Montana v. North Dakota

[Teeder11]

Start of second.

[Teeder11]

Griz finally came to play. 47-38. Griz. On a 9-2. run.

[Teeder11]

12-2 run

[Teeder11]

52-40. Griz. UND at the line. Anderson to shoot two.

Makes 1-2

[Teeder11]

# 40 for Griz is lights out. 23 Pts with 15:00 to go.

[Teeder11]

It's ugly. I will update final if I stick around for it.

[andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!!]

dang hate to see it end up this way

[homer]

This is terrible. 16% shooting in the 2nd half.

[Teeder11]

This is terrible. 16% shooting in the 2nd half.

No excuses here but Griz defense helped that percentage ALOT.

[Teeder11]

77-62. Final. Griz.

[Teeder11]

Griz's two high scorers today -- Cherry and Ward -- are seniors. Glad to see them go.

[sioux24/7]

Very frustrating to watch their bigs dominate. It would be so nice if we had some bigs but unfortunately we don't right now.

[sioux2013]

Webb was 0-5 from three and he continues to shoot 3's and now is about 12% for the year. Why can't our players understand what is a good shot for them and only take those shots. Its a shame but it continues game after game. Hard one to watch in the 2nd half and it seems when we get behind thats when all the one on one stuff starts with no team effort on the offensive side and its more and more obvious we need Brekke back for our ineffective post players.

[the green team]

Really, because Webb took 5 3's and missed them that's why we lost the game? Wow. 2 of them were taken in desperation because no one cut to get open so with less thn 3 seconds on the clock he figured we better get something towards the rim. What about all the things that he did do tonight. Score double digits by taking the ball to the basket-check. Get steals-yes. Have assists, yes. (Would have had 4 more if a teammate either would held on to it or made th shot. Defend, yes again. I could conversely criticize a guy like Schuler, who supposedly is one of our best shooters--maybe he's one of ours but when comparing him to the other shooters in this conference, his numbers aren't close. You can't say they didn't screen for him tonight, I counted countless times and the only play that stands out to me was that horrible drive off a screen and utterly horrible jump pass to the other team for an easy 2.

Listen, honestly, I like Schuler, and I really don't want to criticize him, but I just see the same 2 players targeted in peoples crosshairs and I certainly don't think Webb should be the one to be tonight. Honestly, from what I saw tonight, the difference from us being successful and not is having enough legitimate back to the basket threats in the paint. Having scoring and depth from that position seems to be what is missing. The guys we got, are trying and playing hard, but just aren't at the skill levelthat this level requires. To me, when I watch I now see where the transition hurt us, and that was in the area of effective size for this level. It just is a tremendous weight for the guards to try create all the scoring. At this level it's tough to win that way.

[bincitysioux]

That game had one of the best halves of basketball I've seen from this group of players, and one of the worst halves of basketball I've seen from this group. We totally lost focus during the break, and the Griz made the necassary adjustments. Very disappointing. We had no answer for Ward.

[UND92,96]

So basically, right now this is the same UND team as last year, minus Mitchell and Brekke. I guess under the circumstances, the less-than-satisfactory results should not be too big of a surprise. But I have a hard time getting past the fact that with three available scholarships after last season, practically no on-court contribution was received this season from the players brought in. I'm not so sure bad luck alone completely explains that one.

[homer]

So basically, right now this is the same UND team as last year, minus Mitchell and Brekke. I guess under the circumstances, the less-than-satisfactory results should not be too big of a surprise. But I have a hard time getting past the fact that with three available scholarships after last season, practically no on-court contribution was received this season from the players brought in. I'm not so sure bad luck alone completely explains that one.

^^^This, and besides Hooker (who seems to have potential to be a real nice player), who is coming next year?

[Sioux_FF]

That game had one of the best halves of basketball I've seen from this group of players, and one of the worst halves of basketball I've seen from this group. We totally lost focus during the break, and the Griz made the necassary adjustments. Very disappointing. We had no answer for Ward.

Could not agree more. Schuler is hard to figure out. He constantly passes up wide open jumpers to drive.....and almost every time he drives he passes back out to the perimeter. Montana picked him off a few times during their run just after halftime. Our offense for the most part was 4 stationary guys passing around the 3 point circle. During that early second half run, Montana started trapping the man with the ball and it repeatedly confused us. We really need a consistent inside presence for these guys to succeed over a whole game. They are so close....will be nice to hopefully get Brekke back soon.

[sioux2013]

Really, because Webb took 5 3's and missed them that's why we lost the game? Wow. 2 of them were taken in desperation because no one cut to get open so with less thn 3 seconds on the clock he figured we better get something towards the rim. What about all the things that he did do tonight. Score double digits by taking the ball to the basket-check. Get steals-yes. Have assists, yes. (Would have had 4 more if a teammate either would held on to it or made th shot. Defend, yes again. I could conversely criticize a guy like Schuler, who supposedly is one of our best shooters--maybe he's one of ours but when comparing him to the other shooters in this conference, his numbers aren't close. You can't say they didn't screen for him tonight, I counted countless times and the only play that stands out to me was that horrible drive off a screen and utterly horrible jump pass to the other team for an easy 2.

Listen, honestly, I like Schuler, and I really don't want to criticize him, but I just see the same 2 players targeted in peoples crosshairs and I certainly don't think Webb should be the one to be tonight. Honestly, from what I saw tonight, the difference from us being successful and not is having enough legitimate back to the basket threats in the paint. Having scoring and depth from that position seems to be what is missing. The guys we got, are trying and playing hard, but just aren't at the skill levelthat this level requires. To me, when I watch I now see where the transition hurt us, and that was in the area of effective size for this level. It just is a tremendous weight for the guards to try create all the scoring. At this level it's tough to win that way.

