the big one that got away

[citygriz]

this was the flathead lake monster sturgeon, we had him on our hook, but he got away. oh, to count the ways:

--off-night for a.j.;
--will cherry, two early fouls, sits out 15 minutes of the first half;
--missed shots from point-blank range (i remember at least five
--trouble inbounding the ball (i think they had at least three steals on inbounds passes.)

and still we're down one possession with a minute to play, thanks largely to a teriffic defense that baffled new mexico (as it did the washington huskies) for most of the night.

i think it's testimony to the program tinkle has built (and is continuing to build) that he could survive early foul trouble by cherry, and a horrid shooting night from a.j., and still have his team within one possession of a three-seed at the big dance. to all the tinkle-haters, it's time to acknowledge what he's accomplished, and stop the venemous defamatory rhetoric. it's just no longer in conformity with objective reality.

random thoughts from an otherwise great day at san jose:

--montana fans don't quite have the hang of basketball yet. neither the turnout nor the raucous cockiness you see at football games. think of the tradition montana has in football, then realize that's what a new mexico or a gonzaga or even a st. mary's brings to a basketball game. not montana--not yet.

--love lobo fans, they're my dawgs now. even after a 17-point run, the ones next to me were squirming and brooding, as it turned out they should. but informed, passionate, and a delight to be around.

--what?! qvale doesn't even make honorable mention in the big sky? guy goes for 26 and 13, tosses in a couple of blocked shots against a three-seed, and he's not good enough for honorable mention in the big sky?

--unless my math is wrong, i think we have one more scholarship to give this spring, assuming kareem jamarr signs. with our performance the past week, we might just have swayed one or two of those kids that might have been looking for bigger programs.

--finally, i'm delighted with what this program accomplished this year, and where it's headed. we're lucky to have tinks as a coach, and may his montana roots go deep-deep-deep.

 

[stubbins]

this was the flathead lake monster sturgeon, we had him on our hook, but he got away. oh, to count the ways:

--off-night for a.j.;
--will cherry, two early fouls, sits out 15 minutes of the first half;
--missed shots from point-blank range (i remember at least five
--trouble inbounding the ball (i think they had at least three steals on inbounds passes.)

and still we're down one possession with a minute to play, thanks largely to a teriffic defense that baffled new mexico (as it did the washington huskies) for most of the night.

i think it's testimony to the program tinkle has built (and is continuing to build) that he could survive early foul trouble by cherry, and a horrid shooting night from a.j., and still have his team within one possession of a three-seed at the big dance. to all the tinkle-haters, it's time to acknowledge what he's accomplished, and stop the venemous defamatory rhetoric. it's just no longer in conformity with objective reality.

random thoughts from an otherwise great day at san jose:

--montana fans don't quite have the hang of basketball yet. neither the turnout nor the raucous cockiness you see at football games. think of the tradition montana has in football, then realize that's what a new mexico or a gonzaga or even a st. mary's brings to a basketball game. not montana--not yet.

--love lobo fans, they're my dawgs now. even after a 17-point run, the ones next to me were squirming and brooding, as it turned out they should. but informed, passionate, and a delight to be around.

--what?! qvale doesn't even make honorable mention in the big sky? guy goes for 26 and 13, tosses in a couple of blocked shots against a three-seed, and he's not good enough for honorable mention in the big sky?

--unless my math is wrong, i think we have one more scholarship to give this spring, assuming kareem jamarr signs. with our performance the past week, we might just have swayed one or two of those kids that might have been looking for bigger programs.

--finally, i'm delighted with what this program accomplished this year, and where it's headed. we're lucky to have tinks as a coach, and may his montana roots go deep-deep-deep.

Good post...I went to almost all of the games when LK was here, then dropped off. I think I'll be back. Well coached game, strategy wise...just an OK on minutes distribution though. But much better performance than I expected, and yet disappointed over a couple of miscues and off shooting that could've sealed it.

