i too was up in the rafters, section 109--where were you, seatown?--and agree with his assessment: mac court is a dump. it should have been imploded years ago. my nephew and i strolled over to the new arena, which they were working on after dark in an effort to get it ready by next year, and we watched them lower in a huge cement block of seating. question is, will ernie kent ever see the new arena? he's under a lot of fire in oregon right now.
the oregonian account of the game was one big excuse, inasmuch as oregon was missing their starting center and one starting forward, plus porter, their cat-quick guard, re-injured an ankle he'd hurt against portland and only scored two points. "not to make excuses," said kent, but then did.
other than that, the story was not that montana won, but how we won--convincingly. against that oregon lineup, we would win again and again, as we did despite an exasperating number of turnovers, missed threes, missed foul shouts, et. al. we must have left ten points at the foul line, another dozen or so on missed three-pointers, and more on turnovers. after a slow start, we were in control the entire game, against a pac 10 team, on the road.
why? oh, i'm more than happy to count the ways.
athleticism: finally, finally, it can be said--we have athletes! no more brooding about permiter defense. with cherry, a.j., mcgillis and young roaming around out there, we really shut down the oregon offense with a super-quick matchup zone. and let's not forget our bigs--for their size, both qvale and selvig are incredible athletes.
qvale: maybe apart from our overall athleticism, qvale is the most pleasant surprise. the kid just plays now like he owns the paint. frankly, his moves down low remind me of the incredible post moves that joslyn tinkle has, so maybe he's benefitted from the same coaching. unlike last year, he finishes. what nags at me yet is the decision to play him as a true freshman, a year spoiled by injury and inexperience. what a difference it'd be to our program if, like selvig, he were only a sophomore now.
cherry: i cheered when i heard he was starting, and my confidence in this team goes way up when he's in the game. he scored our first four points, two on a steal, and was all over the court, playing houndingly quick defense. i liken playing against him to fighting manny pacqio. he's so quick, and you never know where he'll turn up. his problem is shooting, which is probably why he got him. late in the game, he missed the front end of a one-and-one, and then missed the second of a one-and-one., so one point out of a potnetial four. tinkle pulled him, and i couldn't disagree. his shooting is a liability. but for the first 38 minutes of any game, i want him on the court. we are just a different more athletic and more confident team when he's out there.
a.j.: what to say? this kid is good, and it looks like he's good against any level of competition. and free throws? automatic! his first of the night rimmed out, then he hit 14 in a row. and neither he nor will cherry need a g.p.s. to find the basket.
overall talent: hey, montana is good! this team really has talent, in depth. i believe cherry, selvig and qvale could make any team in the country, and that a.j. could start for any team in the country. these are our premier guys, the ones you want on the floor in a close game. but beyond that, you've got more talented guys in staudacher, young, mcgillis and taylor. taylor, especially, was clutch, nailing two dagger threes down the stretch. if he continues to blossom, this will be huge for us this season.
the weaknesses: three-point shooting! i think we were three for 18, and you just cringed at what a blowout this game could have been had we hit more treys. time and again, on drives to the bucket, a.j. set up our guys for wide-open threes. staudacher hit one, but until taylor hit two down the stretch, we just couldn't buy anthing. i'd heard young was an outside threat, but his two attempts just looked wild.
free-throw shooting: cherry missed down the stretch, selvig missed two at one point, somebody else missed two. take away a.j.'s 14-15, and we're abysmal at the line.
turnovers: apparently, after that embarrassing loss at portland, oregon worked all week on their defense, and they pressed us the entire game. i thought we handled it pretty well, but in the future, i wish we'd try to go over the top of a press a bit more. we didn't till late in the game, when taylor got a breakaway layup. from my view up in the pigeon seats, i could see that play was there for us the entire game, and it might have taken some of the pressure off. in sum, i doubt we'll see a more concerted press all year, and given the way we handled it, i don't think turnovers are going to plague this team this year.
conclusion: this was a pivotal game for me, in terms of my allegiance to this program. the last two times i saw montana play in person, once at sac state, and last year at portland state, we were dismal both times. slow to start, lack of effort, noticeable deficit in talent, no sense the team knew what it was or had any sense of purpose on the court.
i'm happy to say, every one of those concerns has been addressed. and for a kid who grew up on montana basketball in its heyday, and was worried about the overall direction of the program, this game was a huge relief.
