I was somehow able to regain control of this blog, and it was as simple as answering a simple security question that I won't mention here. Anyways, here's what was posted on that substitute blog:
The Tale of Two Different Basketball Teams at Montana (Part One) (Written December 13, 2010)For the past six seasons now, I have been an ardent follower of men's and women's basketball at Montana. I've seen great players come and go, but both teams have very different philosophies.
Let's start with the men's team first. One of the factors that had me hooked was the fact that Larry Krystkowiak was the head coach when I first started following the team. First game I attended was a home game against Pac-10 power Stanford during the 2005-06 season and the Grizzlies beat them soundly. That win over the Cardinal was one of the factors that helped the team get selected into the NCAA Tournament as a 12-seed against Nevada, who was a 5-seed that year. The 12 vs. 5 matchup in the NCAA Tournament has historically been an upset matchup, and the Grizzlies upset the Wolf Pack in Salt Lake City before falling to Boston College two days later. Three months afterward, Krystkowiak left the program as head coach to accept an assistant coaching position with the Milwaukee Bucks (the team Krysko spent the majority of his NBA playing career with), which was a move I never saw coming.
Assistant Wayne Tinkle was promoted to the head job. Krysko and Tinks had two totally different personalities. Krysko was blunt, brash, and fiery, but he knew what he was doing and wasn't afraid to light a fire under his players. Tinkle on the other hand is calm, reserved, and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. The first two years of the Tinkle era were relatively mediocre, but the team finally started getting its legs back during the 2008-09 season, largely because of the team signing junior college transfer Anthony Johnson, who would make an almost immediate impact on the team.
Johnson's impact on the team was felt most significantly during the 2010 Big Sky championship game at Weber State. With Montana trailing 40-20 at halftime, Johnson took charge and guided the Grizzlies back from the dead, scoring 34 points in the second half and the Grizzlies' last 21 points of the game to beat Weber State and win the Big Sky Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In the process, Johnson outscored the entire Weber State team in the second half 34-25. The performance was so incredible, national media outlets from ESPN to USA Today took notice of Johnson's effort, and he was even nominated for an ESPY award for "Best Championship Performance," and the following video shows why Johnson deserved those said accolades.
Even though Grizzly fans miss A.J. (who is now playing professionally in Greece), the team has plugged along nicely and has performed well all season to this point. That includes a huge win over national power UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles in a game the Grizzlies dominated throughout, just days after UCLA lost a heartbreaker at nationally-ranked Kansas. The team also has an impressive win over Cal State Fullerton and a blowout win against Idaho, but the Grizzlies will have road rematches against those respective teams and soon, so it will be interesting to see how they'll do in the rematches.
I'll weigh in on my thoughts about the women's basketball team at some point later this week. (Post was written on December 28)
My Favorite Feel-Good Sports Moment, In Time for Christmas (written December 24, 2010)You always look at the positive things in life when Christmas comes around the corner. Just like at Thanksgiving, you're surrounded by family and friends. On Christmas Day, there's more to it. You have a tree decorated with ornaments and lights with neatly-wrapped gifts under the tree. And others go out of their way to offer up a Christmas for those that wouldn't otherwise have the luxury of experiencing the joy that is of Christmas Day.
It's not very often that I'll talk about auto racing here, but I have to make an exception in this case. Back in 2001, the CART racing series was racing in Germany on the weekend after the United States was attacked by terrorists on September 11th. While all major sports leagues decided to postpone their events out of respect of the victims who lost their lives on that fateful day, CART made the difficult decision to continue on with their activities at the Lausitzring, because all U.S. airspace was restricted as a result of the terrorist attacks on New York City and The Pentagon in Washington, DC.
