Football bye week= GRIZ basketball scrimmage

[mtgrizrule]

I decided to be GRIZ productive with a football bye week. After getting home from work and 3 hours of sleep. I was jonesing to take in the GRIZ basketball scrimmage. Got to say, I am glad I did. It was nice to see GRIZ basketball again. They scrimmaged for almost 2 hours, and it appeared to me the coaches and players could have played all day. At the end of the original 30 minute scrimmage (15 minute halves), Travis asked the officials if they were up to more? The obliged nicely with another 10 minutes to get more time for the guys deeper on the bench. An extra bonus, I met grizjournal. It was great talking GRIZ basketball with him.

As for the scrimmage and players, where to start? There is so much post. Players sitting out with injuries were Dunn and Lopez.

What and who stood out to me?
Defense and tenacity was very impressive. The GRIZ have a lot of athletes that play hard, fast, and tenacious in your face perimeter defense, and hard working post players. I noticed a common trait in the GRIZ perimeter defenders. They are quick, aggressive, tenacious, and force the offense to really stretch the court, and offenses better be ready to shoot when there is a slight opening, getting open looks on this defense is limited unless a player has a quick release and/or 24 foot plus range. Short summary on our perimeter defenders of Wright, Oguinne, Rorie are Will Cherry/Mario Dunn like defenders. They are all dynamic defenders on and off the ball, aggressive, athletic, and amazingly quick hands.

Perimeter shooting, penetration, and aggressiveness- Ironic as aggressive the guards are on defense, Oguinne, Wright, and Rorie are equally aggressive on offense with no fear taking the ball to paint to create for teammates or draw fouls. The GRIZ were extremely accurate from 3 point range, especially Gfeller and Moorehead. Gfeller hit several threes from all over and is deadly from the baseline. Every teammate knew where he was on offense each trip. Gfeller will be an offensive force with the number of set plays they ran for him. Don't be surprised if he gets 7 to 10 3 pt attempts per game. Gfeller was extremely impressive on offense, and is much quicker defensively with improved footwork. At one point he even pressed the point and surprisingly stayed with the quick guards. Moorehead is a more slender, better ball handler version of a FR and Sophomore version of Gfeller. Moorehead creates better than I expected to get his shot. Like Gfeller, he has some serious range with great perimeter consistency. Moorehead will get some great minutes as a true freshman. Gfeller and Moorehead are volume shooters, however Oguinne, Wright, and Rorie consistently hit 3's on limited opportunities. They were more focused on creating by taking the ball to the basket, with great results. All the players need to be ready for the ball, these guys are playmakers in creating scoring opportunities.

As for post players, there was a lot of banging with Breunig, Boehning, Krslovic, and Dejong. Breunig was not as effective as he normally is. His game was off. Then again all the other post players played him very aggressively and limited his touches very well. Breunig still drew a lot of attention and fouls. Krslovic looked leaner, with additional bulk in his arms and shoulders. Like Gfeller, he improved his footwork and quickness in the offseason. Just like last year, he got his hands on a lot of loose balls, rebounds, and always near the ball. Boehning did not do much offensively the 1st 3/4's, but the last 1/4 he got more touches and looked pretty smooth. He uses the backboard well to limit defenders effectiveness. He ran the court well and is a very solid 240 lbs. Physically he reminds me a lot of Brian Qvale. However, he has a lot of work to do to get to Qvale's level. He holds ground well in the paint and is pretty strong. What about DeJong? Offensively, like Boehning, he was limited. He has some nice moves, but struggles finishing (think Selvig and Qvale as young post players). DeJong is athletic and capable of guarding the perimeter and post. His bread and butter is defense at this stage. He also was aggressive and very good at holding his ground in post defense. He also defended the perimeter well. The kid moves well on defense and can defend the 3,4. and 5 equally well. He gives Travis a lot of defensive versatility. Jared Samuelson got limited minutes, but has a very soft touch with an impressive jump hook. I feel Samuelson should redshirt, providing our post players stay healthy.

Additionally, Riley Bradshaw was solid. He held his own defensively and just took the shots that came his way. He nailed a couple mid range jumpers and a few 3's. A few of his shots were contested with the shot clock running out, or end of the half. He hit a buzzer beater to end the 1st half. With the talent the GRIZ have at guard, Riley again showed he belongs on the court. He does not do any 1 thing to stand out, but does nothing to hurt the team either. He is just consistent and knows when to score and when to concede to his teammates. Riley will be a key rotational player this season. I feel he is primed to be a very consistent role player again this season.

The GRIZ will have 2 Freshman, Oguinne and Moorehead play huge rotational roles this season. They belong on the court too. They are both level headed and just let the game come to them. They play calmly and do not press. Emotionally and mentally, they are well ahead of their actual age.

