UM Sports Trivia | Week of March 21

By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN

While the 2015-16 season ended a little bit earlier than the Montana Lady Griz would have liked the outstanding group of seniors had an tremendous 4 year run. The class of 2016 posted 88 wins over the past four years the most for a senior class since 2010–a class that was part of 95 wins.  Since the re-opening of the Adams Center the Lady Griz have posted thirteen 20-win seasons and in 17 years, 372 games.

Travis Decuire is the first Griz coach to post 20-plus win seasons in his first two years at the helm. The Griz have reached the Big Sky Championship game 9 times in the last 15 years winning 6 titles.
Former Griz coaches Tinkle and Krystowiak were not the only former Big Sky coaches making noise during March Madness. Kermit Davis was the head coach at Idaho from 1988-90 winning Big Sky titles both seasons. Davis took his Middle Tennessee team to the second round of the NCAA tournament including a major upset of Michigan State. Heath Schroyer brought Portland State a Regular title in 2005 after 3 years of rejuvenating the Vikings program. Schroyer went on to a disappointing four year run in Wyoming. Now Schroyer has turned a dormant Tennessee Martin program into a power reaching the NIT in his second year.
A big cheer for the Carroll College Saints. In 2013 Carson Cunningham came to Helena to take over a faltering program and in just 3 seasons had the Saints in the national quarterfinals of the NAIA tournament in Kansas City. Carroll knocked off No. 2 ranked LSU- Alexandria in the second round.
The Oregon Ducks won the very first NCAA tournament back in 1939 but has not been back to a Final Four since. The Ducks have reached the Regional finals 3 times in the interim, 1960, 2002 and 2007, in both 60 and 07 they lost to the defending national champs. Thursday the Ducks face the reigning national champs when they clash with Duke in the West Regional semi-finals. Here is a good sign for Oregon fans: the regional tournament with be held in the home arena of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.

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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.

Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament

When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 21st, 2016 at 6:51 pm
Category Archive: All Featured, All Sports & Recreation, Blogs, Spectator Sports, UM Athletics, University of Montana
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