By DAVE GUFFEY for GoGriz.com
First-year mentor Travis DeCuire’s 2014-15 University of Montana Grizzly basketball team makes its public debut Wednesday, Oct., 29, playing in the annual Silver-Maroon Scrimmage in Dahlberg Arena, with tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m. There is no admission charge for the scrimmage.
The Griz, who were 17-13 overall last season and 12-8 in the Big Sky Conference (tie, second), return one full-time starter in 6-2 senior guard Jordan Gregory, and two part-time starters in 6-0 sophomore guard Mario Dunn and 6-7 senior forward Mike Weisner.
Gregory was the Grizzlies’ third leading scorer last season, averaging 13.8 points a game, while Weisner was fourth (8.1 ppg), and Dunn was fifth (6.3 ppg).
Along with those three players the Griz have four lettermen back in 6-2 sophomore guards Riley Bradshaw and 6-4 Brandon Gfeller; 6-6 senior post Chris Kemp; and 6-5 sophomore forward Jack Lopez (16 games). Another key player back is University of Washington transfer Martin Breunig, a 6-8 junior forward, who redshirted last year.
Also in the mix are junior college transfers Jermaine Edmonds Jr. (a 6-5 sophomore G/F from Diablo Valley College) and Daniel Nwosu (a 6-2 guard from Casper College, Wyo.), and freshmen Bryden Boehning (6-10 center from Dawson County HS) in Glendive, Mont.; Gavin DeJong (a 6-6 forward from Manhattan HS), and Fabijan Krslovic (6-8 forward from Abbotsbury, Australia).
The Griz are back in action again on Monday, Nov. 3, hosting the Whitworth University Pirates in an exhibition game, with tip-off at 7:00 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena. The Pirates, a Division III team from Spokane, Wash., return two starters from a 23-6 team
Q & A WITH HEAD COACH TRAVIS DECUIRE
ON THE ANNUAL SILVER-MAROON TEAM SCRIMMAGE (WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29, 5:30 P.M. IN DAHLBERG ARENA):
“Our conditioning has been very intense, and I think we’re in pretty good shape right now. It might now look that way in that scrimmage, because we will probably only have 10 or 11 guys who can play in the scrimmage (on Oct. 29). That’s a lot of minutes for guys with no subs, so we’ll probably wear down quick. But, at this point I think if we played 10 guys and rotated them, we’d probably be in better shape than our opponents in most games.
“I feel really good about that. I think for us, that’s a point where the guys are excited about playing in front of people; excited about having officials; excited about an opportunity to just go out and play. And you have a tendency for guys trying to do too much. For me, our number one goal is to go out and look like a team that has been coached.”
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY AREAS YOU ARE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW & HOW IS THE TEAM LOOKING SO FAR:
“We’re progressing – that’s the most important thing for us, to get better every day. We talk about that before and after every practice. As far as areas to improve in, I talk about last year’s lack of rebounding and poor defense, and we’re trying to find a lot of different ways to mend it. I’ve also commented on recruiting rebounders, and that’s the best way to solve the issue. So for right now we’re working on our skill-sets, including blocking off and rebounding as a unit.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE OFFENSE RIGHT NOW?
“On the other side of the ball we’ve made a lot of progress, in terms of our ability to score the ball and having an understanding of how we want to execute offensively. Right now I say our offense is ahead of our defense. When you scrimmage like we did last week, you see the good and the bad. You see the ball go through the basket, but at the same time there’s fault that you’re finding within the defense. So for me it’s tough, because you’ve got two coaches upset defensively, then you’ve got two other coaches cheering when the ball goes through the hoop.
But, we’re getting there.
HAVE ANY PLAYERS STOOD OUT TO YOU SO FAR?
“I’d say right now the guy that’s stood out the most in terms of consistency is Mario Dunn. Just his competitiveness. He dominates both sides of the ball. Offensively he can get in the paint and create for people, and he’s starting to get a feel for how important that is for us – and when to make decisions. And then defensively, he’s a terror. He gets himself out of position a little bit, but tends to recover pretty quickly. Right now I’d say he’s the guy who has stood out the most from our last scrimmage.
THE GRIZ WERE 16TH IN THE NATION IN TURNOVERS PER GAME (10.0 pg) LAST SEASON/IS THAT AN AREA OF STRENGTH AGAIN THIS YEAR?
“That (UM’s assist-to-turnover ratio last season) was a positive a year ago. When you look at our system a lot of our offense goes down through the post. So sometimes if you don’t have skilled posts, it’s very difficult to do what you do, and maintain a strong assist to turnover ratio. That’s a strong part of the blueprint. I think everyone to (former Griz head coaches) Wayne (Tinkle) to Mike Montgomery always had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. If you look at championship teams, that’s a common theme. So that’s something that we definitely pay close attention to.
“We’ve got a couple of guys who could do a little better with the ball, so we’re working right now on our skill-set in terms of passing the ball and ball-handling. But Mario is definitely very helpful in that area. He does do a very good job of taking care of it, but the other piece is that he forces turnovers too.
ANY NEWCOMERS STOOD OUT SO FAR?
“We’ve got some guys in both classes, the freshmen class and the sophomore class, it just depends on how you look at it in terms of immediate impact. Jermaine Edmonds is a newcomer and a guy who can really score and has a really good feel for the offensive side of the ball. He’s probably one of our best passers, in terms of finding open guys and delivering, whether it’s off the dribble or off the catch. We’re trying to get him to defend a little better. But with his size and length, and athleticism, he’s someone who can be an impact player for us on both sides of the ball.
“Brandon Gfeller is shooting the ball as well as anyone on our team, probably in the last week. Our team was shooting 65 percent going into our scrimmage and practices, and he’s played a major part in that.
“When you start looking at those freshmen, there’s a ton of upside in them. Fabijan (Krslovic) is probably the one who is standing out the most right now in terms of competing for minutes this year. A big part of that is that he’s played at a high level already, and he understands the game. He’s a guy that right now makes our offense work. He’s probably our best post at hedging ball screens. He’s in all the right spots. We kind of had an on-going joke last week between the coaches in terms of just trying to catch him making mistakes so that we wouldn’t walk away feeling like we weren’t coaching him.
“Gavin DeJong and Bryden Boehning are two young kids who have an incredible up-side. I think they’re your typical Montana kid, that when you see they have a skill-set and they do have a feel for the game. They have size. Gavin’s probably our second best athlete. Bryden is our one, true center on the team with size and girth. I think those two kids, who two years from now, will have an impact for us in our ability to compete for championships and maybe pull off some wins against some major schools.”
