p-o-o-o-r griz-leees!!!

[citygriz]

that was the phrase to describe the lady griz game today at weber, but it didn't come from the wildcat fans, and it didn't come from the rowdy band of boisterous football bullies that sat just above the lady griz bench at the beatufiul dee events center, screaming insults at our players and the refs the entire game and causing the lead ref at one point to threaten them with a "t."

no, that's just the way we played today, a classic letdown game after a long winning streak and a tense game at idaho state. we never led, never had a run, missed bunnies, missed free throws, never played with urgency and never looked like a team threatening to break into the top 25.

the weber strategy was obvious: double-team mandy in the backcourt, making her work just to get the inbounds pass, then make her work to get the ball up court. miss mandy just looked pooped the entire game, and our team seemed to reflect her play. britney lohman continued solid, but she was about the only spark for the entire team.

flying back, i saw the s.i. "faces in the crowd," reminding me of that incredible stretch mandy had--27.8 ppg, 6.4 assists, 5.3 rebounds. those are almost super-human numbers, and so too is the effort. if i could be so bold as to offer an opinion to robin selvig, it would be, relieve mandy of some of the burden that's been put on her. sonya rogers is a deft skillful dribbler--let her bring the ball up court. don't have mandy back there fighting just to get an inbounds pass--there are far more valuable contributions to be made. run a few plays where she doesn't touch the ball at all; just give her a few plays off. mandy just looked a lot fresher in the pre-season game at santa clara, and i'd hate to see her get burned out. the expectations for her are now sky-high, and i think it's time we distributed some of that pressure to the rest of the team.

still, you could see the talent, if only in flashes today. tam guardipee couldn't get her shots to drop, but you can see she's taken her game to a higher level from the pre-season and is playing with a great deal more swagger. sonya can be electirfying, laura cote made some athletic moves and lauren beck is making solid progress off the bench. it was easy to see how formidible this team has become, when everything is jellin'. sadly, there was a top 25 slot reserved in our name, but we just didn't show up today to claim it.

 

[Bozgriz]

Your assessment is probably right on. That said, I wouldn't change much. One loss is just one loss. The top 25 will still be there if the LG win out. I believe in hoops, a loss is not always a bad thing, especially this early in the conference season. Hopefully it is an eye-opening experience that catapults this team to even better things...

I do believe you are correct about Rogers and Morales. Rogers is a very skilled ball handler and the pressure being removed would be a good thing from time to time... :twocents:

 

[Seattle Griz Fan]

Ci-tay knows Lady Griz basketball, no one will dispute that fact. So, Ci-tay, did you actually travel out of state just to see this game?

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

Sonya may be a better ball handler then Mandy. Also, Sonya has a better shooting percentage than Mandy. Reason Sonya is at 2 guard and not point is her shooting ability, as she is the second leading scorer on the team. If Sonya was point, I doubt she would be averaging much more then 5 points a game.

But, Mandy has better court vision than Sonya does, plus Mandy is more able to create her own shot. She is also the leader on the team, and the one you want to have the ball when the game is on the line. Mandy is the point guard and it isn't the time to start telling Selvig how to coach just because of 1 loss after 12 wins in a row. In addition, Mandy is the one that allows the Lady Griz to have an uptempo game.

But, it sure is nice to have two guards that can take the ball down the court.

But, future prediction, possibly two years from now. Lauren Beck at point guard, Sonya at 2 guard, and Mandy at three, Britney at power forward, and Guardipee at center. Heck, I got the starting lineup already and better go tell Selvig. If CityGriz can tell Selvig how to coach, I might as well join in.

 

[Bronco]

"and it didn't come from the rowdy band of boisterous football bullies that sat just above the lady griz bench at the beatufiul dee events center, screaming insults at our players and the refs the entire game and causing the lead ref at one point to threaten them with a "t."

Seems more than a little rude... The hatred and poor taste from our friends in the East is spreading.

 

[Seattle Griz Fan]

"and it didn't come from the rowdy band of boisterous football bullies that sat just above the lady griz bench at the beatufiul dee events center, screaming insults at our players and the refs the entire game and causing the lead ref at one point to threaten them with a "t."

Seems more than a little rude... The hatred and poor taste from our friends in the East is spreading.

