Post by pdlglm on Nov 11, 2024 10:31:39 GMT -5
Montana 2-1 KP # 194
Wed 7PM EST ESPN+
The Vols come home after the big blowout road win at Louisville to see the competition drop precipitously. Into the friendly confines of Food City Center come the Grizzlies from Montana for the first ever meeting between the two programs. Picked 1st in the Big Sky by Blue Ribbon and in the coaches poll (they were second in the media poll behind rival Montana State) they come into the season looking for the 3rd NCAA tourney appearance of coach Travis DeCuire’s 11 year tenure. So far in non-conference play Montana has two wins over non D1 teams and a 31pt loss at Oregon where they looked completely out-classed.
The Grizz Lost 50% of their scoring from last year and signed 8 transfers. As an aside, one of the many things that sort of sucks about this new era of college sports is that it makes doing the previews harder by a degree of difficulty because so many of the players that will be in the rotation have no history of how they will perform in the system they are playing in. What I can tell you is that Montana is small, with no player over 6-8. DeCuire’s teams play slow and he hasn’t had a team in the top 100 in 3PA in the last 10 years. Generally, his defenses foul a bunch and they don’t give up second chance points. On offense they were +300 last yr at shots at the rim, middle of the pack at 3PA. But, I mean, it is a mostly new team that has played one game against a D1 team. They were +200 in % of shots in transition last season and that seems like a ‘system’ thing.
Against Oregon the sent a bunch of guys to offensive glass to very little effect. They didn’t have guys who can get their own shot against P5 athletes and they really struggled to score, putting 7pts in first 10 minutes against Ducks. The Grizz gave up runs of 20-2, 11-0 and 12-2 and frankly, looked like a bunch of guys who haven’t played together. They didn’t appear to be all that athletic or that comfortable in their offense, as they had 3 shot clock violations in 1st half. Which, I mean, welcome to Hell Montana.
Here are the highlights from the Big10 network.
The Grizz best player is supposed to be Brandon Whitney (6-1, 183lb 5th yr Sr), preseason All Big Sky, a three year starter at point who should become the all time leader in minutes played at Montana this yr. 18th nationally in A/TO ratio last yr. Inside guard, got 40% (60% FG%) of his attempts at the rim last year and an eye-popping 47.5% (43% FG%) in the mid range. Reluctant three point shooter. Very good at getting to the line and a very good FT shooter. Struggles with turnovers against upper level competition.
Money Williams (6-4, 20lb Soph) only played 12 games last year due to broken foot but he averaged 18pts a game in the 6 starts he logged. His coach indicated before the season that he will play the one – essentially giving the Grizz two PGs on the floor. Another inside guard, 25.8% 3PT% for his college career. High usage when he has been on the floor and he led the Grizz in attempts against Oregon with 8pts on 13 attempts. Started this year ice cold – 2-13 2PT% and 4-15 from three. But he hasn’t missed a FT.
Kai Johnson (6-4, 190lb Sr) is a transfer from D2 Western Washington. He had 27 in opener against D2 Hawaii Hilo and zero on 7 shots against Oregon. He is long, active on defense, decent handle. Looked like a D2 player against Oregon – a D2 player who was a scorer that wasn’t afraid to put a little mustard on it at that level but a D2 player all the same.
Torvik says their best player is Joe Pridgen (6-5, 210lb 5th year Sr) who scored 8.8 pts with 5 boards last season at Northeastern. He had a pretty efficient season on low usage three years ago at UNC Wilmington where he had an eFG% of 58.1%. Good shot chart splits last year at Northeastern 54.7/13.7/31.7 but wasn’t a particular good shooter. Pretty good on the defensive glass during his career. He has had stops at Holy Cross, UNCW and Northeastern. Pridgen led the Grizz against Oregon with 14pts on 7 shots to go with 9 boards and 3 steals.
After that I am not sure I can make this interesting. Te’Jon Sawyer is really big. 6-8, 252lbs. He shot 62% inside the arc last season on his way to 8.5pts and 3 boards a game. Good block numbers, ok on the glass. He did not stand out against Oregon (6pts on 7 shots).
Austin Patterson (6-3, 185lb Sr) shot 38.5% from three last year at Sacramento State. Not totally ‘just a shooter’ as he had 71 attempts at the rim and was at 57%. Doesn’t really foul. Nickname in high school was ‘the Ginger Ninja’, which, ok, I was absolutely able to make this interesting. These highlights are a delight.
They have a Pepperdine transfer, Malik Moore. But he didn’t play against Oregon.
Look. This is a Big Sky team. Probably a pretty good one as the Big Sky goes but the Big Sky is generally a 1 bid league ranked around the 20s in the KP conference ratings. They have a bunch of transfers, but mostly from other mid major programs and they are only on their 4th game, with two of the first three being against a D2 team and, I think, a JUCO – Northwest Indian College. (Wait, what?). They have a very experienced and successful coach but they really don’t have players that should be able to compete against the Vols roster for 40 minutes. They certainly didn’t against Oregon the other night. So, typical non-conference buy type game except instead of the usual Big South/So Con/ASUN opponents we get a team from out west – be interested to hear how we came to schedule this one, maybe they will mention it on the broadcast which will, no doubt, be Steve Hamer.
KP says Vols by 23. Torvik says Vols by 22. WPs at 98% and 97% respectively. I do not think we will lose this game and I expect to see Cameron Carr and Bishop Boswell both score.
