Montana @ Colorado State Game Thread

[griz71]

Breunig (sp?) on bench with 4 fouls--not good. So Montana doesn't have names on jerseys tonight,,,,hmmmn?

 

[Inland NW Griz]

Like seeing Weisner driving. If he can make that a threat, he'll get more open deep shots

 

[griz71]

58-42 CSU @ 11:47 mark. Griz showing some life on both "D" & "O"...

 

[Inland NW Griz]

I don't have sound here. Who got the "T"

 

[BWahlberg]

This would've actually been a fairly competitive game if the Griz didn't spot CSU a 23 point lead out the gate. Griz have looked much better sense.

 

[griz71]

I don't have sound here. Who got the "T"

Travis was "Teed" up...

 

[griz71]

No inside game whatsoever is killing the Griz. Tell me why when you are down 16 points you get a fast break and throw up a "3"???? :roll: :roll:

 

[Inland NW Griz]

I don't have sound here. Who got the "T"

Travis was "Teed" up...

Thanks. Sorta glad to hear it too. These players need to see some fire. They like to toss the three, but won't work for an easier shot. I kept hearing about the extra pass in articles, but didn't see it tonight. And the defense and rebounding is garbage. Height plays into it, but its mostly about effort. And they need more court awareness when taking charges.

 

[bigforkgriz]

We have had lots of open looks and not shooting that well. CSU has everything dropping. We still have little inside except for Breunig (in foul trouble)

 

[griz71]

So if the CSU player got a "T", why didn't the Griz shoot a FT? Is the MWC mirroring the BSC football officials?

 

[Inland NW Griz]

We have had lots of open looks and not shooting that well. CSU has everything dropping. We still have little inside except for Breunig (in foul trouble)

With the shooters the Griz have and the lack of d and rebounding, they would be better off slowing the game down. Run a set offense and make the d respond. I'm not sure there was a set offense tonight. just a lot of one on one and tossing bombs

 

[grizindabox]

So if the CSU player got a "T", why didn't the Griz shoot a FT? Is the MWC mirroring the BSC football officials?

It was a double technical, Gregory also got one.

 

[Inland NW Griz]

So if the CSU player got a "T", why didn't the Griz shoot a FT? Is the MWC mirroring the BSC football officials?

Not sure if you watched the last time the Griz were down there, but they got absolutely worked over. Today it wouldn't have mattered.

 

[Jaredkuehn]

Well that was fun. The Griz were obviously just out matched tonight, and even the good looks they had didn't seem fall. Time to regroup and get ready for the Broncos. We have a new coaching staff and a lot of new faces this season. Its going to take some time for it all to come together. That looks like a very good CSU team.

 

[Inland NW Griz]

Well that was fun. The Griz were obviously just out matched tonight, and even the good looks they had didn't seem fall. Time to regroup and get ready for the Broncos. We have a new coaching staff and a lot of new faces this season. Its going to take some time for it all to come together. That looks like a very good CSU team.

Not sure they were as out matched as the score reflects. They damn near shot 50% of their shots from three. (21-54 FGM, 6-24, 3PM) That's pathetic and shows they smelt their own farts after they shot well in the preseason. When near half your shots come from three, that is unexceptionable. And perimeter defense was garbage as well. If they have a set offense I'd love to see it. All I saw was an half assed pick and roll. Stockton and Malone would roll over in there basketball beds...

 

[BWahlberg]

Griz got better as the game went on. Need to build off that and put a full game together. Liked the full court defense, moved the ball around better in the 2nd half.

Too much just running to a space and shooting, didn't seem like a lot of developed plays out there. Felt more like I was watching a game at the rec center at times.

 

[Inland NW Griz]

Griz got better as the game went on. Need to build off that and put a full game together. Liked the full court defense, moved the ball around better in the 2nd half.

Too much just running to a space and shooting, didn't seem like a lot of developed plays out there. Felt more like I was watching a game at the rec center at times.

