On to Weber

[GrizBall]

I honestly believe if Decuire had access to Mountain West type players the Griz would be a force. Turns out cutting the budget for the recruitment of basketball players has its downsides. Oh well.

I don't understand this comment. DT (Colorado State) and Michael Steadman (San Jose St.) were Mountain West players. Naseem Gaskin (Utah) was a Pac-12 player. They get tons of players from California, which anecdotally is where most of the good Mountain West players come from. They recruited Brown from a Texas school, Oke from a Colorado school, Nap from a Washington and Kerr from a California school. The budget is good enough to get to these places.

I would understand if what you are saying is that in order to get better players, you may need to fly to their home area 4x and the budget only allow for 2 visits, but I just don't think that's the case.

 

[LittleBear]

I honestly believe if Decuire had access to Mountain West type players the Griz would be a force. Turns out cutting the budget for the recruitment of basketball players has its downsides. Oh well.

I don't understand this comment. DT (Colorado State) and Michael Steadman (San Jose St.) were Mountain West players. Naseem Gaskin (Utah) was a Pac-12 player. They get tons of players from California, which anecdotally is where most of the good Mountain West players come from. They recruited Brown from a Texas school, Oke from a Colorado school, Nap from a Washington and Kerr from a California school. The budget is good enough to get to these places.

I would understand if what you are saying is that in order to get better players, you may need to fly to their home area 4x and the budget only allow for 2 visits, but I just don't think that's the case.

Agreed. I think the biggest issues is swinging & missing rather than access to players. Holistically we have not done well in the portal compared to even the have-nots of the Big Sky and our high school signings haven't really panned out either over the past 5 years. But also could be more of a player development issue once they get to campus.

 

[griznative24]

I honestly believe if Decuire had access to Mountain West type players the Griz would be a force. Turns out cutting the budget for the recruitment of basketball players has its downsides. Oh well.

I don't understand this comment. DT (Colorado State) and Michael Steadman (San Jose St.) were Mountain West players. Naseem Gaskin (Utah) was a Pac-12 player. They get tons of players from California, which anecdotally is where most of the good Mountain West players come from. They recruited Brown from a Texas school, Oke from a Colorado school, Nap from a Washington and Kerr from a California school. The budget is good enough to get to these places.

I would understand if what you are saying is that in order to get better players, you may need to fly to their home area 4x and the budget only allow for 2 visits, but I just don't think that's the case.

Fair point. What I am saying is that if the Griz were theoretically in the Mountain West, the bench would be deeper and the team would more likely have the players needed to compete in the tournament. Comparing the Big Sky to the MWC is just a mute point. Sure we'll land a few transfers, but overall players are going to see the MWC as a superior place to play. Also, Gaskin could have been a great player for the Griz but he got into some serious trouble, so I don't think he's a good example. I'm still a fan of Decuire, but I would be stupid if I didn't agree that development and misses are becoming a serious issue.

 

[GrizBall]

I don't understand this comment. DT (Colorado State) and Michael Steadman (San Jose St.) were Mountain West players. Naseem Gaskin (Utah) was a Pac-12 player. They get tons of players from California, which anecdotally is where most of the good Mountain West players come from. They recruited Brown from a Texas school, Oke from a Colorado school, Nap from a Washington and Kerr from a California school. The budget is good enough to get to these places.

I would understand if what you are saying is that in order to get better players, you may need to fly to their home area 4x and the budget only allow for 2 visits, but I just don't think that's the case.

Also, Gaskin could have been a great player for the Griz but he got into some serious trouble, so I don't think he's a good example. I'm still a fan of Decuire, but I would be stupid if I didn't agree that development and misses are becoming a serious issue.

I agree on the Gaskin point and it was not my intent to minimize that situation. I was only speaking about the reach of recruiting and the types of players he could get. You can say a lot of things about Travis, but I'd bet my life he is not purposely bringing in kids of even questionable character, let alone bad character (like many other schools do).

 

[oldrunner]

I don't understand this comment. DT (Colorado State) and Michael Steadman (San Jose St.) were Mountain West players. Naseem Gaskin (Utah) was a Pac-12 player. They get tons of players from California, which anecdotally is where most of the good Mountain West players come from. They recruited Brown from a Texas school, Oke from a Colorado school, Nap from a Washington and Kerr from a California school. The budget is good enough to get to these places.

I would understand if what you are saying is that in order to get better players, you may need to fly to their home area 4x and the budget only allow for 2 visits, but I just don't think that's the case.

Fair point. What I am saying is that if the Griz were theoretically in the Mountain West, the bench would be deeper and the team would more likely have the players needed to compete in the tournament. Comparing the Big Sky to the MWC is just a mute point. Sure we'll land a few transfers, but overall players are going to see the MWC as a superior place to play. Also, Gaskin could have been a great player for the Griz but he got into some serious trouble, so I don't think he's a good example. I'm still a fan of Decuire, but I would be stupid if I didn't agree that development and misses are becoming a serious issue.

There might be a small bump up in recruiting, but not much. You would still be recruiting to a smallish Montana town and the dynamics of that would not change. You would be competing in a slightly bigger pool going after the same fish as UNM, BSU, FSU, USU, and the like. All you need to do is ask UI how that all worked out. UM in the BSC has been able to get some high quality players signed in the past and will do in the future. Every year is not going to come up diamonds. As fans, we need to learn to appreciate the process, enjoy the good and the mediocrity.

