Lady Griz

[Silvertip]

Maybe you can create a board game featuring Mandy and the Shannon Cates of two decades ago. Fun maybe, but try dealing in the here and now which is what Robin and LG fans are going to have to deal with. BTW, with all due repect to Shannon, it's a different game than it was back in 1990. Dream on...

I am going to try to make this simple for you Tipper.

Childhood friends of mine were extremely successful in school and able to attend Stanford, Cornell, Princeton and other prestigious schools. My friends could have said "no" to the academic scholarships to Stanford, Cornell, etc. to stay in Montana.

My point about Mandy and Shannon was that they chose to attend college in Missoula despite having options to go elsewhere. We were lucky that they stayed and played for the Lady Griz.

Understand?

Again, basic for you Tipper. Robin Selvig recruits the best kids he can get. Same with our other HC's. Unless you have evidence otherwise, our UM head coaches are recruiting the best players available. Give me specific evidence that Bo turns down a great 6'2" inner-city kid with great scholastic habits/grades in lieu of a marginal 5'7" montana girl.

Following the line of dubious reasoning from your rapsodizing about a mythical team of Cates/Morales to a belief that Selvig must make do with home grown (5' 7") midgets (interspersed with an aside about chums who went away to hot shot colleges)... well, there really isn't much there to "understand" is there?

 

[Proud Griz Man]

I am going to try to make this simple for you Tipper.

Childhood friends of mine were extremely successful in school and able to attend Stanford, Cornell, Princeton and other prestigious schools. My friends could have said "no" to the academic scholarships to Stanford, Cornell, etc. to stay in Montana.

My point about Mandy and Shannon was that they chose to attend college in Missoula despite having options to go elsewhere. We were lucky that they stayed and played for the Lady Griz.

Understand?

Again, basic for you Tipper. Robin Selvig recruits the best kids he can get. Same with our other HC's. Unless you have evidence otherwise, our UM head coaches are recruiting the best players available. Give me specific evidence that Bo turns down a great 6'2" inner-city kid with great scholastic habits/grades in lieu of a marginal 5'7" montana girl.

Following the line of dubious reasoning from your rapsodizing about a mythical team of Cates/Morales to a belief that Selvig must make do with home grown (5' 7") midgets (interspersed with an aside about chums who went away to hot shot colleges)... well, there really isn't much there to "understand" is there?

Again Mr. hyperbole Tipper, I am waiting for specific evidence from you. I am asking you for a response about what hot-shot out-of-state all-american caliber players were denied scholarships to UM in lieu of the home-grown kids. I expect you will not answer, but deflect into another BS rant.

 

[Hamilton Grizzly]

Unless Joslyn could have shut down Zealous she would not have changed the outcome of the game. When our posts got touches they did a fine job but since the press ate up so much clock we rarely got them looks in the second half. Joslyn surely would have helped but we still would have gotten destroyed without a better ballhandler and defender.

 

[Silvertip]

Huh? You're ff:

 

[Silvertip]

...South Dakota State's women did in their first ever first round NCAA appearance. Lady Jaclrabbits beat
TCU 90-55 nailing 16 - 3 pointers. Maybe they're recruiting street tough kids from the East, but could be they're area kids raised on lefse and lutefisk.

 

[Grizflips]

...South Dakota State's women did in their first ever first round NCAA appearance. Lady Jaclrabbits beat
TCU 90-55 nailing 16 - 3 pointers. Maybe they're recruiting street tough kids from the East, but could be they're area kids raised on lefse and lutefisk.

Street tough kids? Oh, you mean kids that actually know how to play basketball, thus why the Big East will always be the best for mens and womens basketball. And SDSU's team is made up of mostly South Dakota girls, only about three to four of them are not from the state.