Defense was better. Really hope they play inside out next game, because they have some sharp shooters that can hit some shots. Sadly, all they did tonight was toss bombs. I really think if they can have some semblance of a game plan, they have a chance. Tonight all they did was toss 3's.

 

[citygriz]

watched every minute on root at a sports bar. walking home, i felt a great deal of pride about this team. they were getting their butts kicked early and could have quit. they didn't. they fought, scratched and hustled right up to the end. you can't eliminate the first ten minutes, but you can say that after that, montana played them heads up. this team showed character, and that is huge in any sport. (ah, remember how the dodgers were going to win the world series while the giants had no chance? heh, heh.)

the good.

--once we woke up, i liked our defense. good hustling switching man-to-man, with guys quickly doubling when the ball went into the post. when we went to the full-court press we got some turnovers, and dunn was quick enough to get back to prevent uncontested layups. if we can play defense with the intensity we showed in the second half, we're going to be a good defensive team.
--our depth. looks like decuire is going ten deep, maybe eleven. i like that. keeps everybody fresh, all heads in the game.
--krslovic. gonna be a good one for us.
--gregory and weisner. looks like they're ready to provide great senior leadership on a team where nine of 13 guys are freshmen or sophomores.

the bad.
--gotta set our alarm clocks half an hour earlier, and show up with more venom. took our kids time to adjust to the speed and the strength of colorado state. guess we thought we were still playing division two teams. particularly vexing to me was one lazy pass after we got an early rebound--turnover...three points the other way. the rumble starts at tipoff guys!
--rebounding. we knew that. basketball is simple: you can't score if you don't have the ball. you don't have the ball if you can't rebound. it's like, two plus two equals four. the stats showed we had three offensive rebounds. i don't believe it! i couldn't count one. they were bigger and quicker to the boards, and that's something we're going to have to work on. in fairness to decuire, this was a problem he inherited. tinks was always going after "combo" guards. jeez, get us some tight ends! some bangers! some serial killers!
--pass the damned ball! seems we walked the ball up the court, then made a pass. every time we made a pass, the first instinct of the guy receiving the pass was to dribble the ball. no! move that sucker! hot potato, hot potato! no reason for the ball ever to hit the court--unless you have an obvious uncontested path to the basket. like rebounding, it's simple: ball moves faster than opponent! i can see that when we get rebounds, decuire wants that ball up court fast, and i like that. but since we're such a poor rebounding team, let's make that ball hum on offense. san antonio does. colorado state did last night as well. their passing was much crisper than ours. there's just no excuse for not passing the damned ball.

but walking home, i was not feeling embarassed at all. csu shot lights out; we won't run into many teams that hot, that early. our kids fought, showed character. they won the second half. if they can maintain their second-half intensity for an entire game, they'll soon be winning both halves.

 

[UMGriz75]

watched every minute on root at a sports bar. walking home, i felt a great deal of pride about this team. they were getting their butts kicked early and could have quit. they didn't. they fought, scratched and hustled right up to the end. you can't eliminate the first ten minutes, but you can say that after that, montana played them heads up. this team showed character, and that is huge in any sport.

I agree. Gregory and Weisner really played well; the game announcers mentioned Weisner's surprising aggressiveness several times. Notably, he played almost the entire game and did NOT foul out. Last year, it would have been a blood bath. Obviously a lot of off-season practice driving to the basket. The two of them will motivate this team. Not happy with the final score, but very glad to see the game.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

watched every minute on root at a sports bar. walking home, i felt a great deal of pride about this team. they were getting their butts kicked early and could have quit. they didn't. they fought, scratched and hustled right up to the end. you can't eliminate the first ten minutes, but you can say that after that, montana played them heads up. this team showed character, and that is huge in any sport.

Citay: My game and post-game experience/impressions mirror yours very closely. Too cold for me to walk to&fro the sports bar, so I drove. Rather than quote your whole post, I'd like to add my impressions as emphasis that this team will be ok.

