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GRIZ Basketball MT Rushmore

whoa! you're including coaches, right? then jud's up there, dead center, the father of the modern baskeball tradition at montana. the guy just to the right of him is micheal ray, whom jud recruited, transformed from a small forward in high school to a guard in college, and convinced to stay at montana when michael ray wanted to follow him to michigan state. to the left of jud is larry k., and the other guy up there is tinks, on the strength not only of his playing career, but his ultra-successful coaching tenure in reviving the flagging tradition that heathcote started. that's four, that's your mt. rushmore.

you could make a laundry list of greats and near-greats, but let's face it, montana never had much of a basketball tradition before heathcote arrived. we were always overwhelmed by the pacific coast conference, and not even the great promise of the fabulous frosh materialized in the old skyline conference afrter ray howard got hurt. so i find it tough to include any of the old old-timers like cope, zip rhoades, ray lucien or even jiggs dahlberg.
 
GrizPony said:
Marc Glass, Scott Zanon, Criswell, Mike Williams, Qvale and many others were great but may not make the top four all time. I'd say Krysko, Micheal Ray, Pope and Jamar.
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Cherry will always be on my top list. I loved to watch him play.
 
AllWeatherFan said:
I got to watch Harold Ross play when I was a little sprout. I'd put him on any Mount Rushmore team. I'll never forget the time he put up 30-plus on Washington State, mostly on long bombs before the advent of the 3-pointer.

Okay, I'm f***[*] old.
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i dearly love my grandfather, a diehard old griz fan, snoozing away in his easy chair next to his 17" black and white tv set. he's a bit dottering these days, lapsing in and out of lucidity, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth and food dribbling onto his bib as he too tells me how good harold ross was.
 
BWahlberg said:
Um... not the most informed opinion but, here's my two cents, a lot of this comes from the stories my dad would tell me, he was getting his PhD at the UM in the early 70's and have been regular hoops (and football) attendees since:

Men's team

Michael Ray Richardson
Larry Krystkowiak
Wayne Tinkle
Torn on the 4th, if I lean to coaches I'd say Montgomery or Heathcote, if I went to players I'd say Jamar or Hays

Women's team:

Robin Selvig
Shannon Cate
Brooklyn Lorenzen
Mandy Morales
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Monty won a lot of games in Missoula but never the big one needed to get the Big Sky then to the NCAA. That scenario seems to play out wherever he goes.
 
citay said:
whoa! you're including coaches, right? then jud's up there, dead center, the father of the modern baskeball tradition at montana. the guy just to the right of him is micheal ray, whom jud recruited, transformed from a small forward in high school to a guard in college, and convinced to stay at montana when michael ray wanted to follow him to michigan state. to the left of jud is larry k., and the other guy up there is tinks, on the strength not only of his playing career, but his ultra-successful coaching tenure in reviving the flagging tradition that heatchote started. that's four, that's your mt. rushmore.

you could make a laundry list of greats and near-greats, but let's face it, montana never had much of a basketball tradition before heathcote arrived. we were always overwhelmed by the pacific coast conference, and not even the great promise of the fabulous frosh materialized in the old skyline conference afrter ray howard got hurt. so i find it tough to include any of the old old-timers like cope, zip rhoades, ray lucien or even jiggs dahlberg.
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Perfect! Well stated and right on.
 
Well, if we only get four faces:

Michael Ray (I mean Micheal)
Larry K
Will Cherry

...and some guy from a long time ago, or in the future, hopefully in the next year or so.
 
AllWeatherFan said:
Well, if we only get four faces:

Michael Ray (I mean Micheal)
Larry K
Will Cherry

...and some guy from a long time ago, or in the future, hopefully in the next year or so.
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Not sure why people are putting Will ahead of Kareem, they were on the same teams and Kareem was obviously the better player. No offense to Will as he was a great player (and an all-time great) and we obviously miss him and Matthias this year, but Kareem was the best player on the 11-12 and 12-13 teams.
 
AllWeatherFan said:
DPGriz4 said:
Not sure why people are putting Will ahead of Kareem...
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Only because Kareem hasn't graduated yet.
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I think Will Cherry gets so much love because he was a rare great PG, which we don't get at Montana very often. Also Will Cherry's defense was the best many have seen from a GRIZ guard. To me, Cherry and Jamar go together as one. Both are all time greats. We were lucky to have each as GRIZ. :thumb:
 
Great comments, nominations, votes for Griz Greats by everyone in this thread.

