Lacerating!!!

The game changed shortly after Stanford went to a zone. Our kids seems baffled, lost. What had been an offense going 40 miles an hour in the fast lane, suddenly blew two tires and was off on the shoulder entirely. Up 50-44, we lose 70-54. That's 26-4. As I say, lacerating.

The irony is, our football team could score but not defend, while our basketball team defends but can't score. My suggestion for the football team was, keep Stitt, but replace the defensive coordinator. So: Will somebody grab Stitt before he leaves Missoula? This team needs an offensive coordinator!

I mean, this far into the season, I have no idea about the DESIGN of our offense. Decuire said he wanted to play fast, and in Oguine and Rorie, we have two players to do that. But where are the fast breaks? Where are the layups off a fast break? Come to think of it, where are the pick and rolls? The cuts to the basket? The back door passes? The lobs for Oguine? We have no low-post offense, and little activity away from the ball. We pass the ball around and around the perimeter, often passing up good shots early in a possession, for a desperation heave late in the shot clock. Once Stanford went to zone, our offense consisted of Moorehead throwing up an NBA three late every possession. Big Sky opponents will take notice: With no post play and no outside shooting, just camp into a zone, and you've got Montana in the bag.

Sorta sad since the TV coverage was exceptional for us. Ted Robinson is a big-time Bay Area announcer, the voice of Forty-Niner football, but Bill Walton, the notorious gasbag, when he wasn't going on about water conservation, solar power, the Stanford campus, the variety of trees of the Stanford campus, the number of trees on the Stanford campus (phew!) was actually not only complimentary, but laudatory of Montana. He knew all about our incredible coaching tree, with pictures.Talked about our near upset of UCLA in 1975, with pictures. Explained in full the tribute to Delvon Anderson, and how Montana honored everybody, like one big family. Raved about the state of Montana, saying how every Texas kid should want to play in Montana. Even relayed a tidbit I hadn't heard, that Oguine wanted to play for Kevin Stallings at Vanderbilt, but Stallings said he wasn't good enough--the motivation for Oguine's fabulous game at Pitt against Stallings. All in all, we could not have asked for an announcer more familiar with Montana and its basketball program, or more laudatory.

Only to lay that monster egg at the end.

Here's how bad it got. Yours truly, the notorious Citay, the guy who grew up from age eleven on Montana basketball, the guy with maroon blood coursing through his veins and the guy who has typed more words into this site than War and Peace, actually shut down his TV and stormed out of the room. It was shortly after Stanford went to the zone, the momentum was shifting, Pridgett had missed two of four critical free throws and Akoh missed a put-back bunny at the rim.

I came back a minute later to watch the rest of this Horror Show. Sadly, many Griz fans will not come back.

Same song, different season. It seems like all of Decuire's tenure and probably the last couple of Tinkle's, the Griz go through stretches where they aren't able to throw it in the ocean or hit free-throws with regularity. I don't know enough to know if it is a talent thing or a coaching thing.

...killer instinct...
...knock out punch...
...call it what you want...
...got to find it and find it fast...

... unch: ...

zengriz said:

...killer instinct...
...knock out punch...
...call it what you want...
...got to find it and find it fast...

... unch: ...

Click to expand...

You can have that killer instinct in spades, but if you drive the struggle bus shooting free throws and making shots down the stretch, all the "killer instinct" in the world won't help.

...the free throw is the most difficult...
...15 footer with nobody guarding you...
...there are simple drills to overcome this...
...unless you're wilt or shaq..this is fixable...

... :wtf: ...

In fairness to DeCuire....Rorie had a terrible game. Our best outside and mid-range shooter scored 14 points below his average. That happens. I've seen Steph Curry shoot oh-for-ten. Nothing a coach can do about it, except drink more milk for his ulcers.

One other thought, prompted by this game.

