Ewoo GAMEDAY

[GrizLA]

Why can't we shoot FTs tonight? Strange.

What kind of coaching philosophy is it that seems to put absolutely no emphasis on rebounding, especially when the other team shoots free throws. I don't get it. With less than 25 seconds left, and no one to rebound off a missed free throw, if only to slow down the opposition.

 

[GrizLA]

Weber State is going to be a very, very tough game for the Griz, I'm afraid unless they suddenly learn to how to box out or rebound. I think Vasquez and Owens might be better on the floor than what the coach thinks, if only to change the pace.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Why can't we shoot FTs tonight? Strange.

Made them at the end when it mattered.

But that was way too close for comfort. :?

 

[mthoopsfan]

At the game. Attendance is weak for Griz standards. Hoping we can play as well as we did against Idaho.

3882. Largest crowd of season.

 

[Griz til I die]

Why can’t we just for once blow these guys out when they come to town? We beat them down bad in Cheney but Jesus, every time they come to Missoula it’s a heart attack waiting to happen. We got bullied inside tonight and Eastern was daring us to make it from outside, and just like the Vandys game, we shot the lights out in the first half but couldn’t buy a bucket from deep in the second half. We gotta fix that. The refs were letting them play tonight which I appreciate, but we were consistently trying to draw fouls down low and they would not call anything. A wins a win but the tale of this home stand is poor shooting in the second half. Gotta fix that if we wanna have a chance at Weber on Thursday. Big game!

 

[mthoopsfan]

Goddamn I can't tell you how happy I am that the NCAA instituted the flop warning rule this year. That splayed out fall on the floor crap that Lonnell Martin just did, Christ when you watch it in slow motion, it's just ridiculous how some shooters have trained themselves to fall on their face to try and draw a foul.

I thought the defender bumped the shooter on the shooter's right side down low, and maybe came under the shooter's right foot or leg. While it may not have been a foul, I didn't think it was a flop.

 

[mtgrizrule]

At the game. Attendance is weak for Griz standards. Hoping we can play as well as we did against Idaho.

3882. Largest crowd of season.

I'm just used to more from year's past. Then again, many don't go out, with this virus.

 

[mthoopsfan]

Why can't we shoot FTs tonight? Strange.

Made them at the end when it mattered.

But that was way too close for comfort. :?

Made the last one, when the shooter tried to miss it.

 

[mthoopsfan]

Cats beat Idaho by 6 tonight and EWU by 4. Leaders scorers were Gazeles and Battle, both off bench, with 19 and 23 minutes. 3-4 (2-3) 4-6 (3-5) shooting. Leading scorers on Thursday were Bishop, Belo and Battle, each with 15. Belo and Bishop are the Cat's leading scorers, with about 15. Bannon is Griz leading scorer with 13.5, going into tonight.

Cats are 16-5 and 8-2. I didn't realize their record was that good. Cats lost to Colo. by 4, S. Dak. St. by 17, New Mex by 3, No. Colo. by 2 in OT, and Weber by 10.

Cat attendance was 3481 tonight and 3078 on Thursday. I wonder if the success and excitement of Cat football has helped basketball attendance? Griz had 3882 tonight and 3014 on Thurs.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Just back from the game. Excellent crowd and very loud. Great crowd atmosphere. I am fully supportive of the beer garden (I don't drink) because Dahlberg arena is now much louder with more fans east, west & south. The place is louder and good for all-around atmosphere.

The game was an intense defensive battle from tip to final buzzer. A ton of blocked or changed shots. After a strangely called first half plus 5 minutes, the officials just seemed to step back and let the defenses play... which was good for game flow. An excellent, classic Big Sky Conf. game which resulted in a Montana sweep over EWU. And no surprise here: thig young Griz team is where Coach DeCuire always seems to get his teams: in solid position to challenge for the regular season title and/or finish league play as a top 4 team. The win was coach DeCuire's 100th as a head coach (he passed Mike Montgomery this week).Regardless of the naysayers, Coach DeCuire is clearly and already among a select fraternity as one of the Montana basketball coaching greats.

Below: An offensive rebound for a score & 1. Play of the Game by the Player of the Game. Go Griz.
https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizBB/status/1487631790411976705

 

[EverettGriz]

Good win!

 

[Da Boyz Mom]

Made them at the end when it mattered.

But that was way too close for comfort. :?

Made the last one, when the shooter tried to miss it.

Maybe that's the secret - just try to miss and then they'll make them? :?

 

[GrizLA]

Rebounding is a big part of the game. UM doesn't appear to value it as much as most successful teams and badly needs a big man who is not foul prone. Two would be better. I don't recall seeing a Griz team that is so bad at one of the very basics of the sport. I get the Griz are young, but so is EWU and a couple of other BSC teams.

 

[EverettGriz]

Rebounding is a big part of the game. UM doesn't appear to value it as much as most successful teams and badly needs a big man who is not foul prone. Two would be better. I don't recall seeing a Griz team that is so bad at one of the very basics of the sport. I get the Griz are young, but so is EWU and a couple of other BSC teams.

Correct. UM doesn’t value rebounding as much as some successful teams.

Much like most successful teams don’t value not turning the ball over like UM. Or how successful teams don’t play defense like Montana. Or how successful teams don’t shoot FTs like Montana.

There are a lot of ways to be successful, but very few teams who are. Thank God Montana is one of them.

 

[EverettGriz]

Went to the ewoooo site to get their take on the game.