Overall, the only regret I have from this scrimmage, Rorie cannot play this season due to rules. However, Rorie and Oguinne stood out to me of the new players. Of the returning players, Gfeller was damn impressive and looks to be ready to be an all conference player this season. He was flat out amazing on offense.

I was also told they plan to scrimmage every Saturday around 10 AM. I encourage you all to check these guys out. You will be impressed with the quickness, effort, and athleticism.

 

[MrG]

Thanks!

 

[NorthEndZoneDan]

Great write up. Can you tell what is the word on the injury to Dunn?

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Re: Dunn. Last week he had a full cast on his arm up to his elbow. Today it was a partial plate that fit his hand and wrist with straps to keep his hand and wrist from movement. I'd consider that as headway, but don't know how close he is to stepping on the court.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Great posts by MtTarheel (in another thread) and MtGrizRule in this thread regarding today's Griz scrimmage! Also, great to meet GrizRule & talk Montana basketball... incisive observations.

So, today was my second Griz scrimmage of the season. Thought I'd try to add to what Rule and Tarheel wrote without much overlap.

1. Think Lopez did not play because of a wrapped wrist, which (insult to injury) took a hard hit just before scrimmage. He should be able to play next week, I wager.

2. Coaches -- Last season,Travis DeCuire and his assistants Ken Bone, Jonathan Metzger-Jones, Chris Cobb and Marlon Stewart did wonders with a talented, but raw team they inherited/adopted. This year, the Griz are already playing with a distinct identity that reflects -- shall we say -- the coaching style of the Griz coach we saw after Montana's Big Sky tourney win over Northern Arizona. Kudos to the coaches; they're molding this team into a tough-as-nails, in your face team that creates offensive flow on the energy they conjure at the defensive end. There's a culture being built here. And the players -- to a man -- are playing with confidence and aggressiveness. The Griz lost a golden kid when Jordan Gregory graduated. No offense to JG, but there is little, if any, drop-off from the final weeks of last season. The combo of guards Walter Wright and Michael Oguine will see to that, and when Mario Dunn returns to the court, this will be a balanced and deep club at every position.

3. As both GrizRule and Tarheel noted, the Griz play with an edgy defensive intensity. But there are several new looks to their D. Today, defenders jump-trapped ball handlers in several new locations along the perimeter and on the baseline. This will not be your average man-on D. Montana's defense will take double-team risks (meaning they'll get burned now and then) that are designed to disrupt the entry points of their opponents' offenses. Add to that a very aggressive over-playing man-on by the bigs (which the Griz employed last year) we may well see a team with a very high number of forced turnovers/steals on defense.

4. One area where coach DeCuire was very vocal today was when he demanded faster offensive flow. The Griz passing game offenses (numerous variations of which...) rotate significantly faster than last year. Two things stood out today: When the passing game rotated direction, players were hitting the bigs with quick entry passes at the seams for quick low-post buckets; and, if the defense collapsed to cover the bigs the guards got the ball quickly to Brandon Gfeller (in particular), Bobby Moorehead or Riley Bradshaw for quick release treys... descriptions of by both GrizRule and Tarheel. It was my observation today that Montana works that passing game rotation for perimeter treys much faster than it did last season. I guess we'll see soon enough.

5. Individually: • I was most impressed with Riley Bradshaw's development. I saw visible self-confidence. I saw a lightning-quick dribble enter with a smooth quick release jumper from 10-15 feet. I saw him serve bigs with quick, accurate passes. This is most encouraging to me. I'm hoping for a huge breakout year for the kid from Corvallis. • The progress made by Walter Wright since last week is impressive to me. The kid is a gamer who won't stay down (when and if he's knocked down). It's like he has a built-in trigger spring when he hits the floor. Very high level internal energy. But most encouraging was how he's learning the Griz game and running the offense. He's an exceptional ball-handler who's always looking for a weakness in the defense. A good passer, a very good driver with gyroscopic balance. He didn't shoot much today, but took his responsibility to run the O with all seriousnesses. And... • Fabijan Krslovic... let me add to notes by Rule and Tarheel, that Krslovic will anchor Montana's D this year. He's one of the fastest, most sure-footed defensive young bigs I've seen of late, and has made strides as well on man-on D, with several blocks. Just a soph, I see a hint of all-Big Sky as a defender. • Left impressed with my first look of young Jared Samuelson. He needs to strengthen up, but showed considerable scoring savvy. Has a great low-blocks shot that's soft and accurate. I agree that he would benefit from a redshirt if the Griz can afford it.

6. Any questions from today... if any: Have the Griz improved as a rebounding club? Hard to tell from today, but I did see guards pulling down more than their share. Griz still seem a bit undersized defensively in some matchups. How will the Griz matchup defensively when Martin Breunig is on the bench? Which leads to... rebounding from wings still seems a bit weak.

There. My two-bits worth.