Growler1 said:
............. win at least one NCAA tournament game
Amen! I am sure Tinkle would not argue that, either, and on the same page, too. :thumb:
The 2011/12 season turned out to be a defining season, and measuring stick for Wayne's program.
Even the most optimistic GRIZ fan expected a 2nd or 3rd place conference season, and maybe 11-5 or 10-6 like conference record.
As a whole, we were not too optimistic, after Qvale graduated. His replacements were young, inexperienced, or out of place trying to replace Qvale. Credit to the players, and staff, by mid December, they realized fitting round pegs in square holes, would not get the job done.
Collectively, they changed roles, and strategies, which utilized every player's strengths, and helped hide their weaknesses. Defensively, Derek Selvig became more a paint shadow and area defender, than a true post up defender. They utilized his length by letting him defend space, verses the heads up physical game. That alone was brilliant. Derek stayed fresher, cut down on fouls, and he looked much more comfortable.
Art Steward and Kareem Jamar were used more in posting up smaller, or not as strong defenders. Both were very effective, scoring, in the paint. Steward defended post players well, with his hands, and strength, he was almost a GRIZ version of Charles Barkley, minus the huge rebounding numbers.
Speaking of rebounding, with Selvig not in foul trouble as much, he put up solid numbers. The perimeter players were expected to contribute more to rebounding, and they did just that.
Mathias Ward was used in a number of ways offensively. If a big was on him, they took advantage of Ward's very nice medium to long range shooting. If teams used a smaller guy on him, Mathias scored from the paint well. Again, going away from the conventional PF/post type role, and utilizing his strengths. Got to admit, Mathias had one hell of a 2nd half of the season, and was an all conference player during the conference tournament.
Another unexpected wrinkle, was to save wear and tear on Cherry, having Jamar run the offense. That role increased as the season did. Not only did it conserve some energy for Cherry, but decreased the pressure on Cherry, and Selvig, in distributing. As the season played out, Jamar turned out to be the GRIZ best playmaker, in making teammates better. To be honest, playmaking is the one thing I feel Cherry has to improve on to see himself getting drafted. Damian Lilliard can be a playmaker, when needed. Cherry has yet to do that consistently. Again, brilliant changes by the staff.
The 2011/12 season also brought something new out of coach Tinkle, which is hard for coaches to develop, and some never do. Tinkle finally went with his gut feelings with our role players, and often it played off. It seemed like, every game we had a different bench guy come up big, in whatever role he was expected to fill. We seen clutch moments from Henderson, Weisner, Stockton, Gregory, Hutchison, and Reader (before he was suspended). It just seemed, Wayne was more confident in every player this season, and it paid off big time. Could that be the main reason, in the best team chemistry I have ever seen in any GRIZ team? The heart, passion, and willingness to play as team, for each other was off the charts. I pray the team play, and defense continues to be a staple in the GRIZ, now and forever.
The future looks bright. This program is on the verge of getting a win or 2 in the NCAA tournament. It is nice to know, going into the 2012/13 season, the GRIZ have 3 all conference caliber players returning in, Cherry, Jamar, and Ward (I think he was just a little pissed being screwed over in the all conference voting, last season).
Who is ready for some GRIZ basketball? I always am!!!! :thumb:
