Had a chance to catch up with Griz Men's Basketball Coach Wayne Tinkle this afternoon. Click on the "Watch Video" link to hear his thoughts on last nights 69-58 loss to Weber State, tomorrow afternoon's game against Idaho State (4:30 PM at Dahlberg Arena), and the Big Sky tournament being held in Ogden, Utah.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE WEBER GAME:

Here's what we know after last night. Weber has clinched at least a share of the regular season conference title and will host the conference tourney. The Griz are still in second place and can finish no worse than third, assuring themselves of a home game in the first round of the tourney if they dont end up holding on to the #2 seed and getting a bye.

We also know that the Wildcats are good. Very good. Great mix of athletes, shooters, and big guys and they also have a lot of versatility defensively. Getting a chance to see them in person, I was very impressed. Daavin Davis and Damian Lillard (just a freshman) are two special players, but the Wildcats can also showed they can hit you with several of their other weapopns.

If they end up representing the Big Sky Conference in the NCAA Tournament, I don't expect them to be a #16 seed like Portland State was a year ago. I think they'll be a #14 seed and if they get the right matchup (Duke anybody???), their 3 point shooting and athleticism will help put a serious scare into a top seed.

Sure, the Griz certainly weren't at their best last night. There were a couple times where they were able to get within 5 or 6 points in the second half, but couldn't get that one basket to fall and put them over the hump. Overall, I think last night was more about what Weber did than what the Griz didn't do. They forced the Griz to become a jump shooting team in the second half, and if you live and die by the jump shot, more often than not you are going to die.

Weber is simply a better team right now - and probably a better team this season. The good thing is, the Griz just need to be better for one game. It's going to be a very tough task for the Griz to beat them in Ogden a few weeks from now, if they even get that chance. But I fully expect it to be Montana vs. Weber for the right to go to the NCAA Tournament. So does Anthony Johnson, who said after last night's game, "We played two of our ugliest games against them. We'll see them again later."

~Varun
varun@maxmontana.com