Cat - Griz - MBB

[ClowderUp]

As bad as this feels right now, a win on Thursday at PSU coupled with an ISU loss on the road to Idaho puts us in a 4-way tie for 3rd place. This season is still alive.

[autocat]

How are the Griz looking?

Gris suck.

gris look like they have a 35 year old that had a knee replacement, alter boy with a head band and several guy that need a hair-net to go to work on Monday

[Colter_Nuanez]

[aucat]

I think they are called “free” for a reason

[AFCAT]

Basketball has become a difficult sport to watch. The fan support has faded significantly over the past 20 years. The only level doing well is the NBA. The top blue blood teams in college also do well. In Montana, the only time fans show up is for rivalry games but even that is fading in the high schools. I saw a pic of the CMR vs GFH game and it wasn’t half full. I went to the southern B divisionals a couple years ago and it had big crowds when Lodge Grass was playing but that’s it.

Obviously, more entertainment options now. I remember high school games were the place to be when I was a kid. Heck, even wrestling matches had great crowds. The Class C tourney in Helena was always sold out and we went to all the games, even though we weren't Class C.

I think winning would help the Cat men. The ladies draw better than most Big Sky teams. The men do well attendance-wise, but it's tough to root for a team when the players come and go so easily. I don't know what the answer is, but going 500 every year and losing to the gris doesn't help.

[nanacat]

Listened to the game while driving home. Free throws- they made all of theirs, Cats missed waaayyyy too many, and at that level of ball is pathetic. I hope Coach has them all in the gym this morning shooting free throws. Apparently they need to go back to some basics. Can't leave the gym until you hit 50, even if it takes 1000 shots, or something like that. That game should have been won by the Cats.

[AFCAT]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

...or just a leader.

[AFCAT]

How are the Griz looking?

Athletic-wise? Pretty bad considering they haven't won a brawl series in almost a decade.

[Desert_Bobcat]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

We need an identity. What do we do better than anyone? What do we lean on when the going gets rough? We're kind of mid at everything and that's enough to get us close but not beat good teams. I think last year was mental toughness but we've seemed to have lost that with Ford leaving. Guys work hard but can't close out runs to take a lead. Wire to wire loss even though we got within striking distance so many times.

I feel like I’ve been beating this drum all year. The issue is they have 2 opposing identities that don’t mix very well.

When Walker is in their offense is predominantly iso-ball, back to the basket ball with very limited off-ball movement.

When Walker is out and Sam is the 5 the offense is dictated by moving the ball side to side, moving off the ball, playing more “team focused” ball, and finding the mismatch and wearing the defense down until they find the open shot.

Trying to flip back and forth like that on offense is very challenging because both require the players to get in a “flow” and it takes a few possessions for everyone to find that flow again.

[Desert_Bobcat]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

...or just a leader.

What does a leader look like to you? Because I can point out 2 or 3 guys who left their hearts out on that floor last night. If your definition of a leader is a guy who just scores a lot of points I guess we have different definitions. But without those 2 or 3 guys this team gets their doors blown off by 40 and has a record that looks like Weber.

[AFCAT]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

...or just a leader.

What does a leader look like to you? Because I can point out 2 or 3 guys who left their hearts out on that floor last night. If your definition of a leader is a guy who just scores a lot of points I guess we have different definitions. But without those 2 or 3 guys this team gets their doors blown off by 40 and has a record that looks like Weber.

I’m talking about all season. Bishop, Belo, and Ford were great leaders and players. Scoring has nothing to do with it, although all those guys managed to do that too.

[Desert_Bobcat]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

...or just a leader.

What does a leader look like to you? Because I can point out 2 or 3 guys who left their hearts out on that floor last night. If your definition of a leader is a guy who just scores a lot of points I guess we have different definitions. But without those 2 or 3 guys this team gets their doors blown off by 40 and has a record that looks like Weber.

I’m talking about all season. Bishop and Ford were great leaders and players. Scoring has nothing to do with it, although all those guys managed to do that too.

