OregonStateFan
Well-known member
I don't believe a Gonzaga offer was ever reported for Lofing, so I wonder if they made a late push (or if it simply never got reported).
The struggle to keep Montana talent home continues for Holsinger.
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LadyGriz Lady Griz Recruiting: 2025+
- Thread starter OregonStateFan
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The struggle to keep Montana talent home continues for Holsinger.
BigSkyBreakdown
Well-known member
How many kids has that staff signed from the state?
Dick and Larson are walk-ons from our understanding.
In our memory
Lofing...zags
Gunlock...BYU
Berry....MSU
Cherrick...MSU
Egan....MSU
Erickson....MSU
Covill....WSU
Williams....Maryland
McElmurry....EWU
Next up is Mason Quinn from French town ...she would be a good get. She has a number of West Coast currently MWC soon to be Pac 12 interest/offers
I think it is helpful to remember, the Zags offer Lofing they are coming from a position of strength, not weakness. This wasn't a purposeful oversight on Lofing, Montana had her in, recruited her but a WCC and potentially Pac-?? school with more to offer beat the UM out.
Gonzaga womens program is a top 50 NCAA program over the past few years, plays in a more competitive conference, and has had success recruiting in Montana.
I don't think kids are by residence required to be recruited by Montana, I don't expect them to give the LG a home town discount, and simply there doesn't need to be a single Montana girl on the roster if they win the Big Sky, beat the Cats and get back to the NCAA on the regular.
Each of Holsingers teams have made improvement and has extended the recruiting focus beyond the outmoded model that Schweyen used to run the program into the ground. He's actually using his recruiting budget in a way that no women's coach at the UM really has ever done.
Would it be nice to get those top tier Montana girls? Absolutely. It's been more miss than hit going back to the 2010's in regards to those types of girls in Montana. We gotten a few, but not all. Started on Robin's watch, continued on through Holsinger. The best way to do it? Start winning conference championships and the tournament on the regular. The NIT tournament win was a good step, but expectations despite the turnover in personnel should be higher than last year. I think this team is close to turning the corner provided they can stay healthy (which wasn't the case last year).
Gonzaga womens program is a top 50 NCAA program over the past few years, plays in a more competitive conference, and has had success recruiting in Montana.
I don't think kids are by residence required to be recruited by Montana, I don't expect them to give the LG a home town discount, and simply there doesn't need to be a single Montana girl on the roster if they win the Big Sky, beat the Cats and get back to the NCAA on the regular.
Each of Holsingers teams have made improvement and has extended the recruiting focus beyond the outmoded model that Schweyen used to run the program into the ground. He's actually using his recruiting budget in a way that no women's coach at the UM really has ever done.
Would it be nice to get those top tier Montana girls? Absolutely. It's been more miss than hit going back to the 2010's in regards to those types of girls in Montana. We gotten a few, but not all. Started on Robin's watch, continued on through Holsinger. The best way to do it? Start winning conference championships and the tournament on the regular. The NIT tournament win was a good step, but expectations despite the turnover in personnel should be higher than last year. I think this team is close to turning the corner provided they can stay healthy (which wasn't the case last year).
BigSkyBreakdown
Well-known member
Agree....shouldn't be a prerequisite just being a MT kid to stay and go to MT or for the staff to recruit a kid just because they are MT kids. However the Cats are making it a priority and they have been consistent top tier BSC for last 8-10 yrs. Will Erickson, Cherrick and Berry pan out to be contributors? Time will tell.
Just confirming earlier statement with struggle to get high level MT players. The days of taking a lesser talented but higher upside kid to redshirt are over in most cases. So focusing the high level talent and making those kids and families feel special should be. If they lose out to Zags or other high level then not an issue in our opinion....that means you are recruiting the right kid. Eventually one will say yes. Recruiting is more NO's than YES.
Bottom line is coaches have to win, they need to do it quickly in today's college and professional landscape. Coaches and their staffs should recruit the best In state, out of state, portal or international. Shouldnt matter as long as games are won and banners are hung.
