I started working on this about with 10 minutes to go in the second half. Griz were still in range, Moody had just gotten the stupid technical/flagrant for Patterson's Oscar worthy embellishment, but it felt over. Almost inevitable. The 2020-23 Grizzlies had returned. I joked on twitter yesterday, and I regret it now, that the Griz would lose this game if:
a) MSU got insanely hot (like Portland State game) and
b) Montana reverted to its 2020-2023 offense that had all the complexity of a 3/4 grade YMCA offense.
Both happened and the Griz went from up 11 to down 20, and the MSU Bobcats are going to the NCAA tournament and the Griz with their 22 wins have a date in the pay-to-play CBI.
I told a friend, that I was convinced that this was Travis's best coaching job in some time. I still believe that, but losing the Cats and losing the way they did makes all those gains feel almost moot. The Griz let a golden opportunity get away, because of the worst parts of Travis, the team's chemistry/personnel and the continual inability to throw their offensive problems into the trash heap. In any case there is a lot to ruminate about, about this season and next. Here is my take not only on this season, but next year and the state of the program.
3 Pieces of Reality
1. This was Travis's best coaching job in at least five years. I know that it is easy to poop over Travis's style and his control over the product on the floor, but this could have been a disastrous season. Really bad. I watched the Weber State game in Ogden on TV and I was convinced that was the most indifferent, lackluster performance I'd seen from a Grizzly team. No compete, no answers, and most importantly no emotion. When you bookend the season between that WSU and MSU games, the product in between those was a better product than any Travis team since the 2019 championship year. They lost maybe their most dynamic player on the floor in Money Williams. Went from a team that had depth, offensive options on the floor to essentially the same rotational players Montana had in 2022-23. Yet they were third in the conference in scoring, showed a verve offensively that no DeCuire team had in years. That doesn't happen magically, using the same personnel and getting a team that averaged 5-10 points more per game than it did a year ago. We used words like dynamic, fluid, and cohesive to describe the offense. They did it using mostly complementary players (minus Moody). Travis let them play.
2. Until last night, Travis had shown an ability to be pliable. Henderson earned more playing time, and showed speed and quickness that even as a diminutive guard, that could play at the Big Sky level given time to progress over the summer. Nap showed that he could provide key defensive minutes and provide a role as a wing defensive stopper over the course of the year. In fact for a run of about two weeks in January and early February Nap looked like he was about to take the next step. Regardless, Travis used his bench more than he had in years. Maybe not in great number of minutes, but he showed a desire to reach into the bench and find guys who could provide key minutes. He got that from Jones, Williams, Nap and Henderson along with stallwart 6 man Sawyer. He wasn't beholden to the starting 5, and those players had and they responded with key contributions. Very likely that Montana doesn't end the season as it did without those players on the bench. If Travis followed past patterns, I don't think this team finishes above 5th in the conference. He got a lot of mileage out of the personnel he had.
3. This was an incomplete team, with significant weaknesses that couldn't be overcome by cohesive team play. They lacked a true post presence on both ends of the floor. They didn't try to replace Bannan, but the posts couldn't replace his low post presence on both ends. Hard to replace that type of a guy, who could be a late 2nd round pick this year but as last night showed this team didn't have any defensive grit in the key. This was the weakest defensive group Travis had in the middle in some years and teams were very much at their leisure to take advantage of Thomas's and Sawyers inability to defend. Eastern, Northern Colorado, Weber, Portland State, and MSU all took advantage of it. After Money went out, they really weren't that athletic on the perimeter and didn't have a top tier defender to prevent teams from isolating personnel. Whitney got isolated a lot at the end of the year in the low post. This is why you saw a lot more of Nap/Williams, but Travis was unwilling to use them last night against Ford and Turner like he did in the other two matchups. In spite of some of the offensive and defensive short comings they still finished 12-6 in conference and had a chance to go to the NCAA tournament.
2 Sobering Facts
1. To get that type of performance with five seniors on the floor last night, when it mattered absolutely was a gut punch. The fact they were the core, the heart of this team can lead a person to enter a catatonic state when thinking about next year. Only Whitney could theoretically return, but Montana has a lot of minutes and talent to fill. They have to replace 90% of the minutes, 95% of the scoring, and leadership. If the season started tomorrow this is Montana's lineup:
2. Big Sky is loaded at the top. On paper the BSC we could have a conference that could be the deepest in some years and it likely doesn't include Montana in the top 5. EWU, UNC, PSU, MSU and WSU all have significant components returning in addition to UI and ISU who are likely to field competitive squads.
