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Montana's Energy Leaves Nevada Out of Spelling Bee
By PETE THAMEL
Published: March 17, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY, March 16 — After helping lead Montana to its first N.C.A.A. tournament victory in 31 years and capping one of the great walk-on stories in college basketball, guard Kevin Criswell wanted to make sure everything went right with his storybook day.
Montana's Kevin Criswell, whose name was misspelled on a tournament placard, and Nevada's Nick Fazekas grappling for possession.
So when he arrived at the news conference after 12th-seeded Montana's 87-79 victory Thursday over fifth-seeded Nevada, Criswell politely asked the moderator for a pen and grabbed the placard with his name on it in front of his seat. In black ink, he drew an extra "l" on the end of his name, having noticed the day before it had been misspelled.
"Well, I mean we're in the N.C.A.A. tournament," Criswell said later. "I would think that they'd at least get my name right. I want people to know what my name really is."
Criswell, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, should not have much trouble with that the rest of the weekend. He scored 18 points, one of four Grizzlies in double digits, as Montana dominated Nevada and never trailed. It was the first N.C.A.A. tournament victory for the Grizzlies since 1975 when they beat Michigan and lost to U.C.L.A., the eventual national champion, by 3 points in the second round.
No one epitomizes this scrappy band of overachievers better than Criswell, whose floppy hair and undefined physique would leave him unlikely to be chosen in a pick-up game. But using sneaky quickness and smarts, Criswell evolved from a walk-on to the school's fourth-leading career scorer.
Criswell is from Colstrip, Mont., which he said has 2,500 people and revolves around a coal power plant that supplies energy in the West. Criswell imagined a few folks taking long lunches in Colstrip on Thursday, at least those who did not make the drive down to Salt Lake City.
"It was only a 10-hour drive," Criswell said, explaining that in this part of the country that is not considered that long of a haul.
The Grizzlies delivered for all the folks who made the trip. Last year, as a No. 16 seeded team playing against No. 1 Washington, Montana looked overwhelmed early on. The Grizzlies trailed, 18-3, before the first television timeout, which negated their otherwise solid play for the last 36 minutes.
Montana jumped out to a 9-point lead over Nevada in the first seven minutes and countered every Wolfpack run for the rest of the game. The man known throughout Montana as Coach K, the former Grizzly star Larry Krystkowiak, designed two perfect plays to help ward off the final two Nevada runs.
A backdoor lay-up by Criswell off an assist from Matt Dlouhy and a baseball pass from center Andrew Strait to guard Virgil Matthews for a layup helped seal the game in the last four minutes. Strait led the Grizzlies with 22 points and held the Nevada star Nick Fazekas to 10-for-23 shooting.
"It's been that way for us all year, different guys stepping up at different moments," the Montana assistant coach Wayne Tinkle said. "It's really been how our team has jelled."
And the state has rallied around the team. Montana has a strong basketball history outside of being Phil Jackson's off-season hideaway. (Jackson met with the Grizzlies coaches in Los Angeles earlier this year after a Lakers' game.) Golden State Coach Mike Montgomery and the former Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote both coached in Missoula, and the former Knick Micheal Ray Richardson starred at Montana in the late 1970's.
Krystkowiak, who banged his way to an 11-year career in the N.B.A. after graduating from Montana, had a firm appreciation for this victory's place in Montana lore.
"This is going to be one of those deals that's great when you get older and you break out the scrapbook," Krystkowiak said.
But he stressed that there was more time to create memories in the next few days. And after he made sure the world knew the right spelling of his name, Criswell encouraged his fellow Montana natives to take in another chance at history when the Grizzlies face Boston College. After all, it is just a 10-hour drive from Colstrip.
"Hopefully we'll have some support here on Saturday and pull off an even bigger upset," he said.
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I agree, get their names right, basketball players and football players! Respect!
By PETE THAMEL
Published: March 17, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY, March 16 — After helping lead Montana to its first N.C.A.A. tournament victory in 31 years and capping one of the great walk-on stories in college basketball, guard Kevin Criswell wanted to make sure everything went right with his storybook day.
Montana's Kevin Criswell, whose name was misspelled on a tournament placard, and Nevada's Nick Fazekas grappling for possession.
So when he arrived at the news conference after 12th-seeded Montana's 87-79 victory Thursday over fifth-seeded Nevada, Criswell politely asked the moderator for a pen and grabbed the placard with his name on it in front of his seat. In black ink, he drew an extra "l" on the end of his name, having noticed the day before it had been misspelled.
"Well, I mean we're in the N.C.A.A. tournament," Criswell said later. "I would think that they'd at least get my name right. I want people to know what my name really is."
Criswell, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, should not have much trouble with that the rest of the weekend. He scored 18 points, one of four Grizzlies in double digits, as Montana dominated Nevada and never trailed. It was the first N.C.A.A. tournament victory for the Grizzlies since 1975 when they beat Michigan and lost to U.C.L.A., the eventual national champion, by 3 points in the second round.
No one epitomizes this scrappy band of overachievers better than Criswell, whose floppy hair and undefined physique would leave him unlikely to be chosen in a pick-up game. But using sneaky quickness and smarts, Criswell evolved from a walk-on to the school's fourth-leading career scorer.
Criswell is from Colstrip, Mont., which he said has 2,500 people and revolves around a coal power plant that supplies energy in the West. Criswell imagined a few folks taking long lunches in Colstrip on Thursday, at least those who did not make the drive down to Salt Lake City.
"It was only a 10-hour drive," Criswell said, explaining that in this part of the country that is not considered that long of a haul.
The Grizzlies delivered for all the folks who made the trip. Last year, as a No. 16 seeded team playing against No. 1 Washington, Montana looked overwhelmed early on. The Grizzlies trailed, 18-3, before the first television timeout, which negated their otherwise solid play for the last 36 minutes.
Montana jumped out to a 9-point lead over Nevada in the first seven minutes and countered every Wolfpack run for the rest of the game. The man known throughout Montana as Coach K, the former Grizzly star Larry Krystkowiak, designed two perfect plays to help ward off the final two Nevada runs.
A backdoor lay-up by Criswell off an assist from Matt Dlouhy and a baseball pass from center Andrew Strait to guard Virgil Matthews for a layup helped seal the game in the last four minutes. Strait led the Grizzlies with 22 points and held the Nevada star Nick Fazekas to 10-for-23 shooting.
"It's been that way for us all year, different guys stepping up at different moments," the Montana assistant coach Wayne Tinkle said. "It's really been how our team has jelled."
And the state has rallied around the team. Montana has a strong basketball history outside of being Phil Jackson's off-season hideaway. (Jackson met with the Grizzlies coaches in Los Angeles earlier this year after a Lakers' game.) Golden State Coach Mike Montgomery and the former Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote both coached in Missoula, and the former Knick Micheal Ray Richardson starred at Montana in the late 1970's.
Krystkowiak, who banged his way to an 11-year career in the N.B.A. after graduating from Montana, had a firm appreciation for this victory's place in Montana lore.
"This is going to be one of those deals that's great when you get older and you break out the scrapbook," Krystkowiak said.
But he stressed that there was more time to create memories in the next few days. And after he made sure the world knew the right spelling of his name, Criswell encouraged his fellow Montana natives to take in another chance at history when the Grizzlies face Boston College. After all, it is just a 10-hour drive from Colstrip.
"Hopefully we'll have some support here on Saturday and pull off an even bigger upset," he said.
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I agree, get their names right, basketball players and football players! Respect!
