I felt like I had a better handle on the University of Montana Grizzlies basketball team earlier in the season than I do now.

Granted, things change – read that, “become more difficult and unpredictable” – once conference play starts, but it’s mind boggling that the same team that won at Oregon and cleaned up on Portland State in Missoula could struggle so mightily at Montana State just two weeks later.

While it’s great to prove you can dig yourself out of a huge hole and have a chance to win at the end, isn’t it much easier to start a game with the intensity you need rather than showing a flair for the dramatic by trying to make it all up at the end? I would think so.

Hey, college basketball teams can be inconsistent, but you’d like to see that inconsistency happen less and less as the season goes on.

The Grizzlies have the second half of a four-game road stretch coming up this weekend with games at red-hot Northern C0lorado and apparently resurgent Northern Arizona, and could find themselves really behind the eight ball in terms of making the Big Sky Conference tournament and/or having a decent seeding for the event.

Better starts in games will be essential. With four of their last six league games coming at home, time also is of the essence.

- Bill Schwanke