So you’re discrediting what Patterson, Lecholat and, McMahon have done for this program the last 4-5 years? Heck even Jed. Those guys have dumped their soul into this program. They could have left many times over but stuck around to be a part of something bigger. And obviously we’re missing key things from inside the locker room but I’d say those are quality leaders.

If you want on the court examples, just watch the game again and look at what Sam was doing every possession on defense and on offense. Someone gets beat on the drive, he’s there to make a massive block. He gets a huge offensive board and has the court vision to dish the ball to Pat for a huge dunk. He consistently boxes out the other teams best defender and clears the lane for others to clean the glass.
He’s the heart and soul of this team and even though he might not be a pure scorer, his presence on the court makes everyone better. That’s a leader

[Bocephus]

The griz are a good team. Maybe this is the season that gets DeCuire out of Missoula. We can only hope.

I think he should’ve gotten Wazzu job over num nuts from EW.

[lutecat]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

...or just a leader.

What does a leader look like to you? Because I can point out 2 or 3 guys who left their hearts out on that floor last night. If your definition of a leader is a guy who just scores a lot of points I guess we have different definitions. But without those 2 or 3 guys this team gets their doors blown off by 40 and has a record that looks like Weber.

I’m talking about all season. Bishop and Ford were great leaders and players. Scoring has nothing to do with it, although all those guys managed to do that too.

So you’re discrediting what Patterson, Lecholat and, McMahon have done for this program the last 4-5 years? Heck even Jed. Those guys have dumped their soul into this program. They could have left many times over but stuck around to be a part of something bigger. And obviously we’re missing key things from inside the locker room but I’d say those are quality leaders.

If you want on the court examples, just watch the game again and look at what Sam was doing every possession on defense and on offense. Someone gets beat on the drive, he’s there to make a massive block. He gets a huge offensive board and has the court vision to dish the ball to Pat for a huge dunk. He consistently boxes out the other teams best defender and clears the lane for others to clean the glass.
He’s the heart and soul of this team and even though he might not be a pure scorer, his presence on the court makes everyone better. That’s a leader

Look i appreciate what your saying and your thoughts on leadership. But a leader would be someone that people fallow. They can lead by example. They can lead by being vocal. But they motivate everyone to be better. Playing good doesn't equate to leadership. We've seen plenty of good players who weren't leaders. I don't now if there is or isn't a solid leader on this team. I suspect not. Everyone knew Ford was the leader of the team last year. If people are wondering who the leader is, we probably don't have a cut and dry leader.

[OldGriz]

The griz are a good team. Maybe this is the season that gets DeCuire out of Missoula. We can only hope.

I think he should’ve gotten Wazzu job over num nuts from EW.

He doesn’t want to go anywhere else, even though he could. Picture your situation with Bader-Binford. That’s UM’s situation with DeCuire. Both programs are fortunate in that regard.

[technoCat]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

...or just a leader.

What does a leader look like to you? Because I can point out 2 or 3 guys who left their hearts out on that floor last night. If your definition of a leader is a guy who just scores a lot of points I guess we have different definitions. But without those 2 or 3 guys this team gets their doors blown off by 40 and has a record that looks like Weber.

I’m talking about all season. Bishop and Ford were great leaders and players. Scoring has nothing to do with it, although all those guys managed to do that too.

So you’re discrediting what Patterson, Lecholat and, McMahon have done for this program the last 4-5 years? Heck even Jed. Those guys have dumped their soul into this program. They could have left many times over but stuck around to be a part of something bigger. And obviously we’re missing key things from inside the locker room but I’d say those are quality leaders.

If you want on the court examples, just watch the game again and look at what Sam was doing every possession on defense and on offense. Someone gets beat on the drive, he’s there to make a massive block. He gets a huge offensive board and has the court vision to dish the ball to Pat for a huge dunk. He consistently boxes out the other teams best defender and clears the lane for others to clean the glass.
He’s the heart and soul of this team and even though he might not be a pure scorer, his presence on the court makes everyone better. That’s a leader

Look i appreciate what your saying and your thoughts on leadership. But a leader would be someone that people fallow. They can lead by example. They can lead by being vocal. But they motivate everyone to be better. Playing good doesn't equate to leadership. We've seen plenty of good players who weren't leaders. I don't now if there is or isn't a solid leader on this team. I suspect not. Everyone knew Ford was the leader of the team last year. If people are wondering who the leader is, we probably don't have a cut and dry leader.

