Griz vs suu

[grizzlyjournal]

Ya I don’t disagree with you Colter. SUU has arguably their best team ever, and if these games are played in the normal conference window, these results might be different. I agree though, I’ll take the Griz in Boise over the t-birds.

Like I said on the radio, SUU is the single worst Big Sky team the Griz could play to open conference play period... then you add in that conference play is a month early...Montana really needs to figure out which guards can play, with what lineups, who can guard etc...so to go against the most veteran back court in the league in John Knight III and Dre Marin plus a lineup that also features a 6-7 former Big Ten transfer who can shoot in Tevian Jones is not ideal.

I knew if the Griz started with Beasley and Parker, Knight would just attack relentlessly. That happened Thursday to the tune of 21 points and nine rebounds. Knight is in his fifth year of college hoops and was once a starter on a Top 30 team when he was at Utah State. He is the biggest, most physically strong true on-ball player in the league at 6-foot-3, probably 210 pounds. He looks like a strong safety. He had his way by using pure physicality Thursday.

Then with Knight busted up today, SUU turned to Marin, who in my mind is one of the most underrated players in the league. He is a four-year starter who played his 100th game today, a Southern Utah program record. It's not surprise he was ready to take and make big shots on the way to 19 points and eight rebounds.

I've heard from many of you through text and on Twitter about the rebounding problems. It's an issue. But you also have to realize that SUU sends its guards plus Harrison Butler (the Dennis Rodman of the Big Sky) to the offensive glass and they did it with authority in this series. Knight had 15 rebounds and Marin has 12 for the weekend. That's something DeCuire will clean up real quick, and if the young players don't learn quickly, they will not play.

On one hand, Montana is 0-2 in league play for the first time in 13 years and the second time in the last 23. On the other hand, if the Griz get three offensive rebounds in two games or the refs swallow their whistles on the last possession two games in a row or both...or the Griz made a few more free throws...whatever, the Griz are 2-0 with a road sweep of what will likely be the toughest road trip of the conference season for any team in the Big Sky.

Montana has a long ways to go. They are not of the caliber they were a few years ago, at least not yet. And Sayeed Pridgett covered up SO MANY weaknesses last season. But what we watched this weekend is far different than what the product will look like in March.

Appreciate your perspective on this league opener, Colter. It's a much broader view than I was seeing. Personally, given the circumstances, I believe this young team played well in both games with a huge jump in game quality from the first to the second. Which leads to your conclusion: ..."But what we watched this weekend is far different than what the product will look like in March." I think it'll be a blast to see what kind of team we'll see by the second half of conference play.

 

[DPGriz]

74 points and 51% from the field. It's not the offense.

You clearly don’t watch the games. The droughts are what kill us. We had several of them in this game.

I do watch, and can absorb more than "they have droughts sometimes." Every team has droughts, but feel free to continue talking out of your ass.

 

[Colter_Nuanez56]

Like I said on the radio, SUU is the single worst Big Sky team the Griz could play to open conference play period... then you add in that conference play is a month early...Montana really needs to figure out which guards can play, with what lineups, who can guard etc...so to go against the most veteran back court in the league in John Knight III and Dre Marin plus a lineup that also features a 6-7 former Big Ten transfer who can shoot in Tevian Jones is not ideal.

I knew if the Griz started with Beasley and Parker, Knight would just attack relentlessly. That happened Thursday to the tune of 21 points and nine rebounds. Knight is in his fifth year of college hoops and was once a starter on a Top 30 team when he was at Utah State. He is the biggest, most physically strong true on-ball player in the league at 6-foot-3, probably 210 pounds. He looks like a strong safety. He had his way by using pure physicality Thursday.

Then with Knight busted up today, SUU turned to Marin, who in my mind is one of the most underrated players in the league. He is a four-year starter who played his 100th game today, a Southern Utah program record. It's not surprise he was ready to take and make big shots on the way to 19 points and eight rebounds.

I've heard from many of you through text and on Twitter about the rebounding problems. It's an issue. But you also have to realize that SUU sends its guards plus Harrison Butler (the Dennis Rodman of the Big Sky) to the offensive glass and they did it with authority in this series. Knight had 15 rebounds and Marin has 12 for the weekend. That's something DeCuire will clean up real quick, and if the young players don't learn quickly, they will not play.

On one hand, Montana is 0-2 in league play for the first time in 13 years and the second time in the last 23. On the other hand, if the Griz get three offensive rebounds in two games or the refs swallow their whistles on the last possession two games in a row or both...or the Griz made a few more free throws...whatever, the Griz are 2-0 with a road sweep of what will likely be the toughest road trip of the conference season for any team in the Big Sky.

Montana has a long ways to go. They are not of the caliber they were a few years ago, at least not yet. And Sayeed Pridgett covered up SO MANY weaknesses last season. But what we watched this weekend is far different than what the product will look like in March.

On the rebounding issue, the Griz have had guards in the past that were really good rebounders and made up for some of the deficiencies. This teams doesn't seem to have that guy.

You have to credit Southern Utah head coach Todd Simon and his seven assistants ( :lol: Inside joke, if you get it, you get it). But honestly, Simon knew Montana's backcourt rotation would be haphazard and that Brandon Whitney is a very slight freshman playing in his first conference games. They attacked Whitney, Vazquez, Parker not just off the dribble but more impactful, attacking the glass.

