There's That Snake Again....

[citygriz]

Oh, it was so edenic last night, sitting at home in my big old easy chair, watching in obvious glee as we matched the Oregon Ogres basket for basket well into the second half!

There was Aanen Moody, doing his impersonation of Steph Curry, and Brandon Whitney with his deft handle seemingly able to glide into the paint at will. Dischon Thomas was grabbing rebounds, and our fabulous freshman Money Williams, after hitting the trey to tie the game at halftime, scored on three consecutive possessions in the second half, looking like he was going to take over the game. For the first time in memory, Montana had some heft on the floor, not looking totally unmatched against an elite Power Five program. And it looked like the Ducks, missing their key big, Dante, might be vulnerable.

Could we pull this off?

Ah, no. Of course not. Once again, that big old ugly snake reared its ugly head, as it has so many times with this program: The almost legendary scoring drought. This time it was roughly four minutes--enough time for Oregon to run off 14 unanswered points--while our team weaved around on the perimeter, forcing shots at the end of the shot clock without getting anything going to the basket. Let an opponent turn its defensive intensity against us, and we seem lost, unable to run plays or have any antidote for these scoring droughts.

It's been the curse of this program for years now, and it's so sad because Decuire and his staff have got some nice pieces this year, with welcome height and and excellent depth. A team that definitely has a shot to win the Big Sky.

But we gotta deal with that snake.

 

[Kabooom]

I think Citay's unfortunately spot on particularly when the Griz play up in competition..
There's certainly been some notables.. . Que the Stanford game on the road back in the Pridgett years.
Griz had Stanford on the ropes with a decent lead well into the 2nd half
...then that snake slithered out on to the floor....huge Griz scoring drought.... Man, from a fans perspective, you just hope that Travis calls a QUICK timeout and is able to stop the bleeding and make some adjustments and try to regroup and rally the guys. Then another few minutes go by and the lead has evaporated. Seems like an easy fix, but it's not. Maybe bring in another asst. coach with a fresh perspective from outside his normal coaching tree?
That said, I think were pretty fortunate to have what Coach DeCuire brings to the table at Montana with the teams and talent he's been able to assemble.
Future should be bright for the Griz in the Big Sky this year.



Go Griz!!

 

[mtgrizrule]

There's a difference this time though.
That difference, we were without a key experienced floor spreading shooter, in Vasquez. Also, 2 of the 10 rotational players are true Freshman. Money was 1 of the best players on that court. Henderson looked solid as well. They both belonged on that court against a p5 team.

Guess what? They're only going to get better.
If we hit 3s at our normal rate, we pull out a W there.

 

[mtgrizrule]

Let me add, Thomas is willingly playing more physical and a rebounding presence. If he does that all year, that's a huge factor.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Very encouraging... this team has potential at all positions. We also saw how opposing teams will start jump-trapping and double teaming Moody and thus need others to step up.
Besides Money, I'm hopefdul that Giordan Williams and perhaps Jaxon Nap emerge as reliable perimeter shooters. Go Griz.

 

[mtgrizrule]

Very encouraging... this team has potential at all positions. We also saw how opposing teams will start jump-trapping and double teaming Moody and thus need others to step up.
Besides Money, I'm hopefdul that Giordan Williams and perhaps Jaxon Nap emerge as reliable perimeter shooters. Go Griz.

Vasquez too.

 

[citygriz]

Some suggestions.

Brandon Whitney: You've got a great handle. You can get into the paint at will--but once there you seem reluctant to shoot. Take that shot! Or take it to the rim! Challenge those big dudes! If you get rejected, go at it again! Tenacity!

Aanen Moody: Take a few lessons from Steph Curry. His pre-game dribbling exhibition is more than a show; it's the same cross-over dribble that in a game leads either to a step-back three or a drive to the basket. Others in the NBA are already copying his moves. You should too. Another Steph secret: Constant movement off the ball. He's always in motion, using screens to get free. He stays in great shape so he can run his defender ragged.

Travis DeCuire: Don't forget the oldest commandment in basketball: CUT TO THE BASKET! You never see backdoor cuts in our offense. You don't see our players making use of the baseline to receive passes, or draw defenders off the three-point line. As Monty pointed out last night, when the snake hit, our offense was operating way too far away from the basket, weaving and making passes with no objective but to run the shot clock down and leave us with a desperation shot. I fully recognize, teams go cold. But I also say that when it happens as often as it does with our offense, there is something wrong with our schemes.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Very encouraging... this team has potential at all positions. We also saw how opposing teams will start jump-trapping and double teaming Moody and thus need others to step up.
Besides Money, I'm hopefdul that Giordan Williams and perhaps Jaxon Nap emerge as reliable perimeter shooters. Go Griz.

Vasquez too.

I agree re: Josh. Hope he gets on the court soon.

 

[mtgrizrule]

Some suggestions.

Brandon Whitney: You've got a great handle. You can get into the paint at will--but once there you seem reluctant to shoot. Take that shot! Or take it to the rim! Challenge those big dudes! If you get rejected, go at it again! Tenacity!

Aanen Moody: Take a few lessons from Steph Curry. His pre-game dribbling exhibition is more than a show; it's the same cross-over dribble that in a game leads either to a step-back three or a drive to the basket. Others in the NBA are already copying his moves. You should too. Another Steph secret: Constant movement off the ball. He's always in motion, using screens to get free. He stays in great shape so he can run his defender ragged.

Travis DeCuire: Don't forget the oldest commandment in basketball: CUT TO THE BASKET! You never see backdoor cuts in our offense. You don't see our players making use of the baseline to receive passes, or draw defenders off the three-point line. As Monty pointed out last night, when the snake hit, our offense was operating way too far away from the basket, weaving and making passes with no objective but to run the shot clock down and leave us with a desperation shot. I fully recognize, teams go cold. But I also say that when it happens as often as it does with our offense, there is something wrong with our schemes.

They're doing a lot more cutting this year.
Unfortunately, bigger teams limit the effectiveness of these cuts.

 

[AZDoc]

Had it again last night. This time they overcame the problem, but not against better teams.