Basketball against Carroll

mslacatfan · Post by **mslacatfan** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:03 am

suckitgriz wrote:Is it me, or do you all sound like jizz fans doing all this b*tching and moaning. Durham is Bobcat Basketball- like it or not. He bleeds blue and gold and loves this University. Before you all go jumping ship, give the man a chance. Mick will go when it is time to go. Until then he is the coach and rather than talking like the jizz talk about their coaches, let's think positively. This is a talented bunch of players with a great coaching staff. Durham's players love Durham, for the most part, and he has a deep concern to see his team not only succeed on the court, but off the court too. He turns his teams into "families". I, personally, think Mick is an outstanding coach and will turn the team around. If any of you think you could do better, grab your whistle and go plead your case to Peter Fields. Cats will do well this year and you will all be jumping back on by the end. I will remain on board and support Mick, his staff, and players.

By-the-way, The GU comment was absolutely ridiculous. I am going to the GUvs. WSU game on Thurs. night and I assure you I will see a better team than that of UM.

just a couple comments i have: First off, I am rooting for the cats as much as anybody this year, I would love more than anything if the coaching staff could turn this year around and make this team live up to its potential. I realize durham IS bobcat basketball, and that is what drives me crazy! You talk about giving him a chance... I guess the way I look at it is people have been giving him a chance for what- 15 years now (or whatever its been). Why should we have to settle for mediocracy? And the comment about his players liking him... Well that just flat out is not true. Over the past 5 years I have become good friends with many cat b-ball players, from walk-ons, to starters, to players that have left, I was roomates with a couple cat players before. Anyway, nearly every past/present player I know, which is a lot, cant stand Durham. I don't know what else to say, I do hope they turn it around this year though, and I will try not to say anything else about durham until the season is over.

suckitgriz · Post by **suckitgriz** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:08 am

not sure who you are Mslacat, but I also lived with a couple of former Cat b-ballers (Big deal) and they love Durham. I didn't say everyone loved him in my post, but it has been my experience, from the players i know, that Durham is a great guy. Whale's vagina- Agree to disagree.

whitetrashgriz · Post by **whitetrashgriz** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:58 am

suckitgriz wrote:Is it me, or do you all sound like jizz fans doing all this b*tching and moaning. Durham is Bobcat Basketball- like it or not. He bleeds blue and gold and loves this University. Before you all go jumping ship, give the man a chance. Mick will go when it is time to go. Until then he is the coach and rather than talking like the jizz talk about their coaches, let's think positively. This is a talented bunch of players with a great coaching staff. Durham's players love Durham, for the most part, and he has a deep concern to see his team not only succeed on the court, but off the court too. He turns his teams into "families". I, personally, think Mick is an outstanding coach and will turn the team around. If any of you think you could do better, grab your whistle and go plead your case to Peter Fields. Cats will do well this year and you will all be jumping back on by the end. I will remain on board and support Mick, his staff, and players.

great post, i was thinking the same. high expectations are one thing, but jumping ship this early is a little griz-fan-esque. imo. and before i get stommped for my comment, let me clarify...not all griz fans, just the posters of the non-stop huack bashing that goes on.
By-the-way, The GU comment was absolutely ridiculous. I am going to the GUvs. WSU game on Thurs. night and I assure you I will see a better team than that of UM.

whitetrashgriz · Post by **whitetrashgriz** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:02 am

suckitgriz wrote:not sure who you are Mslacat, but I also lived with a couple of former Cat b-ballers (Big deal) and they love Durham. I didn't say everyone loved him in my post, but it has been my experience, from the players i know, that Durham is a great guy. Whale's vagina- Agree to disagree.

put me in this boat as well. i have been a part of cat basketball my whole life, and friends with the durhams the whole time. they are a great family, and mick lives for cat basketball. is every person he has been around going to like him? nope. just like me and every one of you. to say that all players past and present dont like him his just not true. without having to actually sit and name players who liked durham and who you say didn't, because i'm not going to do that, like posted before, we can agree to disagree.

iaafan · Post by **iaafan** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:26 am

Mick Durham: Good guy, bad coach. That anyone is actually arguing that he's a 'good' coach is beyond me.

He's below average. His record speaks for itself. The only time he seems to coach well is when everyone is on his back like right now, so maybe MSU fans should ride him all season. Seems like he's had time to try everything else. Show up at practice with "Fire Mick" t-shirts

and maybe they'll go undefeated the rest of the year and beat Gonzaga to get into the Sweet Sixteen.

