Next up... at Pepperdine 11/29

The Grizzlies were 1-for-16 from beyond the arc, shot only 14-22 from the FT line, turned the ball over 13 times (which the Waves converted into 18 points)... and yet they STILL played well enough to be within striking distance with 2 minutes remaining.

Without naming names, and very supportive of his team, Travis DeCuire said many of the same things that appear in this thread, post game... particularly lamenting the low shooting percentage beyond Martin Breunig's 10-for-12 from the field. But indicating that he likes the way the team is developing cohesiveness and character.

I admit to being caught off guard by how this team is transforming into one with radically different character than I envisioned. Montana's game v.s. San Francisco on Friday might be pivotal.

You will see from my posts I seldom if ever post on this or any site. I feel the pain as do most of you die hard basketball junkies do. I have come to know Travis and the the rest of the staff quite well over the past year and have been fortunate enough to speed time with the coaches and players. I have great faith in Travis and his coaching abilities but my observation is he is trying to fit some round pegs in square holes. Not to say it can't be done but I feel he suffers from the same frustrations that Coach Stitt was feeling trying to mold the FB team into his offense but having minimal success until he recognized that he needed to work around the strengths of his players.
In my opinion and just my opinion I think he needs to sit Gfeller for a few games or maybe bring him off the bench. And I love Brandon, I think he tries to hard at times and maybe there is too much pressure on him starting. And to be quite frank his contributions in rebounds, assists and defense have suffered significantly and its hurting the team.
As for Bradshaw I really feel bad for him. The other night when he came into the game and I can't remember if it was at the end of the first half or not but he immediately got his pocket picked and then he exacerbated the situation by committing a flagrant foul so instead of scoring two he gave up four and that was critical to the outcome. That was a six point potential turnaround. To be honest I don't remember if they converted after the free throws or not but the harm was done.
Not to make this a short novel but the lack of Mario to run the show is very evident. Walter I think is better at the two where he can use his quickness off the dribble.
As for the freshmen all I can say is "bar the door boys" those two are going to be great in the years ahead.

Sport said:

You will see from my posts I seldom if ever post on this or any site. I feel the pain as do most of you die hard basketball junkies do. I have come to know Travis and the the rest of the staff quite well over the past year and have been fortunate enough to speed time with the coaches and players. I have great faith in Travis and his coaching abilities but my observation is he is trying to fit some round pegs in square holes. Not to say it can't be done but I feel he suffers from the same frustrations that Coach Stitt was feeling trying to mold the FB team into his offense but having minimal success until he recognized that he needed to work around the strengths of his players.
In my opinion and just my opinion I think he needs to sit Gfeller for a few games or maybe bring him off the bench. And I love Brandon, I think he tries to hard at times and maybe there is too much pressure on him starting. And to be quite frank his contributions in rebounds, assists and defense have suffered significantly and its hurting the team.
As for Bradshaw I really feel bad for him. The other night when he came into the game and I can't remember if it was at the end of the first half or not but he immediately got his pocket picked and then he exacerbated the situation by committing a flagrant foul so instead of scoring two he gave up four and that was critical to the outcome. That was a six point potential turnaround. To be honest I don't remember if they converted after the free throws or not but the harm was done.
Not to make this a short novel but the lack of Mario to run the show is very evident. Walter I think is better at the two where he can use his quickness off the dribble.
As for the freshmen all I can say is "bar the door boys" those two are going to be great in the years ahead.

Click to expand...

Wonderful post, Sport. Having Gfeller come off the bench is a great idea. Hey, don't be a stranger!

citay said:

Sport said:

You will see from my posts I seldom if ever post on this or any site. I feel the pain as do most of you die hard basketball junkies do. I have come to know Travis and the the rest of the staff quite well over the past year and have been fortunate enough to speed time with the coaches and players. I have great faith in Travis and his coaching abilities but my observation is he is trying to fit some round pegs in square holes. Not to say it can't be done but I feel he suffers from the same frustrations that Coach Stitt was feeling trying to mold the FB team into his offense but having minimal success until he recognized that he needed to work around the strengths of his players.
In my opinion and just my opinion I think he needs to sit Gfeller for a few games or maybe bring him off the bench. And I love Brandon, I think he tries to hard at times and maybe there is too much pressure on him starting. And to be quite frank his contributions in rebounds, assists and defense have suffered significantly and its hurting the team.
As for Bradshaw I really feel bad for him. The other night when he came into the game and I can't remember if it was at the end of the first half or not but he immediately got his pocket picked and then he exacerbated the situation by committing a flagrant foul so instead of scoring two he gave up four and that was critical to the outcome. That was a six point potential turnaround. To be honest I don't remember if they converted after the free throws or not but the harm was done.
Not to make this a short novel but the lack of Mario to run the show is very evident. Walter I think is better at the two where he can use his quickness off the dribble.
As for the freshmen all I can say is "bar the door boys" those two are going to be great in the years ahead.