GBO
Wed 7PM EST ESPN+
The Vols come home after the big blowout road win at Louisville to see the competition drop precipitously. Into the friendly confines of Food City Center come the Grizzlies from Montana for the first ever meeting between the two programs. Picked 1st in the Big Sky by Blue Ribbon and in the coaches poll (they were second in the media poll behind rival Montana State) they come into the season looking for the 3rd NCAA tourney appearance of coach Travis DeCuire’s 11 year tenure. So far in non-conference play Montana has two wins over non D1 teams and a 31pt loss at Oregon where they looked completely out-classed.
The Grizz Lost 50% of their scoring from last year and signed 8 transfers. As an aside, one of the many things that sort of sucks about this new era of college sports is that it makes doing the previews harder by a degree of difficulty because so many of the players that will be in the rotation have no history of how they will perform in the system they are playing in. What I can tell you is that Montana is small, with no player over 6-8. DeCuire’s teams play slow and he hasn’t had a team in the top 100 in 3PA in the last 10 years. Generally, his defenses foul a bunch and they don’t give up second chance points. On offense they were +300 last yr at shots at the rim, middle of the pack at 3PA. But, I mean, it is a mostly new team that has played one game against a D1 team. They were +200 in % of shots in transition last season and that seems like a ‘system’ thing.
Against Oregon the sent a bunch of guys to offensive glass to very little effect. They didn’t have guys who can get their own shot against P5 athletes and they really struggled to score, putting 7pts in first 10 minutes against Ducks. The Grizz gave up runs of 20-2, 11-0 and 12-2 and frankly, looked like a bunch of guys who haven’t played together. They didn’t appear to be all that athletic or that comfortable in their offense, as they had 3 shot clock violations in 1st half. Which, I mean, welcome to Hell Montana.
Here are the highlights from the Big10 network.
The Grizz best player is supposed to be Brandon Whitney (6-1, 183lb 5th yr Sr), preseason All Big Sky, a three year starter at point who should become the all time leader in minutes played at Montana this yr. 18th nationally in A/TO ratio last yr. Inside guard, got 40% (60% FG%) of his attempts at the rim last year and an eye-popping 47.5% (43% FG%) in the mid range. Reluctant three point shooter. Very good at getting to the line and a very good FT shooter. Struggles with turnovers against upper level competition.
Money Williams (6-4, 20lb Soph) only played 12 games last year due to broken foot but he averaged 18pts a game in the 6 starts he logged. His coach indicated before the season that he will play the one – essentially giving the Grizz two PGs on the floor. Another inside guard, 25.8% 3PT% for his college career. High usage when he has been on the floor and he led the Grizz in attempts against Oregon with 8pts on 13 attempts. Started this year ice cold – 2-13 2PT% and 4-15 from three. But he hasn’t missed a FT.
Kai Johnson (6-4, 190lb Sr) is a transfer from D2 Western Washington. He had 27 in opener against D2 Hawaii Hilo and zero on 7 shots against Oregon. He is long, active on defense, decent handle. Looked like a D2 player against Oregon – a D2 player who was a scorer that wasn’t afraid to put a little mustard on it at that level but a D2 player all the same.
Torvik says their best player is Joe Pridgen (6-5, 210lb 5th year Sr) who scored 8.8 pts with 5 boards last season at Northeastern. He had a pretty efficient season on low usage three years ago at UNC Wilmington where he had an eFG% of 58.1%. Good shot chart splits last year at Northeastern 54.7/13.7/31.7 but wasn’t a particular good shooter. Pretty good on the defensive glass during his career. He has had stops at Holy Cross, UNCW and Northeastern. Pridgen led the Grizz against Oregon with 14pts on 7 shots to go with 9 boards and 3 steals.
After that I am not sure I can make this interesting. Te’Jon Sawyer is really big. 6-8, 252lbs. He shot 62% inside the arc last season on his way to 8.5pts and 3 boards a game. Good block numbers, ok on the glass. He did not stand out against Oregon (6pts on 7 shots).
Austin Patterson (6-3, 185lb Sr) shot 38.5% from three last year at Sacramento State. Not totally ‘just a shooter’ as he had 71 attempts at the rim and was at 57%. Doesn’t really foul. Nickname in high school was ‘the Ginger Ninja’, which, ok, I was absolutely able to make this interesting. These highlights are a delight.
They have a Pepperdine transfer, Malik Moore. But he didn’t play against Oregon.
Look. This is a Big Sky team. Probably a pretty good one as the Big Sky goes but the Big Sky is generally a 1 bid league ranked around the 20s in the KP conference ratings. They have a bunch of transfers, but mostly from other mid major programs and they are only on their 4th game, with two of the first three being against a D2 team and, I think, a JUCO – Northwest Indian College. (Wait, what?). They have a very experienced and successful coach but they really don’t have players that should be able to compete against the Vols roster for 40 minutes. They certainly didn’t against Oregon the other night. So, typical non-conference buy type game except instead of the usual Big South/So Con/ASUN opponents we get a team from out west – be interested to hear how we came to schedule this one, maybe they will mention it on the broadcast which will, no doubt, be Steve Hamer.
KP says Vols by 23. Torvik says Vols by 22. WPs at 98% and 97% respectively. I do not think we will lose this game and I expect to see Cameron Carr and Bishop Boswell both score.
GBO
