mtgrizrule
Well-known member
I too was able to make the DU game. Here are my observations and outlook, which may agree with some and may disagree from others. Like any GRIZ fan, I was disappointed with the outcome, but not mad. I was mad last year after the CSU opener. The loss to DU was not due to us playing bad in every way, but more of a typical loss. Last year many of the GRIZ losses were due to bad play on offense and defense through a whole game or too long of stretches, or getting down when the offense was not clicking.
The returnees from last years squad learned how to fight back and let defense keep them in games, despite of how the offense was doing. It took them 1/2 an year to figure that out. The carry over this year is they already know that. I honestly feel, as long as Tinkle recruits his kind of players, defense and positive attitude will be a consistent staple in his program. Does that mean we will never have an occasional defensive breakdown? Hell no, but those breakdowns and struggles no longer dictate the whole game. I see a team that works hard consistently now, which is refreshing. A few years ago, leadership was an issue, this year it is not an issue, in fact he has more leaders than AJ, a few which surprised me. I was focusing on more than the score and stats to get a better read on this team. I was looking for player interactions, I was looking to see who was paying attention to defensive position, who was communicating screens, who was fighting through screens, who was in position, who wasn't doing things. So some of what I will post may surprise some of you, or maybe others noticed these little things. I think I have a good understand why Tinkle is making the decisions he is making as for strategy and personnel.
AJ is unquestionably the most impactful leader and best player, but there are others doing their share in forms of encouragement, leading by example etc, or small things that are not recognized by some fans. Physically, AJ could easily drop 25 points per game, if needed. His will to take over a game is flatout amazing, but we all know that, so enough on AJ, I cannot say more than what has already been said.
As for leadership, I liked what I seen in Vassy Banny, next to AJ he was the most vocal, encouraging on the court, in addition he leads by example and is obvious he knows his role and has accepted it, which is exactly why he is playing the minutes he is. He is expected to play hard, rebound, get physical and play defense, he is not expected to look for points or do the glamorous stuff. I have to give the kid kudos, he is being asked to be completely unselfish, and from what I have seen he is doing his role perfect. He is also much calmer and not forcing things this year.
Guess who was the bench leader in terms of encouraging teammates with high fives, "good job", handshakes etc. The one and only Will Cherry, the future annointed future of our program after AJ. I do not know how tough not playing big minutes is for him, but one would think it has to be driving a player of his caliber crazy. I wish he would have more playing time, but watching his interactions from the bench was a blessing in disguise. It is nice to know he is not a spoiled, bad attitude, chemistry ruining young gun. I seen nothing but positive attitude from him. When he did play, he made some typical Freshman mistakes, like stupid turnovers, or being out of position to let a man get easy points. He will get more minutes as those mistakes reduce. Defensively, he stays with his man well most of the time in man defense, but is somewhat over aggressive still. He struggled more in covering areas though. I am guessing his HS teams played mostly man, but could be wrong. He looks comfortable in man but a little loss in gimmicks, zones, and matchup defense. Offensively, I was very disappointed he did not take the ball to the hole like AJ does. Then again, maybe at this stage Tinkle is limiting that. Because of his attitude, I am a bigger Cherry fan now.
I too thought Selvig was very effective in his minutes, and rebounding actually was better too. During the game, I was wanting to see more of him. After the game though I found out why his minutes are limited, and I expect to be limited all year, if he makes it the whole year. He came out of the locker room after the game in a walking cast, and was in obvious pain. He took the time to talk with me for a few minutes (what a great kid, Thanks Derek). Basically he is sucking it up just playing what he can because he can. He knows surgery is in the plans, it is just a matter of when and what he do or not. I would venture to guess, at best he is playing 80%. After seeing the pain he was in after the game, I have a new found respect for him, and actually understand why he cannot do somethings we expect him to do. To add to this, he not only took time to speak to me, but interact with my guest, a 13 year old kid that I have been trying to convince to play basketball, after meeting the coaches and Derek he now wants to play basketball, and the GRIZ have a new fan in a new generation.
McGillis is great at leading by example as well. Jack always gives 100%, in his defense 2 of his fouls were not fouls. Actually a good majority of fouls called on the GRIZ were not fouls.
I was hoping to see Staudacher and Young burn up the nets from 3. It just did not happen. Young, like McGillis picks up stupid fouls, and he has a way to go defensively in both man and zones. He was out of position more often than any GRIZ, yet he is athletic and should in time learn those things. He moves very smoothly and athletically, I too am intrigued at his potential, but thanks to foul trouble and mental letdowns, we did not get to see any offense from him. At this stage, Tinkle cannot count on him defensively, and for the sake of everyone, I hope he gets that together. I admit, I jumped the gun too soon on this kid, but will not back down on his potential. He has some growing to do.
