m616s6e said:
I have to share some of WyomingGrizFan's observations. I too have been watching since the days of Jill Greenfield and am frustrated by the recruiting. Is this what happens when you have 3 middle-aged assistants with families? Nobody will go on the road to recruit?
How can we not have the by far the best recruits in the conference? I like the kids we have but there are several strong players and lots of average players. At this point in the year, there is no "go to" player.
As I drove to work this morning I was thinking of giving up my Lady Griz tickets after watching them for every game since Selvig was the coach (and before that). Now for the first time, I find myself wanting to leave at half-time.
I think it is time the AD took control of this - what are the chances of that???
Robin does a masterful job of coaching - he deserves better from his assistants - or, maybe he should replace some of his assistants.
I will take a somewhat contrary stance in this argument. I think Selvig has as much talent if not more than he has had in the past 10-15 years, the big problem I see is that this team is incredibly unbalanced.
Typically when it comes to recruiting, Selvig's philosophy has seemed to always be to recruit the most talented players available and then adjust his system to meet the strengths of his current team. The other thing to remember is Selvig recruits and coaches to win the Big Sky Conference. His teams are usually not suited speed or athletic wise to compete against a lot of the more athletic teams in the nation, but come Conference season can over power Big Sky Conference teams. For the most part this has served Selvig well and the Lady Griz are still the gold standard in the Big Sky (although the gap is closing).
All that said this year Lady Griz team is lacking something that all previuos Lady Griz teams have had and that is three point shooting. The Lady Griz have a whole group of these 6-0ish power forward types who can shoot out about 18 feet but spread around the the 2,3,4,& 5 positions, all good to great players, but it makes the Lady Griz very easy to defend. The only true three point shooter on this years team is Torry Hill ( at 25% from 3pt range), I don't think anyone else on the team is shooting above 18% on the team! Despite this abysmal shooting from 3 point range they are still averaging almost 20 3 pt shots a game. I am not going to bore you with basketball talk but Selvig's offense has always depended on getting good to great three point shooting from the 1,2 and/or three spots. This year he has only one true threat, Tory HIll.
Couple other roster problems:
Point guard: He lacks true point guards. Hill and Vining fit that bill, but Vining is still very young, and Hill can only play one position at a time and Selvig needs her shooting more than play making.
Small Forward: Smith is a power forward! She does not have the quickness to play the 3. In past year she has shown the ability to shoot the three so she was given time at the spot, but this year she is shooting only about 15% from three while averaging about 5 3pt shots a game. I think one of the reasons Selvig keeps her at the 3 is that his zone defense always works best with a taller player at the 3.
Again as strange as it may sound I truly believe Selvig has a very talented group of player (maybe the most talent in the league) but not enough of the right pieces to run this team the way he is used to. He has a group of clones (over simplification granted) who pretty much have the same strengths and weaknesses which make it pretty easy to game plan for.
All that said watch, when conference season rolls around this team will bounce back, how much I don't know, but it was designed around the Big Sky Conference and the preseason is just a tune up for conference.