That said, the most recent Griz guards — Ahmaad Rorie and MIchael Oguine — are going to be pretty difficult to replicate, particularly when it comes to strength, toughness and ability to play at a really high level for not just games or weeks but literally for years at a time. Those two guys are special. I was texting with a few colleagues and we agreed: we were really spoiled getting to watch those guys. Amazing athletes.

 

[UMFan12]

You clearly don’t watch the games. The droughts are what kill us. We had several of them in this game.

I do watch, and can absorb more than "they have droughts sometimes." Every team has droughts, but feel free to continue talking out of your ass.

If you watch any other team. Hell. Even watch Portland State vs Portland right now. We are better than PSU. And guess what. Not a single time in this entire game have they gone through a scoring drought so intense to the extent they blow a lead. Even a 5 pt one, let alone 11, or 8. This is not a commonplace in college basketball. Especially big sky conference basketball. We should not endure such extensive amounts of times without buckets in the....Big Sky. Especially considering our ambitions.

 

[GrizBall]

On the rebounding issue, the Griz have had guards in the past that were really good rebounders and made up for some of the deficiencies. This teams doesn't seem to have that guy.

You have to credit Southern Utah head coach Todd Simon and his seven assistants ( :lol: Inside joke, if you get it, you get it). But honestly, Simon knew Montana's backcourt rotation would be haphazard and that Brandon Whitney is a very slight freshman playing in his first conference games. They attacked Whitney, Vazquez, Parker not just off the dribble but more impactful, attacking the glass.

That said, the most recent Griz guards — Ahmaad Rorie and MIchael Oguine — are going to be pretty difficult to replicate, particularly when it comes to strength, toughness and ability to play at a really high level for not just games or weeks but literally for years at a time. Those two guys are special. I was texting with a few colleagues and we agreed: we were really spoiled getting to watch those guys. Amazing athletes.

I don’t understand your analysis. First, you said “you knew if the Griz started with Beasley and Parker, Knight would just attack relentlessly. That happened Thursday to the tune of 21 points and nine rebounds.”

Beasley hasn’t played all season. The SUU game 1 backcourt starters (the game I assume you are referring to) were Whitney and Satterwhite with Knight’s defensive assignment primarily handed to Satterwhite and secondarily Vasquez.

Then you said:

“But honestly, Simon knew Montana's backcourt rotation would be haphazard and that Brandon Whitney is a very slight freshman playing in his first conference games. They attacked Whitney, Vazquez, Parker not just off the dribble but more impactful, attacking the glass.”

They attacked these 3 guards impact-fully on the glass? Marin had 12 rebounds in the series with 2 being offensive. 1 offensive rebound per game is insignificant and I would hardly consider that “impactful attacking” (yes it was two one point games, but I could give you 1000 stats/situations more important than this one.)

And what would you expect guards to do to keep from being “attacked” on the defensive boards? Do you think DeCuire said “hey what are your guys going to do to stop Marin from getting defensive rebounds, he’s really attacking you?” I don’t think I have ever heard a coach say something like that. He is probably more concerned about his guards getting back in translation.

Knight did have 5 offensive boards in the 2 games. I distinctly remember him ripping 2 of those out of the hands of our big guys. But he also had 2 offensive rebounds against much bigger guards at LMU. He will average 2 offensive rebounds a game this year because he is a tremendous athlete, not because Simon saw our guards and developed some master rebounding strategy. Again, Knight’s primary defender on Thursday was neither Whitney, Parker or Vasquez.

 

[griznative24]

Pretty sure I'm not the only Griz fan out there with high expectations. The reality is the Griz look bad. That shouldn't make any fan happy.

Just because you and others have high expectations doesn't make them realistic. You have a young team that has played 3 games that is struggling to figure it out. I will judge this team more at the end of the year than I will now.

Fair enough, maybe it was the kalua

 

[Dillon]

High expectations for a brand new and young team, with 2 players who started one or both games not playing today and 2 good guards expected to play this year no longer with the program? Not one full-time starter from last year starting today. Several more players expected to join the team this year.

The team has a long way to go. It's just the beginning. Don't know why any fan would be embarrassed. I'd like to win every game, but that's never realistic.

DeCuire has a history of getting his team going at some point during the season. I hope he does this year too.

Holy Crap Mr. Rep - I never thought I would ever agree with everything in one of your posts but I do and was going to say exact same thing when I got to the end of all the posts. Well said young man! :clap: :thumb:

 

[Dillon]

My observation as a person that reffed at a high level for 25 years. The officiating today was actually pretty good but The last call was marginal at best. In my experience a foul at the end of the game that determines the winner has to be an obvious foul. I’m not sure that was the case with that one. We lost the game in the three to five possessions in the last couple of minutes when we either didn’t convert shots or turned it over. This team will follow the same pattern as all of Travis’s teams. Start slow and get better as the year goes on. I hope we see SUU in the tournament.

Agree but my reff-ing experience is only a decade!

 

[DPGriz]

I do watch, and can absorb more than "they have droughts sometimes." Every team has droughts, but feel free to continue talking out of your ass.

If you watch any other team. Hell. Even watch Portland State vs Portland right now. We are better than PSU. And guess what. Not a single time in this entire game have they gone through a scoring drought so intense to the extent they blow a lead. Even a 5 pt one, let alone 11, or 8. This is not a commonplace in college basketball. Especially big sky conference basketball. We should not endure such extensive amounts of times without buckets in the....Big Sky. Especially considering our ambitions.

The game opened on a 14-2 run for Portland that lasted nearly 7 minutes. The game ended on 13-3 Portland run that turned a 3 point game with 4:45 to go into a blowout. But sure, no "intense droughts" in that game.