Click to expand...

Wonderful post, Sport. Having Gfeller come off the bench is a great idea. Hey, don't be a stranger!

Click to expand...

Yes great post. Good to hear you are getting close to Travis and the team. Travis is a little more guarded or more difficult to get to know than Wayne ever was, at least with me. So, I have a more difficult time getting a read on this team than I did when Larry and Wayne were coaching.

I too have been thinking if it would do some good to bring Gfeller off the bench. I am a believer of having your top 3 bench players being a versatile combination player on the perimeter, in the post, and a true PG. Gfeller has the versatility to play SG (2) and SF (3). Regardless of his role, he has to get back to being the true square up shooter he is. How and why he got away from being a true straight up shooter to fading, leaning and off balance is beyond me? He had and has no reason to shoot any other way than straight up. I know shooting well. Brandon's perimeter consistency returns when he gets back to that. I hope the coaches are hammering this into his head too. Weisner and Staudacher each went through the off balance shooting stages too, and when they got back to the basics their consistency returned. Why do great shooters resort to that crap? I think it is the NBA influence. Gfeller is too good of a natural made shooter to continue this kind of inconsistent play. It is a matter of time before he snaps out of it. As a Jr who has had success, I'd be surprised if he continues to struggle. I fully expect he will snap out of it and find his shot again.

As for the main post player off the bench, that is something DeCuire has a bigger challenge. Lopez is the best option as for readiness. However, he is so out of position in the post, especially on defense, in the paint. He has the versatility to be a matchup problem. However, if it were me, I'd be committing minutes to developing Boehning. He is a physical presence with his size. With the personnel on this team, he can be asked to just man the middle with rebounding and defense. If he gets in foul trouble, at this stage it is not a big deal. Then again, I am a believer of having length in the paint. Length impacts shots rather it is blocks or shot changes.

Here is to hoping the GRIZ find more consistency as the out of conference schedule plays out.

Sport said:

You will see from my posts I seldom if ever post on this or any site. I feel the pain as do most of you die hard basketball junkies do. I have come to know Travis and the the rest of the staff quite well over the past year and have been fortunate enough to speed time with the coaches and players. I have great faith in Travis and his coaching abilities but my observation is he is trying to fit some round pegs in square holes. Not to say it can't be done but I feel he suffers from the same frustrations that Coach Stitt was feeling trying to mold the FB team into his offense but having minimal success until he recognized that he needed to work around the strengths of his players.
In my opinion and just my opinion I think he needs to sit Gfeller for a few games or maybe bring him off the bench. And I love Brandon, I think he tries to hard at times and maybe there is too much pressure on him starting. And to be quite frank his contributions in rebounds, assists and defense have suffered significantly and its hurting the team.
As for Bradshaw I really feel bad for him. The other night when he came into the game and I can't remember if it was at the end of the first half or not but he immediately got his pocket picked and then he exacerbated the situation by committing a flagrant foul so instead of scoring two he gave up four and that was critical to the outcome. That was a six point potential turnaround. To be honest I don't remember if they converted after the free throws or not but the harm was done.
Not to make this a short novel but the lack of Mario to run the show is very evident. Walter I think is better at the two where he can use his quickness off the dribble.
As for the freshmen all I can say is "bar the door boys" those two are going to be great in the years ahead.

Click to expand...

Totally agree on all parts. Very excited to see what DeCuire can do over the next few years. I think we'll be just fine this year too, just going through some major shooting struggles initially and other issues due to having so many new players being asked to contribute right away.

As for Gfeller, I agree. Maybe it'd help snap him out of this shooting funk to come in as one of the first off the bench and take a little pressure off him. He seemed all out of sorts in the game against Pepperdine. Uncharacteristic turnovers, fouls, poor shooting, etc. Looked very frustrated during a couple stretches of the game.

Bradshaw's turnover & foul.... I'm still not sure wtf happened on that play to cause him to go down. It looked like he just fell down with the ball then when the opposing player went to get it (it bounced up in the air) Bradshaw latched onto his leg for some reason resulting in the intentional or technical foul. His shot has been off this year big time too unfortunately. Shooting only 10% from the field and 0-5 from three so far. He has more turnovers than points at the moment. Need him to get going and get his confidence back since we are a little thin at guard with Dunn being out for a while.

I wonder how Dunn's recovery is going. Will we have him back this year or is the recovery taking so long he'll likely take a redshirt year this year?