• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts access private forums and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!

Griz/Cat afterthoughts.

M

mtgrizrule

Well-known member
Great win GRIZ, had me scared in the 1st half though. Fortunately the CATS were also out of sync, so it balanced out for us. 1st half, if not for Jordan Hasquet we would have been in a world of hurt. 2nd half, much better ball movement, resulting in much better shot selection.

:thumb: and :clap: to Hasquet, Rundles, Staudacher, and Chavez. Hasquet, was the offense in the 1st half. Good things happen when Jordan gets touches. I would make it an emphasis he touch the ball every possession. Tonight I was very encouraged by his play and emotion. Once again he fought hard for lose balls and rebounds. Tonight though I seen him grow more as a player. I am happy he only shot 2 3's. Hard for me to say that because I like his shot. He took his game to a new level and showed maturity of a leader. He took what the Cats gave him. He scored points from inside, midrange, and FT's. To me, that shows he is learning to contribute as many ways as possible when his long ball is not there. A huge sign of maturity!!!! Mr Hasquet is becoming a complete player, yet will still have his downs, being he is only a Sophomore.

Staudacher, finally came up HUGE from downtown in the clutch. His miss was a good shot too. Also he plays hard defensively. Tonight he shows he can be a weapon off the bench. I was suprised he sat just as he was getting it going.

Rundles, GRIZ fans we are lucky to have landed him. He is an impact type player that BSC teams get lucky with now and then. :thumb: to the coaches for finding and offering this kid early. This kid does it all, as for the fouls called on him tonight. 3 of the fouls were not fouls. He arms straight up. Kudos to him for keeping his cool. This kid can do whatever is asked of him, whenever it is asked of him. (Austin Swift, you too can be that player.) Rundles already is a BSC all conference type player. He will be on the all freshman team, and frontrunner for BSC freshman of the year.

Onto Mike Chavez, :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :clap: :clap: :clap:
(we need a standing ovation emoticon here.)
One word to describe Chavez tonight. "PASSION". I can honestly say that is the effort I have been waiting for from anyone this year. "Thank you, MIKE!" BTW, he played hard as he could on Defense too. Nobody played harder than Chavez tonight or all year. Evidenced with 7 boards in 13 minutes. His passion, heart, and desire is the Senior leadership we have been lacking all season. I hope I see that every game from any given SR. (Dloughy, take note of Chavez's game tonight.)

Speaking of Dloughy, he came up with big plays, steals, blocks, rebounds. That is encouraging. However, he plays with an on/off switch this year when it comes to hustle, and heart.

A few words about the Cats. This team will get much better. They are still getting to know one another on the court. This team will be a nightmare if they give Huse 2 plus years. Speaking of Huse, he did something that I love to see coaches do that I wish more coaches would do. :thumb: Hats off to him for creating mismatches inside. What do I mean? The Cats only offensive advantage inside was created by him posting up his stronger guards against us. He cleared the post area out for mismatches with guards posting up. It was working well and creating some mismatches for a few minutes. :thumb: to Tinks for playing the chess game on that move. Tinks answered with the likes of Swift, Dloughy, Hasquet, Strait, Rundles, Chavez, Mayes (btw, I think he should be playing more when Dloughy is struggling.) Great move by Huse countered by Tinks. I loved it. That was great coaching by both staffs. Huse posted up Guards 5 or 6 consecutive possessions and would have gone to it all night. Finally Tinks pulled Ellis and Martin to stop that.

I loved this game and am encouraged by both teams. I hope to see Chavez's passion become contagious game in game out. Now if we can get more consistency offensively. Very well coached game by Tinks and Huse. Thanks for the game guys, and great Win for the GRIZ. Now lets keep it rolling. :thumb:
 
Chavez' & Rundles' passion for the game and this team on and off the court will hopefully become more and more contagious. I really like both of their hustle and their efforts to keep fellow players motivated.
 
Side note: Sorry, if anyone thinks I am being too hard on Dloughy! Something seems to be missing with him this year. Am I off base here or not?
 
I had an opportunity to talk to Brad Huse after the game. While he was happy with their effort, you could tell losing just kills the guy. He was very classy. I think he is getting 100% out of the talent he has there.