 

[putter]

Griz never gave up against a top 10 team. All the attention may have gotten to AJ but he hung in there until the end. Qvale had an Andrew Strait night...too bad we couldn't get many outside shots to fall. Definitely represented the school and conference well. :thumb:

 

[Grizmayor]

If Tinkle was able to teach Qvale how to play dominant low-post in the past week, I'll acknowledge he has has potential to turn into a good coach.
If we're planning on keeping Tink's for the long run, and he doesn't get any offers to move up the ranks, the he needs to learn how to teach his team "mental preparation". This team we just witnessed should NEVER lose to the Idaho St.'s, EWU's, Denver's, and MSU's of the world.
What I saw during Thursday's tournament action was that "smart" teams overcame superior-athletic teams. I did not see a superior team on the floor with New Mexico. They were not overly quicker or more talented than UM... but they were "smarter" down the stretch.
In the end, what I saw from New Mexico is exactly what their stat sheet said we'd see... poor free throw shooting, poor 3-point shooting, lack of depth, and unable to stop a big front line. I was not impressed. On the other hand, our "shooters" went 6-28, and we still should have won the game. AJ was not strongly guarded. He had LOTS of open looks. Same with Staud's. The key is mental preparation and "smart" play. Is it a "coachable" trait to make athlete's smarter? Evidently it is, I seen it everywhere yesterday, but not necessarily with the Griz. That's what worries me with Tink's. He's got this aura now as a "great" recruiter (???). Well then, when does the talent start winning Big Sky Conference "regular" season titles instead of middle of the pack finishes? Talent is nothing without motivation and teaching, and I hope that Coach Tinkle addresses that in himself in the very near future.
Overall, Good Job UM men's basketball team. I can't wait for next year and team with quickness in the backcourt and forwards and a center who now knows he can DOMINATE anyone he matches up against when he wants it bad enough. It should be interesting.

 

[PlayerRep]

Yes, terrific post. I enjoy your analysis and views on hoops.

 

[hokeyfine]

great game by the griz, but it showed the glaring short comings of big sky teams. If it takes a "career" game by a player to keep them in the contest then it probably wouldn't be a contest 9 times out of 10. NM defense made AJ look goofy. His shots were bricks and he was easily stripped. NM looked uninspired most of the time and when they did step it up they were dominate.
Griz had them and might have been able to sneek one out but you could see that NM was thinking about washington.
again, great effort, fun to watch.

 

[Grizmayor]

great game by the griz, but it showed the glaring short comings of big sky teams. If it takes a "career" game by a player to keep them in the contest then it probably wouldn't be a contest 9 times out of 10. NM defense made AJ look goofy. His shots were bricks and he was easily stripped. NM looked uninspired most of the time and when they did step it up they were dominate.
Griz had them and might have been able to sneek one out but you could see that NM was thinking about washington.
again, great effort, fun to watch.

I will agree and disagree with you a some points. I actually felt at times during the basketball season that BQ was "lazy" on offense. What I saw last night was a great surprise. I saw a kid who "grew up" on the court with a variety of moves and played great defense BEFORE trying to block the shot. I loved the way he was gobbling up rebounds and "smacking" the ball in his palms to secure it. You could hear it on the TV. I guess you could call this a "career" game for BQ, but it makes me wonder why he doesn't do that EVERY game! I refer back to the second Bobcat game when his shots were continually rejected by a shorter, less athletic frontline. I do wish he'd work on his hops and dunk a couple during the game. It's a great intimadation "in your face" motivator for him and the rest of the Griz.
I didn't think we looked overly "inspired" either. Qvale, Selvig, Cherry, -and at times- Stockton, looked to be playing with their game faces on. New Mexico DID NOT make AJ look goofy. He was pushing a hod of bricks all by himself. He had a dozen wide-open looks and even missed a simple lay-in at one point. I said earlier in the week that we had to play an extended zone defense, and I thought we played it WELL. And to REBOUND, REBOUND, REBOUND! If you watch the video of the game again, you'll see during that 17-0 run by New Mexico, they ate us up on the offensive boards and we played some pretty stupid basketball in spots with turnovers and bad shots. We quit sending five Griz to the boards, and they capitalized on that. It was a simple lack of execution on our part. I also said we couldn't go extended periods of time without scoring... ahem! Didn't CBS have the clock on us that was ticking over 6 minutes without even a freethrow attempt. That has nothing to do with New Mexico's defense, that has to do with Montana execution and philosophy. This is where "playing smart" slips into our vocabulary. I felt Tink's used a wise timeout when they got hot early in the second half, but we didn't come out of the huddle with a decent play to stop the bleeding.
In the end, you can say it came down to that 6-28 shooting from Cherry, Staud's and Johnson. That's what will be remembered most. And Tinkle couldn't do anything about that. He rode his thoroughbreds, but they spit the bit.
I think what hurts more than anything, is that we should have won that game. If we'd got blown out by 15-25 points, I'd say they were a better team. But they weren't. Sad.

