Quick Montana Basketball Preview
I'm impatient and wanted to learn a little more about our Thursday opponent, so here is a quick snapshot. If anyone else has any good information, feel free to share it.
Overall Record - 26-7 (16-2)
Common Opponents
Penn State
Montana 57 @ Penn State 70
Michigan 72 @ Penn State 63
UC Riverside
UC Riverside 61 @ Montana 77
UC Riverside 42 @ Michigan 87
Starting Five (name links to ESPN profile)
6'8" 253 lb. Junior
13.1 PPG. 6.7 RPG. 2.1 TO
6'8" 239 lb. Senior
7.5 PPG. 5.1 RPG. 1.5 TO
6'7" 182 (?) lb. Junior
7.5 PPG. 5.0 RPG. 1.2 STL
6'2" 171 lb. Junior
15.8 PPG. 5.5 RPG. 1,5 STL
6'1" 175 lb. Junior
17.2 PPG. 3.8 RPG. 3.7 APG
Main two off the bench
6'5" 195 lb. Sophomore
8.5 PPG. 4.4 RPG. 22.8 MIN
4.5 PPG. 42% 3PT. 17.1 MIN
Conclusion
Not a very big team, but per the rebounding numbers it appears they all crash the boards pretty well. They only have two main contributors off the bench, otherwise a guy might get a minute here or there. Their two big guys don't shoot 3s, but the other three starters are between 34-36% on the year from 3. As you can see a lot of their scoring comes from their guards, and that just happens to be our strongest defensive unit. On paper this seems like a good matchup overall.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
Is he sick?
I got 40 pounds on him, and am decidedly closer to the ground.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:01 AM ^
Dude, if you want to call me fat, well, OK, I can accept that. But to liken me to Izzo? That's just a low and unnecessary blow. Seriously, where has civility gone in this country??? Shame on you, sir. Shame on you.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
I was expecting, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" [History, not (current) politics.]
March 12th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^
Ah yes, the Jenny McCarthy hearings...
March 12th, 2018 at 10:39 AM ^
cool.. thanks for the summary.. the only thing that concerns me about this game is the start time.. 9:50 et is late for our guys. I think we could start slow but pull away late.. survive and advance
The start time of the first game is the least of it. I mean, I'm worried for myself having to stay up and watch, but these are college students who are probably up well past midnight most nights anyway.
March 12th, 2018 at 12:53 PM ^
It's theoretically possible that the late start might be difficult for some teams.
But this is a team that endured a plane crash, traveled the morning of a game, wore practice jerseys, and won. Then won three more games in a row. All of this in four consecutive days.
Then, this year, they won four games in four days again.
I think they've proven that they can handle this sort of thing.
You're just old. 9:50 PM to a 20 year old is when you wake up, shower, get dressed, and head out to the bar.
A quick check of the schedule shows that ALL of our losses this year have been in night games.. 7 pm et or later. Just sayin
First, not true. Our loss to OSU was a 6:30 start.
Second, could it be that the bigger games against the better teams we have played - both Purdue games, UNC, etc. - were scheduled later at night to help TV ratings? In other words, it's not the start time that caused those losses, but rather the quality of opponent.
Third, we also won 8 or 9 games with starts after 7:00 PM, by my quick count.
You're why people don't trust statistics...
I am not suggesting that we will lose. I do think it sets up for a potentially sluggish start. I think the team performs better in the afternoon vs night games. Thats just my opinion, though.
10 minutes of sluggish play against Montana shouldn't matter.
wouldn't. 10 minutes might.
I agree with him. Not really on the "night games" v. "afternoon games" thing, but just that a 10:00 PM is a long time for a team to wait to play a game in a one and done format. Only so much to occupy yourself with. I don't think it is going to be a deciding factor one way or another, but I don't think starting a game that late is ideal after a two week layoff.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:01 AM ^
Good news is both teams have to wait all day to play.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^
BUT, people from Montana play better at night. Look it up. It's a real thing. It has to do with sheep or something...
March 12th, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
they play with sheep?
TMI!!!!
March 12th, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
not playing people, we are playing Grizzlies. I have know idea how Grizzlies react to late start times. They could be extra snarly. I just don't know, nobody does, except those who hang with grizzlies at night. I do not.
And all I am saying is that, after a pretty substantial wait after the BTT, that day is going to feel very long for the players. I think they probably will play tight to begin, and it may be attributable to the start time on top of the layoff.
