citay said:
REGULAR SEAON:
1. DeCuire lengthens the rotation. Ten deep. “Strength in numbers.” (It works for the Warriors. It can work for the Griz.)
2. Money emerges as “Freshman of the Year” in the Big Sky.
3. Te”Jon Sawyer or Blake Jones (or both) provide what we’ve missed since Jamar Akoh—a genuine low-post offensive threat and rim protector.
4. With better guard play and improved rebounding, we play at a faster pace.
5. Jaxon Nap becomes a significant contributor.
6. There emerges another dead-eye shooter (or two) besides Moody to rely on in clutch time.
7. We’re deep enough to redshirt both Zack Davidson and Chase Henderson.
8. Rhett Reynolds gradually develops into a low-post presence. (Post players take time.)
9. No major injuries.
10. We pull a surprise or two on the road early against a major opponent.
GOAL:
Win the Big Sky
(Grade C.)
FANTASY GOALS
Earn a 12 seed at the Big Dance
Win a round-one game.
Sweet 16 baby!!
Interim Report Card:
1. Hard to tell if DeCuire has lengthened the rotation. Probably won't know for sure till conference games start. (Grade: Inc.)
2. Money! The biggest surprise so far. Definitely a candidate for Freshman of the Year, a guy capable of taking over games. (Grade: A+)
3. Te'Jon Sawyer and Blake Jones both mild disappointments so far--but both with time to adjust to D1 basketball. Biggest positive here is Oke who has upped his game on both offense and defense, while Thomas has remained solid. Overall, we're okay up front. (Grade: B-)
4. Faster pace? Hard for me to tell since I've seen so few games. (Grade: Inc.)
5. Jaxon Nap, a disappointment so far. It's usually between the freshman and sophomore years that you see the biggest jump and it appeared last year that he might blossom into a big-time player. But this year's he's had trouble finding minutes, under ten per game. Jury out--but skeptical. (Grade: D)
6. Another shooter: Big disappointment here. Moody has regressed to 31% from deep, while Money is shooting only 29%, and Moody has been shut down completely in key games. The big contributors have been Vazquez at 44% from deep and Thomas at 41%. Shooting has been a problem for Montana for the past several years, and I was hoping for far more consistency this year. (Grade C. )
7. Davidson a redshirt year, great; Henderson, I don't get it. Playing six minutes a game and not shooting well. He definitely needed a redshirt year.(Grade A for Davidson, F for Henderson.)
8. Rhett Reynolds: The biggest disappointment for me. I was hoping he'd continue in the tradition of the great post players to come out of Montana over the many years---Lowry, Reugseggar, Krysko, Engellant--but it seems not to be happening, even after a redshirt year. We know it takes bigs time to develop but for now...(Grade F.)
9. No major injuries. So far, (unlike the Lady Griz) so good. (Grade A.)
10. An early season surprise early against a major opponent? Funny result: Spectacular first half at Oregon where the game was tied, followed eventually by a great second half at Nevada. In between? Snake-bitten! Dreadful letdown at Oregon in the second half; a debacle at Houston; a dreadful first half at Reno. A few encouraging moments---especially to see the way Money played at Houston--but finally nothing close to any wins. (Grade D.)
Summary: The one sparkling grade so far goes to Money Williams, maybe the best player to come to Montana in a long time (though still light-years still from Micheal Ray Richardson, who deserves mention with the greatest basketball players of all time.) Oke has improved greatly, Thomas, Vazquez and Whitney remain solid, but Moody has regressed and the jury is still out on Sawyer, Jones and Nap.
Now that we're done playing over over our heads at Oregon and Houston, it'll be great to get back to our own level in the Big Sky. But overall grade? Meh. C+.
