Griz 2015-16 Schedule announced... Whoee!

[grizzlyjournal]

The Montana Grizzlies' hoops schedule was alluded to in another thread, but I figured it deserved its own. I'd heard as early as last January that the Griz would play at Gonzaga and Kansas. But this is one tough schedule. Strong D1 Mid-Major teams Boise State and San Francisco will visit Missoula.

But the bulk of a daunting schedule is on the road, with games at Gonzaga, Kansas, Washington, Pepperdine, North Dakota State and San Jose State (the "weakest" of the bunch, based on last year's records). Plus, Seattle U. in Spokane.

Coach DeCuire's attitude?

"No fear. Accept all challenges. Raise the bar high for expectations for us as a group, and try to achieve as much as possible. We can't do that if we run through (from?) competition," said DeCuire.

Love it! Another sign of the basketball culture Mr. DeCuire and his staff are building at Montna. Just wish I could score a couple of tix for Montana's game in Spokane against the Zags (heard it's impossible).

Here's the link to the story on GoGriz: http://www.gogriz.com/news/2015/8/18/MBB_0818155106.aspx

 

[sacstateman]

The Montana Grizzlies' hoops schedule was alluded to in another thread, but I figured it deserved its own. I'd heard as early as last January that the Griz would play at Gonzaga and Kansas. But this is one tough schedule. Strong D1 Mid-Major teams Boise State and San Francisco will visit Missoula.

But the bulk of a daunting schedule is on the road, with games at Gonzaga, Kansas, Washington, Pepperdine, North Dakota State and San Jose State (the "weakest" of the bunch, based on last year's records). Plus, Seattle U. in Spokane.

Coach DeCuire's attitude?

"No fear. Accept all challenges. Raise the bar high for expectations for us as a group, and try to achieve as much as possible. We can't do that if we run through (from?) competition," said DeCuire.

Love it! Another sign of the basketball culture Mr. DeCuire and his staff are building at Montna. Just wish I could score a couple of tix for Montana's game in Spokane against the Zags (heard it's impossible).

Here's the link to the story on GoGriz: http://www.gogriz.com/news/2015/8/18/MBB_0818155106.aspx

Last year I traveled with the team to Spokane with a group of Sac fans and we got good seats either behind the team bench or not too far away....you're right though about it being a tough ticket....6000 season tix sold yearly....seats about 6025....their SID told us that a couple from Las Vegas moved to town and wanted season tix, they paid $100,000 for two seats 2 rows from the top of the arena....I'd say that is tough....talk to any contacts you have with the team and maybe you can get a seat as I did....it was worth it....best student section I've seen outside Cameron Indoor at Duke....

 

[Paytonlives]

Before Christmas

November
11/3/2015 Whitworth Missoula, Mont. 7:00 p.m.
11/7/2015 Seattle Spokane, Wash. TBD
11/13/2015 Boise State Missoula, Mont. 7:00 p.m.
11/16/2015 San Jose State San Jose, Calif. TBD
11/21/2015 Carroll Missoula, Mont. TBD
11/25/2015 North Dakota State Fargo, N.D. TBD
11/29/2015 Pepperdine Malibu, Calif. TBD
December
12/4/2015 San Francisco Missoula, Mont. 7:00 p.m.
12/8/2015 Gonzaga Spokane, Wash. TBD
12/12/2015 Washington Seattle, Wash. TBD
12/15/2015 Great Falls Missoula, Mont. 7:00 p.m.
12/19/2015 Kansas Lawrence, Kan. TBD
12/22/2015 Montana-Western Missoula, Mont. 7:00 p.m.

My head says
W's: vs. Whitworth, Seattle, Carroll, ND State, San Fran (lost a lot of talent & in Missoula), GF & Western

L's:: vs. Gonzaga & Kansas

Toss ups; BSU (6 Seniors but in Missoula), @ San Jose (10 underclassmen), @Pepperdine (tough place to play) & @UW (Only 4 upperclassmen)

 

[Paytonlives]

If UM has 9 or more wins before Christmas... consider this a great pre-season!