 

[mtgrizrule]

Wow not quite sure if I should post about the Lady Griz after a thorough butt whooping. Alot of touchy people in GRIZNATION after that one. The way the men and Lady GRIZ end their seasons were on sour notes. For the men, a huge letdown and major disappointment. For the women, they went as far as most us expected. We are just surprised and disappointed in the how they went down for 2 years running. This GRIZ fan is plenty happy with the coaches of each program, and am not going to be calling for anyone's job. As for Robin, I think he has earned the loyality of Montana fans. Collectively, we should be thankful for what he has done, and will continue to do for our loved school and great state. For those that are not behind him, well, "Be Careful what you wish for." (See Nebraska fans after losing Tom Osborn).

I do find it something rather ironic. If the men were to get destroyed like that in a NCAA tourney game, many more fans would be screaming for Tinkle's job. Fortunately for Robin, his team's very rarely struggle to that extreme. When they have struggled in the Big Sky, they have grown accustomed to a dog fight and close game. Results like that, show the difference between the conferences and talent. For any BSC team, men or women, to beat an Elite team, we need to play a near perfect game.

I too was diappointed in the Lady GRIZ seeming to have no answer for Pitt. However, after watching that game a few times, I hope Robin sees somethings I have regarding some more things we need to add to the Lady GRIZ. I feel last year, it motivated them to get stronger, and I feel they were way stronger this year. The Lady GRIZ were at a clear physical disadvantage in terms of height and athleticism. It did not help that Mandy has lost alot of quickness and confidence due to her knees or foot. (I still am not sure what is hampering her.). I have seen Mandy play healthy, and she is a good enough ball hander, when healthy to do damage to a press like that. Not one time, did I see her try breaking the press with ballhandling, which I found surprising. Not one time, did I see her crossover, stop and pop on a dime for a bucket. Over her time here, we have all seen her do some pretty amazing things. A healthy Mandy makes for a fun show against Zellous. Zellous was healthy. Mandy beat up and hurting.

As good as Mandy is, I really do think the Pitt game exposed some flaws with personnel.
(1) We need more taller and more athletic bigs, true 4 and 5's. Ena is extremely talented, but physically she is a 3, verging a 2. Lohman did one hell of a job if you ask me, holding her own as an undersized 5. Once again, her game is more of 3 and a swing 4. A coach cannot coach height, so I hope the LG land some talented bigs.

(2) We need alot of work on ballhandling, if we expect to beat team like Pitt. I would have liked to seen more of Shawnte Johnson or a healthy Mandy. Those were the only 2 players with even a chance to break that trap. I am guessing Shawnte's inexperience came into play when trying to decide to use her or not for that. We could have used a Brooklyn Lorenzen type of PG. As things stand now, the only option Robin has is to expect all Lady GRIZ to commit to ballhandling in the offseason. It would have been nice to have one of our 3's been capable enough ballhanders to break that. Pitt figured out at halftime, that if they forced the ball to anyone but Mandy we would struggle with their trap. If any one of our posts were solid ball handler and perimeter distributors, they could have gotten Pitt out of that trap, and in turn keep that game in a half court game. Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't Lauren Beck have some PG experience and is 6'0"? Why not put her in the middle of the court? Put her where we were losing Lohman. If I recall correctly, Beck is a solid ballhandler.

So over the last 2 years, we have learned we need to get stronger, taller, more athletic, and better at ball handling. The Lady GRIZ have no control over who commits and who does not. All they can do is go after taller, more athletic players. Everythingelse are things that can be improved by practice and dedication. Ladies, time to dribble the ball around campus! Thanks for a great year and another BSC championship!

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

Wow not quite sure if I should post about the Lady Griz after a thorough butt whooping. Alot of touchy people in GRIZNATION after that one. The way the men and Lady GRIZ end their seasons were on sour notes. For the men, a huge letdown and major disappointment. For the women, they went as far as most us expected. We are just surprised and disappointed in the how they went down for 2 years running. This GRIZ fan is plenty happy with the coaches of each program, and am not going to be calling for anyone's job. As for Robin, I think he has earned the loyality of Montana fans. Collectively, we should be thankful for what he has done, and will continue to do for our loved school and great state. For those that are not behind him, well, "Be Careful what you wish for." (See Nebraska fans after losing Tom Osborn).

