Lady Griz 88, Cats 52

[TrueGriz]

Lady Griz dominated the Cats today. Everybody played well. Turned the ball over only 9 times. This team has turned the ball over fewer than every team in the nation except one. Maybe I will have to look up that team, but not now.

Lady Griz had 4 players in double figures:

Katie Edwards 16
Juliann Keller 14, with 12 rebounds
Crystal Baird 14
Jodie McLeod 11

Lady Griz outrebounded Cats 50 - 33
Lady Griz shot 51.5% held Cats to 32.8%

If there was anything I can say about the Lady Griz that I was not happy with was their free throw shooting. They shot only 57.9%.

Attendance was just over 5,300 fans Officially. It looked it, too.

Way to go Lady Griz.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

Another solid win, continuing Selvigs dominance over MSU.

Is this year's Lady Griz team able to win in NCAA tourney? Sounds like our point guard is playing great, and post players are very effective.

Go Griz!

 

[TrueGriz]

This team is good enough to win a game in the NCAA tournament. With the likelihood of playing at home in Missoula, the chances will be better.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

Look at the arrogance of the Bobcats in this is an excerpt from the Billings Gazette:

Bobcat women's coach Robin Potera-Haskins was more or less subdued after the game, saving her only zinger for Crystal Baird's 14 points and six rebounds in 15 minutes. "I'm just glad she didn't play the whole game," she said.

A year ago Haskins made feathers fly by pronouncing her MSU squad the dominant women's team in Montana, after their 66-61 win. Selvig was asked if he felt the same about his squad now, but he didn't take the bait. "I wouldn't say that," he said. "I'm just worried about NAU and Sac State."

And he will fuss, just as he did Friday with a 30-point lead. "Like Idaho State the other night, people were going, 'Man, you kicked them. That was easy," Sevlig said of the 76-57 win. "And I'm, 'Uh, no, I didn't think so.' Up 20 with six to go on them is nice, but teams can make threes.

"There's always something to worry about." Just not turnovers.
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Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 657-1396 or [email protected]

 

[BozoneCat]

That's not exactly "news" anymore, Proud. She made those comments last year, and they have been pretty much beat to death. I think it is pretty clear that she was a fool for saying something like that, and her youthful exuberance probably got the best of her. I would like to say that if given the chance, she would not say those things again... but I have a feeling she probably would. I thought she had nice comments about the griz after this last game.

 

[info]

BC: Your comments are right on... Do you believe there is a correlation between the end of McCarthy's recruits and the back-slide of the Cats?? I know Frank had a great eye for talent, esp. Montana kids and Potera doesn't have one assistant with any Montana ties on her staff. Do you think that is the problem??

 

[BozoneCat]

I don't really follow women's basketball too closely, but I always have an interest in how all MSU teams are performing, so I do follow it somewhat. I am somewhat torn on my opinion of Potera. First, I have to say that when I have met and talked with her, she has always been a pleasure to speak with. You can't help but be pumped up after conversing with her, because she is so full of energy. I think that is good for our program. I also think that she has shown that she is a pretty coach in regard to X's and O's. You don't win back-to-back Big Sky titles if you can't coach. I am upset and concerned about all the kids that have left the program (none so far this year, knock on wood), but I keep coming back to the fact that the AD's daughter plays for the team, so if something evil was afoot, he would undoubtedly know about it and she would have been gone a long time ago. My gut feeling is that the girls didn't know what they were getting themselves into, and didn't want to work as hard as Potera expected them to. Then you add in her, um, "dynamic" personality, and I am sure there were some conflicts. I really hope she has learned from the mass exodus of last year, because that kind of unstability in a program leads to what is happening this year.

As to whether McCarthy was a better recruiter, well, it is hard to say. It kind of looks that way right now, but maybe those players wouldn't have been as good if they had a different coach. I think everyone liked Frank (some too much, ha ha), and we had high expectations from him. It certainly appears that Potera didn't do the best job recruiting this year, but we have to remember that this team is really young, and it had to have been a hard year to recruit after all the player defections. I think she is starting to learn that she needs to recruit Montana players, if only because Montana produces some pretty darned good women's basketball players. It didn't seem like any of our awesome players the last couple years came from Montana (I know Stubbs didn't). Potera also did a good job of bringing in kids who contributed those years, too. I know that she has signed 3 Montana girls this year, and all 3 sound really promising. She has a lot she can learn from Coach Selvig in all aspects of coaching, but so can most people, because he is one of the best. I do not think that her job is in jeopardy right now, but we will be looking for marked improvement next year. You can't play much worse than we have lately - the game on Friday looked like a high school team playing a college team, it was sad and difficult to watch. The griz were/are just in a completely different class, although this year's team is one of the best Selvig has ever produced. They could very well win 2 games in the tourney this year.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

That's not exactly "news" anymore, Proud. She made those comments last year, and they have been pretty much beat to death. I think it is pretty clear that she was a fool for saying something like that, and her youthful exuberance probably got the best of her. I would like to say that if given the chance, she would not say those things again... but I have a feeling she probably would. I thought she had nice comments about the griz after this last game.

