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GO WATCH BASKETBALL

Bozone - I think you have a reasonable argument. On the other hand, look at what Weber has done. They have won some first round games in the Tournament (I think 2 of them). That is because they go play the best teams they can. When it comes time for the tournament, they do not have the "deer in the headlights" look.

I think that you will always benefit from playing the best teams available, as long as there aren't any injuries (like in football).
 
Bozone Cat, I totally agree with you. I will NEVER understand what a team can learn from being beaten by 50 points, ESPECIALLY on national television. To me, it's just humiliating. I can't imagine any kid saying, "Oh, I don't care if we lose by 50 points so long as we're on TV."
 
ok, I'm going to relate it to golf.

I love playing golf, it is a great sport. I may not be the best at it but I love it.

If I had the chance to play tiger woods, I wpould JUMP all over it. I wouldn't care if it was nationally televised. I know for a fact that I am going to get my ass handed to me, but I wouldn't care. I had the experience of playing with Tiger Woods!

Duke is the tiger woods of basketball, our Grizzlies would love the chance to play Duke, just for the experience, you never get better if you don't play with someone better.

just my opinion :-?
 
Oh, god, I just can't believe a team would want to play a team like Duke to be creamed out by 40 or more points if that is the only time your going to play a team like that.

But the fact is, the better the competition you play, the less chance a team, like the Griz, will become intimidated when playing a team like Duke. Play a team like Duke the first time, yes, there is a good chance you may lose big. But the next time, you play a team like Duke, your not so intimidated because you have faced that kind of team before, plus you know you can play them better the next time. That is what you learn.

Anytime after a game you know you could have played better, you have gained something from it. That is exactly what the Lady Griz got out of playing Texas. Next time, Lady Griz won't be so intimidated when they play a top 10 team. I bet you, if Lady Griz play Texas again, it will be a much closer game.

Any team with a chance to play the best will jump at it. Griz players are probably just chomping at the bit at being able to play Duke. Do it in early season, will make it easier to be better later in the season.

In addition, playing the toughest opponents in the country will give the players confidence they played the best, and will know more what it takes to better able to compete better against Big Sky competition. Nothing in the Big Sky will match it.

In my opinion, if Kennedy schedules one or two games against teams like Duke, it can be a positive experience. Too many though, can be a problem.

But, I will say, when the time comes, Griz players will jump at the chance to play Duke. It is competition, and that is why they are playing basketball. A chance to compete.
 
TrueGriz said:
Gonzaga didn't get to where they were over night. It actually took several years.

Gonzaga was pretty much off the map until a few years ago. My family has always followed the Zags (my step-mom is an alum) and no one even paid attention to them before they did well in the NCAA tourney. Now everyone wants to be the next Gonzaga. Same thing with SIU.

Kennedy is definately taking a step in the right direction. Just the fact that we have Kennedy for a coach is a step in the right direction. He has big name recognition in the world of college basketball and that's allowing us to recruit players that never would have come to Montana before (like Kamarr Davis) and schedule games against teams that would never have considered playing us before.

He's doing the right thing by scheduling us against high profile teams like Duke or Auburn or Stanford. Playing nationally ranked teams gets Montana more into the national eye and therefore allows us to recruit players who probably had never even thought about Montana before. Playing Duke on national TV, even if we lose terribly, will help our program in the long run because people watch Duke games...and therefore people will see Montana. We wouldn't be expected to win so making a good effort would probably gain our program at least a little bit of respect in the ranks of college basketball...just like hanging tough against Michigan St. last season earned our program some respect and beating Stanford on their home court earned us more. Unfortunately our season didn't end so well which K was mostly because we didn't have enough depth to keep up the schedule we had last year. Bell and Criswell pretty much carried last years team. This year should be better. Our tough preseason schedule will prepare us well for BSC play.
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Let me share with you the following from Auburn Tigers website. Quoting Auburn Coach Cliff Ellis on Montana

"It will be good to see an old friend. (Montana coach) Pat Kennedy is a guy who I have known for a long time through our time in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He has certainly had a great career. He got his start from Jim Valvano, who was a close friend of both of us.

They are picked to win the Big Sky Conference, and they have three Juco players added to their roster in Pat's first recruiting year that bring alote of skill and athleticism to an experienced team. They are another one of those dangerous opponents where we have to come out and play well. They are going to be like every other opponent we have seen. They are led by Kamar Davis, who is a big, strong guy inside. He is one of the Juco players. He gives them strength inside. Kevin Criswell is an experienced player. He has been there several years. He reminds me alote of Adam Harrington in the way that he plays. They are a good team and a good coach. I look forward to seeing Pat, and it will be good competition."

I say Wayne Hogan's hire of coach K will open mega doors in mega programs for this team from Missoula, Montana. And if we support the program and give the man a chance, who knows what the tide will bring in.
 
Sorry guys, people are not going to pay money to watch players from out of State-MSU football is a great example! By the way, there are great players in Montana that can win the BSC-ask Blaine Taylor.
 
