Cat-Griz game thread

[Jobu]

Cats lose. Shocker. Actually was proud of the way the battled... Feel bad for the players. They gave a good effort. However, this game was over before it started. We just cannot get over the hump.

P.S. Holein might be a bigger doucebag when calling b ball than football. Wow. What a bandwagon homer.

Geez, take off the blue blinders for a moment. I actually thought he and Sundberg were among the most balanced of any PBP guys in the BSC. Obviously you've never heard some of the others.

And Belgrade, you continue to crack me!

I thought the Cats played well today. UM is a better BB team (and frankly had they hit even a regular % of their wide open 3s in the first half this game would have been a blowout). But I was pleased with the way the Cats hung around after getting down 10 in the 2nd half. And what a fantastic job of shutting down Jamar.

If I'm Tinkle, I wouldn't want to face the Cats in the tournament.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

[Colter_Nuanez]

MSU PRESS RELEASE


In a game in which one three-pointer would have made all the difference, Montana State couldn't make any.

For the first in 576 games the Bobcats didn't hit a three-point field goal, falling at Montana 53-50 on Monday. MSU out-shot (48.7% to 42.6%) and out-rebounded (29-to-25) Montana, turning the ball over just one time more than the Grizzlies (12 to 11).

The Bobcats even doubled up Montana on free throws, hitting 12 to UM's six, but the home team's seven three-pointers proved the difference. The Grizzlies shot 7-of-24 from the three-point arc.

MSU led by as many as eight in the first half, the last time on a jumper by Flavien Davis with 4:58 to play. But Montana outscored the Bobcats 14-3 the rest of the half to take a 26-23 lead into the intermission. The Bobcats were 0-2 from the floor and 3-6 from the line with three turnovers in that segment of the game. Keron DeShields' three-pointer at the end of the first half gave Montana a lead it would never surrender.

After a Paul Egwuonwu dunk with 18:23 to play pulled the Cats within a point, Montana went on a 14-2 run to sieze control. Three of the team's three-pointers came in that stretch. A Kareem Jamar layup at 11:57 gave UM a 42-29 lead.

That triggered a Bobcat run. Two Mike Dison free throws, a Danny Robison tip-in, and back-to-back jumpers by Dison brought the Bobcats within five, 42-37, at the 9:53 mark. The Grizzly lead would get no larger than seven.

With 1:27 to play, Mike Weisner hit his third and final three-pointer to give Montana a 53-48 lead. But Egwuonwu's layup at 1:06 pulled the Cats within three, and when Jamar missed a jumper with 36 seconds remaining, and DeShields turned over the offensive board, MSU had a chance.

The Bobcats ran the clock all the way down, but when Dison missed a three-pointer at the buzzer the Bobcats had dropped their eighth straight to UM. Montana State falls to 14-15 on the season, 9-9 in Big Sky play, while Montana moves to 16-11 overall, 11-7 in the league.

The Bobcats play at Northern Arizona on Thursday before closing the regular season at Sacramento State Saturday.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Because Sacramento State and Northern Arizona have both beat Weber State, Montana State must sweep the final road trip of the season to qualify for the Big Sky Tournament. The new tiebreaker is record against league champion if the teams split the season series. The only team of the three other 9-9 squads MSU holds a tie-breaker over is Portland State. EWU has tie breaker over the Cats via season sweep, as would NAU or Sac State if they could salvage a split of the season series.

[CelticCat]

Yup, that one pretty much sealed out fate. Not sure we can win either of the remaining games on the road, especially after this deflating loss. NAU isn't an easy place to play.

[catatonic1]

C'mon Cats!! I really, really, really, don't want to go 0-5 against the Griz this year (again) in the three major sports.

http://www.gogriz.com/ot/brawl-of-the-wild-series.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Griz 11
Cats 2

4 to go

[MSU01]

C'mon Cats!! I really, really, really, don't want to go 0-5 against the Griz this year (again) in the three major sports.

http://www.gogriz.com/ot/brawl-of-the-wild-series.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Griz 11
Cats 2

4 to go

Your cross country teams sure must suck this year.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

That's the Brad Huse version of a perfect game.

Time for another contract extension

[CatBlitz]

C'mon Cats!! I really, really, really, don't want to go 0-5 against the Griz this year (again) in the three major sports.

http://www.gogriz.com/ot/brawl-of-the-wild-series.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Griz 11
Cats 2

4 to go

[MSU01]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

That's the Brad Huse version of a perfect game.

Time for another contract extension

They had better buy plenty of curtains for the Fieldhouse next year to bring the 72 fans down nice and close to the court. Or $5 night again, but pay the fans $5 to show up instead of the other way around. At least the $5 would buy you a beer across the street at Bridger Brewing, but you'd have to leave the exciting atmosphere at halftime to beat the 8 pm closing time.

[Jobu]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

That's the Brad Huse version of a perfect game.

Time for another contract extension

While normally I would agree, I don't think you can hang this loss on Huse. UM is simply better than MSU, and Brad's teams always play Tinkle's teams closer than the talent differential should allow. He understands how to beat UM; he simply doesn't have the talent to do it. Hell, if you gave Huse Weber level talent, and you had one game to win against Montana, I'd take Huse 100 times out of 100 over Rahe.