All I am saying and have said is these players do not know what they should be shooting and not shooting. Webb had a nice overall game with his assists and steals and I know you are a big Webb fan as I am a Schuler fan but if you are shooting 16% from 3 for the year I'd say you should not be taking many 3's. This goes for Allard as well, I cringe everytime Allard shoots a 3 since he is about a career 20% shooter. I like Webb but his outside shot is just not there at this point. As far as your comments on Schuler I would take an entire team like him cause he understands the team concept and his only fault is that he is too unselfish. Yes, he made a couple of bad passes last night which is very unusual for him. He should definately shoot more but if you watch the games he hardly gets a pass when he is open and after watching him wave his arms when he was open last night and still did not receive the pass I think he is invisible out there to the other guards, they always drive away from him and look for other players. He should get a minimum of 10 shots a game but it's not his fault he needs the ball to shoot. I agree, we are definatley hurting with Brekke's absence cause there is very little threat on the inside. We just can't guard the other teams bigs and when Montana went to the zone they pushed the zone so far out and was not concerned with Wilmer, Archer or Allard. These individuals need to win the next 3 games at home or they are in such a deep hole I don't see the tournament in sight.

[siouxfan68]

All I am saying and have said is these players do not know what they should be shooting and not shooting. If you are shooting 16% from 3 for the year I'd say you should not be taking many 3's. This goes for Allard as well, I cringe everytime Allard shoots a 3 since he is about a career 20% shooter. I like Webb but his outside shot is just not there at this point. As far as your comments on Schuler I would take an entire team like him cause he understands the team concept and his only fault is that he is too unselfish. Yes, he made a couple of bad passes last night which is very unusual for him. He should definately shoot more but if you watch the games he hardly gets a pass when he is open and after watching him wave his arms when he was open last night and still did not receive the pass I think he is invisible out there to the other guards, they always drive away from him and look for other players. He should get a minimum of 10 shots a game but it's not his fault he needs the ball to shoot. I agree, we are definatley hurting with Brekke's absence cause there is very little threat on the inside. We just can't guard the other teams bigs and when Montana went to the zone they pushed the zone so far out and was not concerned with Wilmer, Archer or Allard. These individuals needs to win the next 3 games at home or they are in such a deep hole I don't see the tournament in sight.

I agree with you on Schuler, he has a good understanding of the game and he is too unselfish. He needs to be ready to shoot when he catches the ball. He had a great pull up jumper that he rarely uses anymore - last night he went up and then passed it backwards for a turnover. If he is not going to look for a shot more often, I would would play Antwi and tell him to look to score more. I agree the lack of scoring from bigs is a huge problem, but that it looks like that is not going to change much in the near future, so you have to go with what you have.

[NODAK13]

I agree with you on Schuler, he has a good understanding of the game and he is too unselfish. He needs to be ready to shoot when he catches the ball. He had a great pull up jumper that he rarely uses anymore - last night he went up and then passed it backwards for a turnover. If he is not going to look for a shot more often, I would would play Antwi and tell him to look to score more. I agree the lack of scoring from bigs is a huge problem, but that it looks like that is not going to change much in the near future, so you have to go with what you have.

No doubt Schuler needs to shoot more but they also need to set him up better. Did make a horrible backward pass but Antwi had 4 turnovers himself last night and Antwi's shot from 3 in the last month has been ice cold. This team has had a black cloud over it since the start of the season and its still very cloudy. This team should have had Brekke at the 5 with Traylor as a backup, Nash at the 4 with Allard/Archer as backup and then Webb, Anderson, Huff, Schuler and Antwi at the guards. This would have been one of the most athletic teams in the conference and been a big contender. It will be a struggle with the loss of many of these key players and trying to figure out what combinations will work. It's a shame what could have been but we can still be competitve if these players play to their level and as mentioned above shoot the shots that they know they can make and get Brekke back. Coaches also need to take a serious look at this offense they run also and make changes cause it makes me sick to see so many players just standing in one place waiting for a pass, no other team I have seen all year runs such a motionless offense.

[sioux2013]

Could not agree more. Schuler is hard to figure out. He constantly passes up wide open jumpers to drive.....and almost every time he drives he passes back out to the perimeter. Montana picked him off a few times during their run just after halftime. Our offense for the most part was 4 stationary guys passing around the 3 point circle. During that early second half run, Montana started trapping the man with the ball and it repeatedly confused us. We really need a consistent inside presence for these guys to succeed over a whole game. They are so close....will be nice to hopefully get Brekke back soon.

Your comment that when he drives he almost every time passes back to the perimeter. This is true cause if the lane is not open he recognizes this and doesn't force the play and passes out to reset the offense, very smart move. Other players force the drive when it is not there and then they are among the trees with no options but to force it up or turn it over. I like re-setting the offense if the play is not open. Bottom line we need some sort of inside game and more team work. We should match up very well against Montana State as their top 4 scorers are guards and 3 are 6'2" and shorter so they play mostly 4 guards and not a major threat on the inside.

[jdub27]

Jones made some very direct comments today about how well these guys can play as a team when they let the offense run. He also said that some of the guys need to stop coming down the court like they have a big "S" on their chest and try to save the day with a big shot, but rather let the system and game plan do the work. Pretty much the same observation that has been stated over and over here.