While I am happy Tinks is our coach, I think we are going to regret that Brad got away from us.
 
a "w" for us but a moral victory for the cats. we fail to cover the spread (13) by eight. the conference's reigning power and two-time ncaa rep, featuring a returning all-big sky post player in strait and an emerging star in hasquet, struggles against a young cat team that itself has floundered for much of the year and comes into our home arena with a woeful record. c'mon! we expected this to be a blowout, and it should have been.

so what's wrong?

matt martin should not be starting, and huse apparently expoited this weakness by posting him up. huse should know.

we play eleven guys the FIRST HALF--whoa! this was not pre-season, and this was not rocky mountain. shouldn't we have our rotations figured out by now?

before the season, my greatest anticipation centered on the incoming recruits--rundles, chase, vanderjagt. krysko's reputation and two straight ncaa appearances were finally going to yield a rich recruiting harvest--our first-ever three-star recruit in rundles; a junior college all-american in chase; and a seven-footer good enough to play on the australian juniors team. it looked like a recruiting class that was going to give us the same separation from the rest of the conference in basketball that we've had in football, and assured more trips to the ncaa and more national exposure (think orlando tournament) for our program.

so yes, rundles is a jewel, but vanderjagt looks like a huge project redcuced by the fact he refuses to redshirt, and chase is, well, a total bust. the one-man hype-artist that used to come on this board and tout chase's talents is now gratefully silent, and i'm left wondering: who the hell on our coaching staff ever thought a kid 6'3" (if that!) could ever be a serious post player at this level?

my next greatest pre-season anticipation after the recruits was the potential improvement of our returning players, especially austin swift. this kid is athletic, long and talented, and every time i've seen him play, whether in high school or most recently at sac state, i've been impressed with him and with his upside. this last game at sac state, he played most of the second half, and was one of the big reasons we cut an 18-point deficit to a one-possesion game with about a minute to go. my biggest complaint of krysko was that he blew off swift's redshirt year, but i was sure tinks would change that, and we'd see swift emerge as the star i feel he can be. and so? no minutes! three, four here, then gone. i know he's been injured but i simply do not understand why a guy with physical talent like this sits while guys with demonstrably less physical skills like martin and chase get any minutes at all.

finally, going on the evidence i saw at sac state, this team lacks on-court leadership. robin selvig is very astute about this, knowing that he could not ask mandy morales as a freshman to be a team leader on the court, but letting her know that as a sophomore he did expect that. the closest i saw to that at sac state was jordan hasquet. maybe rundles is ready to provide that, maybe chavez can now do it. but at sac state, this team was flat as an iowa landscape for the first three-quarters of the game. go figure.

oh, sure, we still have a shot at the conference championship, but the reality is this:
--while northern arizona and eastern washington have both shown themselves to be vulnerable, new coaches at weber and idaho state have their teams playing very well;
--and even if we were to win, we're back to a 16 seed, facing a rout in our first game.

all in all, a hugely disappointing season, especially from the viewpoint of the eager anticipation of last summer.
 
grizpack said:
I had an opportunity to talk to Brad Huse after the game. While he was happy with their effort, you could tell losing just kills the guy. He was very classy. I think he is getting 100% out of the talent he has there.

While I am happy Tinks is our coach, I think we are going to regret that Brad got away from us.
Click to expand...

There really wasn't anything that the Griz could do to keep Brad in Missoula. LK was still the Griz coach when Huse went to msu I believe. Huse will do well at msu, but he won't stay there. He is a guy that could end up in the Pac 10 easily. Remember Kelvin Sampson, former MT Tech Coach, then WSU, Oklahoma, now Indiana.
 
Kadeezy said:
I don't think Sac State's going to make he Conference Tournament...
Click to expand...

I sawa lot of sniping amongst the Sac players at the Montana game. Notably Hargrave and Bausley screaming at each other. I kind of laughed when I read the Sac Bee articles where the Hornet players and Coach Jenkins are talking all this NCAA stuff when they have never done anything in the league. I think Jerome's ego is much bigger than his record warrants. :twocents:

Nice shooting exhibition by Sir last night?
 