As for Staudacher, I think a few of us are being overly harsh on him. Stauds had 2 open looks all night. Denver was well prepared to take him out of the game, and for that matter our entire perimeter game was defensed near perfection by Denver. Denver defenders communicated near perfect, stayed away from being out of position. For the most part they played fundamental defense just as it coached. It is hard for any perimeter player to find a zone when the defense prevents him from getting open looks. I did not see his 0 points as him sucking, but DU playing perfect defense. Our open 3's just were not there, as evidenced by only 8 3 attempted all night. I did not hear post game interview with Tinks, but if I were coach, I would say "hats off to DU for near perfect perimeter defense."
From what I seen out there Staudacher got those minutes due to other factors. Tinkle did not have many other options. Taylor was too hurt. Young was in foul trouble and mistake prone defensively. McGillis was struggling too. Cherry is not ready offensively yet, and some trouble in defensive assignments. Stockton is solid but not much a threat yet. Stockton and Staudacher at worset can be relied on to be in the right position and make good passes. The other options were not better options with how the game played out. In the future, for the sake of the team, it would be nice for Tinkle to have the luxury of pulling whoever if they are struggling. The DU game though did not allow for that luxury though. We have the depth but not the consistency, and I feel the GRIZ will have to improve a lot in wing play to get to where they need to be. I would have never had this outlook had I not seen this live.
The most improved player without doubt this year is Qvale. He is rebounding much stronger and actually securing the ball instead of tapping it. He is a defensive presence, and I counted 3 blocks, maybe 4. He was only credit with one. Offensively, he has progressed nicely in posting up, making great moves, and finishing a great move with touch. The touch was not there before, it is now there quite often, but can still improve. I have raised my expectations from an 8 point 8 board guy to 14 point 9 plus boards per game guy. He will only get better too, hard for me to imagine a better BSC center this year.
Despite the loss, I am optimistic this team can be very good this year. They have much more fight, heart, and leadership than prior years. The key to improvement this year will be in ft shooting, role recognition by a few players, offensive consistency, and getting a much as we can from Selvig. The likes of Young, Cherry, and Ward will all have to elevate their roles and defensive assignments. I feel the GRIZ go as far as the development of those 3 will allow us.
Overall, I think we are light years ahead of last years team at the same time. We will have some downs this year, but not quite as many as last year. More often than not, this years GRIZ will be very good.
The returnees from last years squad learned how to fight back and let defense keep them in games, despite of how the offense was doing. It took them 1/2 an year to figure that out. The carry over this year is they already know that. I honestly feel, as long as Tinkle recruits his kind of players, defense and positive attitude will be a consistent staple in his program. Does that mean we will never have an occasional defensive breakdown? Hell no, but those breakdowns and struggles no longer dictate the whole game. I see a team that works hard consistently now, which is refreshing. A few years ago, leadership was an issue, this year it is not an issue, in fact he has more leaders than AJ, a few which surprised me. I was focusing on more than the score and stats to get a better read on this team. I was looking for player interactions, I was looking to see who was paying attention to defensive position, who was communicating screens, who was fighting through screens, who was in position, who wasn't doing things. So some of what I will post may surprise some of you, or maybe others noticed these little things. I think I have a good understand why Tinkle is making the decisions he is making as for strategy and personnel.
AJ is unquestionably the most impactful leader and best player, but there are others doing their share in forms of encouragement, leading by example etc, or small things that are not recognized by some fans. Physically, AJ could easily drop 25 points per game, if needed. His will to take over a game is flatout amazing, but we all know that, so enough on AJ, I cannot say more than what has already been said.
As for leadership, I liked what I seen in Vassy Banny, next to AJ he was the most vocal, encouraging on the court, in addition he leads by example and is obvious he knows his role and has accepted it, which is exactly why he is playing the minutes he is. He is expected to play hard, rebound, get physical and play defense, he is not expected to look for points or do the glamorous stuff. I have to give the kid kudos, he is being asked to be completely unselfish, and from what I have seen he is doing his role perfect. He is also much calmer and not forcing things this year.