I do find it something rather ironic. If the men were to get destroyed like that in a NCAA tourney game, many more fans would be screaming for Tinkle's job. Fortunately for Robin, his team's very rarely struggle to that extreme. When they have struggled in the Big Sky, they have grown accustomed to a dog fight and close game. Results like that, show the difference between the conferences and talent. For any BSC team, men or women, to beat an Elite team, we need to play a near perfect game.

I too was diappointed in the Lady GRIZ seeming to have no answer for Pitt. However, after watching that game a few times, I hope Robin sees somethings I have regarding some more things we need to add to the Lady GRIZ. I feel last year, it motivated them to get stronger, and I feel they were way stronger this year. The Lady GRIZ were at a clear physical disadvantage in terms of height and athleticism. It did not help that Mandy has lost alot of quickness and confidence due to her knees or foot. (I still am not sure what is hampering her.). I have seen Mandy play healthy, and she is a good enough ball hander, when healthy to do damage to a press like that. Not one time, did I see her try breaking the press with ballhandling, which I found surprising. Not one time, did I see her crossover, stop and pop on a dime for a bucket. Over her time here, we have all seen her do some pretty amazing things. A healthy Mandy makes for a fun show against Zellous. Zellous was healthy. Mandy beat up and hurting.

As good as Mandy is, I really do think the Pitt game exposed some flaws with personnel.
(1) We need more taller and more athletic bigs, true 4 and 5's. Ena is extremely talented, but physically she is a 3, verging a 2. Lohman did one hell of a job if you ask me, holding her own as an undersized 5. Once again, her game is more of 3 and a swing 4. A coach cannot coach height, so I hope the LG land some talented bigs.

(2) We need alot of work on ballhandling, if we expect to beat team like Pitt. I would have liked to seen more of Shawnte Johnson or a healthy Mandy. Those were the only 2 players with even a chance to break that trap. I am guessing Shawnte's inexperience came into play when trying to decide to use her or not for that. We could have used a Brooklyn Lorenzen type of PG. As things stand now, the only option Robin has is to expect all Lady GRIZ to commit to ballhandling in the offseason. It would have been nice to have one of our 3's been capable enough ballhanders to break that. Pitt figured out at halftime, that if they forced the ball to anyone but Mandy we would struggle with their trap. If any one of our posts were solid ball handler and perimeter distributors, they could have gotten Pitt out of that trap, and in turn keep that game in a half court game. Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't Lauren Beck have some PG experience and is 6'0"? Why not put her in the middle of the court? Put her where we were losing Lohman. If I recall correctly, Beck is a solid ballhandler.

So over the last 2 years, we have learned we need to get stronger, taller, more athletic, and better at ball handling. The Lady GRIZ have no control over who commits and who does not. All they can do is go after taller, more athletic players. Everythingelse are things that can be improved by practice and dedication. Ladies, time to dribble the ball around campus! Thanks for a great year and another BSC championship!

Good post. Yes, Lauren Beck has played point guard. Decent ball handler, but I doubt she would have been able to beat that press. But, Beck may be close to same height as Lohman but she isn't as strong as Lohman or as good defensively.

I expect Selvig to use one of the two scholarships he still has available for this spring signing period to get a taller player.

I expect mandy to participate in tryouts for WNBA. I hope she does well, if she does.

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

...South Dakota State's women did in their first ever first round NCAA appearance. Lady Jaclrabbits beat
TCU 90-55 nailing 16 - 3 pointers. Maybe they're recruiting street tough kids from the East, but could be they're area kids raised on lefse and lutefisk.

South Dakota State got a real favorable seeding due to beating some real good teams in non-conference.