 

[General Disarray]

I can't believe there's only one more year of the Twin Towers Qvale (senior) and Selvig (junior) on the court together. Seems like they just signed yesterday. Next year's gonna be special. Make it count, Griz fans.

 

[stubbins]

I can't believe there's only one more year of the Twin Towers Qvale (senior) and Selvig (junior) on the court together. Seems like they just signed yesterday. Next year's gonna be special. Make it count, Griz fans.

Selvig may be our key next year...mtgrizrule has been saying it all year, but running the offense through him at the top of the key is, well, the key. He can shoot it, he can drive the lane, he can pass into the post. I was worried about Weber again next year, but if the Griz can be consistent, after this taste of what they can do, the mt.griz.rule. or should.

 

[djollieballs]

If we would have known that AJ, Stauds, and Will would shoot 20% from the floor and we would only lose by 5, I think everyone would have wondered how that was possible.

AJ was a victim of his own success in this game, I think everyone here is ready to acknowledge that we will never have as hyped up an athlete play for the Griz in any sport in our lifetimes. He was the most hyped player in the ENTIRE TOURNAMENT. No one can live up to that kind of hype and it looked like the Devil himself had come back to collect on AJ's soul that he seemingly must have sold at half-time at the Weber game. I knew we were in for a let down when I read a national publication that referred to him as "Tony Montana". "Tony" looked tentative, unconfident, shook, and at times (yes) outright goofy. BUT, his presence caused him to be accounted for, which opened up Q under the basket. If AJ would have been halfway on, we would have won this game going away, but he played at about 15% his normal game. But that's the game of basketball. Sometimes you go cold.

That's also why we're screwed next year. We don't have a scoring threat to take pressure off our bigs anymore. I've spent four years wonder how Straight's production fell off so much after his sophomore year, and now I get it, after Young V and Criswell left, teams had no one else to respect so they were just able to collapse on Andrew, because it wasn't like they had to worry about Matt "fart button" Martin taking over the game. Cherry is a great "1", but he's the worst shooter on the team and I don't see him ever needing to draw double coverage, which is the type of player we will need to get our bigs open.

Oh well, this was the year and the cards just didn't fall right. Like I said, until we get a million dollar coach or Coach K comes home, we need to be happy with just making the Tourney every five years, because this was the best team UM has put on the court in my lifetime and we couldn't even come close to winning the conference reg season.

And I really wish people would quit talking about recruites that will never show up on campus, it makes you look really stupid and desperate.

 

[zengriz]

...didn't see the rebound stats...
...the griz needed to dominate there...
...great game..great season..thankz griz...

... ...

 

[Huge]

Griz can be very good next year if:

Cherry develops as a bit more of a scoring threat (He is only a frosh)
A 2 guard steps up to take some pressure off the Bigs
Selvig stops dribbling when he gets the ball under the basket (Not really a key, but man it drives me nuts - dude your 7 feet tall - go up quick and strong).

I agree with some of the other posters - this game could be a huge springboard for Qvale and should give him a lot of confidence for next season.