That said, is Brad's house on the market yet?

[[cat_bracket]]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

Wow is right! Bad teams have bad timing and this is absolutely the worst. To have that streak end in a 3-point game against your arch rival when you desperately need a win to stay in the playoff hunt is as bad as it gets.

[John K]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

That's the Brad Huse version of a perfect game.

Time for another contract extension

While normally I would agree, I don't think you can hang this loss on Huse. UM is simply better than MSU, and Brad's teams always play Tinkle's teams closer than the talent differential should allow. He understands how to beat UM; he simply doesn't have the talent to do it. Hell, if you gave Huse Weber level talent, and you had one game to win against Montana, I'd take Huse 100 times out of 100 over Rahe.

That said, is Brad's house on the market yet?

Yes, but isn't recruiting one of the primary responsibilites of the head coach? If we don't have enough talent, whose fault is that? And this was the most experienced and veteran team we've had in awhile. If we couldn't be any better than mediocre this season, it ain't ever going to happen, at least not under Huse. But then again, experience probably isn't that much of an advantage, because Huse's players rarely improve much over the course of their careers.

[DicTater]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

That's the Brad Huse version of a perfect game.

Time for another contract extension

While normally I would agree, I don't think you can hang this loss on Huse. UM is simply better than MSU, and Brad's teams always play Tinkle's teams closer than the talent differential should allow. He understands how to beat UM; he simply doesn't have the talent to do it. Hell, if you gave Huse Weber level talent, and you had one game to win against Montana, I'd take Huse 100 times out of 100 over Rahe.

That said, is Brad's house on the market yet?

I was at the game and, yes you can hang the loss on Huse. In fact, it is all on Huse. Here's why. The Cats started on defense in a box and one on Jamaar. It worked for the first 12 minutes, and the Cats took the lead. However, as with any gimmick defense, it will only work for a short while. One of the reasons it worked early, was because the Giz shooters, Weissner and Gregory were missing wide open shots. Eventually, those shots fell, and the Griz took the lead at the half. Huse didn't adjust at half, and the Griz jumped out to the 13c point lead after the half.

Of course, it didn't help that the Cats didn't score either. The reason they didn't score was because Huse went into the stall game, passing the ball around the perimeter until there was 15 seconds left on the shot clock. I just can't understand why Huse insists on only using 15 seconds of a 35 second shot clock. The problem is, it leads to bad shots and turnovers because there is so little time left when they actually try to score. The other problem is it allows the defense to rest. They don't have to defend at all for 20 seconds and they know it. It's crazy.

But, the Cats got back into the game when Huse finally let the team play. They picked up full court, caused some TOs, got out and ran, got some easy buckets, and on offense actually attacked the basket. Then, with about a minute left, down three, a one possession game, Huse, for the first time in the game, drops into a zone! The Cats had been playing great man to man, and Huse drops them into a zone. Of course, that leaves Weissner wide open in the corner where he probably hits about 70% of his shots and he nailed the dagger three, putting the Cats down 6 with less than a minute left.

The players played hard. Huse killed them. If he let them play a full court up tempo game, there is no way they would not be a top two team in the conference.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Here's the story I wrote for the Great Falls Trib about the women's game last night

Lady Griz nip MSU women
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/articl ... ck_check=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Toucat]

Montana State went 0-7 from 3 tonight. That's the first time Montana State hasn't made a single 3-pointer in a game since 1993. That's a span of 576 games. Wow.

That's the Brad Huse version of a perfect game.

Time for another contract extension

While normally I would agree, I don't think you can hang this loss on Huse. UM is simply better than MSU, and Brad's teams always play Tinkle's teams closer than the talent differential should allow. He understands how to beat UM; he simply doesn't have the talent to do it. Hell, if you gave Huse Weber level talent, and you had one game to win against Montana, I'd take Huse 100 times out of 100 over Rahe.

That said, is Brad's house on the market yet?

I was at the game and, yes you can hang the loss on Huse. In fact, it is all on Huse. Here's why. The Cats started on defense in a box and one on Jamaar. It worked for the first 12 minutes, and the Cats took the lead. However, as with any gimmick defense, it will only work for a short while. One of the reasons it worked early, was because the Giz shooters, Weissner and Gregory were missing wide open shots. Eventually, those shots fell, and the Griz took the lead at the half. Huse didn't adjust at half, and the Griz jumped out to the 13c point lead after the half.

Of course, it didn't help that the Cats didn't score either. The reason they didn't score was because Huse went into the stall game, passing the ball around the perimeter until there was 15 seconds left on the shot clock. I just can't understand why Huse insists on only using 15 seconds of a 35 second shot clock. The problem is, it leads to bad shots and turnovers because there is so little time left when they actually try to score. The other problem is it allows the defense to rest. They don't have to defend at all for 20 seconds and they know it. It's crazy.

