coming from out of state. Or, at least, this could be the most out of state players on the Lady Griz roster in some time, maybe the most. But, if this new group comes in and breaks that streak of one and outs in the NCAA, I will be happy.

 

[citygriz]

be happy with the 20-win seasons and montana's perpetual role as a "big sky power." i have become convinced that montana will never win another ncaa game, for the following reasons:

1. mediocre competition in the big sky. in the pre-season, we hung with maryland, south dakota state and gonzaga, three teams that went on to stellar performances in the ncaa tournament, while we took another yet another beating. can there be any question that the big sky does little to prepare us for the tougher national competition, or that this is one area where our failure to move up to a better conference has hurt both our basketball programs?

2. low seeds. anything between a 13 and a 16, which is what the big sky can expect every year, guarantees a tough opponent and long odds in any first-round game.

3. failure to recruit joslyn tinkle. if ever we had a chance to recruit a player who might put us back as a force in the national arena it was tinkle, but not only did she choose stanford, she did not even list montana as her second choice, and we may well not have been even her third choice either ( i believe both georgia and oklahoma came ahead of us.) which shows how much the gulf has widened between the bigger programs and the "mid-majors" in women's basketball. i neither fault tinkle nor blame selvig--if i were a big-time recruit, i wouldn't want to play in the big sky either.

4. selvig's recruiting. i was critical for years of his failure to recruit black athletes, but no sooner does he bring in two than we're back to the type of player selvig has fallen in love with, the six-foot "versatile" white girl that can play the two, three or four. the three recruits coming in next year, together with ali hurely, all fit this description. all will be excellent players in the big sky, and may well lead us to more big sky championships. but once we get to the ncaa tournament, watch the word "lumbering" show up again when describing us. quick-on-quick guards and ever-taller post players are what you see now in women's basketball, and these are two areas where montana remains woefully deficient.

selvig is a legend at montana, and you don't get very far knocking legends, witness the poor guy who criticized selvig's use of time-outs in the second half in seattle, and got villified for it on this board. but at some point you have to accept life as it is, and when it comes to women's basketball at montana, i have come to accept that i must appreciate our role as a big sky power, while also realizing that on the national stage, both the montana program and the big sky conference are now seen as someting of a retarded stepchild.

 

[bobaloo]

Citay: Are you comparing Big Sky Woman's basketbal to Special Olympics?

I could'nt resist Citay.

 

[Spanky]

Citigriz....excellent post.

 

[islander]

be happy with the 20-win seasons and montana's perpetual role as a "big sky power."

i have come to accept that i must appreciate our role as a big sky power, while also realizing that on the national stage, both the montana program and the big sky conference are now seen as someting of a retarded stepchild.

One must assume that Mandy Morales did as much when she quit on Arizona State to return to the secure confines of Montana.

I saw the article in the Missoulian about Mandy Morales yesterday, and the one about Arizona State and Charlie Turner-Thorne today. Arizona State is back in the Elite 8 (under the guidance of old Selvig foe and Big Sky-bred Turner Thorne; she was also a senior on the Stanford team that beat the LG in 1988).

Morales signed and went to (but never played for) ASU. She went there the summer of '04, and would probably have RS the 04-05 season, but transferred to Montana by summer's end, and RS here.

ASU, during the years that Morales would have been on the team, did the following in the NCAAs:

04-05 Sweet 16
05-06 2nd Round
06-07 Elite 8
07-08 2nd Round
08-09 Elite 8 (and a Final Four appearance, if they have a miracle in them tomorrow night)

She had a great career at Montana, and even got to be blown out of the NCAA tournament twice. However, if post-season success means anything to a player, in all likelihood, Morales would have stayed at ASU. If, on the other hand, this type of success is not all that important to the player (and by extension, the team), then Montana will continue to be the destination for players who find enough satisfaction being the big fish in the little pond.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

citygriz, I see no suggested solutions coming from your 'excellent' post.

Re: Points 1 & 2. From what I see the LG have, and are seeking challenging OOC games. The LG schedule strength rating will go up when they beat top teams and/or the other BSC teams get a quality OOC win.

Re: Points 3 & 4. Is there something that was not done, or was not done properly in recruiting Joslyln Tinkle? You criticize Bo's recruiting but are you aware of any good-student, good citizen, urban 6'4" girl that was seriously interested in UM, who was turned down in lieu of a 5'11" Montana girl?

You may have more, specific information. :roll:
Or this may be another indiscriminate shotgun blast in hopes of hitting something. :?

