GRIZ/CSU-Basketball Season is here!!!!!!!!!!

[mtgrizrule]

At this point this season, maybe the optimistic GRIZ fans were wrong and overly excited. Then again, I am excited for the start of every basketball and football season. I have posted a few times that for the sake of this years team, Hasquet has to be willing to be our offensive force, "INSIDE"! To be honest, his not doing this has been the biggest disappointment this season for me.

Qvale needs alot of work with shooting touch. City hit the nail on the head with him.

Selvig, I believe is the one GRIZ big with the most potential. To be honest, from what I have seen, I feel this team would be much better off with him getting at least 25 minutes per night. Why not build him now? Maybe more time for him would motivate Hasquet and Qvale to what the need to do. Hasquet to play inside, and Qvale to learn some offense.

City I too agree with you on part of what you stated about Staudacher. However, Stauds is more than just a shooter, the kid plays much better defense and is a great passer. Unfortuntately this team does not do enough to get him at least 10 shots per game. His passing is not being utilized because of no solid inside presence. So you are being a little harder on him than I am.

Stockton, like any freshman is tough to evaluate. In my opinion it is too early.

AJ, along with Selvig deserve at least 25 minutes per night. I also agree he is natural 2 offensively. Defensively he is very good at 1 or 2.

The one positive right now, is that McGillis is starting to come around, but still needs to take his game to the level most here expected. I have no idea what has happened to his perimeter game.

Michael Taylor I feel may have been one of the guys you referred to that needs to be ready to shoot. He and McGillis both seem to not care to shoot a semi open shot. They need to be ready to shoot rather they like it or not. They (the whole team) almost seem to be trying to hard to play team offense. Everyone but AJ is looking way too tentative and scared to just play on offense. I am not sure why that is, but honestly, whatever it is take off the reigns of everyonoe but Hasquet. Hasquet needs the reigns tightened and be told "Jordan, we need you to lead the way inside offensively. "

Hasquet, coming into this year was on the verge of being mentioned in the TOP 10 GRIZ of all time. As for right now, if he does not become willling to sacrifice for his team, that in my eyes will keep him from being my list of all time great GRIZ! Come on Jordan, "How do you want to be remembered?"

 

[RimRocker]

However, Stauds is more than just a shooter, the kid plays much better defense and is a great passer. Unfortuntately this team does not do enough to get him at least 10 shots per game.

Oh my gosh, where did you get this information? Tinkle? Hill? Sundberg and Mick? That is what they say. Others of us see a guy that gets minutes that others need to win the game. Never helps on defense and is not quick enough to create his own shot, passing is average. If he continues to get the average of around 30 minutes that he has gotten the last year and a half we will be lucky to be .500 again.

 

[mtgrizrule]

However, Stauds is more than just a shooter, the kid plays much better defense and is a great passer. Unfortuntately this team does not do enough to get him at least 10 shots per game.

Oh my gosh, where did you get this information? Tinkle? Hill? Sundberg and Mick? That is what they say. Others of us see a guy that gets minutes that others need to win the game. Never helps on defense and is not quick enough to create his own shot, passing is average. If he continues to get the average of around 30 minutes that he has gotten the last year and a half we will be lucky to be .500 again.

As for Staudacher, I agree with you on creating/not creating his own shot. Other than that I guess I agree to respectfully disagree with you on him. Seriously, I have not seen him get beat as often as a few of you make it sound it like. The GRIZ struggles go well beyond Staudacher, he may be the least of the problems.

With or Without CET, in my opinion the biggest problems with this years team are offensive continuity, inside scoring, and inside toughness. Right now, the player that has to step it up and do whatever is necessary, is Jordan Hasquet. Do not get me wrong, he is an All Confernce talent. However, he is not playing as well as he has the last 2 years. Why do the GRIZ next to never use him in the post offensively? Prior years I wished he was used in the paint more, but it was not as crucial to team success. This year I feel it is crucial to team success due to his surrounding cast.

With frontcourt players of Hasquet, Qvale, Selvig, Sharp there should not be any BSC team beating us on the boards on either end. Offensively Qvale is not ready yet. Sharp is at least willing but not your ideal size for the 4 or 5. Selvig, in my opinion is under utilized , and as long as Hasquet is not mixing up down low, Selvig should be getting more minute to grow.

In my opinion an inside game has to be developed one way or the other. This is the biggest problem for the GRIZ this year. I hope some of the other candid basketball followers will add input to this. The likes of mslacat, gb, athome, City, grizwhiz, remax(the few takes he does have on basketball are pretty accurate), etc (sorry for anyone I left out).