Lady Griz did not get a very favorable seeding because they did not beat anyone. PSU is the Lady Griz's best win and they really aren't anyone in the eyes of the selection committee. Maybe if Lady Griz beat Gonzaga this year, Lady Griz would have been seeded 12th playing Xavier and Gonzaga 13th playing Pitt instead. If Lady Griz beat both Gonzaga and South Dakota State, who knows how high Lady Griz could have been. Certainly a much better matchup, and more winnable. And South Dakota State would have been seeded lower and may not have had such a great seed and favorable matchup.

But, Lady Griz didn't win, so it really is pointless bringing up South Dakota state. Lady Griz were seeded where they deserved.

 

[GrizLA]

There really is no point in beating this to death. There is simply no excuse for the meltdown of the LG in the second half...size, athleticism, etc....they could have won...the size, athleticism, aggessiveness needed was there in the first half...

Now, for the kicker to prove some posters here are not trying to make Robin a scapegoat. They would not have gotten that far without him, I expect....But, I watched a comparable group of women, the EQUAL TO THE LADY GRIZ, if not lesser, beat a better, faster, more athletic and agressive team with a storied coach and they did it by sheer determinination...Ball State beat the legend of womens' bball, Tennessee....and, another comp would be South Dakota or Gonzaga. It appears that the womens programs in comparable situations is keeping with the times and style of play needed to be successful on a national level. For some reason, the Lady Griz seem to play in a style that might be in a time warp when women's basketball was beginning to develop. The UM Ladies were leaders then....now, I suspect it will be PSU and Montana State to bring Big Sky bball up to the level it is played today....that's it....please, keep your threatening emails to yourselves...if you can't take a critique of a bad game... a game where a record was tied for ineptness, unnecessarily, then that is your problem....
We all want the Griz to shine....in everything....insulting each other only creates different problems...by the way, to those whose emails and remarks regarding my loss of bucks when I bet on the LG, you have no idea of much...Had I won, every dollar would have gone directly to the Foundation, doubling my usual donation....ah, well, the Farm never stops...the Griz loss is their minute gain....See y'all next year.....Go Griz!

 

[GrizLA]

Sve your energy...I know there are grammatical and spelling errors...fingers can't keep up with each other, these days...

 

[mtgrizrule]

Wow not quite sure if I should post about the Lady Griz after a thorough butt whooping. Alot of touchy people in GRIZNATION after that one. The way the men and Lady GRIZ end their seasons were on sour notes. For the men, a huge letdown and major disappointment. For the women, they went as far as most us expected. We are just surprised and disappointed in the how they went down for 2 years running. This GRIZ fan is plenty happy with the coaches of each program, and am not going to be calling for anyone's job. As for Robin, I think he has earned the loyality of Montana fans. Collectively, we should be thankful for what he has done, and will continue to do for our loved school and great state. For those that are not behind him, well, "Be Careful what you wish for." (See Nebraska fans after losing Tom Osborn).

I do find it something rather ironic. If the men were to get destroyed like that in a NCAA tourney game, many more fans would be screaming for Tinkle's job. Fortunately for Robin, his team's very rarely struggle to that extreme. When they have struggled in the Big Sky, they have grown accustomed to a dog fight and close game. Results like that, show the difference between the conferences and talent. For any BSC team, men or women, to beat an Elite team, we need to play a near perfect game.

I too was diappointed in the Lady GRIZ seeming to have no answer for Pitt. However, after watching that game a few times, I hope Robin sees somethings I have regarding some more things we need to add to the Lady GRIZ. I feel last year, it motivated them to get stronger, and I feel they were way stronger this year. The Lady GRIZ were at a clear physical disadvantage in terms of height and athleticism. It did not help that Mandy has lost alot of quickness and confidence due to her knees or foot. (I still am not sure what is hampering her.). I have seen Mandy play healthy, and she is a good enough ball hander, when healthy to do damage to a press like that. Not one time, did I see her try breaking the press with ballhandling, which I found surprising. Not one time, did I see her crossover, stop and pop on a dime for a bucket. Over her time here, we have all seen her do some pretty amazing things. A healthy Mandy makes for a fun show against Zellous. Zellous was healthy. Mandy beat up and hurting.