 

[Gaeilge1]

For those of you who don't recall, Michael Ray Richardson only had 4 points in the 1975 game against UCLA. He was a freshman. Will Cherry has a great updside. It's not if but when he develops an outside shot. MRR's strength was not in his outside shooting, although he definitely became a pretty good shooter. His strength was his ability to drive to the bucket and finish. Cherry has shown the ability to drive, he just needs to develop the ability to finish. When that happens, (and my guess is it will be preseason next year), he will be a very tough player in this league. Remember BQ as a freshman? Brian
may have come of age last night. I always thought he was the best big man in the BSC, but after watching last night he may be one of the best junior big men in the country this year. His footwork was terrific last night and he is getting better with every outing. If Cherry has the same improvement curve that BQ has had we won't be talking about the one that got away next year but rather who we will playing in the second round.

 

[Grizmayor]

Ward and Hutchinson as well. Let's hope both of them add an inch or two and get to 6-9 or 6-10 and develop a savvy presence on the floor. Derek is going to be getting the surgery on his foot to correct a problem, right? I realize we have a pair of verbal commits at the guard positions, which if they stick, will give us a young, yet deep and quick backcourt. There's a lot of if's and but's and candy and nuts still to go before next season rolls around, plus see who we get on our schedule. But we have to hope that additional quickness and height will make up for a lack of 3-balls from Staud's, and McGillis's mediocre performance this season. Weber will once again be the team to beat, but we should be in the mix at the top of the league.

 

[General Disarray]

If we would have known that AJ, Stauds, and Will would shoot 20% from the floor and we would only lose by 5, I think everyone would have wondered how that was possible.

AJ was a victim of his own success in this game, I think everyone here is ready to acknowledge that we will never have as hyped up an athlete play for the Griz in any sport in our lifetimes. He was the most hyped player in the ENTIRE TOURNAMENT. No one can live up to that kind of hype and it looked like the Devil himself had come back to collect on AJ's soul that he seemingly must have sold at half-time at the Weber game. I knew we were in for a let down when I read a national publication that referred to him as "Tony Montana". "Tony" looked tentative, unconfident, shook, and at times (yes) outright goofy. BUT, his presence caused him to be accounted for, which opened up Q under the basket. If AJ would have been halfway on, we would have won this game going away, but he played at about 15% his normal game. But that's the game of basketball. Sometimes you go cold.

That's also why we're screwed next year. We don't have a scoring threat to take pressure off our bigs anymore. I've spent four years wonder how Straight's production fell off so much after his sophomore year, and now I get it, after Young V and Criswell left, teams had no one else to respect so they were just able to collapse on Andrew, because it wasn't like they had to worry about Matt "fart button" Martin taking over the game. Cherry is a great "1", but he's the worst shooter on the team and I don't see him ever needing to draw double coverage, which is the type of player we will need to get our bigs open.

Oh well, this was the year and the cards just didn't fall right. Like I said, until we get a million dollar coach or Coach K comes home, we need to be happy with just making the Tourney every five years, because this was the best team UM has put on the court in my lifetime and we couldn't even come close to winning the conference reg season.

And I really wish people would quit talking about recruites that will never show up on campus, it makes you look really stupid and desperate.

So let me get this straight.

1. The Griz win the conference with one scholarship vacant . . .
2. The Griz take it to the final 10 seconds against the #8 team in the country IN SPITE of their entire senior class (Nothing from Johnson, Staudacher, or McGillis. Banny should have played more) . . .
3. The Griz have what is regarded as one of their strongest incoming recruiting classes in recent history (with one scholarship to spend) . . .
4. Tinkle improving as a coach and leader . . .

. . . and you think this team is going to fade into obscurity? I see the signs pointing the other way. I just wish Montana could somehow do a better job of retaining assistant coaches. It looks like the Griz have a solid staff right now compared to recent years.

 

[Gallatin Griz]

From the expert on stupid and desperate, "And I really wish people would quit talking about recruites that will never show up on campus, it makes you look really stupid and desperate." :roll:

 

[montanatarheel]

And I really wish people would quit talking about recruites that will never show up on campus, it makes you look really stupid and desperate.[/quote]


You have said this multiple times. Do you have any info indicating they won't be here? 3 of 4 have signed letters of intent. Kareem couldn't because he verballed after the signing period but by all accounts loves UM and Tinks and has been singing their praises. So if you have some info enlighten us, if not shut up because it makes YOU look really stupid and desperate.