2013-14 MONTANA BB OUTLOOK
TWO-TIME DEFENDING LEAGUE CHAMPON GRIZZLIES RETURN TWO-PLUS STARTERS
MISSOULA, MONTANA (9/20/13) – A three-peat is a daunting task for any team at any level, but that’s the goal for the two-time defending Big Sky Conference University of Montana Grizzlies’ basketball team for the 2013-14 season. The Griz begin practice Tuesday, Oct. 1.
That’s the way it works when you are coming off back-to-back 25-7 regular-season records, and have gone 34-2 in Big Sky games the past two years. The Griz are coming off their fourth straight 20-win season and second straight NCAA tournament berth. Montana has gone 93-35 overall and 56-12 in the Big Sky over the past four seasons.
Eighth-year head coach Wayne Tinkle, the league’s coach of the year the past two seasons, returns two-plus starters and nine letterman from his record-setting squad of a year ago.
Montana was one of the top shooting teams in the country a year ago, starting from the free throw line where it set a school record of 76.7% (499-of-651), which ranked them fifth in Division 1. The Grizzlies were ranked (out of 345 teams) 35th in the nation in field goal percentage (46.5%, 760-of-1635) and 45th in three-point percentage (37.2%, 219-of-589).
Leading the returnees is 6-5 senior guard-forward Kareem Jamar, who was the Big Sky Conference MVP last season and an Associated Press honorable mention selection. Other returning starters are 6-9 senior center Eric Hutchison (27 starts), and 6-2 junior guard Jordan Gregory (21 starts).
Last season Jamar led UM in rebounding (5.9 rpg), assists (4.0 apg), and blocks (tie, 0.7 pg), was second in scoring (14.2 ppg), and was the only player to start all 32 games.
Gregory was fourth in scoring at 8.2 points a game, and was an all-league honorable mention selection. Hutchison averaged 3,3 points and 2.1 rebounds a game last year.
“It’s certainly his (Jamar) turn to be a leader,” Tinkle said. “He’s kind of been waiting in the wings as far as that leadership goes. We’ve had a lot of great talks about being a senior and really having to step it up on and off the court. He’s learned from others in the past who maybe didn’t do things the right way, or did things the right way. He’s got no excuses not to lead us in the right way, and I know that he is ready for that challenge.”
Hutchison started most of last season and missed some action because of an injury. He is a solid defensive contributor and shot 54.8% (40-of-73). Andy Martin, a sophomore center, showed very good athleticism for a 7-footer, and may push the senior for the starting job.
Also back are 6-2 junior guard Keron DeShields, 6-5 sophomore forward Nick Emerson, Martin, 6-7 junior forward Mike Weisner, 6-7 sophomore forward Jake Wiley, and 6-0 sophomore guard Morgan Young.
DeShields was sixth in scoring (6.6 ppg) and started in nine games. Weisner was seventh in scoring (6.0 ppg), second in the league at 45.6% from three-point range, and one of just three players who played in all 32 games. Martin led the Griz in blocks (.75 a game), and started four times as a true freshman.
“We’ve got guys with good experience in Jordan Gregory, Keron and Hutch,” Tinkle said. “Hutch has logged a lot of minutes and he’s played with some of the best bigs our school’s ever had in (Derek) Selvig and (Brian) Qvale. He’s had an unbelievable off-season, and I think that Hutch is as ready as anybody to come back for his senior year.
“Mike did a lot of good things for us last year, and he’s a guy that you can’t take for granted because he’s made big plays and hit big shots,” Tinkle said. “The thing that impressed us the most about Mike is that we told him that he’d have to defend and rebound in his spot for us to play him, and he did that. I can think back to the Weber State regular-season game, and we were playing him and Spencer at the four and five, and Mike was holding guys off the glass and did a nice job defensively. He’s geared up and ready to take on more as a junior.
“Then you look at some of the guys who have had limited rolls,” Tinkle said. “Andy Martin had his moments (last season), and he’s going to vie for playing time and should vie for the starting spot. Jake Wiley probably had as good an off-season as any Grizzly players has had in the past several years. He’s going to be pushing guys. We’ve got some good pieces who know what it took to get to where we have gone the past couple of seasons.
The Griz lost two veteran starters in guard Will Cherry and forward Mathias Ward, both seniors, while forward Spencer Coleman, who will not be returning for his senior season, had 18 starts a year ago. Ward (24 starts), who was lost for the season due to an injury, led UM in scoring (14.8 ppg), while Cherry (21 starts) was third (13.3 ppg), and Coleman was fifth (7.6 ppg).
Cherry was a three-time first team all-league pick, and was twice named the Big Sky’s defensive player of the year. He is Montana’s all-time leader with 104 career starts and 265 career steals, and is seventh in school history with 1,484 points.