City, I agree with you on the high expectations and Austin Swift, ( I too think he has so much potential.) As for Hasquet, I am relieved and glad someone away from here notices leadership in him. The last month has shown me that Rundles and Hasquet are playing beyond their age, and also wanting to take leadership. Leadership has been a very slowly progressing thing with them.

As indicated by the MSU game, they were the 2 players that stepped up big time in every aspect of the game. Chavez' stepping up in passion, heart, hustle, determination as SR was encouraging and long overdue from a SR.

Not sure who seen the game on TV or who seen the game in person. I was at the game. It was the 1st game that truly made me believe "something or everything" is clicking with Hasquet for leadership. I have a feeling the coaches told him, something to the effect it's his time, and to stop waiting for SRs to lead. This kid and team waited long enough for something that had not happened. I can honestly say I seen a new player in Hasquet last night. I am not talking about scoring or stats period.

I am talking about him letting the game come to him and him being a difference maker in ball distribution, defense, and willingness to take whatever shots came his way in the defensive scheme against the GRIZ. I seen him ready to shoot from mid range. I seen him moving without the ball to "find" open looks. I seen him "not" camp out on the 3 pt line. I for the 1st time, seen a "complete" player in Hasquet against MSU. I am hoping this is the 1st of many games we see that player in him.

I will admit, when he played HS ball, I was disappointed he did not mix it up with his size. I thought he had 1A talent, but thought he may have been too soft. Many questioned the GRIZ for signing him. As things are looking now, indeed he is a very good 1A player. His banging with Seyfert for 2 years toughened him up, coaches patience are paying off. Now he is letting the "little" things come to him, beyond the stats. He is learning the mental game. I have enjoyed his growth to this point. I hope the growth continues, I hope rest of the GRIZ take Jordan's queue.

As for Martin, my thinking is we need to find out w/in the 1st 5 minutes he is in which offensive player shows up. When he is on, get him 20 plus minutes. When not on, use Swift more. Also would love to see Mayes thown into the mix more, just to light a fire under Dloughy more often.

I expect the GRIZ to take the BSC still. I expect the progress of Rundles and Hasquet will be consistent rest of the season. I also expect to see Swift and Mayes on the court more often in more games, but not every game.
 
THE BETCH said:
Not off base, but hard to put a finger on it. Distracted maybe.
Click to expand...

Please tell me the distraction is not female related. If so, Matt cut the strings through March. :thumb: :laugh:
 
a "w" for us but a moral victory for the cats. we fail to cover the spread (13) by eight. the conference's reigning power and two-time ncaa rep, featuring a returning all-big sky post player in strait and an emerging star in hasquet, struggles against a young cat team that itself has floundered for much of the year and comes into our home arena with a woeful record. c'mon! we expected this to be a blowout, and it should have been.

so what's wrong?

matt martin should not be starting, and huse apparently expoited this weakness by posting him up. huse should know.

we play eleven guys the FIRST HALF--whoa! this was not pre-season, and this was not rocky mountain. shouldn't we have our rotations figured out by now?

before the season, my greatest anticipation centered on the incoming recruits--rundles, chase, vanderjagt. krysko's reputation and two straight ncaa appearances were finally going to yield a rich recruiting harvest--our first-ever three-star recruit in rundles; a junior college all-american in chase; and a seven-footer good enough to play on the australian juniors team. it looked like a recruiting class that was going to give us the same separation from the rest of the conference in basketball that we've had in football, and assured more trips to the ncaa and more national exposure (think orlando tournament) for our program.

so yes, rundles is a jewel, but vanderjagt looks like a huge project redcuced by the fact he refuses to redshirt, and chase is, well, a total bust. the one-man hype-artist that used to come on this board and tout chase's talents is now gratefully silent, and i'm left wondering: who the hell on our coaching staff ever thought a kid 6'3" (if that!) could ever be a serious post player at this level?

my next greatest pre-season anticipation after the recruits was the potential improvement of our returning players, especially austin swift. this kid is athletic, long and talented, and every time i've seen him play, whether in high school or most recently at sac state, i've been impressed with him and with his upside. this last game at sac state, he played most of the second half, and was one of the big reasons we cut an 18-point deficit to a one-possesion game with about a minute to go. my biggest complaint of krysko was that he blew off swift's redshirt year, but i was sure tinks would change that, and we'd see swift emerge as the star i feel he can be. and so? no minutes! three, four here, then gone. i know he's been injured but i simply do not understand why a guy with physical talent like this sits while guys with demonstrably less physical skills like martin and chase get any minutes at all.