Yeah this isn't a knock on Sam on anyone else but a leader is that guy that settles everyone down when their backs are against the wall and gets them over the finish line. We definitely have guys that want to win and give their all but we don't seem to have a true leader.

[lutecat]

With the exception of two years under Sprinkle, this program in mired in the .500 ball range. I just don’t know what it will take anymore. And they need to start beating the gris more than once in a while. This is getting ridiculous.

What’s it going to take? A point guard.

...or just a leader.

What does a leader look like to you? Because I can point out 2 or 3 guys who left their hearts out on that floor last night. If your definition of a leader is a guy who just scores a lot of points I guess we have different definitions. But without those 2 or 3 guys this team gets their doors blown off by 40 and has a record that looks like Weber.

I’m talking about all season. Bishop and Ford were great leaders and players. Scoring has nothing to do with it, although all those guys managed to do that too.

So you’re discrediting what Patterson, Lecholat and, McMahon have done for this program the last 4-5 years? Heck even Jed. Those guys have dumped their soul into this program. They could have left many times over but stuck around to be a part of something bigger. And obviously we’re missing key things from inside the locker room but I’d say those are quality leaders.

If you want on the court examples, just watch the game again and look at what Sam was doing every possession on defense and on offense. Someone gets beat on the drive, he’s there to make a massive block. He gets a huge offensive board and has the court vision to dish the ball to Pat for a huge dunk. He consistently boxes out the other teams best defender and clears the lane for others to clean the glass.
He’s the heart and soul of this team and even though he might not be a pure scorer, his presence on the court makes everyone better. That’s a leader

Look i appreciate what your saying and your thoughts on leadership. But a leader would be someone that people fallow. They can lead by example. They can lead by being vocal. But they motivate everyone to be better. Playing good doesn't equate to leadership. We've seen plenty of good players who weren't leaders. I don't now if there is or isn't a solid leader on this team. I suspect not. Everyone knew Ford was the leader of the team last year. If people are wondering who the leader is, we probably don't have a cut and dry leader.

Yeah this isn't a knock on Sam on anyone else but a leader is that guy that settles everyone down when their backs are against the wall and gets them over the finish line. We definitely have guys that want to win and give their all but we don't seem to have a true leader.

Let's look at the Lady griz. That's probably a huge part of their problem. Tell me who their leader is? Last year it's probably Gfeller. Who leads their team this year? Yesterday I saw noone lifting their other players up. AW is a freshman and probably can be a leader in future years. Something about her tells me she has it. Not Tyler M-Call. She seemed kind of pouty. I saw MJ and Mack wilt. And I like both of those two. We all know Esme is a fantastic leader. Bin has said so many times. Natalie's presence is felt on the floor similarly to Esme. You can just see it. That ladies team is blessed with quite a few leaders.

[MSU01]

We can talk about leaders all we want, but ultimately the team with the best players is going to win most of the time. And this year that's the Griz, DeCuire absolutely killed it in the transfer portal this year with guys like Johnson and Moore who torched the Bobcats in both games. Having a fifth year PG like Whitney to run the show sure helps too. The Bobcats can absolutely beat them if they play a cleaner game though, we saw it last year in Boise.

[BelgradeBobcat]

To be a great college team you need great point guards first and foremost. Sprinkle had two of the best MSU has ever had. Last season we had Robert Ford and Eddie Turner (who was magnificent at the end of the season). This year we got better when Zephir started playing better and Jed Miller has had flashes, but can't defend the better guards in our league. Neither Zephir or Miller are close to all league-and that's what you need. Next you need some rim protection. We were a bad team last year until Jon Olmstead emerged. Sprinkle of course had Jubrile Belo and Great Osobor.

[SCVBobcat]

Just want to thank our players for playing a great game. Jabe Mullins has really come on strong. We hit a few more free throws, and we win. We'll get them at the tourney!