1 Reason to be optimistic
1. Tyler Thompson and Money Williams. I think we might have been singing another tune had we seen Money Williams play more than 12 games. He was on the way to being the conference Freshman of the Year. Before he got hurt, you wouldn't have had a difficult time suggesting he was the most talented player on the floor behind Aanen Moody. He can score at all three levels, he can facilitate, and defend. He's dynamic and can play 3 positions on the floor effectively. He's that good. Tyler Thompson is a 4 star recruit, and like Williams has offensive polish and physicality to play immediately. When you watch him he feels like a 20 year old. Watch the videos below, and you can see that he's got some things that our current crop of players don't have. He's been racking up all-region and all state nods for his play this year and in some ways he seems more prepared to play college ball than Money Williams did a year ago. Hard not to salivate over what he and Money Williams could provide for the program next year.
Tyler Thompson You Tube
Conclusions:
I think it is reasonable to be pissed about how last night played it out. MSU found their groove, and our senior laden team which we rode the whole conference season literally melted for 10 minutes. Something that we hadn't seen on that scale since the Weber State game in December. Hindsight is 20/20 here and maybe TDC should have gone deep into his bench and thrown out Jones and Henderson but its not a difficult stretch to trust the guys who found that extra gear and gutted games out. They regressed in those ten minutes and it produced absolutely awful basketball on both ends of the floor.
This loss had all the earmarks of past issues with the program, but I think that is where the similarities end. Maybe they just ran out of gas, hit a wall, and the moment crushed them. This wasn't how the team played the last two months for any long stretch, they were dynamic, pliable and could win in a lot of different ways. I thought Travis leaned into the strengths of this team all year and got a better product out of them than I think it was reasonable to expect with what we had. What that means is this:
1. I think it is imperative Travis attacks the portal with a level of aggressiveness that we haven't seen. We have at least two scholarships likely available for next year. Travis who leans so heavily into his ability to recruit HS kids, needs to find a way to identify similar talent in the portal. He needs to surround Henderson (who I think can play), M. Williams and Thompson with some instant impact guys. Just about every team in the conference has found that guy once or twice over. Travis prefers to recruit complementary players in the portal, but I think he has to swing a bit for the fences. What Montana needs is:
3. Continue evolving and Trust Travis. I'll be first to say, that as long as Travis graduates players wins 20 games a year, he'll be in a Mike Montgomery role here. That'll be okay with the University and the Athletic Department. I don't think that is what Travis or the administration wants, but they aren't going to dismiss him because he wins 20 games a year. That means, Travis and the staff needs to continue to reinvent themselves. Travis will admit, cause I have heard as much, that he's had to reflect on how he's gone about things. I thought this year was a massive step in the right direction. He's got a bit of his HS recruiting MOJO back, and showed the type of flexibility in scheme, rotations that we hadn't seen in a few years. That needs to continue to progress. Not only in terms of how we play, but who we utilize.
While we as fans can be frustrated with results like last night, he's a high quality D1 coach. I'll go on record to say that as long as Travis continues to do what he does, he can stay here as long as he wants. That might rankle the feathers of a few here, but in this era of college basketball I think unless something radical changes Montana's fortunes on a conference level, you could do a lot worse than having the type of leader of a program we have in Travis. I get that we are spoiled, but I'll continue to support him and the program because they are doing things the right way.
As long as they continue to trend upward again, which I actually think they are, we need to look at this the same way as the football program. I think there is a solid foundation here, and with a couple of key additions in the portal this can be a competitive team next year in spite of the losses the team will suffer as soon as the CBI tournament is completed.
Thanks for reading.
GF24.
a) MSU got insanely hot (like Portland State game) and
b) Montana reverted to its 2020-2023 offense that had all the complexity of a 3/4 grade YMCA offense.
Both happened and the Griz went from up 11 to down 20, and the MSU Bobcats are going to the NCAA tournament and the Griz with their 22 wins have a date in the pay-to-play CBI.
I told a friend, that I was convinced that this was Travis's best coaching job in some time. I still believe that, but losing the Cats and losing the way they did makes all those gains feel almost moot. The Griz let a golden opportunity get away, because of the worst parts of Travis, the team's chemistry/personnel and the continual inability to throw their offensive problems into the trash heap. In any case there is a lot to ruminate about, about this season and next. Here is my take not only on this season, but next year and the state of the program.