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

be happy with the 20-win seasons and montana's perpetual role as a "big sky power."

i have come to accept that i must appreciate our role as a big sky power, while also realizing that on the national stage, both the montana program and the big sky conference are now seen as someting of a retarded stepchild.

One must assume that Mandy Morales did as much when she quit on Arizona State to return to the secure confines of Montana.

I saw the article in the Missoulian about Mandy Morales yesterday, and the one about Arizona State and Charlie Turner-Thorne today. Arizona State is back in the Elite 8 (under the guidance of old Selvig foe and Big Sky-bred Turner Thorne; she was also a senior on the Stanford team that beat the LG in 1988).

Morales signed and went to (but never played for) ASU. She went there the summer of '04, and would probably have RS the 04-05 season, but transferred to Montana by summer's end, and RS here.

ASU, during the years that Morales would have been on the team, did the following in the NCAAs:

04-05 Sweet 16
05-06 2nd Round
06-07 Elite 8
07-08 2nd Round
08-09 Elite 8 (and a Final Four appearance, if they have a miracle in them tomorrow night)

She had a great career at Montana, and even got to be blown out of the NCAA tournament twice. However, if post-season success means anything to a player, in all likelihood, Morales would have stayed at ASU. If, on the other hand, this type of success is not all that important to the player (and by extension, the team), then Montana will continue to be the destination for players who find enough satisfaction being the big fish in the little pond.

The type of success that ASU had and having had nothing to do with Mandy coming here versus staying there. More like her grandfather coming down with a terminal disease and her getting homesick, and finding out that being closer to family was more important.

You must thank former NAU head coach Charlie Turner-thorne for letting Mandy out of her Letter of Intent she signed with ASU, or Mandy's career here at UM would have been over last year. In which case, she would not have experienced a season she had this year where she didn't miss a game due to some injury, and Lady Griz may not have won the Big Sky Conference this year.
Also, if Mandy signed with Montana originally, she would not have redshirted here and her career would have been over last year.

 

[citygriz]

citygriz, I see no suggested solutions coming from your 'excellent' post.

Re: Points 1 & 2. From what I see the LG have, and are seeking challenging OOC games. The LG schedule strength rating will go up when they beat top teams and/or the other BSC teams get a quality OOC win.

Re: Points 3 & 4. Is there something that was not done, or was not done properly in recruiting Joslyln Tinkle? You criticize Bo's recruiting but are you aware of any good-student, good citizen, urban 6'4" girl that was seriously interested in UM, who was turned down in lieu of a 5'11" Montana girl?

You may have more, specific information. :roll:
Or this may be another indiscriminate shotgun blast in hopes of hitting something. :?

if you point out a couple of weaknesses, aren't the "solutions" their opposite?

the biggest problem is the big sky conference itself. i've long felt that as good as the big sky has been for montana football, it has impeded the progress of our basketball programs. weak competition, one slot only for the big dance, lousy facilities (have you ever seen the sac state gym?) how can one possibly make the case that the big sky has been good for montana basketball? even the wac would be a huge improvement in comptition and facilities and both slots and seeding for the big dance. and while i don't know who "bo" is--a nickname for joslyn?--i believe our being in the big sky conference is the biggest hindrance to bringing in better talent.

then there is selvig's recruiting--and here we just have a difference of opinion. i'm big on point guards. I feel a point guard is akin to a microprocessor in a computer--the brains and the speed that make the computer run. a point guard is the coach on the floor. if i were a head coach, i would recruit one point guard every class. i would especially look for quicks and ball handling ability. you can have all the talent in the world, but without a point guard it just doesn't work. and i believe our biggest failing in the big dance has been our lack of a super-quick point guard. in fact, as good a player as mandy is, i don't feel we've had that super-quick point guard since skyla sisko. and when skyla was at the controls, we did almost win a game at the big dance against--i believe--texas tech.

but selvig seems to be stuck on the "versatile" player, the 6' player that can play multiple positions. i know we have one more scholarship available, and maybe we're focusing on a point guard for that slot. i sure hope so. meantime, we're bringing in three more "versatile" players, to go with the already "versatile" ali hurley. that's all fine, but i still say, we need a point guard.

and while we're at it, where's the height? have you watched any of the ncaa tournament? these post players now range in height from 6'4" to 6'9", and they're mobile, they're athletic and in the case of the girl from stanford, they are built. as selvig himself has pointed out, the big sky is weak on post players, so we can get away with the "versatile" six footers. but once we get to the tournament, we just get killed by these taller post players.

and one last thing--i watched the pitt-oklahoma game yesterday, waiting for that vaunted pitt trap that gave us so much trouble. and guess what? i didn't see it ONCE. oklahoma played so fast that pitt couldn't keep up with them, let alone trap. and this was the team that just gave us fits for an entire half???

c'mon!