The real question is of the list we presented earlier who did LG offer, when did they offer and why they chose the other places....FIT? NiL? LEVEL?
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Don't forget to add Grossman from Billings to that list of MT kids playing elsewhere- she's attending EWU. For better or worse, the LG seem more interesting when you know the kids on the team, and that seems to be happening less and less. But just to play both sides of the argument, winning the conference would sure fix a lot of things.
OregonStateFan
Well-known member
My take on the situation:
Holsinger clearly wants to keep the best players in-state and I think having Montana kids on the roster is fairly important to him (otherwise he wouldn’t have added two walk-ons from Montana).
A lot of times (at least from what OSU fans have experienced) athletes may have ties to or are fans of one of the in-state universities. Did Holsinger ever have much of a chance at some of the kids who have landed at MSU? Those who seem to prefer the Griz (Gunlock, Lofing, etc.) have simply chosen better programs in bigger conferences and it’s hard to fault them for doing so.
Holsinger clearly wants to keep the best players in-state and I think having Montana kids on the roster is fairly important to him (otherwise he wouldn’t have added two walk-ons from Montana).
A lot of times (at least from what OSU fans have experienced) athletes may have ties to or are fans of one of the in-state universities. Did Holsinger ever have much of a chance at some of the kids who have landed at MSU? Those who seem to prefer the Griz (Gunlock, Lofing, etc.) have simply chosen better programs in bigger conferences and it’s hard to fault them for doing so.
BigSkyBreakdown
Well-known member
Solid points, but we would say that Cherrick and Erickson were kids that Holsinger had opportunities to recruit. McElmurry and Grossman as well.
Gunlock and Lofing as you say preferred the Griz....but chose "better" options. Was it because of LEVEL? NIL? or FIT? Those are the questions needed to be figured out by LG staff as they move forward. How do you compete with the upper level mid to power 4 level schools.....relationships with those recruits, families, coaches (AAU and HS) and then eventually you land one. Lofing played for META HOOPS owned and operated by Holsingers brother/family if we are not mistaken. Coach Gill of META is one of the key pieces to the puzzle with that group.
Giving 2 local HS kids walk on spots does not make recruiting MT a priority in our opinion. Otherwise they would have offered a walk on spot to a better skilled kid like McElmurry who is now going to EWU.
OregonStateFan
Well-known member
Holsginer did recruit Erickson. She was offered and visited. Definitely agree on Cherrick though.
Without knowing any specifics of NIL or how they view themselves as a fit, with BYU being in the Big 12 and Gonzaga being a perennial top-25 team it doesn't surprise me that Gunlock and Lofing took their biggest offers in terms of level. Washington easily outrecruits Gonzaga and its solely because of conference affiliation IMO. Just how WBB works most of the time.
What are the chances of someone with a Big Sky offer choose to walk on at Montana? I'd guess pretty low.
I've always been a fan of the LG getting top tier MT girls. Other girls on D-1 rosters are Hansen at Boise St., Moore at Wake Forest, and Cummings at Long Beach St. If they don't "hold serve" with someone like Quinn from Frenchtown or maybe even Laird from Loyola, I'd say there may be an issue. If the LG did not offer Chirrick, they are crazy. Literally one of the best athletes I've seen. Apparently AZ and Villanova thought enough of her to offer.
BigSkyBreakdown
Well-known member
Only Holsinger and staff know these answers. Thought the topic was interesting.
Quite a list of talent from the state and only recently has it been getting this much exposure. Montana talent can thank Blazers and Meta for this in our opinion.
Recruiting is strange and with NIL it's even more bizarre.
BigSkyBreakdown
Well-known member
Laird is a solid talent. They could have more leverage with her than Quinn in our opinion. Quinn already has future Pac12 offers and interest. But like we said....Swing for the fences and see what happens. Pull out all the stops but have contingency plans. The portal offers all sorts of plan B and C.