Yes Pete, I asked Blaine Taylor. He said he had to go out of state to get Delvon Anderson and the like to be able to win the Big Sky.
 
If anyone honestly thinks there are enough good players in the state of Montana to win the Big Sky with, I would like to offer some beach-front property to you. Montana has only one or two, occasionally three, players from the entire state every year who are good enough to play Division I basketball. For some reason, they never seem to have that great of size (?). I couldn't begin to understand why that is. MSU has also pretty much dominated in-state recruiting in the last 10 years, although we can't sign a decent JC player if our coaches' lives depended on it.
 
Sorry Pete, There were recruits from out of state that were key in Griz Basketball team in winning any of it's championships. Without out of state players like Kevin Kearney and Delvon Anderson, Griz wouldn't have won in 1990-91 and 91- 92. And I consider them Montanans.

That's right. They became Montanans. Just like the current players. They are all Montanans.

I do feel so sorry for you because of how wrong you are. You just are missing so much. These Montanans that are playing for the Griz now are so exciting to watch.

Just like all the Washington and Oregon Players that played for the Griz football team when Read was coach. They became Montanans. Those players that came from out of state to become Montanans were so key in Montana football team build itself into a national 1AA power.

So really, I feel sorry for you Pete. But it is your loss. Our gain. And to know that most of us are right, except Pete.
 
I'm wrong? Tell that to the 8000 empyt seats in the field house! I hate to tell you, people did not come to watch players like Anderson, they came to see people like Fastings. Lets See, the football program was built with people from Washington and Oregon! Grady Bennet, Dave Dickenson, John Edwards...the list of Montana athletes at critical positions goes on and on.
 
pete said:
I'm wrong? Tell that to the 8000 empyt seats in the field house! I hate to tell you, people did not come to watch players like Anderson, they came to see people like Fastings. Lets See, the football program was built with people from Washington and Oregon! Grady Bennet, Dave Dickenson, John Edwards...the list of Montana athletes at critical positions goes on and on.
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Sorry, Pete, you are so wrong again. People came to watch the Griz play. Not just Fasting. They came to watch Delvon, and Kevin Kearney play also. Griz would not have won the Big Sky Conference without these players. You need both.

And you could name all the montana players, but the fact is, Griz would not have won any championships without the out of state players. Football and basketball.

And the fact is, the fans came to watch all of them.

And you are so wrong about the 8,000 empty seats. Exagerations like that just prove how wrong you are. You are proving yourself very naive about the role of out of state recruits. But the fact is, once they become a Griz, they are Montana Players.

And the attendance drop did not fall because of playing out of state players. Totally wrongo.

Again, hate to repeat this to you, Pete, you are WRONG.
 
I have been a GRIZ season ticket holder for at least 13 years and I sure as hell did go to the games to see Delvon Anderson, Kevin Kearney, Nate Atchison, Keith Crawford, etc. Now I am going to see Kamaar Davis, Jon Seyfert, Kevin Criswell, Steve Horne, etc. I think a mix of kids from Montana and from elsewhere is fine! Exciting basketball is what people want to see. For the first time in a very long time, attendance started to go up last year. I think this trend will continue. There certainly is more excitement about where the BB program is trying to go than has been the case for far too long!
 
Maybe Pete's right..there's no way that people came to watch Drew Miller, Ah Yat, Etu Molden, Baker, etc..etc..etc.. And there’s no way anyone came to watch Yo rush for 2000+ yards…. And there's no way people are in any way interested in LV (Ignore those people chanting LV, LV, LV before every punt & kickoff return...they must not be true montanan's!) And who needed Tim Bush, Vernon Smith, Trey Young and Calvin Coleman... As for basketball... bah.....Dan Trammel, Delvon, Kearney, Bell, Matt Williams, etc etc etc...we would've been better off without them right pete?!

Give me a break...they are going to the University of Montana. They are Montanans. Our football and basketball programs would both be starved for talent if we didn't recruit fairly heavily out of state as well as went after the best athletes in Montana. Yes there are many talented kids in Montana, and there are many many talented Soon-To-Be Montanans out there who will be in a Grizzly football or basketball uniform very soon.

BTW, pete, if you consider Duke's basketball program to be successful (Which I imagine pretty much everyone does) I suggest you check out their roster and the hometowns listed for each of their players.

http://goduke.ocsn.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/duke-m-baskbl-mtt.html

Sorry for the sarcasm in the first paragraph, but I think its very unfair to the U of M student athletes that some fans seem to think they are less than Montana quality, and less fun to watch just because of where they were raised. The person's birthplace and city they are raised in has absolutely nothing to do with the talent level of the player, and has absolutely nothing to do with how valuable they are to the team. :bad-words:
 
Your comparing Montana Basketball with Duke Basketball? Get real! Like I said, tell it to the 8000 empty seats. In the late 80's and early 90's you had to go early to get a seat, now you can sit courtside at any game if you want. Hate to tell ya, there is a big disconnect between the players there and the students and fans. You can argue all you want, the fact is people won't support a program that has the apperance of being a place for jc transfers.
 
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