Put away for this season, Griz will dust off dancing shoes in future

Off-Key Note: For those of you who attended last Thursday’s Lady Griz game and expected me to rip either the Little Miss Montana who sang that God-awful rendition of the national anthem or the overbearing and borderline psychotic so-called “parents” who enter their kids in beauty pageants, you were wrong. I’m not that cold-blooded.

Idol Note: While we are on the subject of singing, install Melinda Dolittle as my early favorite in American Idol. Not only is she probably one of the top two or three vocalists in the contest, but her name will allow me to utter the phrase “Dolittle is gonna do a lot” at least every other column.

The 2006-2007 season of the University of Montana men’s basketball team came to an abrupt end on Tuesday as the Griz dropped a 78-71 match to Northern Arizona in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament. This means that come the middle of March, the Griz won’t be on the dance floor like they were the last two years.

Of course, the thought of the Griz not going to the Big Dance has probably come as a shock to many Montana fans who had begun to believe the Griz were synonymous with such hot dance moves as the Macarena and the Cha Cha Slide. But the truth is, the Griz just were not the best team in the Big Sky Conference this season.

As cliché as it may seem, the 2006-2007 season was the textbook definition of a roller coaster season.

Five times this season, the Griz had winning streaks of two games or more, which was impressive – if you don’t also take into account that UM also had four losing streaks of that same two-or-more-game standard.

I’ll give Montana this: At least it was consistent throughout the year with this up-and-down theme. Another example of the good being cancelled out by the bad was that while the Griz were able to master one basic fundamental – like holding onto the ball (UM had the highest assist-to-turnover ratio in the Big Sky) – they failed miserably at another (they were one of the worst in the conference at shooting free throws).

The Griz also established a disturbing trend of falling behind by double digits and then using fierce rallies to pull out victories. A team that falls behind 20 points in any game, as UM did to Northern Arizona on Tuesday, doesn’t deserve to win anything, let alone a conference crown.

In the wake of a season that some fans probably viewed as disappointing, a lot of criticism has been heaped on the coaching style of Wayne Tinkle, who just wrapped up his first season in Missoula with a 17-15 record. The problem is Tinkle inherited a no-win situation when he took the job: win immediately while also developing a program. When most coaching changes are made, the new coach usually takes over a losing program and is given a year or two to make significant progress.

However, Tinkle inherited a Griz team that was arguably coming off its best season ever and he was expected to mold the team into “his team” while taking Montana to a third-straight conference championship, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1973.

However, this team just was not as talented as the one that had a shot at the Sweet 16 in 2005-2006, leading one to believe that former UM coach Larry Krystkowiak may have jumped ship at the right moment.

A big problem appeared to be in the leadership department, which was best demonstrated by Montana’s four seniors. Two of them missed playing time because of suspensions (Stuart Mayes and Bryan Ellis). One, although incredibly popular with fans, could be somewhat inconsistent (Mike Chavez). And the other senior didn’t seem like he cared to be out on the court 95 percent of the time (Matt Dlouhy).

Flash back to last year when Montana’s two seniors were Kevin Criswell and Virgil Matthews. This was the Criswell who had such a “never surrender” attitude that he probably would have gone to extreme lengths to ensure he wouldn’t lose a game of Chutes and Ladders. That was the Matthews who would fly down the court 10 out of 10 times to take away a sure fast-break lay-up from an opponent. Those intangibles, which were obviously missing this year, and their combined 26.2 points per game had to have been missed by the Griz this season.

Now, while no hardcore Griz fan (a nice way of saying “drunken idiot”) will be able to rationalize penciling in Montana as a legitimate Final Four contender this year, the future isn’t completely bleak. UM found its point guard of the future in Cameron Rundles, and its frontcourt of Jordan Hasquet and Andrew Strait has the chance to be the best in the conference next year. Montana also has a nice blend of youth that should be able to contribute next year.

The Griz may have to sit out the dance this year, but something tells me that they will be back on that dance floor pretty soon.