knhoj said:
I'm a Bobcat fan, but I really don't intend this as smack at all. I'm just sort of shocked to see the UM women sitting at 0-10/3-18. I mean they've been at or near the top of the conference for as long as I can remember, and I'm pretty old. From what I understand, they've had 2 or 3 key players who've been out all season due to injuries, so certainly that is a partial explanation, but I still wouldn't have expected them to be this bad. I'd just be curious to hear the opinions of Griz fans about this. Again, I truly don't mean this as smack at all. I've always had sort of a grudging respect for Selvig and the program that he built over there.
Three returning seniors -- Valley, Sims & Staudacher, who decides to forego her senior year to concentrate on studies. Valley and Sims -- all conference returnees -- then go down early (pre-season and just a few games in) with season-ending ACL injuries. One returning junior (Isaak)... out most of December with a broken hand, now playing with the hand heavily taped. Staudacher then decides to return to the team in mid-December... returns to the lineup in early January, but is just now getting into game shape.
• Five of the top six players in points per game are freshmen, the sixth is a sophomore. Eight of the top nine scorers are freshmen (or RS frosh).
• The four top players in minutes logged are frosh.
They're not "bad," but sometimes they don't realize that. Most of the frosh are just now getting familiar with a multi-faceted Montana system. I spoke with an asst. coach this week who said the biggest hurdles for the players now are mental & emotional, not physical. So, the above players, the asst. coach joked, only six months ago had to get hall passes so they could go to early BB practice.
On top of it all, coach Schweyen has been dealing with an ACL injury to one of her daughters, a varsity h.s. player at Msla. Sentinel. That's taken a toll on the coaching staff.
Nonetheless, this team gets better, game by game. IF (a big if) they can win one Big Sky game (they almost had one at Eastern last week), they become a totally different team. These kids have been tested by fire. I'm pretty certain they'll be a solid team. Maybe come tourney time; more likely not until next season, when Kayleigh Valley (preseason Big Sky MVP) has indictaed she'll return for her senior year.