Guess who was the bench leader in terms of encouraging teammates with high fives, "good job", handshakes etc. The one and only Will Cherry, the future annointed future of our program after AJ. I do not know how tough not playing big minutes is for him, but one would think it has to be driving a player of his caliber crazy. I wish he would have more playing time, but watching his interactions from the bench was a blessing in disguise. It is nice to know he is not a spoiled, bad attitude, chemistry ruining young gun. I seen nothing but positive attitude from him. When he did play, he made some typical Freshman mistakes, like stupid turnovers, or being out of position to let a man get easy points. He will get more minutes as those mistakes reduce. Defensively, he stays with his man well most of the time in man defense, but is somewhat over aggressive still. He struggled more in covering areas though. I am guessing his HS teams played mostly man, but could be wrong. He looks comfortable in man but a little loss in gimmicks, zones, and matchup defense. Offensively, I was very disappointed he did not take the ball to the hole like AJ does. Then again, maybe at this stage Tinkle is limiting that. Because of his attitude, I am a bigger Cherry fan now.
I too thought Selvig was very effective in his minutes, and rebounding actually was better too. During the game, I was wanting to see more of him. After the game though I found out why his minutes are limited, and I expect to be limited all year, if he makes it the whole year. He came out of the locker room after the game in a walking cast, and was in obvious pain. He took the time to talk with me for a few minutes (what a great kid, Thanks Derek). Basically he is sucking it up just playing what he can because he can. He knows surgery is in the plans, it is just a matter of when and what he do or not. I would venture to guess, at best he is playing 80%. After seeing the pain he was in after the game, I have a new found respect for him, and actually understand why he cannot do somethings we expect him to do. To add to this, he not only took time to speak to me, but interact with my guest, a 13 year old kid that I have been trying to convince to play basketball, after meeting the coaches and Derek he now wants to play basketball, and the GRIZ have a new fan in a new generation.
McGillis is great at leading by example as well. Jack always gives 100%, in his defense 2 of his fouls were not fouls. Actually a good majority of fouls called on the GRIZ were not fouls.
I was hoping to see Staudacher and Young burn up the nets from 3. It just did not happen. Young, like McGillis picks up stupid fouls, and he has a way to go defensively in both man and zones. He was out of position more often than any GRIZ, yet he is athletic and should in time learn those things. He moves very smoothly and athletically, I too am intrigued at his potential, but thanks to foul trouble and mental letdowns, we did not get to see any offense from him. At this stage, Tinkle cannot count on him defensively, and for the sake of everyone, I hope he gets that together. I admit, I jumped the gun too soon on this kid, but will not back down on his potential. He has some growing to do.
As for Staudacher, I think a few of us are being overly harsh on him. Stauds had 2 open looks all night. Denver was well prepared to take him out of the game, and for that matter our entire perimeter game was defensed near perfection by Denver. Denver defenders communicated near perfect, stayed away from being out of position. For the most part they played fundamental defense just as it coached. It is hard for any perimeter player to find a zone when the defense prevents him from getting open looks. I did not see his 0 points as him sucking, but DU playing perfect defense. Our open 3's just were not there, as evidenced by only 8 3 attempted all night. I did not hear post game interview with Tinks, but if I were coach, I would say "hats off to DU for near perfect perimeter defense."
From what I seen out there Staudacher got those minutes due to other factors. Tinkle did not have many other options. Taylor was too hurt. Young was in foul trouble and mistake prone defensively. McGillis was struggling too. Cherry is not ready offensively yet, and some trouble in defensive assignments. Stockton is solid but not much a threat yet. Stockton and Staudacher at worset can be relied on to be in the right position and make good passes. The other options were not better options with how the game played out. In the future, for the sake of the team, it would be nice for Tinkle to have the luxury of pulling whoever if they are struggling. The DU game though did not allow for that luxury though. We have the depth but not the consistency, and I feel the GRIZ will have to improve a lot in wing play to get to where they need to be. I would have never had this outlook had I not seen this live.
The most improved player without doubt this year is Qvale. He is rebounding much stronger and actually securing the ball instead of tapping it. He is a defensive presence, and I counted 3 blocks, maybe 4. He was only credit with one. Offensively, he has progressed nicely in posting up, making great moves, and finishing a great move with touch. The touch was not there before, it is now there quite often, but can still improve. I have raised my expectations from an 8 point 8 board guy to 14 point 9 plus boards per game guy. He will only get better too, hard for me to imagine a better BSC center this year.
Despite the loss, I am optimistic this team can be very good this year. They have much more fight, heart, and leadership than prior years. The key to improvement this year will be in ft shooting, role recognition by a few players, offensive consistency, and getting a much as we can from Selvig. The likes of Young, Cherry, and Ward will all have to elevate their roles and defensive assignments. I feel the GRIZ go as far as the development of those 3 will allow us.
Overall, I think we are light years ahead of last years team at the same time. We will have some downs this year, but not quite as many as last year. More often than not, this years GRIZ will be very good.