3 Pieces of Reality
1. This was Travis's best coaching job in at least five years. I know that it is easy to poop over Travis's style and his control over the product on the floor, but this could have been a disastrous season. Really bad. I watched the Weber State game in Ogden on TV and I was convinced that was the most indifferent, lackluster performance I'd seen from a Grizzly team. No compete, no answers, and most importantly no emotion. When you bookend the season between that WSU and MSU games, the product in between those was a better product than any Travis team since the 2019 championship year. They lost maybe their most dynamic player on the floor in Money Williams. Went from a team that had depth, offensive options on the floor to essentially the same rotational players Montana had in 2022-23. Yet they were third in the conference in scoring, showed a verve offensively that no DeCuire team had in years. That doesn't happen magically, using the same personnel and getting a team that averaged 5-10 points more per game than it did a year ago. We used words like dynamic, fluid, and cohesive to describe the offense. They did it using mostly complementary players (minus Moody). Travis let them play.
2. Until last night, Travis had shown an ability to be pliable. Henderson earned more playing time, and showed speed and quickness that even as a diminutive guard, that could play at the Big Sky level given time to progress over the summer. Nap showed that he could provide key defensive minutes and provide a role as a wing defensive stopper over the course of the year. In fact for a run of about two weeks in January and early February Nap looked like he was about to take the next step. Regardless, Travis used his bench more than he had in years. Maybe not in great number of minutes, but he showed a desire to reach into the bench and find guys who could provide key minutes. He got that from Jones, Williams, Nap and Henderson along with stallwart 6 man Sawyer. He wasn't beholden to the starting 5, and those players had and they responded with key contributions. Very likely that Montana doesn't end the season as it did without those players on the bench. If Travis followed past patterns, I don't think this team finishes above 5th in the conference. He got a lot of mileage out of the personnel he had.
3. This was an incomplete team, with significant weaknesses that couldn't be overcome by cohesive team play. They lacked a true post presence on both ends of the floor. They didn't try to replace Bannan, but the posts couldn't replace his low post presence on both ends. Hard to replace that type of a guy, who could be a late 2nd round pick this year but as last night showed this team didn't have any defensive grit in the key. This was the weakest defensive group Travis had in the middle in some years and teams were very much at their leisure to take advantage of Thomas's and Sawyers inability to defend. Eastern, Northern Colorado, Weber, Portland State, and MSU all took advantage of it. After Money went out, they really weren't that athletic on the perimeter and didn't have a top tier defender to prevent teams from isolating personnel. Whitney got isolated a lot at the end of the year in the low post. This is why you saw a lot more of Nap/Williams, but Travis was unwilling to use them last night against Ford and Turner like he did in the other two matchups. In spite of some of the offensive and defensive short comings they still finished 12-6 in conference and had a chance to go to the NCAA tournament.
2 Sobering Facts
1. To get that type of performance with five seniors on the floor last night, when it mattered absolutely was a gut punch. The fact they were the core, the heart of this team can lead a person to enter a catatonic state when thinking about next year. Only Whitney could theoretically return, but Montana has a lot of minutes and talent to fill. They have to replace 90% of the minutes, 95% of the scoring, and leadership. If the season started tomorrow this is Montana's lineup:
- PG: Chase Henderson (So.)- 22gms, 8.1 mpg, 2.0 ppg, .9 apg.
- SG: Money Williams (So.)- 12gms (6GS), 20.6 mpg, 13.4ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.6apg
- CG: Giordan Williams (Sr.)- 31gms (6GS), 15.5 mpg, 6.6ppg, 2.5 rpg
- SF/W: Jaxon Nap (Jr.)- 33gms, 9.9mpg, 2.6ppg, 1.3rpg, .5apg
- PF/C: Te'Jon Sawyer (Sr)- 34gms (2GS), 16.3 mpg, 8.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg
- W/PF: Blake Jones (Sr)- 23gms, 7.3mpg, 1.7ppg, 1.2 rpg.
2. Big Sky is loaded at the top. On paper the BSC we could have a conference that could be the deepest in some years and it likely doesn't include Montana in the top 5. EWU, UNC, PSU, MSU and WSU all have significant components returning in addition to UI and ISU who are likely to field competitive squads.
