As noted above, I attended the season-opening Montana Griz basketball practice last Friday and then the second practice -- which concluded with a brief scrimmage -- that took place Saturday while the Montana football team was running away from Southern Utah.
Two practices are not enough to develop even a remotely accurate assessment of this year’s team... and I won’t try. I did note below one or two first impressions about each player and about what I saw in the scrimmage. Don’t expect anything comprehensive, objective or critical: I’m a wild-eyed Griz fan and otherwise always try to keep criticisms to myself.
An intro note: This team appears to be in better first-practice physical shape than any Griz team I’ve seen (yes, I am sure). The only time I saw any signs of exhaustion was on the brutal “three man war” rebounding drill.
NEWCOMERS: • #10 Freshman 6-6 forward Alphonso Anderson (did not practice; see my first post above).
• #41 Junior transfer 6-7 forward/guard Donaven Dorsey (did not practice).
• #12 Junior transfer 6-8 forward Jamar Akoh (will not play this season). Had a hand wrapped but played at full speed. Already familiar with Griz passing game, Akoh looked comfortable with his back to the basket & made a couple of soft-touch half hooks from mid-key. He presents an imposing, dominant profile in mid-key, and showed signs of being a top level rebounder.
• #4 freshman 6-5 guard Sayeed Pridgett. Has the solid, muscular build of a wing/small forward and plays both ends of the floor with good balance and lateral movement. However, Pridget runs floor like a guard and has an exceptionally quick first step on dribble enter drives, displayed in several slashes to the bucket for layups. He has a a high-release pullup arcing jumper and a jump-like push-shot which he he alters on early-offensive drives (if there are defenders under the bucket), floating the ball softly up at mid-key while driving (full speed) to the hoop. But his perimeter shot is launched from a lower mid-chest level. However, I noticed him most on defense paired with Michael Oguine; wide defensive crouch; good full-floor defensive vision. That could become an imposing perimeter defensive combo. It’s my belief that Pridgett will play more in a three guard Griz offense rather than as a forward.
In personnel terms, this may be the most unique Montana team I’ve ever seen. It could be argued that there is no center and that, from there, positions break down into two groups -- 8 guards and 6 forwards; -- with two of the forwards moving to the perimeter on Montana’s passing game offensive schemes. It did appear that guards Bobby Morehead and Brandon Gfeller rotated primarily as wings, with Jack Lopez and Jared Samuelson stepping back beyond the arc occasionally on some sets.
FORWARDS: I observed five players manning the low blocks on O and D. Expect a sixth when Anderson returns to the court. Um... the player closest to a center in profile is Akoh, who won’t see game action this year. Otherwise, the tallest front court player is...
• #20 6-8 junior Fabijan Krslovic. Lean, muscular, ran the floor with with good speed. Kryslo played like he’s ready to assume mid-key (and team) leadership; commanded several team huddles. Looks ready to resume his role as one of Big Sky’s best post defenders; played swarming defensive with aggressive, lateral quick-step physicality (no blocks but several deflected passes). On offense he scored several buckets at point-blank range mid-key off of guard feeds.
• #30 sophomore 6-6 Gavin DeJong. By my judgement, appears to have added considerable upper body muscle and played very physical D. He does not back down on rebounding scrums. Gavin took a couple of baseline jumpers off dishes by driving guards. He has excellent full-court speed and good vertical loft.
• #31 senior forward Jack Lopez. Lopez is listed as a guard and popped out to the perimeter to take his trademark modified high arcing set shot... but played several rotations in the paint. Like DeJong, Lopez appears to have really muscled up. Though only 6-5, Lopez has a very solid and muscular profile, yet runs floor very well. Lopez took a couple of drives for slams off of guard dishes... but was equally comfortable beyond arc for a couple of treys from beyond the tip of the key.
• #33 freshman 6-7 forward Jared Samuelson. Really caught my eye on offense, running the same sets as other forwards. Samuelson screens and rolls aggressively with a wide base and scored 3-to-4 back-handed bankers while blocking out his defender with his body. Samuelson appears to have exceptional range, nailing a baseline trey off a guard feed while sinking a smooth jumper from 12-15 ft. near the free throw line. At only 215 lbs, will have to play very aggressively on low block D.
WINGS in Montana’s system play both as guards and forwards. But two are Montana’s primary early O weapons in Montana’s transition game.