 

[Sport]

Fair point. What I am saying is that if the Griz were theoretically in the Mountain West, the bench would be deeper and the team would more likely have the players needed to compete in the tournament. Comparing the Big Sky to the MWC is just a mute point. Sure we'll land a few transfers, but overall players are going to see the MWC as a superior place to play. Also, Gaskin could have been a great player for the Griz but he got into some serious trouble, so I don't think he's a good example. I'm still a fan of Decuire, but I would be stupid if I didn't agree that development and misses are becoming a serious issue.

There might be a small bump up in recruiting, but not much. You would still be recruiting to a smallish Montana town and the dynamics of that would not change. You would be competing in a slightly bigger pool going after the same fish as UNM, BSU, FSU, USU, and the like. All you need to do is ask UI how that all worked out. UM in the BSC has been able to get some high quality players signed in the past and will do in the future. Every year is not going to come up diamonds. As fans, we need to learn to appreciate the process, enjoy the good and the mediocrity.

I really appreciate your input as a 3rd party observer of our Griz basketball program. Your comments are always on target and not inflammatory as many of our own posters tend to be.
I have been a big fan of Travis’s program since the day he set foot on our campus as the mens basketball coach. I know him pretty well and have had multiple discussions with him in person and through other channels. I have expressed concern with him about developing young talent, of which I think has not been a hall mark of his tenure.
I feel one of his shortcomings is that he still has one foot in the nineties and one foot trying to compete in todays collegiate atmosphere. For the most part today’s recruits are all about scoring and the individual stats. Travis has always been about defense and for the most part has proven to be successful. Where his teams and recruiting have not been as successful is recruiting big men and the offensive philosophy. This I question is where I would think a good assistant would be worth their weight in gold. I think the world of Chris and Jay and I know they work as hard as any assistants in basketball. I know Travis is loyal maybe to a fault for both of them and maybe he needs to add an offensive coordinator?
Both Weber and Montana are the linchpins of Big Sky basketball and this has proven over time. The last thing I want to see is Travis being let go just because a few disgruntled fans are more short term focused. And I don’t see that in the cards anytime soon unless the teams performance mirrors last years early exit.

 

[GrizBall]

I have watched the final play from a few angles now and someone will have to explain to me why Weber wasn’t given a technical. They had multiple people from the bench celebrating on the court with time remaining. And not just barely on the court.

 

[RoseyMustGo]

I took a whole lot of heat advocating for a change in direction of our BB program. I think some of you can now see why. Some of us get it a bit earlier than others. Going down with the ship before trying to bail-out the gushing water doesn't usually work.
We are in the same situation with Bobby Hauck........ fans willing to wash, rinse, and repeat year-after-year with a ship that is taking-on water. But I think most will see the light after this BB season, and after Hauck's 2023 football season.
It's time to re-take the big brother title from MSU, who now own it, but it ain't gonna happen with the current two head coaches.

 

[oldrunner]

I have watched the final play from a few angles now and someone will have to explain to me why Weber wasn’t given a technical. They had multiple people from the bench celebrating on the court with time remaining. And not just barely on the court.

That same thing was seen on our side of the fence and the question was raised. I think it was not called a T for a couple of reasons. First, the clock was stopped and would not have been started again until touched inbounds. Second, there was an injured player that was holding up play and that had to be cleared for safety concerns. Third, Travis asked for a review to add time to the clock, which he got. The players in question were hearded back to the bench before a UM player was ever ready to inbound the ball. The official was right there and waived the players back to the bench and they went there in a hurry.

Hopefully, it was a lesson learned by a walkon player. The funny part of it was the assistant coach trowing his butt to the bench.

 

[MT Jack]

I have watched the final play from a few angles now and someone will have to explain to me why Weber wasn’t given a technical. They had multiple people from the bench celebrating on the court with time remaining. And not just barely on the court.

Maybe it's karma for the Griz player running on the court at the end of the 2015 Big Sky Conference tournament semifinal game in Missoula that resulted in no repercussions (foul, technical free throws) for the Griz?

 

[sacstateman]

I have watched the final play from a few angles now and someone will have to explain to me why Weber wasn’t given a technical. They had multiple people from the bench celebrating on the court with time remaining. And not just barely on the court.

Maybe it's karma for the Griz player running on the court at the end of the 2015 Big Sky Conference tournament semifinal game in Missoula that resulted in no repercussions (foul, technical free throws) for the Griz?

Here it is.....https://youtu.be/qSSytvWuFqI

 

[grizzlyjournal]

I've watched most of (if not all) Weber State's 25 wins over Montana on the Griz home court and (going by memory here ) believe most came down to a crucial play during the final seconds of play.

I’ve also watched similar Griz wins over the Wildcats. More important to me as a fan... most were a blast to watch, win or lose.

Though I feel badly for the Griz players, especially Lonnell Martin, perhaps the ironic "karma" for Martin is that he was the Griz hero of last season's final split-second 74-72 Griz win over the Wildcats, with his twisting mid-air catch of a pass (from Cam Parker) and score banker while the game-clock flashed 0:03 overhead.

Right now I’m hoping that Josh Vazquez is ok, since he looked like the player who had the most to lose (injury) from this game.

 

[griznative24]

Also, Gaskin could have been a great player for the Griz but he got into some serious trouble, so I don't think he's a good example. I'm still a fan of Decuire, but I would be stupid if I didn't agree that development and misses are becoming a serious issue.

I agree on the Gaskin point and it was not my intent to minimize that situation. I was only speaking about the reach of recruiting and the types of players he could get. You can say a lot of things about Travis, but I'd bet my life he is not purposely bringing in kids of even questionable character, let alone bad character (like many other schools do).

No doubt in my mind about Travis, he really cares for this program. As far as character goes, and not that he was a bad dude at all, I miss Timmy Falls and I think this team could use a dude like that.