At that point of the 2001 season, Alex Zanardi (right) was not having a successful return to CART, after a failed return to Formula One in 1999 and taking a year off in 2000. But on September 15, 2001, it appeared as if Zanardi was back to the form he had when he won back-to-back CART championships in 1997 and 1998, as he held the lead late in the race when he made a late pit stop with 13 laps remaining. After leaving the pits Zanardi hurried back onto track to beat out second-place Kenny Brack, but accelerated too quickly and spun onto the track from the warmup lane into race traffic. The car spun into the path of first Patrick Carpentier, who barely missed him, and then Alex Tagliani, who drilled Zanardi in the monocoque just behind the left-front tire. The impact was so bad Zanardi lost both of his legs as a result of the impact and lost a significant amount of blood. But thanks to the quick thinking and reaction of CART's medical team led by Dr. Steve Olvey, Zanardi's life was saved.
Turn the clock ahead to Mother's Day weekend in 2003. It had been over 18 months since Zanardi's life almost came to a tragic end, and in turn ended his open-wheel racing career. CART was making its second trip to the Lausitzring, but there was one thing Zanardi wanted to do before the race was to begin. Just watch the first ten minutes the following clip and you'll be amazed at what he was able to do with his two prosthetic legs.
What Zanardi accomplished that day to fulfill that promise instantly made him a hero to everyone that watches racing, myself included. I enjoyed watching him in CART from 1996 to 1998, and while he won everything left and right, he did it in a way that would have you on the edge of your seat most of the time. He was one of the most exciting drivers I had ever seen drive a race car, and if the CART/IRL split never happened in 1996 (Zanardi's rookie year in CART), I believe he would enjoyed having that symbolic swig of icy cold milk at least once, as a champion of the Indianapolis 500.
The Tale of Two Different Montana Basketball Teams (Part Two) (Written December 28, 2010)A couple of weeks back I weighed in on my thoughts about the men's basketball team at Montana--a team that is
now ranked 18th in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Now, I'm going to weigh in on my thoughts about the women's basketball team.
Just like with the Grizzlies, I have followed the Lady Griz since the 2005-06 season. Their team that year was young much like the teams they've had the last two years--young, talented, expected to make mistakes and learn from them. But one of those young guns was Mandy Morales, who led the team in scoring four straight seasons after she redshirted the 2004-05 season (as a result of her transfer from Arizona State after initially enrolling in Tempe and signing a letter of intent to play for the Sun Devils), and was the Big Sky's MVP in her sophomore and senior seasons. She was also honorable mention for All-American four straight years.
In regards to coaching, there has been one constant--Robin Selvig, a lifelong Grizzly from his days as a player on the men's team from 1970 to 1974. Since he took over the women's program in 1978, Selvig has notched 743 victories in his 33-year career, making him one of the winningest college basketball coaches in the nation, men's or women's. All of his assistant coaches have played for him at some point in his career, and the turnover there has been next to nothing since he named assistant Trish Duce to his staff prior to the 1994-95 season.
Last year's team could very well have contended for, if not won the conference title, regardless of what eventual league champion Portland State did. But during the team's third conference game of the season at Eastern Washington, top scorer and rebounder Katie Baker (right, in white jersey) injured her knee trying to get a rebound and was lost for the remainder of the season. The true freshman out of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho had easily become the team's best player right from the start of the season. And while the team went 8-6 the rest of the way without Baker, the team just couldn't get over the hump and lost to Portland State in the Big Sky tournament.
This year's team was voted by both the coaches and the media to win the conference title in 2010-11, but this year's team was swamped with a brutal non-conference schedule. They lost six games in a seven-game stretch heading into their Holiday Classic, in which they face two teams that have a combined two wins between them. Many of those non-conference losses can be attributed to abysmal shooting from the field despite having one of the stingiest defenses in the Big Sky Conference. With Baker back along with senior starters Sarah Ena and Stephanie Stender, the team should play well in conference play. The defense is there, but if they can put they can forget about their shooting woes, then they'll be one dangerous unit when league play gets underway next week.
The Missoula half of the rivalry has run its course for this season. Now, it's Bozeman's turn host the rivalry. For the Montana Grizzlies, it's a chance to sweep the Montana State Bobcats for the season and do so on the Bobcats' home floor. For the Lady Griz, on the other hand, it's a chance to get even after what MSU did in Missoula on Saturday afternoon.
