Think the Montana Lady Griz might be short on talent next season with the loss of senior starters Mandy Morales, Sonya Rogers and Britney Lohman? Better think again.

Katie Baker, a 6-foot star for Idaho’s Lake City High, was named Gatorade player of the year for the third straight year in the Gem State. Read about the Coeur d’Alene product in the Idaho Statesman.

Alyssa Smith, a sturdy 6-foot forward from Washington, is more than a stellar player. She’s also a person of exceptional character. Read about her in a story by the Daily Herald of Everett, Washington.

Kenzie DeBoer, from Lynden, Wash., enjoyed a strong senior season at Lynden Christian School. After finishing a perfect 29-0 in her junior season, DeBoer’s team took fourth at Washington’s Class 1A state showcase this season. Read about her impact on the team in a story that appeared in the Lynden Tribune.

After watching Gonzaga take Pitt to the wire in their NCAA Women’s Tournament regional game at Seattle last night I had to re-evaluate my assessment of Montana’s play two nights earlier somewhat.

Gonzaga was much more aggressive offensively than the Lady Griz were, especially in attacking the press. The Zags chose to bust the ball into front court much of the time, and either went directly to the basket or at least got quickly into their offense.

Montana’s approach of walking the ball up court not only played into trapping Pitt’s hands (not to mention long arms), but also left the Lady Griz little time on the shot clock if and when they got into front court.

Hey, if you’re going to turn the ball over, wouldn’t you rather do it while being aggressive rather than passive? And busting the ball into front court doesn’t have to translate into being out of control.

The Zags also held their own on the boards against the bigger Panthers. Again, it was as much due to aggressiveness as talent.

The Zags played to win, and almost did.

Watching the Gonzaga-Pitt game on TV, I got the impression that the Zags weren’t that much smaller than the Panthers. Gonzaga’s tallest players were 6-2, and there were seven on the roster 6-0 and taller.

More importantly they were a fit, conditioned bunch, and had the strength and stamina to battle all game long. They showed no fear.

I’m looking forward to the day when Montana has a true post player that’s in condition because she puts in the effort to be, able to move and also able to play in more than short spurts. That way players like Britney Lohman, who played with heart and a great deal of success but out of position, would be able to play at their more natural spots.

I think it’s all about heart and really wanting to be the best player you can be. With all due respect to some of UM’s more recent post players, the Lady Griz seem to have come up short in that area, and it’s hurt them.

- Bill Schwanke

As I watched the Montana Lady Griz succumb to the pressure defense of Pittsburgh Saturday night at the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament game in Seattle, one thing stood out to me: size really does matter.

When the Lady Griz faced tough, trapping defense during the regular season and the Big Sky Tournament, they generally were going up against players that were similar in size to Montana’s.

In Pittsburgh they faced a team that was bigger at every position. Throw in the long arms of the Panther players along with their athleticism and quickness and it spelled “big” trouble for the Lady Griz.

Often not given the option to throw over the top of the traps, the Lady Griz were forced into telegraphed bounce passes that were more easily tipped or intercepted. On those occasions when they tried to throw over the top of the trap, the Lady Griz passes tended to be higher arching and slower, again enabling the Pitt players to disrupt or intercept.

Pitt’s size also contributed to changing shots, or forcing rushed shots, and it certainly helped the Panthers on the boards. Pitt was simply bigger, faster and more athletic than the Lady Griz.

One thing never changed for the Lady Griz, however, and this should have been no surprise to anyone who watched the 2008-09 team play.

They never quit. They battled all the way, no matter how frustrating that second half in Seattle became.

While working in the weight room can’t make people taller, it can make them stronger, quicker and more agile, and it certainly can add to a team’s confidence.

If that work continues – and I can’t imagine the Seattle experience would do anything but motivate the team to work even harder in the coming off season – the Lady Griz will continue to make strides on the national scene.