finally, going on the evidence i saw at sac state, this team lacks on-court leadership. robin selvig is very astute about this, knowing that he could not ask mandy morales as a freshman to be a team leader on the court, but letting her know that as a sophomore he did expect that. the closest i saw to that at sac state was jordan hasquet. maybe rundles is ready to provide that, maybe chavez can now do it. but at sac state, this team was flat as an iowa landscape for the first three-quarters of the game. go figure.

oh, sure, we still have a shot at the conference championship, but the reality is this:
--while northern arizona and eastern washington have both shown themselves to be vulnerable, new coaches at weber and idaho state have their teams playing very well;
--and even if we were to win, we're back to a 16 seed, facing a rout in our first game.

all in all, a hugely disappointing season, especially from the viewpoint of the eager anticipation of last summer.
 
Chavy is fighting for a starting job or at least more playing time than he's been getting (almost none)... I find that good, but also kind of scary seeing as he is probably going out of his role to take more shots. I mean it's good to see him put forth a great effort but this team needs roleplayers too.

I think Stads definitely deserves a spot in the rotation after his performance tonight.
 
I think what has happened is that you had a team with great chemistry last year have a lot of success.

Now that the team is having a hard time gelling, it's the end of the world.

This year may be a learning experience in general, for everybody. This includes coaches, players - and maybe even the fans (although they can be stubborn).

The team only has 2 losses in conference, both coming on the road. They are still in good position. Take care of business at home next weekend and go get a split on the road next weekend (maybe even sweep if there's a good showing at NAU).

So you're looking at 5 - 3 with a 3 game homestand going into Cat-Griz II. I still say there's a good chance this team is 8-4 or 9-3 after the game in Bozeman.
 
AtHomeInTheDahlbergDen said:
Chavy is fighting for a starting job or at least more playing time than he's been getting (almost none)... I find that good, but also kind of scary seeing as he is probably going out of his role to take more shots. I mean it's good to see him put forth a great effort but this team needs roleplayers too.

I think Stads definitely deserves a spot in the rotation after his performance tonight.
Click to expand...

As for Chavez and Staudacher. Staudacher knows his role, and as Freshman has no choice but to be happy with it, and has take full advantage of his time. Do not be surprised to see the coaches use his good performances to push Martin more. They do it slowly for a few reasons. (1) Staudacher is too inexperienced and inconsistent upping his minutes drastically. (2) Martin is older, and the coaches know how much talent he has, just a matter of him unleashing it consistently. They are scared if they pull his minutes too fast, he may be lost and effect team chemistry. Even more so after the games LK played with Martin last year. Also Martin fills a role that Staudacher cannot, in getting PG minutes. Which complicates it even more for the staff.

As for Chavez, Mayes, they are another story. I am guessing the coaches are taking a chess game strategy to motivating these players. Chavez and Mayes are SRs that both want to finish their playing days on high notes. Unfortunately both have struggles off the court, which some coaches would overlook, others do not overlook it though. The coaches approach with these guys are are earn the minutes back and give us reason to keep the minutes up. Only the coaches know the parameters set for each. If both keep responding positively look for the Dloughy's minutes to be reduced here and there. Hasquet used to be part of the minutes game, but when he is not in foul trouble, he has earned the minutes. This team is much better when he is on the court.

All this is just guessing on my part, but well thought out. Wish it were not this complicated, but this is the best way for everyone until Tinks learns the good cop/bad cop routine LK used so well. IE this staff is using a chess game approach instead of the other approach. Neither is right or wrong, just a matter of which the staff is more comfortable with as a whole.
 
My :twocents: on this years team....

Very simple: I don't think that the griz play with the same confidence or swagger that they did when Coach K was on the bench.
 
Peyton Manning said:
My :twocents: on this years team....

Very simple: I don't think that the griz play with the same confidence or swagger that they did when Coach K was on the bench.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the general belief. Tinkle and LK have very different personalities so maybe he needs to find a different way to find them some swagger or at least a personality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top