Why, yet again?

[LittleBear]

I think the two issues so many are bringing up is definitely related. A huge problem with our shooting is reflected by our lack of a dominant back-to-basket big man. Think of the years when we had Martin and Jamar. Those guys could not be guarded 1 on 1, and routinely attracted the double team. So you're able to get guys on the back side wide open 3's because those 3 wing defenders now have to guard 4. We don't have that this year, and haven't for a while. On average, our shooters have less space, less time, and less rhythm.

Another problem that I think has been alluded to is the frustrating lack of of a senior led team. Since Sayeed, most of our guys playing the most minutes are young. Plus we start the season relying on transfers who seemingly never work out. We watch our young guys have a bit of success with some hiccups along the way and think, "Well they were solid young players, can't wait to see what they do as juniors and seniors." And then just a variety of things happen, like Josh and Kyle losing all their minutes. It's like we're always playing for the future. So then again, we're seeing outcomes that correlate with young teams. The inability to close out games and overall inconsistency.

 

[Grizfan-24]

If you consider the decisions that Travis made in the off season,

SR P TR Blankey
JC G TR Martin
FR G RS Braggs
FR F WO Solomon
FR G WO Wetzel
SO W WO Lawrence

There was an obvious decision at some point to run it back with this group with the hope that some of the warts of the 2021 would go away. Really only Martin as a newcomer has provided a consistent presence and it is clear at this point he hasn't develop into that wing scorer option to widen the floor. Blakney isn't a miss, but clearly he is limited with his injuries. I would have thought with the addition of the top two Montana would have fixed some of its ills. So really what we are is essentially the same team as the 2021 version with two of the key contributors (Owens and Vasquez) have had scant contribution this year. So part of this is obviously a third consecutive transfer market fail for Travis, where other teams in the conference found in that portal significant additions to the roster. The result is a roster that is showing the wear of extended minutes, better second game scouting by the opposition and few counters to what teams are doing. If you look at the roster as it is currently constructed, Travis obviously read the tea-leaves, and wasn't going to go full Randy Rahe and replace the whole roster.

If you look at the upcoming class, its clear the staff knows they need length and are getting it in spades. Reynolds (6-9 to 6-10) is said not to be done growing, the Nap kid (6-7) is tearing up washington hoops and Bateman (6-7) is a project but has the agility skills to be a 3 and D type kid if he continues to develop sort of in the Bobby Morehead role. I don't think this is end of the recruiting class because I expect some roster turnover this year from both the WO's and back of bench kids.

Is this absolving Travis? A bit. But I really don't think that roster as constructed now or back in November was as complete or deep as many of us (including myself) really thought it was. Owens and Vasquez have regressed significantly and are situational subs as the 8-9 guys off the bench. He's got three post players 1 wing 5 guards in his 8 man rotation. These kids play hard and have improved, but have to play well at both ends to win games. The Idaho and Idaho State games showed how thin that margin was. The ISU game was a clear clunker, but it wasnt like the Idaho game was that significantly different from the last 10 BSC conference games other than getting absolutely manhandled on the defensive end yesterday. UI scored 14 points (roughly speaking) above what Montana had been allowing in conference.

Can Montana win out? Absolutely and it wouldn't surprise me in the least that they would. First because the difference between first and 6th in the conference this year is absolutely paper thin and because I do think Travis is talented enough as a coach to figure some shit out between here and next Thursday. They have a lot of time off, to right things for the big duo against SUU and MSU.

They clearly have to be better and it is right to question how much better they can be.

 

[Mousegriz]

Idaho had two freshman that were key in victory last night......Salih with 19 points and that super tough amazing big guy Christensen with 14.

EWU has a couple nice looking freshman who were big in their win over MSU....Venters 19 points Jones 10......several others played quite a bit.

Griz play no frosh or RS frosh. Why do Idaho and EWU both appear to have better young recruits than the Griz? Idaho's struggled for years and EWU lost their coach and many of their better players after last season. Griz have facilities, support, experienced coaching, and winning tradition.

Recruiting is an issue; I don't see a difference maker among this year's signees either.

 

[Grizfan-24]

I do believe Jaxon Nap is. Unlike Reynolds who I think fits into the Anderson category, Nap could play immediately next year. He grew 7 inches in the pandemic and if you watch the highlights of him its hard not to be impressed. He's got guard ball skills in a SF body, and that includes great passing instincts. He's actually pretty physical for a 6-7 kid and I think under normal circumstances where had he been an advanced prospect as a guard, there wouldn't be a chance in hades that we would have got him. He's absolutely had a monster HS season and was getting his points against a lot better competition in their non-conference season.

I get that some are down on Reynolds just because he can't carry Shelby as a 6-9 kid, but as a friend told me he said that Reynolds is twice the basketball player that Anderson was as a senior in Bozeman. He said that given the ability to put on some weight, he felt like Reynolds was very capable of being a decent Big Sky Conference PF.

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

If you are the worst rebounding team in the league, you are probably going to be in tight games night in and night out. And if you then compound that with a bad shooting night or bad defensive night or a high turnover night, even if just in spurts, you will seldom pull out a W.

 

[Mousegriz]

If you are the worst rebounding team in the league, you are probably going to be in tight games night in and night out. And if you then compound that with a bad shooting night or bad defensive night or a high turnover night, even if just in spurts, you will seldom pull out a W.

Lots of big time rebounders coming in next year!

 

[Proud Griz Man]

If you are the worst rebounding team in the league, you are probably going to be in tight games night in and night out. And if you then compound that with a bad shooting night or bad defensive night or a high turnover night, even if just in spurts, you will seldom pull out a W.