Seriously, lets talk about this year's team without getting into this player or coach have to go. What things can be done? Who needs to step up? Does there need to be strategy changes? Do we ever throwout this year and get our youth experience and fundamental changes now (Selvig, Stockton, Taylor, Qvale)?

I will stick to my guns here. (1) We need to establish a consistent inside offensive presence. (2) We should start with more minutes for Selvig and Anthony Johnson. (3) Leadership wise, surpringly enough I feel Anthony Johnson is the only "willing" leader we have right now. With that said, should the coaches just say "Anthony this is YOUR team!!" Should they challenge Hasquet more? Should they call out the whole team and see who materializes? I ask all this because a few of you seem to be just fine bashing away on the coaches and a few players. Very few posters have offered suggestions, ideas, constructive input etc. It is obvious we have a problem in underacheiving so far this year and last year. Rather us have to tolerate the bashing, let see what we can colletively come up with that can help this year?

Lets hear it "Einsteins!!!!!!!!"

 

[bobaloo]

I think Tinks struggles with allocating minutes. He talks about it quite a bit. If a player appears to be pouting because of lack of playing time he is inclined to give that player more minutes even if he has not earned them. LIkewise if one of the starters is having a tough night he seems to leave them in longer instead of giving more minutes to another player. I know he tries to give everybody minutes so that nobody is feeling left out but it seems to cause him angst in finding right combinations. Just an observation open to a lot of subjectivity.

 

[GrizWhiz]

Selvig has a ton of talent and has shown flashes of real tenacious rebounding along with a gift for passing. However, additional minutes should be dependent on lowering his turnover output. The more he stays inside, the less he turns the ball over. Johnson needs to start at the 2, period. Hopefully, CET will be back so this can happen. Otherwise, start M. Taylor at the one and AJ at the 2. We simply are not getting the consistent production from a starter at the 2 that we need. I also want to see more of Hasquet inside. He is a post, has great post skills and has shown bursts of inside tenacity and toughness. We are getting killed inside all too often. Start Sharp at the 5. He is tough and I believe gives us more production per minute than Qvale currently does. Qvale and Staudacher coming off the bench may have more success, especially in terms of offensive production. These are my be guesses at this point. I am not any expert, just a thus far disappointed Griz hoops fan who thinks we do have the talent to be successful. :twocents:

 

[Grizbacker1]

I think Tinks struggles with allocating minutes. He talks about it quite a bit. If a player appears to be pouting because of lack of playing time he is inclined to give that player more minutes even if he has not earned them. LIkewise if one of the starters is having a tough night he seems to leave them in longer instead of giving more minutes to another player. I know he tries to give everybody minutes so that nobody is feeling left out but it seems to cause him angst in finding right combinations. Just an observation open to a lot of subjectivity.

The same could be said for any head coach who doesn't return a starting lineup intact. The pre-season is ALL about trying different combinations.

 

[WashGriz]

Jordo will be back..but I long for the days when he would go up to the rim hair flyiing grab an offensive
board, put it back up strong making the basket and getting fouled.

Yes..Maybe jordo and others are hanging around outside and not getting in position. Qvale and Selving
also need to take responislity for the stats below. IMO think Sharp has done a pretty good job...and
Jack is really coming around in all aspects of this game.

REBOUNDING OFFENSE
# Team G Reb Avg/G
-------------------------------------
1.Montana State....... 10 376 37.6
2.Portland State...... 12 441 36.8
3.Idaho State......... 11 370 33.6
4.Eastern Washington.. 12 397 33.1
5.Northern Colorado... 12 396 33.0
6.Northern Arizona.... 11 351 31.9
7.Weber State......... 12 371 30.9
8.Sacramento State.... 11 332 30.2
9.Montana............. 12 344 28.7



REBOUNDING MARGIN
# Team G TEAM Avg OPP Avg Margin
-------------------------------------------------------
1.Montana State....... 10 376 37.6 323 32.3 +5.3
2.Portland State...... 12 441 36.8 402 33.5 +3.2
3.Northern Colorado... 12 396 33.0 365 30.4 +2.6
4.Eastern Washington.. 12 397 33.1 391 32.6 +0.5
5.Northern Arizona.... 11 351 31.9 355 32.3 -0.4
6.Weber State......... 12 371 30.9 377 31.4 -0.5
7.Idaho State......... 11 370 33.6 388 35.3 -1.6
8.Montana............. 12 344 28.7 365 30.4 -1.8
9.Sacramento State.... 11 332 30.2 394 35.8 -5.6