Back in our basketball heyday, we had 15 ships, as opposed to today's 13. That meant you could redshirt three players, and still have 12 on your bench. Today you can't do that--and that really harms a mid-major program that depends on veteran leadership to offset all the young one-'n-dones the big schools can recruit. I do not fault our recruiting one bit; it has been stellar. Falls and Nicholas will both be big-time players in our program. But realistically, both could have used a redshirt year. Falls because he's adjusting to the speed of the college game, and Nicholas because it always takes bigs longer to master post moves, and to not foul by trying to block every shot. Even the great Qvale should have redshirted his firsrt year. This year we have four guys who could have used a redshirt. But you just can't do that today.

citay said:

In fairness to DeCuire....Rorie had a terrible game. Our best outside and mid-range shooter scored 14 points below his average. That happens. I've seen Steph Curry shoot oh-for-ten. Nothing a coach can do about it, except drink more milk for his ulcers.

One other thought, prompted by this game.

Back in our basketball heyday, we had 15 ships, as opposed to today's 13. That mean you could redshirt three players, and still have 12 on your bench. Today you can't do that--and that really harms a mid-major program that depends on veteran leadership to offset all the young one-'n-dones the big schools can recruit. I do not fault our recruiting one bit; it has been stellar. Falls and Nicholas will both be big-time players in our program. But realistically, both could have used a redshirt year. Falls because he's adjusting to the speed of the college game, and Nicholas because it always takes bigs longer to master post moves, and to not foul by trying to block every shot. Even the great Qvale should have redshirted his firsrt year. This year we have four guys who could have used a redshirt. But you just can't do that today.

Click to expand...

Good points. Rorie may not have another game this year as bad as this one. Considering how bad it was, it is almost remarkable how close the Griz stayed up until the final minutes.

That last possession of the first half, with roughly 26 seconds left on the clock, Rorie dribbles the ball around mid court, dribbles some more, and some more, then with 6 seconds left, makes a move and trips and gives up the ball. Sums up the offense this year.

The shooting problem is mass psychosis ... very infectious ... first contracted by the Lady Griz, then passed on to the men. No, not an STD, but just as insidious. We all know that almost every LG can shoot and shoot very well ... they proved that in high school, so it's not about fundamentals, form or technique. It is mental. In the future, as humans develop evolutionarily, they will become even more susceptible to these kinds of neuroses and a team psychologist will be a customary part of every sports program. For now, maybe an amateur hypnotist could perform the function. If any of you have ever taken one of those magazine back page courses, perhaps you could volunteer. It couldn't hoit.

Fat Bruno said:

The shooting problem is mass psychosis ... very infectious ... first contracted by the Lady Griz, then passed on to the men. No, not an STD, but just as insidious. We all know that almost every LG can shoot and shoot very well ... they proved that in high school, so it's not about fundamentals, form or technique. It is mental. In the future, as humans develop evolutionarily, they will become even more susceptible to these kinds of neuroses and a team psychologist will be a customary part of every sports program. For now, maybe an amateur hypnotist could perform the function. If any of you have ever taken one of those magazine back page courses, perhaps you could volunteer. It couldn't hoit.

Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Montana competed for all but the last Ten Minutes.

The Last Ten, They looked flatter than a... Poor Eddy St. Hobo's Billfold....

The 3 Time-outs they saved only prolonged the drubbing.

Lack of adjustment to the 2-3 Zone is puzzling...and concerning.

Fat Bruno said:

The shooting problem is mass psychosis ... very infectious ... first contracted by the Lady Griz, then passed on to the men. No, not an STD, but just as insidious. We all know that almost every LG can shoot and shoot very well ... they proved that in high school, so it's not about fundamentals, form or technique. It is mental. In the future, as humans develop evolutionarily, they will become even more susceptible to these kinds of neuroses and a team psychologist will be a customary part of every sports program. For now, maybe an amateur hypnotist could perform the function. If any of you have ever taken one of those magazine back page courses, perhaps you could volunteer. It couldn't hoit.

Click to expand...

I thought I was giving some good advice to Griz shooters in in terms of squaring up, staying under control, etc, but this is much more reasonable and practical....

This team will lose games like this, and most likely to some teams they shouldn't lose to because, 1) they are not a great defensive teams and 2) they are not a consistent shooting team. They are actually a very streaky shooting team and their defense will be an issue in games when the shoot poorly.

This quote from today's paper explains the losses clearly, I think:
"DeCuire highlighted struggles in the stretch of eight minutes remaining to four minutes remain; he said he may start using timeouts there to get control of the situation instead of letting the players try to break out of a slump on their own."
Looks like he's hoping for growth.