Rebounding is mostly effort. = see the video about 6'7" center Wes Unseld Shortest NBA Center of All-Time - Wes Unseld

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...56547A10E254EF3BB05B56547A10E254&&FORM=VDRVRV

 

[Griz til I die]

If you consider the decisions that Travis made in the off season,

SR P TR Blankey
JC G TR Martin
FR G RS Braggs
FR F WO Solomon
FR G WO Wetzel
SO W WO Lawrence

There was an obvious decision at some point to run it back with this group with the hope that some of the warts of the 2021 would go away. Really only Martin as a newcomer has provided a consistent presence and it is clear at this point he hasn't develop into that wing scorer option to widen the floor. Blakney isn't a miss, but clearly he is limited with his injuries. I would have thought with the addition of the top two Montana would have fixed some of its ills. So really what we are is essentially the same team as the 2021 version with two of the key contributors (Owens and Vasquez) have had scant contribution this year. So part of this is obviously a third consecutive transfer market fail for Travis, where other teams in the conference found in that portal significant additions to the roster. The result is a roster that is showing the wear of extended minutes, better second game scouting by the opposition and few counters to what teams are doing. If you look at the roster as it is currently constructed, Travis obviously read the tea-leaves, and wasn't going to go full Randy Rahe and replace the whole roster.

If you look at the upcoming class, its clear the staff knows they need length and are getting it in spades. Reynolds (6-9 to 6-10) is said not to be done growing, the Nap kid (6-7) is tearing up washington hoops and Bateman (6-7) is a project but has the agility skills to be a 3 and D type kid if he continues to develop sort of in the Bobby Morehead role. I don't think this is end of the recruiting class because I expect some roster turnover this year from both the WO's and back of bench kids.

Is this absolving Travis? A bit. But I really don't think that roster as constructed now or back in November was as complete or deep as many of us (including myself) really thought it was. Owens and Vasquez have regressed significantly and are situational subs as the 8-9 guys off the bench. He's got three post players 1 wing 5 guards in his 8 man rotation. These kids play hard and have improved, but have to play well at both ends to win games. The Idaho and Idaho State games showed how thin that margin was. The ISU game was a clear clunker, but it wasnt like the Idaho game was that significantly different from the last 10 BSC conference games other than getting absolutely manhandled on the defensive end yesterday. UI scored 14 points (roughly speaking) above what Montana had been allowing in conference.

Can Montana win out? Absolutely and it wouldn't surprise me in the least that they would. First because the difference between first and 6th in the conference this year is absolutely paper thin and because I do think Travis is talented enough as a coach to figure some shit out between here and next Thursday. They have a lot of time off, to right things for the big duo against SUU and MSU.

They clearly have to be better and it is right to question how much better they can be.

I think it's tough to give this years transfer class a fair assessment. I think Martin is a good player, and I think he's really started to establish himself as a go-to shooter and 3 point threat. What happened with Blakney was too bad because he's shown signs of brilliance in his limited time this year. Last night, I thought his post D was outstanding, and we haven't really gotten that from either Anderson (foul machine) or Bannon (not consistently). The Oscar Lopez situation was unfortunate because he probably could've been our big offensive threat.

I think we'll do well in the portal this year. We already have one extra roster spot open for next year as Freddie Brown announced he's taking a job with Boeing (who can blame him though) and then we'll see what Mack and Parker decide to do with taking the additional year or not. Blakney is out of eligibility, and then I would think a couple more of the walk-ons may choose to leave this offseason as well as either Vazquez or Owens (or both). We need a big man for sure, and if we can get one similar to Blakney and who also doesn't unfortunately get hurt before the start of the year, I think we'll be in good hands. I think Decuire will also go get a shooter/big points guy (or will at least try to) and those are really the only 2 things I think we need. The rest of the pieces are in place to be successful IMO.

 

[Griz til I die]

Idaho had two freshman that were key in victory last night......Salih with 19 points and that super tough amazing big guy Christensen with 14.

EWU has a couple nice looking freshman who were big in their win over MSU....Venters 19 points Jones 10......several others played quite a bit.

Griz play no frosh or RS frosh. Why do Idaho and EWU both appear to have better young recruits than the Griz? Idaho's struggled for years and EWU lost their coach and many of their better players after last season. Griz have facilities, support, experienced coaching, and winning tradition.

Recruiting is an issue; I don't see a difference maker among this year's signees either.

Ya that was last year for us. 3 of our 4 leading scorers last season were freshmen. I really don't want that to be the case for us every year.

 

[mtboy7]

I think that Travis is so afraid of our Biggs getting more fouls. That he has no one trying to get offensive rebounds most of the time. As you can see when we are shooting free throws he rarely has any of our guys trying to get a rebound. So It is understandable to me why we are the worst rebounding team.

 

[AZGrizFan]

Idaho had two freshman that were key in victory last night......Salih with 19 points and that super tough amazing big guy Christensen with 14.

EWU has a couple nice looking freshman who were big in their win over MSU....Venters 19 points Jones 10......several others played quite a bit.

Griz play no frosh or RS frosh. Why do Idaho and EWU both appear to have better young recruits than the Griz? Idaho's struggled for years and EWU lost their coach and many of their better players after last season. Griz have facilities, support, experienced coaching, and winning tradition.

Recruiting is an issue; I don't see a difference maker among this year's signees either.

There’s no winning with some people. First its “this team is soooo young! We’re the 2nd youngest team in the BSC!” Then it’s “why do other teams have better young recruits than the Griz?” Their freshmen are better than our freshmen!”