My turn: and I recognize the nominations are just my own; that anyone else's vote is equally valid.
I've been a Griz fan since 1952 & remember them all: I can easily make a list of my top 5, 10, 25, 50 & 100 Griz Hoops Greats. I have attended 99 % of all Griz home games since 1952.

My perspective: Well... no team or coach has had a run compared to Wayne Tinkle's teams over the past four years. As great as Micheal Ray Richardson and Larry Krystkowiak were, they did NOT lead their teams to Big Sky titles or appear in the big dance as regularly as Will Cherry & Kareem Jamar's team (teams) did.

Therefore, my top three: Micheal Ray Richardson, Larry Krystkowiak & Kareem Jamar.

Top Five: Add Will Cherry and (a tie) Ken MacKenzie and/or Brian Qvale.

Top Ten: Add Derrick Pope, Craig Zanon, JR Camel, Kevin Criswell, Wayne Tinkle, Kevin Kearney, & Marc Glass (I know, that's 12). I can make a list of 25 or 50 just as easily (add or subtract a couple).

Too bad that so many Montana Griz fans of the 1980s missed out on the TRUE Golden years of Montana basketball... which, under coach Wayne Tinkle (which means that Wayne should get double votes!), is just approaching its zenith. That's now, folks. Go Griz!
 
grizzlyjournal said:
Great comments, nominations, votes for Griz Greats by everyone in this thread.

My turn: and I recognize the nominations are just my own; that anyone else's vote is equally valid.
I've been a Griz fan since 1952 & remember them all: I can easily make a list of my top 5, 10, 25, 50 & 100 Griz Hoops Greats. I have attended 99 % of all Griz home games since 1952.

My perspective: Well... no team or coach has had a run compared to Wayne Tinkle's teams over the past four years. As great as Micheal Ray Richardson and Larry Krystkowiak were, they did NOT lead their teams to Big Sky titles or appear in the big dance as regularly as Will Cherry & Kareem Jamar's team (teams) did.

Therefore, my top three: Micheal Ray Richardson, Larry Krystkowiak & Kareem Jamar.

Top Five: Add Will Cherry and (a tie) Ken MacKenzie and/or Brian Qvale.

Top Ten: Add Derrick Pope, Craig Zanon, JR Camel, Kevin Criswell, Wayne Tinkle, Kevin Kearney, & Marc Glass (I know, that's 12). I can make a list of 25 or 50 just as easily (add or subtract a couple).

Too bad that so many Montana Griz fans of the 1980s missed out on the TRUE Golden years of Montana basketball... which, under coach Wayne Tinkle (which means that Wayne should get double votes!), is just approaching its zenith. That's now, folks. Go Griz!
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I feel Anthony Johnson belongs between 5 and 10. Too bad he was only a GRIZ 2 years.
 
Glass was good, but ...

I would add Anthony Johnson, Scott Zanon, or Roger Fasting.

John Stroeder should get some mention. I loved the way he introduced himself to opposing players cutting across the lane.

5c7954a0-b1fd-11de-9db7-001cc4c03286.preview-300.jpg


http://missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/john-stroeder-around-the-world-and-back-home-again/article_4b2f4d3a-b1d5-11de-a3f5-001cc4c002e0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


http://grizgameday.com/roger-fasting-pepperdine-game-what-griz-basketball-was-all-about/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/scott-zanon-believes-in-the-nike-swoosh/article_0c4b95fe-a87c-11de-acc9-001cc4c03286.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
citay said:
jud's up there, dead center, the father of the modern baskeball tradition at montana. the guy just to the right of him is micheal ray, whom jud recruited, transformed from a small forward in high school to a guard in college, and convinced to stay at montana when michael ray wanted to follow him to michigan state.
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clarify - I thought Brandenberg had the Denver-area connections and primarily responsible for recruiting MRR.
 
AllWeatherFan said:
Mousegriz said:
Derrick Pope?
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No question about it! When he broke the backboard in Moscow he guaranteed his Griz immortality.
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I remember it well. Loved that early 80's team. Pope, Glass, Rob Hurley, Doug Selvig ect.....
 
I once accidently undercut Pope in an Annex hoops game. He went down and came up hobbling on his knee. Thought I'd probably have Monty putting out a hit on me for that one...but he recovered and I stayed away from him from then on!

Pope had a great 8 - 12 high off the board bank shot. Jumped out of the gym and banked it at about 13+ feet. Couldn't be blocked or even contested.

This is the team that took down top 10 Idaho team.
 
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