LadyGriz Did Nate Harris Pull Off a Recruiting Coup?

[citygriz]

Hey, folks, it's just this damned portal. Players come and players go. And the ones that come in through the portal usually saw little playing time and accumulated lousy stats at their previous schools.

Witness Shay Shippen at Columbia and Paige Lofing at Gonzaga.

Shippen: A grand total of nine points and three rebounds before she got hurt in the sixth game at Columbia, earning her a medical redshirt. And Lofing a meager 2.2 points per game at Gonzaga. Nothing really to get excited about. Just the damned portal.

But what if these two players had come to Montana a year earlier. The flags would be waving, drums pounding and trumpets blaring on one of the greatest recruiting coups in the history of the Lady Griz: Two Gatorade Players of the Year in the same recruiting class!

When has that ever happened before for either the men's or women's teams in the history of Griz basketball? (Okay, prove me wrong....)

And both showed flashes last year. Nine points and 3 rebounds in 31 minutes isn't a terrible stat line for Shippen, while Lofing shot 42% from deep on 38 attempts at Gonzaga. That's Steph Curry territory.

Yes, indeed. I believe at just the very moment the Lady Griz program was in dire straits and his job was on the line, Nate Harris pulled off a remarkable recruiting coup.

 

[TrueGriz]

So now if the team sucks as bad as they did last year we can just blame the coach instead of the players. Awesome

 

[717s7e]

CityGriz - I agree but being a bit more positive, I think this may be the best Lady Griz recruiting class ever. I suspect that Paige Lofing and Shay Shippen will be the stars, but the other newcomers certainly give Nate what he needs to put together a very competitive team. Assuming that Lofing, Shippen, and Avery Waddington all start, what will be the other pieces to the puzzle. It looks like talent at every position.

I am out of town, but somebody (GrizJournal, please) needs to go over to watch the Friday scrimmages (7 am - 10 am).

 

[GriznMN]

Talent at every position and a highly regarded player development coach coming to help equals a high potential for a big rebound for the Lady Griz.

My hope is that Nate has also reached out to Robin and Eric Hayes to get their unvarnished advice. Based on what I have seen so far, I would say yes.

 

[citygriz]

Nate seems to be doing what Travis won't anymore: Reach out for help.

When he took the head job at Montana, his first head coaching job, Travis brought in a former head coach, Ken Bone, to run his offense. Brilliant move.

But I would argue the program has since become stagnant, despite DeCuire's evident ability to recruit guards.

Mike Montgomery notably mentioned during an Oregon TV broadcast a few years ago that he saw no design to the Montana offense. Players don't seem to show marked improvement year to year. We all decry an inability to recruit quality post players. And when the Dunn family contributed $3 million to Griz athletics, the money pointedly went to the Lady Griz, women's Softball and Football, not the basketball program.

The while Bobby Kennedy has created hyper excitement with the football program and Nate Harris has not only found critical help in the portal, he's brought in a noted player development expert.

I like and respect DeCuire as a man, extravagantly. He's run a clean program. If I had a son, I'd want him to play for DeCuire, strictly from a character-building point of view.

I also recognize that because of his character and his legendary playing career at Montana, he's built a comfortable sinecure for himself, immune from many of the same criticisms that plagued Bobby Hauck--an aloofness, a refusal to recruit Montana kids to the program--or, unlike Harris, to seek any outside help for a program that could use it.

I'm of an age when Montana basketball was king. Even after the football program rose to such prominence, I remained most keenly interested in the basketball program. But right now, I'm losing interest in it. I feel none of the off-season optimism that I do for football or the Lady Griz. Hell, after all the comings and goings in the portal, I can't even see an updated roster on GoGriz.

For me, DeCuire has become the proud imperious captain of the ghost ship that is Montana basketball.