so what will it take...

[citygriz]

...to revive griz basketball?

the return of the students, yes, but that's the the cure, not the prescription.

i say, same as what it took to ignite the basketball tradition in the first place: a landmark coach, and an electifying player. remember jud heathcote? and michael ray?

then mike montgomery, and derrick pope and, later, larry krystkowiak.

larry k. was a great coach, but his best player, andrew strait, was hardly electrifying.

do we have the right combo now? is tinkle on the verge of greatness as a coach? is will cherry the player to ignite crowds?

it's possible.

yes, it's possible.

hell, anything is possible.

 

[Baller1]

I think our program is at a major fork in the road..... and i'm interested to see which direction we go.... Tinks' team is starting to take shape through his recruiting.... and now we'll see if the style of play will change to suit the type of players he's been recruiting..... as great as he is we can't win with AJ dribbling 20 seconds off the shot clock and then pulling a jumper....we need better offensive execution.... or we need to flat run teams out of the gym...... . Tinks needs to get creative and I think now that he's got HIS players in place that he will make some big strides as a coach this year..... we are more athletic then we have been in a LONG time.... it should be an exciting year and hopefully a positive one....... I think Cherry can be that signature player..... but for now AJ can carry the load just fine..... lets not infest too much in a true freshman

 

[BelierPeaux]

I just hope Tinks' teams start living up to the Hype, I keep getting excited for each year and then his teams seem to disappear during crucial games. If that gets righted this year, I will be a happy camper.

 

[General Disarray]

Each of the last few years we've been saying "this might be the most talented, athletic Griz team on paper of the last decade" and each year has been more or less disappointing with no Big Sky titles. I think excitement will come sooner or later when the team starts exceeding expectations. Either they start playing lights out, or the expectations erode to the point where it's not hard to exceed expecations.

 

[bigforkgriz]

My question would be about our inside game. Johnson is sweet and Cherry has created a buzz, but what about the middle? Is Qvale the answer?

 

[THE BETCH]

Yes! A faster, stronger, experienced Jr.

 

[IPQS]

The griz had an informal scrimmage Saturday morning and I came away quite impressed with this years team. Jack McGillis was most impressive and scored over twenty points on a variety of drives,pullup jumpers,putbacks and 3 or 4 three pointers. His only downside was that he committed some overly agressive fouls on the defensive end. Brian Qvale looked impressive in the post with several jump hooks with both his right and left and had several strong post up moves to the basket. Selvig looked good also especially when he made some high screens,got the ball and then passed off nicely into the low post for easy baskets. He could be a matchup nigtmare this year as he also made some long jump shots. Cherry guarded AJ throughout the scrimmage and is a great on ball defender. He stole the ball once and showed off his leaping ability with a thunderous dunk. On offense he didn't shoot much but looked to run the offense and distribute the ball. Staudacher missed his first couple of shots but then later on made three or four three pointers that were pure money. He still did not show that he can score inside so that is still a work in progress. For his size,Ward has a very effective inside game and scored several times on contested shots and is a good free throw shooter. Several players were nursing injuries and Kyle Sharp filled in on the front line as did one of the assistant coaches in the backcourt. All in all it was a fast paced scrimmage and very enjoyable to watch. I hope this holds true for the remainder of the year because the Griz could be very fun to watch with the athletic talent we have at all positions.

 

[citygriz]

thank you for taking the time to go to the scrimmage, and for filing this report, ipqs. are you a conglomerate?

 

[AllWeatherFan]

The only thing that will revive the program is winning games, ci-tay. Nobody will get excited about an athletic team that loses. Can Tinks do it? He has this year, and maybe next year, to show it.

 

[citygriz]

i would agree with you, awf, except that kysko won games, in fact had the best winning percentage of any coach in history, got us into the big dance twice, even won a game at the big dance, which got us wide publcity in big-time media, and what happened? very little. still couldn't get the zoo going, still didn't sell out dahlberg once. no?

 

[griz8791]

I thought I heard or read that the conference has gone back to a Friday-Saturday schedule. I don't know if that helps attendance but it probably doesn't hurt.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

i would agree with you, awf, except that kysko won games, in fact had the best winning percentage of any coach in history, got us into the big dance twice, even won a game at the big dance, which got us wide publcity in big-time media, and what happened? very little. still couldn't get the zoo going, still didn't sell out dahlberg once. no?

No question about it. It takes more than a season to get any kind of a buzz going in basketball. I think people saw Krysko's first big dance as a bit of a fluke (a la Holst), and after the second one (and Krysko's departure), we descended too quickly into mediocrity, and lost our momentum.

But if we could pull off a season where we only had 4-5 losses going into the tournament, as well as some national attention, that might be exciting enough to carry over into the next season. And if we could follow up with another great season, that would sell some season tickets.

 

[Sugar Bear 16]

Tinkle has 3 seasons total left, becuase I don't see O'Day firing him even if the program keeps slowly moving in the worng direction. On paper very talented, but that has been the case in the past. Talent and the recruiting are there, but the big question is on the coaching. By mid-season a lot should be answered for this year.