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

citygriz, I see no suggested solutions coming from your 'excellent' post.

Re: Points 1 & 2. From what I see the LG have, and are seeking challenging OOC games. The LG schedule strength rating will go up when they beat top teams and/or the other BSC teams get a quality OOC win.

Re: Points 3 & 4. Is there something that was not done, or was not done properly in recruiting Joslyln Tinkle? You criticize Bo's recruiting but are you aware of any good-student, good citizen, urban 6'4" girl that was seriously interested in UM, who was turned down in lieu of a 5'11" Montana girl?

You may have more, specific information. :roll:
Or this may be another indiscriminate shotgun blast in hopes of hitting something. :?

if you point out a couple of weaknesses, aren't the "solutions" their opposite?

the biggest problem is the big sky conference itself. i've long felt that as good as the big sky has been for montana football, it has impeded the progress of our basketball programs. weak competition, one slot only for the big dance, lousy facilities (have you ever seen the sac state gym?) how can one possibly make the case that the big sky has been good for montana basketball? even the wac would be a huge improvement in comptition and facilities and both slots and seeding for the big dance. and while i don't know who "bo" is--a nickname for joslyn?--i believe our being in the big sky conference is the biggest hindrance to bringing in better talent.

then there is selvig's recruiting--and here we just have a difference of opinion. i'm big on point guards. I feel a point guard is akin to a microprocessor in a computer--the brains and the speed that make the computer run. a point guard is the coach on the floor. if i were a head coach, i would recruit one point guard every class. i would especially look for quicks and ball handling ability. you can have all the talent in the world, but without a point guard it just doesn't work. and i believe our biggest failing in the big dance has been our lack of a super-quick point guard. in fact, as good a player as mandy is, i don't feel we've had that super-quick point guard since skyla sisko. and when skyla was at the controls, we did almost win a game at the big dance against--i believe--texas tech.

but selvig seems to be stuck on the "versatile" player, the 6' player that can play multiple positions. i know we have one more scholarship available, and maybe we're focusing on a point guard for that slot. i sure hope so. meantime, we're bringing in three more "versatile" players, to go with the already "versatile" ali hurley. that's all fine, but i still say, we need a point guard.

and while we're at it, where's the height? have you watched any of the ncaa tournament? these post players now range in height from 6'4" to 6'9", and they're mobile, they're athletic and in the case of the girl from stanford, they are built. as selvig himself has pointed out, the big sky is weak on post players, so we can get away with the "versatile" six footers. but once we get to the tournament, we just get killed by these taller post players.

and one last thing--i watched the pitt-oklahoma game yesterday, waiting for that vaunted pitt trap that gave us so much trouble. and guess what? i didn't see it ONCE. oklahoma played so fast that pitt couldn't keep up with them, let alone trap. and this was the team that just gave us fits for an entire half???

c'mon!

I agree with a lot of your comments. Although, the conference that South Dakota State is in, is not very strong, actually quite comparable to the Big Sky. But, South Dakota Sate beat teams in the non-conference season, Montana did not. Lady Griz may have been close to a 9th seed if they beat SDSU and Gonzaga, but did not so got the 13th seed. South Dakota State played a tough non-conference schedule and beat just about everyone they played and got a 7th seed (only non-conference loss was to Maryland). Not because of their conference, but because of their non-conference schedule. The Summit conference was ranked around 20th which is usually where the Big Sky conference is ranked.


But, in reference to the game against Texas Tech, Lady Griz were a 9th seed, Texas Tech an 8th seed. A considerable difference from playing a 4th seed. Texas Tech, after beating Lady Griz by only 2 points 49 - 47, were pretty much annihated by Stanford two days later(it was over by half time).

It is all where your seeded. If you don't beat anybody in non-conference your just going to get stuck with a bad seed and face getting blown out in the tournament. The years that Lady Griz won some games in the tournament, they seeded higher than a 13th seed.

By the way, lady Griz have up to TWO scholarships remaining. I expect one of them to be a center. I really wouldn't be surprised if Selvig signs two centers like he did when he signed Laura Valley and this other tall player I forgot her name. Laura Valley didn't have any muscle and this other girl was one of the slowest players Lady Griz ever had.

 

[citygriz]

the non-conference schedule is where i give robin selvig a lot of credit. he goes out and plays teams--always has--where the men were often reluctant to do that, insisting on a home and home. but you've got to beat them, even if it's at their place. the ladies were fortunate this year to play illinois, maryland and south dakota state on a neutral court but still, we couldn't pull that one major upset that might have improved our seeding.

