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LadyGriz Montana State Game Thread

citygriz

Well-known member
Despite the ignominy of the occasion--or maybe because of it--this is the first time ever I've started a game thread. Testimony to how little interst there is on this board for the Lady Griz.

Fourteen turnovers in the first quarter! This is a disgrace. There's simply nothing to explain it: A rebuild, injuries, nothing you can possibly come up with. Announcers babbling about anything thing they can think of, trying desperately to make this game intersting to viewers.

As to Harris, I'd say, one and done for him. Simply nothing to grasp onto in this game. How far this once-proud program has fallen.
 
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Haslam made a terrible call hiring Harris. It was so obvious to anyone close to the program. Jordan Sullivan wanted the job and he passed on her. In fact Harris may been the worst candidate and least qualified hire, and now they are paying for it.
Did he hire Shannon Cates as well? She was the beginning of this problem.
 
Haslam made a terrible call hiring Harris. It was so obvious to anyone close to the program. Jordan Sullivan wanted the job and he passed on her. In fact Harris may been the worst candidate and least qualified hire, and now they are paying for it.
Ya except everybody here was clamoring for him to get the job. There was a lot of public pressure to hire Harris.
 
Ya except everybody here was clamoring for him to get the job. There was a lot of public pressure to hire Harris.
There were girls on the team that went to Haslam and voiced their concerns about him being the head coach, Haslam didn’t acknowledge. Shouldn’t hire someone based on a lucky run in the Big Sky Tournament. Haslam should have spoke to every single player that was going to be returning to hear their thoughts, not just two seniors who were leaving.
 
What stood out most to me was just how poor our fundamentals are. At times it reminded me of YMCA ball when kids see the double teams but dribble into it anyway, lost count of how many times we would stop at mid court and try to dribble backwards. The difference in just general athletism of the players was stark. Our girls play hard but we are just so much slower and less athletic.
 
Did he hire Shannon Cates as well? She was the beginning of this problem.

Yeah, he fired her, and she had a winning record when he did. ... I'm starting to think the problem--Stitt, Holingser, Nate--is Haslam except, to his credit, he also hired Travis and Bobby.
 
Yeah, he fired her, and she had a winning record when he did. ... I'm starting to think the problem--Stitt, Holingser, Nate--is Haslam except, to his credit, he also hired Travis and Bobby.

The issue is that Haslam fired Shannon and, in doing so, seemed to forget the history of what made the program successful. Shannon, Petrino, and even Sullivan during last year’s interview process were all dealt poor hands. Hollsinger was an outside hire, and while a change may have been understandable from a historical perspective, when the job opened again and Sullivan was available, Haslam failed to read the room.
Some point to public pressure, but what pressure is there in hiring a former Lady Griz player, the niece of a program legend, and then doubling down on outsiders instead? Sullivan represented a clear bridge between the program’s past and its future, and that opportunity was missed.
Sullivan will be available again, as will Tinkle when another change is made. The question is whether Haslam will finally hire someone who played, coached, and invested years at the university—or chase another “hot name” like Tinkle. Beyond her parents, it’s hard to see a meaningful connection to the program.
Listening to Haslam’s halftime interview—believed to be during the Idaho game—was telling. When he said no one is more passionate about Lady Griz basketball than Harris, it was clear he was defending his hire. At that moment, it confirmed what many already believed: Sullivan was, and still is, the strongest link between the program’s history and its future, and the AD completely mishandled it.
We also heard that when Utah played in Missoula earlier this year, most Lady Griz alumni were sitting behind Utah’s bench. If true, that speaks volumes.
 
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