1. You don't have to recruit the McDonald's All-Americans to make the Final Four; there is not one Top 100 high school player on that Villanova team. You do have to recruit good under-the-radar kids who are willing to work to get better and to stay in the program three-four-five years, and you have to coach 'em up to the highest levels. What Lon Kruger did not say in his final press conference is that two coaches took Finals exams, and Jay Wright got a 91, and he got a 52. Sure, Oklahoma missed shots, but it was clear to anyone, Jay Wright out-coached Lon Kruger.
2. You need to play tough. Jay Williams, a former player and now an analyst, was saying that when he played pick-up games in Philadelphia, he always came away bruised and scratched and bloody, because that's the way they play basketball in Philadelphia. I recall talking to the parents of an Idaho player who had to go up against Larry Kystkowiak, and their telling me how their son hated to play again him, not because he was the most talented guy he played against, but because he banged and elbowed and scratched and clawed, and was a nightmare to play against. I hope the Tacoma kids bring that toughness to our program, because it has long been my contention that Montana kids--Montana people, period--are just too nice to understand the insane ego-driven competitiveness of big-city basketball.
3. You must play defense! Sure, it's a cliché, but like stereotypes, clichés are usually earned: Defense wins basketball games. Without those big McDonald's All-Americans on their interior, Villanova compensates by tough, laterally-quick defense on the perimeter, always staying in front of their man, contesting shots and denying easy entry passes. I don't know if they can be successful against a team as big and as athletic as North Carolina, but their defense will give them a chance.
4. You have to be family. On the pro level right now, the Warriors are family, while an athletically superior team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are not. Villanova is family too, easy to see. Like all families, they honor their tradition and their forebears, like Rollie Massimino, who coached Villanova to that incredible upset of Georgetown, while Jay Wright makes sure the current kids know that tradition, and live up to it. They seem like a tight-knit group anyway. When the current ownership group took over the San Francisco Giants baseball team back in the early 90's, it was a struggling money-losing franchise. But their first of several good moves was to bring all the old greats--especially Willie Mays and Willie McCovery--back into franchise as advisors and community spokesmen, and to honor them at any opportunity. It was the beginning of the revival of a storied baseball franchise.
So how do we stack up? I think this Montana program under DeCuire has a lot of the qualities of the Villanova program. The first thing DeCuire did was to pay respect to the great Montana basketball tradition, by bringing back all the coaches--okay, a fund-raiser too--even I gave!--but a reminder to all us fans and to all the current players about the great tradition that is Montana basketball.Then he's brought in exceptional players for a program at Montana's level, and he's demonstrated that he can coach them up. That defense against Weber was exceptional, they totally took Bolomboy out of the game, and forced Weber to beat us by making some insane long-range shots which unfortunately they did. But I could not have been more proud of the Montana coaching during that game.
All in all, as I watch this tournament come to an end, I'm reminded that we need one or two exceptional interior players, because all successful teams in this tournament have one or two or, in Carolina's case, a whole bench full. Whether we have them in the program, or can sign more, or Alphonso Anderson fills one of those slots, remains to be seen. But lacking only that, I think Montana's program is still on its climb-out to lofty heights.
2. You need to play tough. Jay Williams, a former player and now an analyst, was saying that when he played pick-up games in Philadelphia, he always came away bruised and scratched and bloody, because that's the way they play basketball in Philadelphia. I recall talking to the parents of an Idaho player who had to go up against Larry Kystkowiak, and their telling me how their son hated to play again him, not because he was the most talented guy he played against, but because he banged and elbowed and scratched and clawed, and was a nightmare to play against. I hope the Tacoma kids bring that toughness to our program, because it has long been my contention that Montana kids--Montana people, period--are just too nice to understand the insane ego-driven competitiveness of big-city basketball.
3. You must play defense! Sure, it's a cliché, but like stereotypes, clichés are usually earned: Defense wins basketball games. Without those big McDonald's All-Americans on their interior, Villanova compensates by tough, laterally-quick defense on the perimeter, always staying in front of their man, contesting shots and denying easy entry passes. I don't know if they can be successful against a team as big and as athletic as North Carolina, but their defense will give them a chance.
4. You have to be family. On the pro level right now, the Warriors are family, while an athletically superior team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are not. Villanova is family too, easy to see. Like all families, they honor their tradition and their forebears, like Rollie Massimino, who coached Villanova to that incredible upset of Georgetown, while Jay Wright makes sure the current kids know that tradition, and live up to it. They seem like a tight-knit group anyway. When the current ownership group took over the San Francisco Giants baseball team back in the early 90's, it was a struggling money-losing franchise. But their first of several good moves was to bring all the old greats--especially Willie Mays and Willie McCovery--back into franchise as advisors and community spokesmen, and to honor them at any opportunity. It was the beginning of the revival of a storied baseball franchise.
So how do we stack up? I think this Montana program under DeCuire has a lot of the qualities of the Villanova program. The first thing DeCuire did was to pay respect to the great Montana basketball tradition, by bringing back all the coaches--okay, a fund-raiser too--even I gave!--but a reminder to all us fans and to all the current players about the great tradition that is Montana basketball.Then he's brought in exceptional players for a program at Montana's level, and he's demonstrated that he can coach them up. That defense against Weber was exceptional, they totally took Bolomboy out of the game, and forced Weber to beat us by making some insane long-range shots which unfortunately they did. But I could not have been more proud of the Montana coaching during that game.
All in all, as I watch this tournament come to an end, I'm reminded that we need one or two exceptional interior players, because all successful teams in this tournament have one or two or, in Carolina's case, a whole bench full. Whether we have them in the program, or can sign more, or Alphonso Anderson fills one of those slots, remains to be seen. But lacking only that, I think Montana's program is still on its climb-out to lofty heights.
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