That was low and uncalled for

 

[citygriz]

yo, sgf, i just happened to be in utah on business.

also wanted to see the dee events center, and it didn't disappoint. the "purple palace", scene of legendary battles between the griz and the cats going back to the micheal ray richardson era, is aging beautifully, and remains to big sky basketball what wash griz is to big sky football. i've bitched about the various dumps throughout the big sky conference masquerading as athletic facilities, so let me say what a pleasure it is to see a game at the dee events center. i suppose they hold other "events" there, but it was clearly built for basketball, and there's not one bad seat in 12,000.

still, they're having as much trouble filling those seats as we are. the arena manager told me before the game that they used to sell out regularly, but now it's a struggle to get 4000-5000. he blames it on an increase in ticket prices, but i think it's just a fact that there are more entertainment options today--many of them right at home--than there were twenty or even ten years ago, and college basketball is feeling the heat of the competition.

too: the big sky just doesn't seem to have the stars today that it did years ago. remember: steve hays of idaho state, michael ray, derrick pope and larry krystkowiak, "the show" arceneaux, the idaho gang when they won the far west classic in portland during the christmas break and came into dahlberg ranked in the top ten, or bruce collins and that big seven-foot smith kid that used to play for weber, or chris childs from boise state, or any number of good players from nevada. i think the quality of play in the conference dropped off when we lost idaho, nevada and boise state.

well, you know me, sgf: 500 words when five would have sufficed.

 

[Seattle Griz Fan]

yo, sgf, i just happened to be in utah on business.

also wanted to see the dee events center, and it didn't disappoint. the "purple palace", scene of legendary battles between the griz and the cats going back to the micheal ray richardson era, is aging beautifully, and remains to big sky basketball what wash griz is to big sky football. i've bitched about the various dumps throughout the big sky conference masquerading as athletic facilities, so let me say what a pleasure it is to see a game at the dee events center. i suppose they hold other "events" there, but it was clearly built for basketball, and there's not one bad seat in 12,000.

still, they're having as much trouble filling those seats as we are. the arena manager told me before the game that they used to sell out regularly, but now it's a struggle to get 4000-5000. he blames it on an increase in ticket prices, but i think it's just a fact that there are more entertainment options today--many of them right at home--than there were twenty or even ten years ago, and college basketball is feeling the heat of the competition.

too: the big sky just doesn't seem to have the stars today that it did years ago. remember: steve hays of idaho state, michael ray, derrick pope and larry krystkowiak, "the show" arceneaux, the idaho gang when they won the far west classic in portland during the christmas break and came into dahlberg ranked in the top ten, or bruce collins and that big seven-foot smith kid that used to play for weber, or chris childs from boise state, or any number of good players from nevada. i think the quality of play in the conference dropped off when we lost idaho, nevada and boise state.

well, you know me, sgf: 500 words when five would have sufficed.

You be da best, man! I've got another reason why college BB in general is not as big as it used to be. By the way, the lack of fans is not just a Big Sky thing, it is occuring all over the country for college BB.

In my opinion, when the NBA started allowing the best high school kids to go directly into the pro league, college BB started going downhill. Let's face it, when one subtracts the kids by-passing college for the NBA, along with the many who play college ball for just one season and are gone, what you have left is not that pretty.

I agree that the quality of Big Sky players has fallen, and I think the paragraph above explains it. There are just not enough good college players to stock the many IA programs in the country. So, mid-majors like Big Sky schools can not compete for the good players.

 

[grizpack]

One other reason is that there are simply more options for kids these days. My sons play football, basketball, baseball. While there are good kids on their teams, there are also several kids in their own schools who should be playing, and simply don't for one reason or another.

Several play one sport year around (hockey, soccer, basketball). Others just play one or two sports, and sit out the rest. I am pretty sure others are content to play video games.

A prime example of this is Sentinel High School. They have a good basketball team this year, but weren't good (and that is polite) in football. Part of that problem is that, while the athletes are in the school, some aren't going out for football. I can think of 3-4 kids who didn't go out, that could have made a difference.

When I grew up, you played the core sports, and some dabbled in others (golf, tennis, swimming). Now, it is just different. The kids in college today grew up with the opportunity (for better or worse) to play one sport year around, and not try other sports.

Otherwise, I agree that the interest level isn't what it used to be on most levels.