• #34 senior 6-4 guard Brandon Gfeller. In this practice Brandon was deadly from the sideline and baseline on several high arcing semi-jumpers. What I noticed most though was that Brandon showed significantly improved ball-handling and driving skills and drove the baseline once... otherwise guards were always aware of his presence and dished to him whenever he rotated to the perimeter and set up, knees slightly bent, facing the bucket.
• #24 sophomore 6-7 guard Bobby Morehead. I can’t really say Bobby is faster or stronger than last year, but he sure looked like he was. Lean, lanky and very fast on the full court break, Bobby was always moving toward open space. Point guards were always aware of his position and threaded passes to him, usually on the break. In this practice, Bobby took several treys on a running catch & shoot or on a dribble and shoot... one a dagger while floating right to left, a defender in his face. He owns the license to shoot.
GUARDS: I’ve never seen such a potent and versatile corps of point/shooting guards at Montana as this year’s lineup. Ranging from the lightning quick 5-10 Walter Wright to the chiseled 6-5 Sayeed Pridget, Montana’s guards appear to have the range of skills and (significantly) the depth to match-up against nearly any backcourt they face this year. Rorie, Wright and Dunn seemed to man the point most often... but I think Oguine and Pridgett manned the point as well (would have just been a rotation in the Griz passing game).
• #5 senior 5-10 guard Walter Wright. There is no doubt, Walter Wright is the quickest man (with or without the ball) on a very athletic Montana team. Wright played with absolute comfort, physical fluidity of movement, and gap driving forte’. Too early to judge, but Wright seemed to hit the gaps with dribble-enter drives, far quicker than last season. In this practice he dished all but once when he penetrated into the key. Without the ball, he floated open off of a screen and nailed a trey off an assist from Ahmaad Rorie. Amazingly, this season Wright is not the fastest player on the team.
• #1 senior 6-0 guard Mario Dunn played at full speed, seemingly fully recovered from his left-wrist (though still taped) injury, and seemed in better shape than he was all of last season. He was one of the top three rebounders on the day, which he turned into ball-control early O. He didn’t look to shoot much, but displayed wide court vision with several early-O assists into the key, and others on bounce assists to bigs on the baseline. He appears to be handling the ball dramatically better now and darted through defensive gaps into the key on dribble-enter zig-zags, ready to dish to a big.
• #32 senior guard Aaron Misipeka-Ward. A huge surprise to me (mainly since I hadn’t seen him play much), M-W was aggressive in all areas, especially rebounding and defense, where -- at a solid 198 lbs. -- he played a very physical game. A team player, he is clearly highly respected by teammates. Too early to judge, but Aaron seems ready to log playing time this season.
• #0 sophomore guard Michael Oguine. Along with Dunn, Oguine was one of the top three rebounders of the practice, but most impressive in this practice he was a lockdown perimeter defender. In combo with teammates Dunn and Pridgett, perimeter D spearheaded by Oguine was an almost impenetrable barrier. Where Oguine was equally impressive is his growing ability to slap-down pass attempts over the D. He’s a disrupter. This is an underrated skill. The better Oguine gets, the tougher Montana gets. On O, his exceptional first-step speed off a high screen netted him a couple of buckets on slashing drives. This man seriously elevates on O and D.
•#14 sophomore 6-1 guard Ahmaad Rorie. Let there be no doubt, Ahmaad Rorie is the fastest man on a fleet Montana squad. He demonstrated that with fleet ease in every speed-oriented drill of the first practice. While other Griz guards move well without the ball, Rorie is clearly at ease and in command moving and watching while dribbling the ball. He commanded the tip of the key offensively.. a constant threat to shoot the trey, on a set, a pullup, or floating. His entry passes are slingshot lasers... forceful and accurate (bigs, be ready). But what I noticed most is his overall quick & high shot release and his exceptional accuracy with mid-range pullup jumpers (back off a foot & he’ll shoot it) from 12-to-18 ft. Seems an early bet to assume some of the offense Montana loses with Breunig’s departure.
• #15 freshman 6-3 guard Trever Spoja. i confess to not picking up very quickly on Spoja, but that’s my fault. Possessing good guard height and excellent speed, Spoja moved to the baseline corners on early O, though he missed both attempts I saw. He’s got good balance, but most often passed to others in the offensive flow.
• #4 freshman 6-5 guard Sayeed Pridgett. See above.