But, the Cats got back into the game when Huse finally let the team play. They picked up full court, caused some TOs, got out and ran, got some easy buckets, and on offense actually attacked the basket. Then, with about a minute left, down three, a one possession game, Huse, for the first time in the game, drops into a zone! The Cats had been playing great man to man, and Huse drops them into a zone. Of course, that leaves Weissner wide open in the corner where he probably hits about 70% of his shots and he nailed the dagger three, putting the Cats down 6 with less than a minute left.

The players played hard. Huse killed them. If he let them play a full court up tempo game, there is no way they would not be a top two team in the conference.

I was at the game as well, and I thought Huse actually did a good job in this one. The Griz are an up-tempo team and play best when they get in a rhythm. Huse's stall game worked at the beginning of the game, and at the end, with the Griz runs at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second. It appeared to me Huse's plan was to run the first 20 seconds off the clock, and then have the guards drive and then feed to the bigs, where the Cats had a decided advantage, or shoot if they had it. The Griz runs during those stretches were due to poor play by the Cat guards. I felt the Griz run to start the second half was due more to poor shot selection (or just plain missed shots like a couple of wide-open 3's by Holm), and a couple of poor passes by the guards to the Cat bigs resulting in turnovers with the Griz running the other way, than anything else . It was an excellent time-out by Huse when the Griz went up by 13, again to slow the game down, to get them to re-group. After the time-out Dison hit some shots, preventing the Griz guards from dropping down on the Cat's bigs, and the Cats were able to get back in it by again running Huse's plan. I don't think the Cats have the talent to run with Griz, and the game was as close at was because of the stall. As noted by someone else it's Huse's job to recruit, and he doesn't get a pass from me in what he has done there, but I don't think last night's loss was due to being out-coached.

[DicTater]

I just read the Chronicle story on the game and here is what Tinkle had to say: "“Our first half was ugly because we were missing wide open shots and MSU was using the clock on offense,” Tinkle said. “It allowed us to rest on defense, and I told our players to just focus on the last 10 to 12 seconds of the possession. … I knew we’d be fresh for the second half."

that is pretty much what I had to say. The only reason the Cats were in the game playing their gimmick defense (box and one) was because the Griz missed a lot of wide open shots. Those shots started to fall later. Saying that you are controlling tempo by not trying to score is just stupid. The idea is to try to score. If that comes in the first ten seconds of the clock, fine. But to wait until there is only 10 -15 seconds left means that if you don't get a good shot right away, you're out of luck. When the Cats got back into the game, they played man to man full court defense, causing turnovers.

Plus, I don't think that the Cats had less talent, but it is a matter of how the coach uses the talent he does have. If 3 of your best players are quick point guards, you better pick up the pace. It makes no sense to slow things down unless you have a huge advantage inside. Dison, Biglow, Colbert, and Brown are extremely quick and can cause a lot of problems for the opponent on offense and defense. Those guys should have been looking to penetrate and dish the entire shot clock rather than just the last 10 seconds. The Cats would be killers if they played a full court press and hurried the ball up the court. Then guys like Holm would be shooting wide open 3s instead of forced 3s at the end of the shot clock.

The object of the game is to win. It isn't to stay close. Brad plays to stay close. He doesn't play to win. And, that is why he doesn't.

[grizzh8r]

I just read the Chronicle story on the game and here is what Tinkle had to say: "“Our first half was ugly because we were missing wide open shots and MSU was using the clock on offense,” Tinkle said. “It allowed us to rest on defense, and I told our players to just focus on the last 10 to 12 seconds of the possession. … I knew we’d be fresh for the second half."

that is pretty much what I had to say. The only reason the Cats were in the game playing their gimmick defense (box and one) was because the Griz missed a lot of wide open shots. Those shots started to fall later. Saying that you are controlling tempo by not trying to score is just stupid. The idea is to try to score. If that comes in the first ten seconds of the clock, fine. But to wait until there is only 10 -15 seconds left means that if you don't get a good shot right away, you're out of luck. When the Cats got back into the game, they played man to man full court defense, causing turnovers.

Plus, I don't think that the Cats had less talent, but it is a matter of how the coach uses the talent he does have. If 3 of your best players are quick point guards, you better pick up the pace. It makes no sense to slow things down unless you have a huge advantage inside. Dison, Biglow, Colbert, and Brown are extremely quick and can cause a lot of problems for the opponent on offense and defense. Those guys should have been looking to penetrate and dish the entire shot clock rather than just the last 10 seconds. The Cats would be killers if they played a full court press and hurried the ball up the court. Then guys like Holm would be shooting wide open 3s instead of forced 3s at the end of the shot clock.

The object of the game is to win. It isn't to stay close. Brad plays to stay close. He doesn't play to win. And, that is why he doesn't.

POTY, IMO

[BWahlberg]

I just can't understand why Huse insists on only using 15 seconds of a 35 second shot clock. The problem is, it leads to bad shots and turnovers because there is so little time left when they actually try to score.

Learned that from Larry Krystkowiak when he was Larry's assistant. Coach K would bench guys for half a game if they took a shot with more than 25 seconds left on the shot clock.