i've gotta laugh at all the negativity by montana fans surrounding the recruitment of joslyn tinkle. just for a moment, put yourself in the shoes of tara vandeveer, and look what she's up against:
1.) a player drenched in the tradition of the university of montana, where her parents both played (her mother for the current coach), and where her father is still the head basketball coach;
2.) a hall-of fame coach in robin selvig, who over 30 years has built one of the best programs in the country;
3.) a tutor/ assistant coach in shannon cate schweyen who is the best player in the history of montana basketball, and with very few exceptions the equal of any player ever produced at stanford;
4.) an annual attendance that is among the best in the country, ranking just a tad fewer than the attendance at stanford;
5.) a basketball facility (dahlberg arena) that is at least the equal of maples pavilion, which was originally built in 1969, and is now one of the smallest arenas in the pac 10;
6.) the friends joslyn has developed over the years playing a.a.u. ball, especially ali hurley, now a freshman at montana;
7. ) the opportunity for her friends and family to see her play on a regular basis;
8.) the absolute slam-dunk guarantee that at montana she will be in the ncaa tournament every year for four years;
9.) finally, the chance joslyn would have to make a major major impact on a school and on a program, versus being yet another good player at a school that has recruited dozens and dozens of high school all-americans.
sure, tara has huge advantages too--the stanford reputation of academic excellence, combined with the promise joslyn can compete against the best players in the country. but even here i feel montana can be competitive, especially since i've done at least as well in life on a fine montana education as my stanfoo-educated brother (sorry, bro), the while it appears selvig, who has always played a tougher schedule than the men, is already upping the ante by scheduling the the marylands of the world.
i do believe it will come down to montana and stanford, and i'm not naive about the advantages tara has in this battle. but it's long been my theory that in any competitive situation, too many fret about the advantages of their competitor while totally forgetting their own unique capabilities, and that's just what i'm seeing played out by montanans in this long long record thread.