Ward was a second team all-conference selection last season. He played in 118 career games and scored 933 points.
Tinkle and his staff of Kurt Paulson, Jono Metzger-Jones, and Kerry Rupp also added four preps, a junior college transfer, and have one redshirt returning.
The high school additions are 6-0 guard Mario Dunn Jr. (Salesian HS, Oakland, Calif.), 6-4 guard Brandon Gfeller (Colfax HS, Wash.), 6-5 guard-forward Jack Lopez (Jannali HS, Bankstown Australia), and 6-4 guard-forward Daine Muller (Billings Skyview HS, Mont.).
Chris Kemp, a 6-7, 238-pound JC transfer from Baltimore, who played at West Texas College, should compete for a starting berth. Also back is 6-2 guard Riley Bradshaw (Corvallis HS, Mont.), who redshirted last year after transferring from Utah State.
Also new to the program is 6-8 junior center Martin Breunig from the University of Washington, who will not be able to play until next season due to NCAA transfer rules.
“We do have a lot of new additions to the team,” Tinkle said. “We love the returners and the experience that we’ve got, but we’re going to need some of these new guys to contribute.
“We’ve got to combine those veterans and returning guys with the incoming players,” he said. “It’s going to take some time. We’ve got a tough preseason in a while. It’s going to be a fun ride, and we just hope to get everything lined up by the time we roll into conference play.
“Mario is going to have to play minutes right away, much like Keron when he was a freshman backing up Will,” Tinkle said. “We’re expecting him, by the time he gets four or five games under his belt, that he’s ready to go. He has to understand what it takes strength and conditioning-wise at this level.
“Brandon Gfeller, I’m not sure if he will be ready this year,” Tinkle continued. “He works hard and can shoot it from anywhere. He’s worked on his game off the dribble and his mid-range game. We’ve got to see if he can defend and rebound in his spot. He might be competing for some back-up time at the two or at the three.
“Chris Kemp is a very powerful post player,” Tinkle said. “He’s a wide body at around 6-6, 240, and he gets off the floor well. He has really strong hands and is just a tireless worker. He’s got a ways to go, as far as footwork and learning our concepts on both ends. But we think the battle at the four spot, with Mike, and Jake, and Chris – there’s going to be some battles.
“Jack Lopez, the Australian, is 6-5, a good athlete, and probably a two-three,” Tinkle said. “We hope that he can back up Kareem at the three spot right away. He’s a good shooter and can really run the floor, although we’ve got to work on his skill level a little.
“The big guy, Mark Breunig who transferred from UW, he’s going to be a load,”he said. “He’s got good hops and he works his tail off. Obviously he’s got to sit this year out.”
POINT GUARD
“We feel pretty good about the guard spot, although some of the players may be a bit unproven. We’re going to have to fill a pretty big void. Will Cherry had a great impact on our program the past four years. Keron DeShields got some invaluable experience last year with Will’s injuries, and performed well for us. We are very excited about what Mario Dunn is going to bring to our point guard position.
“We’ve also got Kareem Jamar who played minutes there (point guard) last year and he played very well, as did Jordan Gregory. We feel pretty confident about what we have, we just need a couple of them to emerge as our leaders, and that will give us a lot more flexibility with the other positions.
“Jack Lopez we think will be able to play the two and the three. He can really shoot it and needs to work on his skills a little bit. Moran Young is a guy who just gets better and better – who knows where he will figure in. So we feel pretty comfortable with those two guard positions and the depth that we have.”
TWO GUARD
“Jordan really stepped up for us and played really big down the stretch. We are excited about him playing off the ball because of his shooting ability. Then we’ve got Brandon Gfeller, who is as good of a shooter as I’ve seen. He works hard and has good size and length. Riley Bradshaw will also be in the mix when he becomes eligible around Christmas, and he can play both of those positions. We like his play-making ability and size.”
GUARDS:
Riley Bradshaw, 6-2, 180, Fr., RS, 24.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg (prep averages)
Keron DeShields, 6-2, 182, Jr., 2V: 6.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 79.4 FT%
Mario Dunn Jr., 6-0, 170, Fr., HS (his high school did not keep individual stats)
Brandon Gfeller, 6-4, 180, Fr., HS, (prep stats NA)
Jordan Gregory, 6-2, 185, Jr., 2V, 8.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 88.1 FT%
Daine Muller, 6-4, 200, Fr., HS, 22.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg (prep stats)
Morgan Young, 6-0, 180, So., 1V, 0.4 ppg, 0.0 rpg (8 games)
THREE POSITION
“At the three we’ll start Kareem there, but we like the fact he has some versatility. We can move Kareem to the point or the two, or the four. We’ve got a couple of guys, especially in league, like Gfeller at almost 6-4 can play the three spot. Jack Lopez can play there, as can Nick Emerson, who has gotten better.