- Bill Schwanke

I enjoyed Fritz Neighbor’s update on Griz spring ball in this morning’s paper, especially the part about the increased number of former 8-man football players that are dotting UM’s roster.

Last fall the Grizzlies got featured play from running back Chase Reynolds out of Drummond along with a solid back-up effort from center and former Trojans teammate Alex Verlanic.

This spring you can add to the mix Chase’s younger brother, Tel, and Stanford’s Caleb Gee in the offensive backfield as well as another Drummond product, Cody Alt, at wide receiver.

Could it be that the success enjoyed by Chase Reynolds and Verlanic, as well as Tel Reynolds as a UM redshirt, has boosted the confidence of other 8-manners that they can have a realistic shot as well?

Back when I first learned that Tel Reynolds was redshirting at UM the thought occurred to me that we could see both Reynolds boys in the Griz backfield with the ball being snapped by another Drummond athlete in Verlanic.

And I was thinking, “how cool would that be?”

Here’s hoping that all five make it and really contribute to the success of Griz football down the road!

- Bill Schwanke

The dust has cleared from what had to be one of the most competitive Big Sky Conference women’s basketball tournaments ever.

All of the games were hard fought and highly entertaining. And while I still don’t like how physical the game has become for both men and women, any fan had to appreciate how hard the players battled it out in Saturday afternoon’s title game between Montana and Portland State.

Common threads that run through sports include disputing post-tournament selection committee choices, assuming that most referees never made one good call in their entire lives, and questioning which players are chosen for all-conference or all-tournament teams and special awards.

I don’t have a problem with the all-tournament team selected for the Big Sky women’s tourney, but I confess I winced a bit when the most valuable player selection was announced.

With all due respect to Lady Griz senior Mandy Morales, I thought this time the honor should have gone to Montana sophomore forward Sarah Ena.

Nobody is questioning Morales’ ongoing value to her team, and nobody is questioning her selection as league MVP for the entire season. But it seems to me a tournament MVP selection should go to the player that – aside from the efforts of teammates – may have been the real difference maker.

At least in the championship game, that was – in my view – Ena.

Battling through a chest cold Friday night to score 14 points and haul down six rebounds, Ena came back with a vengeance in the title game. Her line included 19 points and 14 rebounds, along with 9 for 10 from the free throw line, most of them at clutch time.

Mandy does what Mandy does, pretty much game in and game out, and she certainly should never be taken for granted. But I think this time one could say that, without Ena’s gargantuan effort, the Lady Griz might not be off to round one of the big dance in Seattle this weekend.

- Bill Schwanke

In the hours leading up to the announcement of wheres and whens for the Montana Lady Griz in the NCAA tournament, keep one thing in mind: ESPNs Bracketology had UM playing its first-round game in Maryland last season. Instead, the Lady Griz played in Albuquerque.

Bracketology is for entertainment. It nails a few predictions but for the most part it’s hard to tell where Montana will play. Word is that the NCAA selection committee is trying harder than ever to keep teams close to home. Why? because the NCAA foots the bill for travel expenses. Don’t be surprised if Montana ends up playing in Seattle. On the other hand, maybe it’ll be Des Moines. The anxiety is part of the fun! My wish is that UM draw someone outside of the SEC this time.

As if it wasn’t enough the Idaho State women’s basketball team has to play Montana in Missoula Friday night in the semifinals of the Big Sky tourney, Bengals standout freshman Sheila Adams may be at less than 100 percent.  Adams exploded out of the chute in Idaho State’s quarterfinal on Thursday, going 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from behind the arc in the first half. But she shot the ball only once in the final 25 minutes of an overtime win against Sac State. Idaho State Journal sports writer Kelvin Ang addresses the issue in a Friday story.

I was standing in the concession line at the Montana Lady Griz game against Portland State on March 7 and overheard one of the most remarkable conversations I’ve heard in a long time, intentionally or otherwise.

