Any season is a series of ups and downs, high highs and low lows. Even great teams lose games, and go through bad stretches. And when this happens, the boo-birds always come out. "Fire DeCuire!" "Hire an assistant with experience!" (Yours truly.) "DeCuire's teams can never shoot!" Blah, blah, blah.
So let's take a minute and savor what this team has down the past five games:
--Washington. Lost there by essentially one possession, in a game where the Huskies shot 21 free throws to our six. You're gonna get homered at Washington, everybody knows that. And yet our kids almost beat them, while holding them to a season-low in points.
--Riverside. Won a home game they should have won, 77-61.
--Irvine. Beat a team 86-68, that then went on to beat Idaho, 67-59, in Boise.
--Northern Arizona. Won a game they probably should have won, but did it by 19, with the usual homers as refs, against a team that lost two nights later to Montana State in overtime.
Southern Utah: Demolished them, in a tough back-end road trip, by holding them to 49 points, fourteen less than their previous low of 63 against Michigan State.
The result? In the Ken-Pom ratings (and I trust Ken Pomeroy more than any other statistical guru, both for his accuracy and for being up-to-the-minute up-to-date), Montana now has a ranking of 105, versus 109 for Idaho, 143 for Portland State and 229 for Montana State. This also puts us ahead of Wyoming at 107; Washington at 112; Oregon State at 125; Colorado and 138; Washington State at 164 and Cal at 176.
Translation: At this point in the season, Montana is the top-rated team in the Big Sky, and ranked ahead of six teams for the Pac 12!
Not to mention the numerous story lines developing with this team:
--Our defense. The Warriors are known for their speed, passing and shooting, but it's their defense that has won them championships. And while I'd be hard-pressed to compare their offensive skills to ours, our defense, both in its design and execution, is the equal of theirs, in my opinion. Sure we're gonna draw ticky-tack touch fouls, and we're all gonna wince when we see a Nicholas or an Akoh draw a foul while double-teaming a guard a mid-court. But I've learned to live with it, as a small price to pay for a defense that is nightmare for our opponents.
--Michael Oguine. A sure-fire NBA player, on defense alone, not to mention athleticism.
--Rorie. With Oguine, one half-half of a Pac-12 caliber backcourt.
--Akoh. Wow. Where's the ceiling?
--Bobby Moorehead. Fully recovered from a dismal sophomore campaign. This kid can play--defend, shoot, and--surprisingly--rebound exceptionally well. I'm loving his game.
--Nicholas and Falls. Watching the development of these two has been and will continue to be a joy. Bigs take time to deverlop, because they foul too much and have to learn footwork. Nicholas is still fouling too much, but against Southern Utah he made a drop-step move with a left-hand finish that was a joy to behold. He's gonna be awesome. As one Texas high school observer said, he's an SEC talent. As for Falls, I plead guilty in thinking he needed a redshirt year. Early on, he looked too skinny and absolutely out-manned at this level; now I can't wait to see him in the game. We know Montana was one of two schools to offer John Stockton, and urban legend has it we were at one time interested in Steph Curry. Could it be the third time is the charm?
--Coaching staff: I still wish we had one veteran coach, to mastermind the offense and help with late-game situations. But with DeCuire's defensive schemes, and this staff's ability to recruit, my faith in this staff has been fully redeemed. Having lost three key players--Anderson, Samuleson and Dorsey--and with only one senior on this team, and with Mack Anderson and Kelby Kramer waiting in the wings, I think we have to acknowledge the great job this staff is doing.
So let's take a minute and savor what this team has down the past five games:
--Washington. Lost there by essentially one possession, in a game where the Huskies shot 21 free throws to our six. You're gonna get homered at Washington, everybody knows that. And yet our kids almost beat them, while holding them to a season-low in points.
--Riverside. Won a home game they should have won, 77-61.
--Irvine. Beat a team 86-68, that then went on to beat Idaho, 67-59, in Boise.
--Northern Arizona. Won a game they probably should have won, but did it by 19, with the usual homers as refs, against a team that lost two nights later to Montana State in overtime.
Southern Utah: Demolished them, in a tough back-end road trip, by holding them to 49 points, fourteen less than their previous low of 63 against Michigan State.
The result? In the Ken-Pom ratings (and I trust Ken Pomeroy more than any other statistical guru, both for his accuracy and for being up-to-the-minute up-to-date), Montana now has a ranking of 105, versus 109 for Idaho, 143 for Portland State and 229 for Montana State. This also puts us ahead of Wyoming at 107; Washington at 112; Oregon State at 125; Colorado and 138; Washington State at 164 and Cal at 176.
Translation: At this point in the season, Montana is the top-rated team in the Big Sky, and ranked ahead of six teams for the Pac 12!
Not to mention the numerous story lines developing with this team:
--Our defense. The Warriors are known for their speed, passing and shooting, but it's their defense that has won them championships. And while I'd be hard-pressed to compare their offensive skills to ours, our defense, both in its design and execution, is the equal of theirs, in my opinion. Sure we're gonna draw ticky-tack touch fouls, and we're all gonna wince when we see a Nicholas or an Akoh draw a foul while double-teaming a guard a mid-court. But I've learned to live with it, as a small price to pay for a defense that is nightmare for our opponents.
--Michael Oguine. A sure-fire NBA player, on defense alone, not to mention athleticism.
--Rorie. With Oguine, one half-half of a Pac-12 caliber backcourt.
--Akoh. Wow. Where's the ceiling?
--Bobby Moorehead. Fully recovered from a dismal sophomore campaign. This kid can play--defend, shoot, and--surprisingly--rebound exceptionally well. I'm loving his game.
--Nicholas and Falls. Watching the development of these two has been and will continue to be a joy. Bigs take time to deverlop, because they foul too much and have to learn footwork. Nicholas is still fouling too much, but against Southern Utah he made a drop-step move with a left-hand finish that was a joy to behold. He's gonna be awesome. As one Texas high school observer said, he's an SEC talent. As for Falls, I plead guilty in thinking he needed a redshirt year. Early on, he looked too skinny and absolutely out-manned at this level; now I can't wait to see him in the game. We know Montana was one of two schools to offer John Stockton, and urban legend has it we were at one time interested in Steph Curry. Could it be the third time is the charm?
--Coaching staff: I still wish we had one veteran coach, to mastermind the offense and help with late-game situations. But with DeCuire's defensive schemes, and this staff's ability to recruit, my faith in this staff has been fully redeemed. Having lost three key players--Anderson, Samuleson and Dorsey--and with only one senior on this team, and with Mack Anderson and Kelby Kramer waiting in the wings, I think we have to acknowledge the great job this staff is doing.