Points of concern:

1. Remember that -- unlike all other Big Sky teams except the Cats -- this was the first game played by a young team undergoing a complete coaching transition... under a new head man coaching his first-ever Division 1 game. There were bound to be some nerves. I was, however, surprised at the very obvious case of nerves by Breuning and, most particularly by Dunn; didn't expect that.

2. Early shot selection was poor & led to quick transition buckets by the Rams. Montana's new style promotes outside shooting, but several players forced shots that had no chance.

3. Miserable % on OPEN shots -- Had the Griz shot a measly 5% better from the field, they would have made a game of it in the second half. This team won't win many games anywhere with a percentage lower than 45-48%. Proof: Gregory (4-12), Edmonds (0-5), Bradshaw (1-4). That said, I'm pretty confident this can/will be a much better shooting team soon.

4. Rebounds -- not a concern at this point (see below).

5. Toughness -- This team did not start its season with the kind of toughness we regularly saw from Travis DeCuire when he was a player. The Griz played scared for the first 15-18 minutes, then started slumping visibly. Body language was easy to read.

6. Frontcourt play -- Breunig and Kemp looked a bit lost: three boards between the two, six of Montana's 13 turnovers by the two. They DID combine for 10 points (well above last year's average for 4-5) I'm hoping we'll see them settle down soon. I know from coach DeCuire's post-game comments that changes/improvements will be expected.

Good signs:

1. Competitive second half -- Griz outplayed and outscored the Rams 36-32 in the second frame, had fewer turnovers (17-13), had more steals (6-2), and played an aggressive second half paint game that forced the Rams to foul (the Griz outscored the Rams in the paint 30-18). The only problem was a poor 17-25 mark from the stripe.

2. Offensive adjustments -- Second half offensive efficiency was dramatically improved. After clawing back to within 16 the Griz had a chance... only to see the Rams knock down three quick treys... a time frame where Montana missed 4-5 OPEN shots that could have kept them in the game. Emphasis on the positive: if the Griz make 1-2 shots at this juncture, they could have made a game of it.

3. Everybody plays -- Coach DeCuire played everyone last night and that's good. Nine of the 12 players logged double-digit minutes. Only Lopez, Nwosu and DeJong played fewer, but everyone got to see significant action. That will pay dividends later. This has the marks of a balanced, deep team.

4. Rebounding -- I'm not as worried as others about rebounding. Our guards continue to board well, and Michael Weisner will continue to improve. I honestly believe that -- with floor minutes -- Krslovic will improve markedly. Last night's rebounding stats were skewed by Montana's poor shooting. The Grizzlies missed 31 of their 52 shots; the Rams rebounded 28 of them. If Montana continues to shoot poorly, they'll continue to be outrebounded. I don't think that will happen, at least to the degree it did last night.

5. Individual play --
• Montana's young frosh post Fabijan Krslovic served notice that he'll be a force. Sooner than later. In 22 minutes Krslovic scored seven points, had three rebounds, a block and a steal. He'd better work on his free throws, because opponents will have to foul him. On one of his buckets, despite being fouled hard across both arms, he was still strong enough to muscle the shot into the bucket. He catches passes, he posts up huge, he plays solid D.
• Backup point Riley Bradshaw played an aggressive, heady game. I'm actually a bit surprised that he didn't play more minutes. He sped the offense up, drove well and showed that there will be very little drop off (if any) in Montana's point play this year.
• Jordan Gregory is an emotional guy and got down on himself early. He shot poorly and got hammered a few times when he should have had free throws. But he'll be ok. If 3-4 of his very close misses had gone down this would have been a game.
• My highest compliments are for Michael Weisner, who has added a new dimension to his game his senior season. 16 points, a team-leading 5 boards, 2 assists, a steal and only 2 turnovers, despite being in heavy traffic all night. W now has license to drive the lane and did so last night with the promise of good things to come. Some of his close misses on drives will start to drop. The only uncharacteristic aspect of W's game last night was two missed free throws.

Montana's pre-season will continue to be brutal. Boise State is ranked higher than Colorado State. I look forward to seeing how the Griz adapt.