These two guys involved obviously were friends. One dominated the conversation, while the other guy pretty much nodded or grunted. Me, I just stood there listening and fought the growing urge to join in and wise this fellow up.

The guy basically carrying the exchange was going on about all of the coaching errors Robin Selvig had made during the first half.

First he was unhappy with Selvig’s substitution patterns, not taking into account that, no matter how hot a player might be shooting the ball, that player might need a rest occasionally and even ask to be taken out.

Kind of in line with that, he opined that the Lady Griz would be much better off leaving Tam Guardipee in the game to clog up the middle and handle the Vikings better on the boards.

It was one of many times, as you can probably imagine, that I was tempted to butt in and say something like, “Haven’t you noticed that Tam, because of her lack of conditioning, can’t stay on the court very long?”

But basically I had a couple of comebacks I would have offered in my younger, less mature days, like, “You know, you’re right. If this guy could actually coach he’d have 1,000 wins by now!” or, “So when Robin decides to retire, I’m assuming you’re going to apply for the job.”

Hey, we all question the things coaches and players do or don’t do during the course of a game or season, but give me a break! We all need to look at the big picture sometime.

- Bill Schwanke

The news from Grizzly football that Chad Germer had returned to his alma mater to coach the offensive line, rumored for several days now, is nothing short of great news.

Germer was an outstanding player and, early on, showed that he would be an outstanding coach.

A Three Forks native who was an All-American lineman for the Griz, Germer showed how good he was during his first coaching stint at UM and, even though Wyoming had its struggles under Joe Glenn, continued to show his offensive line coaching prowess with the Cowboys.

While the large number of sacks given up last season by the Grizzly offensive line can’t be attributed totally to the offensive line, a pretty good share probably can.

Not to put too much pressure on Germer, because the line lost some great ones after the 2008 season, it won’t be a surprise to me if we see some improvement in that area.

Time will tell, but some guys who played under Germer’s tutelage when he was at UM earlier – guys like Matt Thuesen – say he’s the real deal.

Welcome home, Chad! It’s great to have you and your family back in Missoula.

-Bill Schwanke

I decided to wait awhile to mull over Montana’s quarterfinal Big Sky Conference loss to Montana State before writing about it because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overreacting to one aspect of the game or another.

It appears I might have waited too long, now that the Bobcats have turned around and beaten Weber State – for the second time this year in Ogden – but this time in the semifinals of a Big Sky Conference tournament the Wildcats were the odds-on favorites to win.

But I’ll give it a shot anyway.

As I look back on Saturday’s 56-54 MSU win, a couple of things still strike me:

One, Montana State was the aggressor from the beginning, especially on the boards, and the Griz – as they have for other big games this season – appeared to be totally lacking in emotion and intensity. It’s hard to imagine why.

Two, unlike the other two times they met this season, the Griz totally allowed the Bobcats to dictate tempo.

If coach Brad Huse’s strategy was to shorten the game on the offensive end to rest his manpower-depleted team and keep his team in it, it worked. What the Grizzlies needed to do was push the tempo, but instead they, like the Cats, generally walked the ball up the court and often had to force a shot late in the clock.

Whenever a shot went up at either end of the court, however, the Bobcats played like they really wanted any available rebounds while the Grizzlies didn’t. That’s the only way to explain a team getting 40 rebounds, 18 on offense, in a game that low scoring.

No matter how out of gas a team might seem to be at the end of a gruelling season, it seems like anyone with a competitive nature can muster enough adrenaline and pride to put up a good fight.

It’s interesting. The Griz men are always campaigning for bigger crowds and more student support. But in two cases when games really counted – against Weber State in the regular season and Montana State in the post season – the Grizzlies had the crowd and laid an egg.

There will be enough people out there speculating as to why that happens, so I’ll leave that part alone.

The Cats came to Missoula after a miserable run of games but found a way to dig deep, not once, but twice, and now they’re playing for the Big Sky tournament championship.

- Bill Schwanke