Cat Pride · Post by **Cat Pride** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:39 am

What kills me is all this apologetic talk about "its early in the season" "lets wait until this team gels" "wait until conference starts"... do you all realize that this team returned all 5 starters from last year and its top 9 players?!?!?!

Why should this team need a preseason to get going? Why should this team be feeling uncomfortable on the court? Why is Mick struggling to find the right combinations of people to play? Why is there no leader on this team?

I cant say for sure obviously because I didnt go to summer work outs or go to the weight room, etc.... but to me, it doesnt seem like one single person in this progam - from Coach Durham to the last kid on the bench - has improved their game one iota since losing to the Griz in Portland in March.

spider · Post by **spider** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:19 am

Just wait UM will be very good one day with Krystowiak at the helm. I wasn't comparing them to GU today, I was looking to the future. Coach K took the Griz to the Big Dance his first year! After Kennedy had nearly ruined them.

As far as assessing the coaching, all I really need to know is that we have more L's than W's. I don't think I ever claimed to be able to coach DI basketball. If a person can't voice their opinion on something unless they have the ability to do the thing, I guess there would never be any discussion. Coaches would never be fired or hired for that matter. I suppose I shouldn't vote, because I don't think I have the ability to be a Politician.

Almost losing to Carroll is bad, but is not really what got me going. I'm sick of the slow starts and not being able to win non-conference games. How many more years are we going to have to hear, "Oh, just wait, they'll come along. Give them time." I don't know whether Durham is a nice guy or not, but sometimes nice guys aren't good coaches.

I guess we'll see what happens at season's end. The Cats may surprise me and win the BSC tourney, and go to the Big Dance. If they do I will eat some crow about this year's team, not about Durham's coaching abilities.

Grizh8r please tell me the personal attack was not directed at me. Do you really think I should not be able to express my opinion just because I don't like the way the team is playing?

CelticCat · Post by **CelticCat** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:27 am

I don't think calling for a coaching change for a team that has won the BSC once under the current coaches 16 year tenure is far-fetched.

And don't say that if we could do better, why don't we go coach. That is a ridiculous statement. If we were telling him who should be starting, what kind of offense we should be running, you may have a point (though fans are always going to say these kind of things and I don't see why they shouldn't). But if want a coaching change, don't tell us to step up or shut up.

I'm withholding my judgement for now. If we have a losing record going into conference with how soft our OOC was...

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:29 am

Question: What is the benefit for a big sky team to have a great record in the non-conference?

IMHO there is NO benefit unless you make it to the big dance and then you might get a 14 seed rather than a 15 seed.

I could honestly care less if we played all of our non-conference games against the CJMS 7th grade girls B team and didn't win a game, just so long as we win the conference, and host the tourney.

Remember when everyone was jumping on the "Fire Mick" band wagon last year, a then we came out and started kickins a$$ during the conference season?

I know we have a lot of veterans on the team, but we must have patience. If we haven't improved 3 months from now, then I will be on the band wagon along with everyone else....Patience.

Post by **rtb** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:30 am

I agree with Spider that Larry K will continue to improve the Grizzlies and they could easily become the next Gonzaga in 10 years. He is building momentum and they are getting better every day!

whitetrashgriz · Post by **whitetrashgriz** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:07 am

wbtfg wrote:Question: What is the benefit for a big sky team to have a great record in the non-conference?

IMHO there is NO benefit unless you make it to the big dance and then you might get a 14 seed rather than a 15 seed.

I could honestly care less if we played all of our non-conference games against the CJMS 7th grade girls B team and didn't win a game, just so long as we win the conference, and host the tourney.

Remember when everyone was jumping on the "Fire Mick" band wagon last year, a then we came out and started kickins a$$ during the conference season?

I know we have a lot of veterans on the team, but we must have patience. If we haven't improved 3 months from now, then I will be on the band wagon along with everyone else....Patience.

ya, this is gettng stupid once again. same crap last year and we won conference. i can make excuses for the team all i want..it's not going to change how they play. so they have started slow this year. i can either defend them, and think that they'll play much better, which i have done. or i can join some of you and talk about how horrible mick is. eventually, players have to be a little accountable too. do you think that mick is coaching them to not rebound? do you think he stresses missing free-throws and turning over the ball? do you think that he spends 20 minutes of every practice on poor shot selection? i'm sure he and johnny spend a good portion of every practice making sure that 11 foot tall al fouls every time in the post rather then just standing with his arms in the air. and when he makes adjustments to try to stop all of these things in games, we bash him for his line-ups! do you think his ideal line-up is three guards? maybe sometime. but i think ideally he'd like moss to get to where he was last year, and all of our big men to stop playing like girls! if the players start buying into what he's saying, and buying into theirselves which i'm told hasn't been happening(no confidence in themselves or eachother) we will be a better team. so for now....IT'S EARLY, THIS TEAM WILL BE BETTER.

whitetrashgriz · Post by **whitetrashgriz** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:08 am

wbtfg wrote:Question: What is the benefit for a big sky team to have a great record in the non-conference?