You made my point for me Bozone.

What you MSU fans are slamming Hauck for, is called "youthful exuberance" for the MSU coach. I know it was last year (look at the first three words bolded -"A year ago"). We can agree that statements get made in the heat of battle that are too much based on emotion.

 

[grizchamp]

I don't really follow women's basketball too closely, but I always have an interest in how all MSU teams are performing, so I do follow it somewhat. I am somewhat torn on my opinion of Potera. First, I have to say that when I have met and talked with her, she has always been a pleasure to speak with. You can't help but be pumped up after conversing with her, because she is so full of energy. I think that is good for our program. I also think that she has shown that she is a pretty coach in regard to X's and O's. You don't win back-to-back Big Sky titles if you can't coach. I am upset and concerned about all the kids that have left the program (none so far this year, knock on wood), but I keep coming back to the fact that the AD's daughter plays for the team, so if something evil was afoot, he would undoubtedly know about it and she would have been gone a long time ago. My gut feeling is that the girls didn't know what they were getting themselves into, and didn't want to work as hard as Potera expected them to. Then you add in her, um, "dynamic" personality, and I am sure there were some conflicts. I really hope she has learned from the mass exodus of last year, because that kind of unstability in a program leads to what is happening this year.

B cat,

I have it on very good information (members of the Lady cats team) that there are serious problems within the Potera camp between her and her players and even members of her staff. She is under intense scrutiny from the MSU asministration as of late. ( more so than a usual coach I might add) THere were a ton of complaints to the AD about her from players and there was a recent meting with Potera, her players, and the athletic administration that told her she had better change or she was on her way out. Just because the AD's daughter is on the team, doesnt mean that there arent serious probems. Change?... We'll it seems that she had become all about herself and nothing about the team. she was appearntly showing up late to practices with no reason, berating her players through verbal assualts (although i will admit, it is hard to say what one considers berating or a verbal assault when it comes to coaches and players, it can be a fine line), some players had stopped showing up to practice all together and potera didnt even realize they were gone and the few times she did realize, she didnt care. she was just to caught up in herself and many of her players, both young and old were describing her as a gigantic bitch. They were sick of playing for her as Basketball was starting to become "not fun." in the words of one of her players, "I think she wants to win, but she doesnt want to win to get us to the tourney, she wants to win so that people will think she is a great coach. I really think she could care less who she was coaching and how she did, as long as people thoguht she was doing a good job." (I am paraphrasing a bit of course, but that was the general story)

All That being said though, it seems as if she has been a saint towards her players since the meeting. hopefully it gave her a reality check and things stay that way. I agree, I think she has a lot of enthusiasm for coaching, I just feel she needs to channel that enthusiasm more possitivly towards her team instead of herself.

 

[loyalgriz]

The Lady Griz have had a good year, but in no way are they as good as the teams of the late 80's and early 90's in my book.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

The Lady Griz have had a good year, but in no way are they as good as the teams of the late 80's and early 90's in my book.

And, Shannon Cate was a better player than any I've seen since.

 

[TrueGriz]

The Lady Griz have had a good year, but in no way are they as good as the teams of the late 80's and early 90's in my book.

Women's basketball has grown quite a bit since the late '80s and early '90s. I wouldn't count on it. More schools have developed their women's basketball programs since then. So you really cannot compare them accurately and fairly.

If the current level of competition was the same as it was back then, current lady Griz would maybe have lost only 1 game now.

In addition, Lady Griz's competition in the Big Sky was weak. Most of those years, it was just the Lady Griz. One or two years, Boise State gave the Lady Griz competition. Now, there are three or four teams that can beat the Lady Griz, and that isn't because the Lady Griz became a weaker team. It is because some of those other teams became stronger. There is a reason Lady Griz went undefeated in conference for 3 years. The conference sucked. But, it really didn't hurt the Lady Griz to bad, because women's basketball wasn't as strong back then as it was then. There were just fewer schools with women's basketball back then as there is now. Title IX helped change that.

Take Shannon Cate out, and the team would be quite mediocre. Take Holly Tyler out, and the team would still likely be right where they are at now. Current Lady Griz have more depth this year than the teams back in the late '80s and early '90s. Plus, Brooklyn Lorenzen is every bit as good or better than Julie Epperly, though maybe not quite as good as Vicki Austin. I agree though, Shannon Cate was the best player. But, Lady Griz lost to USC because of Shannon Cate. Her separated shoulder cost Lady Griz the game. Back then, one player made a huge difference. Current team, no one player makes that much of a difference.

Anyway, the best Lady Griz team was the 1993-94 team. Should have beaten Stanford (who was certainly better than the 1991-92 USC team lady Griz lost to) to get into the sweet 16. That team had the best starting 5 of any Lady Griz team. I didn't watch the lady Griz of 1987-88, but there are people who think that was the best team. But, like I said, because Women's basketball has grown so much in the past decade, there is just no way to compare them accurately or fairly.