Because of Holiday conflicts I'd missed a few games. But when I came back to watch yesterday's game in its entirety, there were several pleasant surprises.
First, kudos to this staff for going out and recruiting two Power-5 quality players in Thomas and Moody, not only for their abilities but because they address two issues that have been the concern of this board for quite a while: Height and three-point shooting. Where before we ranked near the bottom nationwide in three-point shots attempted, yesterday we took 19 and made five more than they did--a 15 point advantage. Welcome to the era of the three point shot! And thank you Wayne Gretzky for reminding us: "You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
Second, the two female announcers on the telecast were effusive in their praise of Montana, not only for our defense--solid as ever--but for the ball movement. Amen! Much improved over what I saw earlier in the year. Not only crisp passing but movement off the ball, even some cuts to the basket. I still wonder if DeCuire spent the early season molding that tight defense, only to turn a bit later to offense. Whatever, I see marked improvement as the season has gone on.
One fear? That short bench. Yesterday Bannan played 39 minutes out of 40, Moody and Whitney 38 out of 40. Was that the reason we wobbled down the stretch? I thought our kids looked tired--and that was before the collapse in the final minutes. Which is why I asked about Jaxon Nap, the one freshman that DeCuire seems to have confidence in. Was he sick? "Strength in numbers" is an important motto in the NBA, and teams up and down the league have quality benches. Faced with injuries, or a tournament with three games in three nights or just the rigors of Big Sky travel, you've got to have a deeper bench. And even in a regular season game with everybody healthy, I think it's dicey to expect three of your key starters to play so many minutes.
First, kudos to this staff for going out and recruiting two Power-5 quality players in Thomas and Moody, not only for their abilities but because they address two issues that have been the concern of this board for quite a while: Height and three-point shooting. Where before we ranked near the bottom nationwide in three-point shots attempted, yesterday we took 19 and made five more than they did--a 15 point advantage. Welcome to the era of the three point shot! And thank you Wayne Gretzky for reminding us: "You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
Second, the two female announcers on the telecast were effusive in their praise of Montana, not only for our defense--solid as ever--but for the ball movement. Amen! Much improved over what I saw earlier in the year. Not only crisp passing but movement off the ball, even some cuts to the basket. I still wonder if DeCuire spent the early season molding that tight defense, only to turn a bit later to offense. Whatever, I see marked improvement as the season has gone on.
One fear? That short bench. Yesterday Bannan played 39 minutes out of 40, Moody and Whitney 38 out of 40. Was that the reason we wobbled down the stretch? I thought our kids looked tired--and that was before the collapse in the final minutes. Which is why I asked about Jaxon Nap, the one freshman that DeCuire seems to have confidence in. Was he sick? "Strength in numbers" is an important motto in the NBA, and teams up and down the league have quality benches. Faced with injuries, or a tournament with three games in three nights or just the rigors of Big Sky travel, you've got to have a deeper bench. And even in a regular season game with everybody healthy, I think it's dicey to expect three of your key starters to play so many minutes.