 

[WyomingGrizFan]

*

 

[WyomingGrizFan]

*

 

[BDizzle]

and while we're at it, where's the height? have you watched any of the ncaa tournament? these post players now range in height from 6'4" to 6'9", and they're mobile, they're athletic and in the case of the girl from stanford, they are built. as selvig himself has pointed out, the big sky is weak on post players, so we can get away with the "versatile" six footers.

You had an excellent chance in recruiting a 6' 7" post player out of Minnesota a couple years back; a Katherine Hintz. But instead good o' 'citygriz' wanted a 'versatile black player' (5' 10") that couldn't hit sixty per cent of her free thows in hs. Besides which, couldn't you just lower the GPA requirements down to say, ala Paul Hornung style, 00.050 or something like that? Get more Black players that way, right? You know, no more wet-backs, dyks and jews, no greaseballs, slant-eyes or rag-heads; just don't use the 'N-word' and you ain't prejudical, right?

Maybe you can even do the 'white-ass shuffle' like your Armed Forces have been doing overseas. Like in..."Up against the wall bitch!!! Meet Mr. Wiggly. We won the 'Big One.' If it weren't for US you'd all be speaking German now anyways so there!!!" That way good o' 'citygriz' can murder off everyone else that isn't of the 'N' ethnic persuasion and lap it up about how 'goody-shoes' he is. Ya figure?

Really? Wow!

 

[Proud Griz Man]

citygriz, I see no suggested solutions coming from your 'excellent' post.

Re: Points 1 & 2. From what I see the LG have, and are seeking challenging OOC games. The LG schedule strength rating will go up when they beat top teams and/or the other BSC teams get a quality OOC win.

Re: Points 3 & 4. Is there something that was not done, or was not done properly in recruiting Joslyln Tinkle? You criticize Bo's recruiting but are you aware of any good-student, good citizen, urban 6'4" girl that was seriously interested in UM, who was turned down in lieu of a 5'11" Montana girl?

You may have more, specific information. :roll:
Or this may be another indiscriminate shotgun blast in hopes of hitting something. :?

if you point out a couple of weaknesses, aren't the "solutions" their opposite?

the biggest problem is the big sky conference itself. i've long felt that as good as the big sky has been for montana football, it has impeded the progress of our basketball programs. weak competition, one slot only for the big dance, lousy facilities (have you ever seen the sac state gym?) how can one possibly make the case that the big sky has been good for montana basketball? even the wac would be a huge improvement in comptition and facilities and both slots and seeding for the big dance. and while i don't know who "bo" is--a nickname for joslyn?--i believe our being in the big sky conference is the biggest hindrance to bringing in better talent.

then there is selvig's recruiting--and here we just have a difference of opinion. i'm big on point guards. I feel a point guard is akin to a microprocessor in a computer--the brains and the speed that make the computer run. a point guard is the coach on the floor. if i were a head coach, i would recruit one point guard every class. i would especially look for quicks and ball handling ability. you can have all the talent in the world, but without a point guard it just doesn't work. and i believe our biggest failing in the big dance has been our lack of a super-quick point guard. in fact, as good a player as mandy is, i don't feel we've had that super-quick point guard since skyla sisko. and when skyla was at the controls, we did almost win a game at the big dance against--i believe--texas tech.

but selvig seems to be stuck on the "versatile" player, the 6' player that can play multiple positions. i know we have one more scholarship available, and maybe we're focusing on a point guard for that slot. i sure hope so. meantime, we're bringing in three more "versatile" players, to go with the already "versatile" ali hurley. that's all fine, but i still say, we need a point guard.

and while we're at it, where's the height? have you watched any of the ncaa tournament? these post players now range in height from 6'4" to 6'9", and they're mobile, they're athletic and in the case of the girl from stanford, they are built. as selvig himself has pointed out, the big sky is weak on post players, so we can get away with the "versatile" six footers. but once we get to the tournament, we just get killed by these taller post players.

and one last thing--i watched the pitt-oklahoma game yesterday, waiting for that vaunted pitt trap that gave us so much trouble. and guess what? i didn't see it ONCE. oklahoma played so fast that pitt couldn't keep up with them, let alone trap. and this was the team that just gave us fits for an entire half???

c'mon!

Heathcote leaves Montana, and goes to Michigan State. Wins a national championship.
Montgomery leaves Montana, and goes to Stanford. Goes to a Final Four.
Same coaches, but different caliber of athletes recruited.

You're evasive, and refuse to answer questions. You like long, vague posts.
Selvig is recruiting the best student-athletes he can attract to Montana. If you have evidence of anything different, please share.