“We’ve played Mike exclusively at the four, but he’s really worked on his athleticism and conditioning and strength, so we feel now that he’s closer to being able to defend at the three. So we could go big and put Kareem at the two and Mike at the three, and really have some shooters and some play-makers at that position. That’s going to be a key position for us.”
POWER FORWARD
“At power forward we have Chris Kemp, who is big and strong. He’s athletic and a very good rebounder, and finishes around the rim. Jake Wiley had a great off-season, and he’s added some size and strength. I know he’s one of our better post players we have as far as athleticism goes.
“Mike can slide in there as well. So at the four spot I think we have more solid strength and toughness there than we did a year ago, where it was just mostly Mathias. Mike got some great experience too, when Mathias went down.”
FORWARDS:
Kareem Jamar, (G-F), 6-5, 210, Sr., 3V: 14.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.0 apg, 49.4 FG%
Chris Kemp, 6-7, 238, Jr., JC, 7.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg (JC stats)
Nick Emerson, 6-5, 206, So., 1V, 0.0 ppg, 0.3 rpg (12 games)
Jack Lopez (G-F), 6-5, 210, Fr., HS, (prep stats NA)
Mike Weisner, 6-7, 185, Jr. 2V, 6.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 90.0 FT%
Jake Wiley, 6-7, 190, So., 1V, 1.0 ppg, 0.6 rpg (20 games)
CENTER
“Hutch also had a great off-season, and he’s really excited about his senior year. We threw so much at Andrew and he got better and better. We really had hoped to redshirt him, but I think the fact that he got some playing time and had to play in some big games will help him this year. He had a very good off-season. Somehow we’ve got to get his metabolism slowed down so he can start to put on some bulk, but he and Hutch – that combination is going to be good for us.
“We also have the flexibility to go small and put Chris Kemp there against some teams. I am excited about our front court, because we do have some interchangeable parts, and we have more strength and toughness then maybe a year ago.”
CENTERS
Eric Hutchison, 6-9, 230, Sr., 3V, 3.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg
Andy Martin, 7-0, 223, So., 1V, 2.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg, .75 blk pg (28 games)
Martin Breunig, 6-8, 210, Jr. (Will not play until the 2014-15 season due to NCAA transfer rules)
THE SCHEDULE
The Griz have several difficult road contests, and they open their regular-season on the road at Minnesota (Nov. 12) and at South Dakota State (Nov. 14). The Gophers were 21-13 last season. SDSU was 25-10 last year, including a 68-67 double overtime win over the Grizzlies in Missoula.
“It’s a very challenging schedule, especially early,” said Tinkle, who sports a 141-78 career record at his alma mater. “But we like it that way. We’re going to be tested. We’re going to be able to develop some toughness. Our guys are going to have to be ready to answer the challenge.
“It’s gotten more and more difficult to get teams to come to Missoula,” said Tinkle who has been named the league’s “Coach of the Year” the past two seasons. “Our non-league schedule will be a great experience for us in terms of preparing for the Big Sky race.”
Montana’s home opener is Friday, Nov. 22, against the University of San Francisco Dons, a team that beat the Griz 78-68 a year ago. The Grizzlies have three other non-conference home games against Idaho, St. Martin’s and UM-Western.
The Griz are on the road again after the USF contest, playing at Washington (Nov. 26) and at Hawaii (Nov. 29). UM’s other non-league road game is at Idaho on Dec. 28.
Montana starts its Big Sky slate hosting Northern Arizona and Sacramento State, Thursday and Saturday, Jan. 2 & 4. UM’s home games will start at 7:05 p.m.
“There are some Big Sky teams that return a lot of talent with a ton of experience,” Tinkle said. “Weber lost a couple of key guys, but they’ve got big pieces back. Northern Colorado and North Dakota are two teams that were playing their best basketball at the end of the year, and they’ve got everybody back.
“Probably the top four teams along with us will be Weber, Northern Colorado, and North Dakota, as far as the coaches and media voting goes in the pre-season polls,“ Tinkle said. “But, I know the rest of the teams have worked hard and are going to be better. Sacramento State is very improved, and I know that Bill (Evans) at Idaho State will have those guys playing a lot better. Northern Arizona did a nice job last season, and Eastern Washington and Portland State always seem to have good talent. Southern Utah lost a lot of good players, but coach (Nick) Robinson does a good job, and I am sure he will have them geared up.
“I think this could be as competitive a league as we’ve seen in awhile,” Tinkle said. “The past couple of years there have been a couple of us who have ran away from the pack, and I am not sure if that’s going to happen this year.”
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