Now onto the gaurds...Maybe I was wrong with CET..I think going cold turkey with out him has
hurt..I just like Johnson's uptempo..bust it up the court attitude. Maybe we will find a balance
now and still use AJ quickness. Get Stauds less minutes..ala..less shoots ..simply crazy talk ! I think you will find , the more shots he takes..the higher the chances of the Griz winning

-POINT FG PCT (Min. 1.0 made per game)
## Player-Team Cl G 3FG FGA Pct
----------------------------------------------------
1.STAUDACHER, Ryan-UM...... 12 30 52 .577
2.KINGMAN, Neal-NC......... 12 18 34 .529
3.JONES, Cameron-NAU....... 11 13 25 .520
4.FLAGGS, Antonio-SAC...... 11 21 43 .488
5.BEITZEL, Devon-NC........ 12 26 54 .481
6.DOMINGUEZ, Jeremiah-PSU.. 10 30 64 .469
7.WATERS, Dominic-PSU...... 12 18 39 .462
8.STANOJEVIC, Milan-EWU.... 12 24 53 .453
9.STUCKI, Matt-ISU......... 10 15 37 .405
10.MURRAY, Andre-PSU........ 12 16 40 .400
11.PIEPOLI, Danny-MSU....... 10 25 63 .397
12.McCOY,Kellen-WSU......... 12 17 43 .395
13.HANSEN,Nick-WSU.......... 12 24 62 .387
14.HASQUET, Jordan-UM....... 12 17 44 .386
15.LILLARD,Damian-WSU....... 12 15 39 .385



Bottom line..Can any adjustments save the season...ala beat PSU in the tourney .

Well..we will see in the next few weeks if we can even make the tourney ( is think so)
If we can not..then start giving Selving and other lots more minutes.

If we get to the end of the season game with PSU any thing can happen and for anything to
happen IMO the inside game needs to improve.

GO GRIZ

 

[Grizbeer]

Bottom line..Can any adjustments save the season...ala beat PSU in the tourney .

Well..we will see in the next few weeks if we can even make the tourney ( is think so)
If we can not..then start giving Selving and other lots more minutes.

If we get to the end of the season game with PSU any thing can happen and for anything to
happen IMO the inside game needs to improve.

GO GRIZ

At this point, with this team, making the BSC tourney will be a struggle. Griz are now 4-7 against D-1 competition, will need to go 10-6 in conference just to break even before the tourney. right now Griz have an RPI of 253, 6th in conference, and just above UNC, which so far this year has played better against common opponents, and at this point appears to me to be a better team than the Griz.

This weekend will be big for Montana - start off with a home loss against the 'Cats and it will be hard to recover from there without wholesale changes to the team. the way this team is playing (with or without CET) there are no gimmies in league for UM, but Montana should still win at least 3 home games. If they can start by beating MSU at home it might start a streak that could gt them into the BSC tournament as 5th or 6th seed. And I think after a couple of 3 game league losing streaks Tinkle will motivate the boys to win a road game or 2, maybe go 6-10 in conference and snag that 6th seed.

 

[robomomo]

Bottom line..Can any adjustments save the season...ala beat PSU in the tourney .

Well..we will see in the next few weeks if we can even make the tourney ( is think so)
If we can not..then start giving Selving and other lots more minutes.

If we get to the end of the season game with PSU any thing can happen and for anything to
happen IMO the inside game needs to improve.

GO GRIZ

At this point, with this team, making the BSC tourney will be a struggle. Griz are now 4-7 against D-1 competition, will need to go 10-6 in conference just to break even before the tourney. right now Griz have an RPI of 253, 6th in conference, and just above UNC, which so far this year has played better against common opponents, and at this point appears to me to be a better team than the Griz.

This weekend will be big for Montana - start off with a home loss against the 'Cats and it will be hard to recover from there without wholesale changes to the team. the way this team is playing (with or without CET) there are no gimmies in league for UM, but Montana should still win at least 3 home games. If they can start by beating MSU at home it might start a streak that could gt them into the BSC tournament as 5th or 6th seed. And I think after a couple of 3 game league losing streaks Tinkle will motivate the boys to win a road game or 2, maybe go 6-10 in conference and snag that 6th seed.

Very sad that 6-10 is an optimist's forcast of the conference record.