Who are the bigs that are offered by LG? Those should be priority in our opinion.
In three regular recruiting cycles, EVERY Montana kid (except Wacker who may have committed before Coach H) has "gotten away". There's never a guarantee with any kid, but to be zero for 10 or 12 (that seems to be roughly the number of D1 Montana kids in the last three years) is worrisome. Every case is unique and recruiting is bizarre and I can't begrudge anyone for the choices they make, but for everyone to pass on UM? Yikes.
OregonStateFan
Well-known member
Wacker committed after Holsinger. I wouldn't necessarily say 0 for 10-12 because you can't fault him for missing on kids that he didn't offer.
Not sure who all he offered aside from Covill, Erickson, Williams, Lofing, and Gunlock. Maybe Hansen? Half of them went on to play in Power 5 conferences and another at a perennial top-25 program.
I agree it's tough and far from ideal, but I also saw the same thing happen over at Oregon State despite being a perennial top-25 team. Hard to fault kids for not wanting to stay in state, especially when they have the opportunity to play in a bigger conference.
From what I have heard over the past few years, the staff expected for a lot of their effort to recruit Montana girls a bit more success. They have to be frustrated because they have to have felt that with a few of those girls who they did put in effort with, to make a decision to go elsewhere. As I noted in the prior post, is that it is hard to argue with a program who comes in, even at the last minute who has upper end MWC/Pac12/etc type credentials you can't fault them for listening.
Maybe its the staff, maybe it is how they recruit, maybe it is long term relationships, who knows. College hoops recruiting is a crap shoot and it is abundantly clear for all their efforts to re-establish recruiting connections in Montana, that it hasn't worked out in the way they envisioned or that matter what fans want/expect.
I haven't heard anything w/in the past few months about Quinn. I think its reasonable to think that Quinn because of her exposure already, that Montana may not be at the apex of her offers (when she starts receiving them) and would be a rather crowded list of potential suitors.
Maybe its the staff, maybe it is how they recruit, maybe it is long term relationships, who knows. College hoops recruiting is a crap shoot and it is abundantly clear for all their efforts to re-establish recruiting connections in Montana, that it hasn't worked out in the way they envisioned or that matter what fans want/expect.
I haven't heard anything w/in the past few months about Quinn. I think its reasonable to think that Quinn because of her exposure already, that Montana may not be at the apex of her offers (when she starts receiving them) and would be a rather crowded list of potential suitors.
BelierPeaux
Well-known member
Anyone know if Brooklyn Pierce has been recruited by the Lady Griz? I heard she was offered by EWU in the last few days. I know her sister is playing volleyball at the U so maybe it's not such a wild idea that she would want to come to the same school as her sister. (No idea if she is more of a basketballer or volleyballer at this point.)
WyomingGrizFan
Well-known member
Excellent in both sports, evidently: https://www.hudl.com/profile/18891994/Brooklyn-Pierce
Hopefully the LG consider her for basketball. Looks like she'd be a great addition.
By the way, I've noticed Adria has made a lot of garbage baskets in her career so far. A lot of players on the team seemingly are going to be hard to keep off the court. OHSA Approved.
Lady Griz are definitely recruiting her hard and recruited her sister hard. They were actually shocked when she committed to Montana…but for volleyball. Family is half cats and half Griz. Both schools recruiting the younger one. We will see.
OregonStateFan
Well-known member
2026 Kate Holmquist, a 5-7 guard from Minnesota, has committed:
WyomingGrizFan
Well-known member
Interesting that Kate Holmquist out of Maple Grove, Minnesota is [Classof2026].
That's like signing someone that was but previously a sophomore last season. That's a rarity for the Lady Griz. Last time I believe that happened was with a Molly Klinker a while back.
That's like signing someone that was but previously a sophomore last season. That's a rarity for the Lady Griz. Last time I believe that happened was with a Molly Klinker a while back.
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