IMHO there is NO benefit unless you make it to the big dance and then you might get a 14 seed rather than a 15 seed.

I could honestly care less if we played all of our non-conference games against the CJMS 7th grade girls B team and didn't win a game, just so long as we win the conference, and host the tourney.

Remember when everyone was jumping on the "Fire Mick" band wagon last year, a then we came out and started kickins a$$ during the conference season?

I know we have a lot of veterans on the team, but we must have patience. If we haven't improved 3 months from now, then I will be on the band wagon along with everyone else....Patience.

ya, this is gettng stupid once again. same crap last year and we won conference. i can make excuses for the team all i want..it's not going to change how they play. so they have started slow this year. i can either defend them, and think that they'll play much better, which i have done. or i can join some of you and talk about how horrible mick is. eventually, players have to be a little accountable too. do you think that mick is coaching them to not rebound? do you think he stresses missing free-throws and turning over the ball? do you think that he spends 20 minutes of every practice on poor shot selection? i'm sure he and johnny spend a good portion of every practice making sure that 11 foot tall al fouls every time in the post rather then just standing with his arms in the air. and when he makes adjustments to try to stop all of these things in games, we bash him for his line-ups! do you think his ideal line-up is three guards? maybe sometime. but i think ideally he'd like moss to get to where he was last year, and all of our big men to stop playing like girls! if the players start buying into what he's saying, and buying into theirselves which i'm told hasn't been happening(no confidence in themselves or eachother) we will be a better team. so for now....IT'S EARLY, THIS TEAM WILL BE BETTER.

Ponycat · Post by **Ponycat** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:35 am

whitetrashgriz wrote:do you think that mick is coaching them to not rebound? do you think he stresses missing free-throws and turning over the ball? do you think that he spends 20 minutes of every practice on poor shot selection? i'm sure he and johnny spend a good portion of every practice making sure that 11 foot tall al fouls every time in the post rather then just standing with his arms in the air. and when he makes adjustments to try to stop all of these things in games, we bash him for his line-ups! do you think his ideal line-up is three guards? maybe sometime. but i think ideally he'd like moss to get to where he was last year, and all of our big men to stop playing like girls! if the players start buying into what he's saying, and buying into theirselves which i'm told hasn't been happening(no confidence in themselves or eachother) we will be a better team. so for

at least he bleeds blue and gold and is a nice guy.

Heck, we should have never fired Solomonson, I'm sure he wasn't coaching his players to suck either.

anacondagriz · Post by **anacondagriz** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:59 am

longhorn_22 wrote:Another thing I'd like to add is the the terrible job of referring. I cannot believe that technical foul against Casey Durham. Complete bullsh*t. They called stupid fouls and makeup calls all game long. I am getting so tired of this. NCAA, BSC, find some new refs. PLEASE, for the love of God.

The bad officiating continued last night in Missoula as well. It was actually to the benefit of the Griz. One of the LMU big guys was trying to save the ball from going out of bounds, his foot was on the baseline at the time, so naturally he throws the ball off a Griz player laying on the ground & he gets a T. The Griz got a 5 point possesion out of it and took over from there. One of the worst calls I have ever seen. Larry K had to be restrained by his assistants leaving the floor at the half because of a litany of no calls in the last few minutes of the half.

WYCAT · Post by **WYCAT** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:02 am

anacondagriz wrote:The bad officiating continued last night in Missoula as well. It was actually to the benefit of the Griz.

Gee, that is a big surprise.

BR GRIZ · Post by **BR GRIZ** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:05 am

WYCAT wrote:
anacondagriz wrote:The bad officiating continued last night in Missoula as well. It was actually to the benefit of the Griz.
Gee, that is a big surprise.

It must be a liberal conspiracy

griz8791 · Post by **griz8791** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:06 am

wbtfg wrote:Question: What is the benefit for a big sky team to have a great record in the non-conference?

