...mslacat, our very own deep throat, who scooped the board on all recruits and even got it right on michael taylor. i always look forward to any post that reads "mslacat."
...and to those p.r. boobs otherwise known as our basketball coaches, the guys who spent all spring in remedial writing, learning to cross their "i's" and dot their "t's", because when the interminable waiting and many excuses finally ended, they did indeed produce one of the finest recuiting classes we've had in years at montana.
first, they built the class on a core of high school players who will be in the program for at least four years--selvig, qvale, hurley and taylor. from micheal ray through pope, krysko, tinks, engellant, criswell, strait and hasquet, the basketball program at montana has been built on kids who spend four or five years in the program, and by their junior and senior years have the experience to compete against the four and five star recruits from the bigger schools. among the recruits this year are a three-star (selvig), a kid north dakotans desperately hoped would stay at home (qvale), a walk-on who is probably good enough to deserve a scholarship (hurley) and a kid who was his division's state player of the year as a high school senior (taylor.) the class has size, talent and balance (a true center, a true point and a versatile player in selvig.) you never know how kids are going to break, but our coaches have done their job.
but second, despite a solid program built on high school talent, montana went sixteen years (from 1975 until 1991) without making it back to the big dance. it wasn't until stew morrill arrived and began recruiting junior college talent (delvon anderson, nate atchison and kevin kearney) that the griz made it back to the big dance. and in fact, 1990-91 began another 16-year era during which montana made it to the big dance six times--thanks again to huge contributions from our jaycee players--trammel, davis, matthews. while i much prefer developing talent from within, the history shows, it's always good to have a few stellar jaycee kids in the mix, and our coaches seem to have accomplished that too.
all's well that ends well, no?
...and to those p.r. boobs otherwise known as our basketball coaches, the guys who spent all spring in remedial writing, learning to cross their "i's" and dot their "t's", because when the interminable waiting and many excuses finally ended, they did indeed produce one of the finest recuiting classes we've had in years at montana.
first, they built the class on a core of high school players who will be in the program for at least four years--selvig, qvale, hurley and taylor. from micheal ray through pope, krysko, tinks, engellant, criswell, strait and hasquet, the basketball program at montana has been built on kids who spend four or five years in the program, and by their junior and senior years have the experience to compete against the four and five star recruits from the bigger schools. among the recruits this year are a three-star (selvig), a kid north dakotans desperately hoped would stay at home (qvale), a walk-on who is probably good enough to deserve a scholarship (hurley) and a kid who was his division's state player of the year as a high school senior (taylor.) the class has size, talent and balance (a true center, a true point and a versatile player in selvig.) you never know how kids are going to break, but our coaches have done their job.
but second, despite a solid program built on high school talent, montana went sixteen years (from 1975 until 1991) without making it back to the big dance. it wasn't until stew morrill arrived and began recruiting junior college talent (delvon anderson, nate atchison and kevin kearney) that the griz made it back to the big dance. and in fact, 1990-91 began another 16-year era during which montana made it to the big dance six times--thanks again to huge contributions from our jaycee players--trammel, davis, matthews. while i much prefer developing talent from within, the history shows, it's always good to have a few stellar jaycee kids in the mix, and our coaches seem to have accomplished that too.
all's well that ends well, no?