 

[ordigger]

Nice schedule, only thing I'd like to see more is a game against UMass.

 

[Grizbeer]

Good article by Kyle about the difficulty of scheduling:

http://missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/mens-basketball/griz-hoops-montana-trying-to-overcome-scheduling-issues/article_c1c80a4c-edc6-5e90-ae87-0f8989a52b5e.html

Many of the same things we have heard in the past - expensive to get to , not a hotbed of recruiting, Griz recent success, etc. I know all of these things are true, but they have been true forever, so how were the Griz able to draw better teams for home games nit eh past? Griz used to have a Pac10 team on the home schedule nearly every year.

I do like that Griz coaches are acknowledging that the home non-conference schedule is un-acceptable, and they are being innovative to try to resolve the issue by trying to schedule 2-fers with MSU to reduce cost. Of course Spokane is the same distance from Missoula that Bozeman is, and not any more difficult to get from Missoula to Spokane than Missoula to Bozeman, so I don't know where that will go.

Also, Montana is not a cheap destination, nor an easy trip from other Division I programs.

"It’s not like somebody is going to play Washington or Gonzaga or WSU and then just hop on a bus and come over here," Bone said.

Hoping to remedy that situation, Bone has been in contact with Montana State head coach Brian Fish in hopes the two schools could schedule teams in back-to-back contests. So far nothing has come of that, but it's a new idea that hasn't been given time to flourish.

Sounds like future years won't be as dismal as this year's home schedule (especially with un-balanced conference schedule that doesn't have Weber in Missoula).

Despite the Grizzlies' difficulties, there is reason for hope. Montana's recent success elevates its profile and has helped the program get into respected preseason tournaments attended by some of college basketball's preeminent programs.

Bone said Montana is scheduled to compete in one during the 2016-17 season, but couldn't reveal which tournament.

Though those tournaments take the Griz away from Dahlberg Arena, they help put them on national television, which has aided in strengthening Montana's national profile. That in turn has abetted efforts to complete difficult to negotiate home-and-home series with Boise State, San Jose State, Colorado State and UW-Milwaukee.

"It’s getting better each year, we’ve got a better home stretch this year than last year and next year we will have four home games prior to finals over weekends," head coach Travis DeCuire said Wednesday. "We’ll have an opportunity to bring some people in that our fans will enjoy watching us play."

Ultimately the answer, as always, is money. Griz need to be able to play home and home series instead of taking the guarantee money, and offer competitive guarantees to other mid-major teams instead of NAIA teams.

 

[DoubleNicks]

If UM has 9 or more wins before Christmas... consider this a great pre-season!

That would be great although I kinda think I will be happy if the Griz can finally figure out how to pull out a win against San Francisco. They're from a better conference but always seem to be middle-of-the-pack or lower. Seems like they end up being UM's worst or near-worst OOC loss each year. And despite handling the Griz, they'll turn around and struggle against other BSC teams or teams the Griz beat which is why it's more frustrating that they just seem to have Montana's number. Without looking it up, it seems like the Griz are 0-fer against San Fran the last decade.

This is an interesting schedule (not really for home games) and we will finally see what a tougher schedule will do for this team (be careful what you wish for). It's not totally out of the realm of possibilities that the Griz will have 0 quality (top 100 RPI) wins and thus even if they are "battle-tested" and win the BSC, they would likely end up as a hopeless 15 or 16 seed again. Then again, I like that there are enough big name games that maybe the Griz will pick up 1 or 2 of them which might finally lead to a better seed, if they could get that far.

I like the winnable mid-major games, I just wish they wouldn't have scheduled 3 non-D1 games. How come the Seattle game is listed as a scrimmage on GoGriz? Wish that one could count as a D1 game and make Carroll, Great Falls, or UM-Western an exhibition since as far as tourney consideration and RPI they don't count anyways.

 

[BelierPeaux]

Colorado State is throwing us a bone and making a return trip!? Hallelujah! Can't call it a Home and Home when we have gone there 5 times and they have been here once.