Build up the whole conference's RPI? It would sure be nice to have a Big Sky team go with a seed higher than 15. Maybe this is driven more by past poor performance in the opening round of the tournament than RPI. I don't know.

AZCAT21 · Post by **AZCAT21** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:27 am

The thing that I have noticed throughout the years is that it seems like Mick likes to sub like this is a hockey team. How are any or our players going to get in a groove if they are in for 3 minutes out for 2 and back in. Why do you think that Gular and hays had the games they had last night? Probably cause they played over 30 minutes. The only reason why we have won conference in 96/02 was because Mick didn't play every person on the team equal minutes. In 2002 he played clark,erickson,latovic, reynolds, rich, plummer, conway. That is 7 deep so the starting 5 basically all averaged 25-35 mintues a game. There is no need to keep running players in and out every single timeout, these guys are 19-22 years old and in the best shape of their lives! let them play more minutes I guarantee that nobody gets that tired to the point where they ask to come out, but none of them seem to get in a groove at all.

Watch, if we get some injuries and are forced to play only the top 8 we will be unstoppable because shooters need minutes to get going. Until this happens I truly don't see us winning many games.

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:30 am

AZCAT21 wrote:The thing that I have noticed throughout the years is that it seems like Mick likes to sub like this is a hockey team. How are any or our players going to get in a groove if they are in for 3 minutes out for 2 and back in. Why do you think that Gular and hays had the games they had last night? Probably cause they played over 30 minutes. The only reason why we have won conference in 96/02 was because Mick didn't play every person on the team equal minutes. In 2002 he played clark,erickson,latovic, reynolds, rich, plummer, conway. That is 7 deep so the starting 5 basically all averaged 25-35 mintues a game. There is no need to keep running players in and out every single timeout, these guys are 19-22 years old and in the best shape of their lives! let them play more minutes I guarantee that nobody gets that tired to the point where they ask to come out, but none of them seem to get in a groove at all.

Watch, if we get some injuries and are forced to play only the top 8 we will be unstoppable because shooters need minutes to get going. Until this happens I truly don't see us winning many games.

I agree with that assessment 100%. I'm not sure if the reason for that is because we are trying different combinations before conferece season, basically holding a tryout for the 2 or 3 people that will be coming off the bench. Or (which hopefully isn't the case) is this going to be our sub pattern for the rest of the year.

grizzh8r · Post by **grizzh8r** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:33 am

whitetrashgriz wrote:
wbtfg wrote:Question: What is the benefit for a big sky team to have a great record in the non-conference?

IMHO there is NO benefit unless you make it to the big dance and then you might get a 14 seed rather than a 15 seed.

I could honestly care less if we played all of our non-conference games against the CJMS 7th grade girls B team and didn't win a game, just so long as we win the conference, and host the tourney.

Remember when everyone was jumping on the "Fire Mick" band wagon last year, a then we came out and started kickins a$$ during the conference season?

I know we have a lot of veterans on the team, but we must have patience. If we haven't improved 3 months from now, then I will be on the band wagon along with everyone else....Patience.
ya, this is gettng stupid once again. same crap last year and we won conference. i can make excuses for the team all i want..it's not going to change how they play. so they have started slow this year. i can either defend them, and think that they'll play much better, which i have done. or i can join some of you and talk about how horrible mick is. eventually, players have to be a little accountable too. do you think that mick is coaching them to not rebound? do you think he stresses missing free-throws and turning over the ball? do you think that he spends 20 minutes of every practice on poor shot selection? i'm sure he and johnny spend a good portion of every practice making sure that 11 foot tall al fouls every time in the post rather then just standing with his arms in the air. and when he makes adjustments to try to stop all of these things in games, we bash him for his line-ups! do you think his ideal line-up is three guards? maybe sometime. but i think ideally he'd like moss to get to where he was last year, and all of our big men to stop playing like girls! if the players start buying into what he's saying, and buying into theirselves which i'm told hasn't been happening(no confidence in themselves or eachother) we will be a better team. so for now....IT'S EARLY, THIS TEAM WILL BE BETTER.

I agree. The players have to take some initiative and play smarter ball. However, I do feel that we are lacking a team/court leader, someone like Ericson, et al. Ja'Ron or Nick could be this type of leader, but ???

Spider:

I didn't realize saying "chill" was a personal attack. Anyways, it wasn't directed at you, per se, just those people who are bashing Mick. I for one am undecided about Mick. I will make my decsision when this season is over. Things are really getting testy around here, eh?