As good as Mandy is, I really do think the Pitt game exposed some flaws with personnel.
(1) We need more taller and more athletic bigs, true 4 and 5's. Ena is extremely talented, but physically she is a 3, verging a 2. Lohman did one hell of a job if you ask me, holding her own as an undersized 5. Once again, her game is more of 3 and a swing 4. A coach cannot coach height, so I hope the LG land some talented bigs.

(2) We need alot of work on ballhandling, if we expect to beat team like Pitt. I would have liked to seen more of Shawnte Johnson or a healthy Mandy. Those were the only 2 players with even a chance to break that trap. I am guessing Shawnte's inexperience came into play when trying to decide to use her or not for that. We could have used a Brooklyn Lorenzen type of PG. As things stand now, the only option Robin has is to expect all Lady GRIZ to commit to ballhandling in the offseason. It would have been nice to have one of our 3's been capable enough ballhanders to break that. Pitt figured out at halftime, that if they forced the ball to anyone but Mandy we would struggle with their trap. If any one of our posts were solid ball handler and perimeter distributors, they could have gotten Pitt out of that trap, and in turn keep that game in a half court game. Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't Lauren Beck have some PG experience and is 6'0"? Why not put her in the middle of the court? Put her where we were losing Lohman. If I recall correctly, Beck is a solid ballhandler.

So over the last 2 years, we have learned we need to get stronger, taller, more athletic, and better at ball handling. The Lady GRIZ have no control over who commits and who does not. All they can do is go after taller, more athletic players. Everythingelse are things that can be improved by practice and dedication. Ladies, time to dribble the ball around campus! Thanks for a great year and another BSC championship!

Good post. Yes, Lauren Beck has played point guard. Decent ball handler, but I doubt she would have been able to beat that press. But, Beck may be close to same height as Lohman but she isn't as strong as Lohman or as good defensively.

I expect Selvig to use one of the two scholarships he still has available for this spring signing period to get a taller player.

I expect mandy to participate in tryouts for WNBA. I hope she does well, if she does.

Let me further clarify my reference to Lohman and Beck. I was not referring that Lohman should have been on the bench. I was implying, I thought Beck would have been a better fit being utilized where Lohman was being utilized. Lohman is strong, good rebounder, and good defender. She has very little experience handling the ball outside of 15 feet against traps and the press. Meanwhile Beck is tall enough to get the passes, and a much better ballhandler. Her skills are much more geared toward that kind of trap and press than Lohmans are. Also Lohman is a better rebounder and inside player than Beck. The way those 2 in particular were being utilized really confused me during the game, and still confuses me.

Granted, Robin knows his players better than anyone here. I just wonder why he did not interchange their roles against Pitts defense? Logically speaking, with the talent at hand, this is the one thing I feel he could have tried at the very least. I also am wondering why Sonya was not used more handling the ball? I know her role of late has been that of perimeter scorer and tough defender, but I know she used to be a pretty solid ballhandler. The way this game turned out, it ended as if Mandy was our only legit ballhandler, despite being hurt. Why didn't the LG utilize Beck, Rogers, and Johnson more, and put so much on Lohman in taking care of the ball in that trap?

Other coaches please elaborate. I coach, and really am wondering why other things were not tried? Then again, I am not as close to the LG as many in Missoula are, so I could be way out of line in my opinion here. Am I overconfident or over estimating the abilities of Beck, Rogers, and Johnson? I do not want to want this observation to come out wrong. I know damn well myself or anyone of us could not do a better job than Robin. Robin is the best ever at Montana, and rest of us are no more than armchair coaches. Someone that knows the LG well please offer me some kind of feedback as to why these things were not attempted with our personnel?