JFC what are we DOING in this conference?!

 

[Sport]

Rebounding is a big part of the game. UM doesn't appear to value it as much as most successful teams and badly needs a big man who is not foul prone. Two would be better. I don't recall seeing a Griz team that is so bad at one of the very basics of the sport. I get the Griz are young, but so is EWU and a couple of other BSC teams.

Correct. UM doesn’t value rebounding as much as some successful teams.

Much like most successful teams don’t value not turning the ball over like UM. Or how successful teams don’t play defense like Montana. Or how successful teams don’t shoot FTs like Montana.

There are a lot of ways to be successful, but very few teams who are. Thank God Montana is one of them.

Rebounding, especially on the offensive boards gives teams another possession and an opportunity to score. Pretty plan and simple and if you have the horses to get those boards it’s an important part of your offense. But unfortunately the Griz do not have the horses. Offensive rebounds is more of a “by chance” opportunity. By that I mean the ball can come off the rim in all sorts of bounces so it’s not something you can game plan for. Unless you have the size and quickness to go to the boards, which we do not, then Travis’s strategy is to get back on defense. If you’ll note we do not get beat very often in the transition game.
A common complaint I hear on this board is why don’t the shooters follow their shots? Good shooters pretty much know when the ball leaves their hands if it’s going in or not. Again, I thinks it’s a coaching philosophy to get back on defense and with our lack of size I would defer to the coach who just won his 100th conference game.
For the most part I think offensive rebounding is like the forward pass in football; one of three things can happen, completion, incomplete or interception. In basketball with undersized and smaller players the same results can happen; another possession, loss of ball and transition basket or fouling.
I’m merely an observer and in no way an expert on the game of basketball.

 

['68griz]

I thought it was an ugly game. The FT shooting was woeful. The lack of a big man really hurts, I think. But, damn, the Griz play defense hard, and they find ways to win. Onward and upward.

 

[EverettGriz]

Correct. UM doesn’t value rebounding as much as some successful teams.

Much like most successful teams don’t value not turning the ball over like UM. Or how successful teams don’t play defense like Montana. Or how successful teams don’t shoot FTs like Montana.

There are a lot of ways to be successful, but very few teams who are. Thank God Montana is one of them.

Rebounding, especially on the offensive boards gives teams another possession and an opportunity to score. Pretty plan and simple and if you have the horses to get those boards it’s an important part of your offense. But unfortunately the Griz do not have the horses. Offensive rebounds is more of a “by chance” opportunity. By that I mean the ball can come off the rim in all sorts of bounces so it’s not something you can game plan for. Unless you have the size and quickness to go to the boards, which we do not, then Travis’s strategy is to get back on defense. If you’ll note we do not get beat very often in the transition game.
A common complaint I hear on this board is why don’t the shooters follow their shots? Good shooters pretty much know when the ball leaves their hands if it’s going in or not. Again, I thinks it’s a coaching philosophy to get back on defense and with our lack of size I would defer to the coach who just won his 100th conference game.
For the most part I think offensive rebounding is like the forward pass in football; one of three things can happen, completion, incomplete or interception. In basketball with undersized and smaller players the same results can happen; another possession, loss of ball and transition basket or fouling.
I’m merely an observer and in no way an expert on the game of basketball.

Yep.

When you have one of the best defenses in the nation, and you’re top five in the nation in turnover to possession ratio, you leverage those strengths. Sure the GRIZ could crash the boards and get 3 or 4 extra possessions. But they more than double those numbers with their D and taking care of the basketball. And it leads to wins, and if that continues, I don’t care if they ever get another rebound.

 

[Zirg]

Rebounding, especially on the offensive boards gives teams another possession and an opportunity to score. Pretty plan and simple and if you have the horses to get those boards it’s an important part of your offense. But unfortunately the Griz do not have the horses. Offensive rebounds is more of a “by chance” opportunity. By that I mean the ball can come off the rim in all sorts of bounces so it’s not something you can game plan for. Unless you have the size and quickness to go to the boards, which we do not, then Travis’s strategy is to get back on defense. If you’ll note we do not get beat very often in the transition game.
A common complaint I hear on this board is why don’t the shooters follow their shots? Good shooters pretty much know when the ball leaves their hands if it’s going in or not. Again, I thinks it’s a coaching philosophy to get back on defense and with our lack of size I would defer to the coach who just won his 100th conference game.
For the most part I think offensive rebounding is like the forward pass in football; one of three things can happen, completion, incomplete or interception. In basketball with undersized and smaller players the same results can happen; another possession, loss of ball and transition basket or fouling.
I’m merely an observer and in no way an expert on the game of basketball.

Yep.

When you have one of the best defenses in the nation, and you’re top five in the nation in turnover to possession ratio, you leverage those strengths. Sure the GRIZ could crash the boards and get 3 or 4 extra possessions. But they more than double those numbers with their D and taking care of the basketball. And it leads to wins, and if that continues, I don’t care if they ever get another rebound.

I agree with most comments/criticisms said on this thread. This is, possibly?, THE least rebound-capable team in Griz history that I can remember. Mack has booted just as many potential-rebounds as he has actually corralled. It's like he is wearing mittens when he tries to grab a contentious rebound. If we had a legit rebounder Bannon wouldn't have to flirt with a dbl-dbl every game.

 

[EverettGriz]

Yes we struggle to board it. This is hardly a revelation. But we do so many other things well it hasn’t been a liability.