1 Reason to be optimistic
1. Tyler Thompson and Money Williams. I think we might have been singing another tune had we seen Money Williams play more than 12 games. He was on the way to being the conference Freshman of the Year. Before he got hurt, you wouldn't have had a difficult time suggesting he was the most talented player on the floor behind Aanen Moody. He can score at all three levels, he can facilitate, and defend. He's dynamic and can play 3 positions on the floor effectively. He's that good. Tyler Thompson is a 4 star recruit, and like Williams has offensive polish and physicality to play immediately. When you watch him he feels like a 20 year old. Watch the videos below, and you can see that he's got some things that our current crop of players don't have. He's been racking up all-region and all state nods for his play this year and in some ways he seems more prepared to play college ball than Money Williams did a year ago. Hard not to salivate over what he and Money Williams could provide for the program next year.
Tyler Thompson You Tube
Conclusions:
I think it is reasonable to be pissed about how last night played it out. MSU found their groove, and our senior laden team which we rode the whole conference season literally melted for 10 minutes. Something that we hadn't seen on that scale since the Weber State game in December. Hindsight is 20/20 here and maybe TDC should have gone deep into his bench and thrown out Jones and Henderson but its not a difficult stretch to trust the guys who found that extra gear and gutted games out. They regressed in those ten minutes and it produced absolutely awful basketball on both ends of the floor.
This loss had all the earmarks of past issues with the program, but I think that is where the similarities end. Maybe they just ran out of gas, hit a wall, and the moment crushed them. This wasn't how the team played the last two months for any long stretch, they were dynamic, pliable and could win in a lot of different ways. I thought Travis leaned into the strengths of this team all year and got a better product out of them than I think it was reasonable to expect with what we had. What that means is this:
1. I think it is imperative Travis attacks the portal with a level of aggressiveness that we haven't seen. We have at least two scholarships likely available for next year. Travis who leans so heavily into his ability to recruit HS kids, needs to find a way to identify similar talent in the portal. He needs to surround Henderson (who I think can play), M. Williams and Thompson with some instant impact guys. Just about every team in the conference has found that guy once or twice over. Travis prefers to recruit complementary players in the portal, but I think he has to swing a bit for the fences. What Montana needs is:
- A Big....Big. Someone who can come in and anchor in the post. We've been searching for that guy for years now, and we still haven't found him. Rather we continue to find guys (like Okey, Jones, Sawyer) that are great niche players. We need a transformational post player in the worst way, and I think Travis has to deviate from his comfort zone a bit and focus on the ability to play within 5 to 10 feet of the basket.
- Experienced PG. I think Henderson can be a really good BSC guard, but behind him we really don't have any help. Someone with experience, can handle the physicality of play that we've missed a bit from that position since Rorie.
- A flex post. Maybe Jones can develop as that flex post guy, but Sawyer really struggled defensively at times and seemed a bit adrift in a two post system on offense. I think he'd excel if Travis went to a 4-1 offense, but doesn't have the defensive skill at this point to be the lone post on the floor. Jones showed a little in his spurts of play and he too isn't a guy at this moment that I see as a 15 and 10 guy. I just think if we can't find a true big, this is the next logical area.
3. Continue evolving and Trust Travis. I'll be first to say, that as long as Travis graduates players wins 20 games a year, he'll be in a Mike Montgomery role here. That'll be okay with the University and the Athletic Department. I don't think that is what Travis or the administration wants, but they aren't going to dismiss him because he wins 20 games a year. That means, Travis and the staff needs to continue to reinvent themselves. Travis will admit, cause I have heard as much, that he's had to reflect on how he's gone about things. I thought this year was a massive step in the right direction. He's got a bit of his HS recruiting MOJO back, and showed the type of flexibility in scheme, rotations that we hadn't seen in a few years. That needs to continue to progress. Not only in terms of how we play, but who we utilize.
While we as fans can be frustrated with results like last night, he's a high quality D1 coach. I'll go on record to say that as long as Travis continues to do what he does, he can stay here as long as he wants. That might rankle the feathers of a few here, but in this era of college basketball I think unless something radical changes Montana's fortunes on a conference level, you could do a lot worse than having the type of leader of a program we have in Travis. I get that we are spoiled, but I'll continue to support him and the program because they are doing things the right way.
As long as they continue to trend upward again, which I actually think they are, we need to look at this the same way as the football program. I think there is a solid foundation here, and with a couple of key additions in the portal this can be a competitive team next year in spite of the losses the team will suffer as soon as the CBI tournament is completed.
Thanks for reading.
GF24.