I get that Montana has to play at the same time, but Montana is not supposed to win this game so it is not the same kind of nerves at play.
TL;DR. Panic!!!!
March 12th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
Grizzlies are still hibernating this time of year...
March 12th, 2018 at 12:50 PM ^
It's definitely the "ornery wild animal" bracket
Thanks to the time change, their bodies will think it's one of those 9PM ESPN games.
Most anyone who runs two traditional bigs risks getting blitzed off the floor by the 5 out offense UM runs. The match-ups I fear are those teams that can put an athletic scorer at the 4 and run a lot of offense through that position, both inside and on the perimeter.
Also it seems a lot of their defense rely's on TOs. On Bartorviks' site Montanta is top 30 in defensive TO rate. UM is in the high 100s for comparison.
Unless you are Izzo and you have two insanely athletic options to put at the 4, and they still can't beat us.
I mean, that's on Izzo. Many teams have better coaches. Plus that last match-up UM was a little lucky thaty Jackson went something like 1-8 from 3. Balanced by Mo doing the same, but Jackson could be that match up nightmare at the 4.
Wagner can help nullify that with his perimeter offense.
Outside of a game against woeful Minnesota, Jackson was below average from three in the last month of the season. That Minnesota game was the only game where he made more than one 3-pointer in his last 10 games.
Might be a good game for Teske, he should be able to bully their bigs since he has 5" on them.
Would be nice to see Teske work on his post game. He should watch highlights of Haas from Purdue.
Or just watch his own highlights against Haas from Purdue.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:01 AM ^
I'd prefer not to have Teske go 12/34 from five feet away, but that's just me
I watched their conference championship game last night. The remind me of Illinois. They like to pressure the ball handler, blitz any ball screen and run a lot of motion/weave sets on offense, predicated on dribble penetration.
Their PG (Rorie #14) is a player to watch. He can shoot off the bounce and has a good first step and a few different moves.
Their C (Akoh) is a poor man's Reggie Lynch. Undersized, and lacks foot speed and doesn't have the help side instincts of Lynch. This is a matchup Michigan must attack.
Outside of the PG, who has a decent but not great handle, they are ripe for hands in the passing lanes and deflections. All of the other 4 starters have TO rates near 20% and it showed in that game.
They have a middling tempo rate, and after looking at Kenpom, there must be some teams that really like to slow the pace down, because the conference tourney semis were a track meet, but Eastern Washington seemed to like to slow the game down. I will be curious as to how this team grades out in half court sets in terms of PPP (I don't expect it to be great).
Their Kenpom numbers hint that they are great at taking away 3 point attempts, but I saw more indifference in taking 3's on Eastern Washington's part. They give up a ton of dribble penetration and seem to over rotate on the help which leaves weakside shooters open all night. They like to take away your first option, which means Zavier is going to have to do a lot of reading and reacting.
In summary, their defense is predicated on creating turnovers and getting out in transition. They force turnovers on 20% of opponent possessions and give up assists on only 43.5% of opponent made FG's. They rebound very well for their size. They don't attempt a lot of 3's and If Michigan keeps the TO's down and cleans up the defensive glass, it should go our way.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
This team is no joke. They are one of the hot teams that could keep things very stressful. Tey have the size and athleticism to defend us well. Wagner and Teske just might feast on them, though. I expect Coach B to exploit their weaknesses and accentuate our strengths.
6'8", 6'8", 6'7"
Three tall guys clogging the lane and rebounding very effectively.
For reference, Robinson is 6'8", Matthews is 6'6", Livers is 6'7", and our Center will be much taller...
But they are long and athletic from the 3-5 position, similar to Nebraska. Nobody starting taller than 6'8", but 3 long and athletic guys logging huge minutes with solid defense and rebouding. I am stating that as one of the reasons I respect the opponent.
That's not tall. Almost all P5 teams have that. They are #179 in minutes weighted height on Kempom. Michigan is #50. Their starters go 6'1, 6'2, 6'5, 6'8, 6'8; Ours go 6'0, 6'4, 6'6, 6'8, 6'11. With a true 7 footer off the bench.
6'7" > 6'5" Maybe your source disagrees with OP. I took OP's heights as accurate. Anyways, I think their length and athleticism could make it tough to score.
March 12th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^