Announcement

**tummydoc** · 11-12-2021, 10:56 PM

Originally posted by ZagDad84 View Post

If you are interested in what the Montana State University Athletic Site says about Sundays game, you can read it here:

ZagDad

I think that's Montana ZD, we just beat Montana State.

**ZagDad84** · 11-12-2021, 11:28 PM

Originally posted by tummydoc View Post

I think that's Montana ZD, we just beat Montana State.

Hmmmmm.

Am I just a little slow due to my advanced age???

Did I intentionally make the mistake to see if anybody was reading???

Were once again, my fingers way out in front of my brain??

Nope. I am going to go with intentionally making the mistake to see if anybody is reading. Yup, that's the one. It gets lonely rattling around in here all by myself.

Thanks Tummydoc,

ZagDad

**Section 116** · 11-13-2021, 02:09 PM

The other fingers in front of the brain: See game notes above, game is scheduled for Nov 4th.

**ZagDad84** · 11-13-2021, 02:40 PM

Originally posted by Section 116 View Post

The other fingers in front of the brain: See game notes above, game is scheduled for Nov 4th.

Now that's not my fault.

I am perfectly capable of putting my foot in my mouth all by myself, but I refuse to take credit for other people's screw-ups.

Did we win??

ZagDad

**Section 116** · 11-14-2021, 11:35 AM

I knew it wasn't your fault ZagDad, this was a bailout. I frequently put my foot in my mouth but I'm so old I don't care anymore!

**upan8th** · 11-14-2021, 03:41 PM

Willing to give LF time to work out the problem, but today's allotment of playing time was questionable at best. The two best players on the team, who combined for 40 plus % of the scoring, the Troung twins, for reasons unknown, rarely saw the floor at the same time. Abby reminds me more each game of Louise F, in her lack of moves and unimaginative play. She should be limited to slot minutes relieving Melody. She's not equipped for playing either guard position. Can she even dribble left handed? Either Yvonne or Ana Maria need to play 30+ minutes a game (and it's not AV). Having Melody & AV on the floor together, since neither can pass and their shooting range is limited to two feet from the basket, is counter-productive.

A three guard lineup of CW, the Troungs, in combination with Yvonne & Melody, supplies mobility, fast break speed, shooting ability, and (maybe) acceptable rebounding. Defense & rebounding might be a problem, but we'll never know until the group is given a chance to play together. LF tried every other combination today and very few of them worked.

Gotta give the "Lady Grizz," credit for playing hard today in a physical game. The problem was they seemed pleased just to be playing the Zags close and getting a participation medal. A couple of players, at least, need to be be pissed at coming so close, playing in front of the home crowd, having the W within reach, and failing to grab it. Maybe it's just me, or is it women's Bball?

**ZagDad84** · 11-14-2021, 04:06 PM

Originally posted by upan8th View Post

Willing to give LF time to work out the problem, but today's allotment of playing time was questionable at best. The two best players on the team, who combined for 40 plus % of the scoring, the Troung twins, for reasons unknown, rarely saw the floor at the same time. Abby reminds me more each game of Louise F, in her lack of moves and unimaginative play. She should be limited to slot minutes relieving Melody. She's not equipped for playing either guard position. Can she even dribble left handed? Either Yvonne or Ana Maria need to play 30+ minutes a game (and it's not AV). Having Melody & AV on the floor together, since neither can pass and their shooting range is limited to two feet from the basket, is counter-productive.

A three guard lineup of CW, the Troungs, in combination with Yvonne & Melody, supplies mobility, fast break speed, shooting ability, and (maybe) acceptable rebounding. Defense & rebounding might be a problem, but we'll never know until the group is given a chance to play together. LF tried every other combination today and very few of them worked.

Gotta give the "Lady Grizz," credit for playing hard today in a physical game. The problem was they seemed pleased just to be playing the Zags close and getting a participation medal. A couple of players, at least, need to be be pissed at coming so close, playing in front of the home crowd, having the W within reach, and failing to grab it. Maybe it's just me, or is it women's Bball?

I agree with you UP on the rotations. Even in the last 2 minutes, why were AV and MK in the game and Bree on the bench when Montana had to foul. You think your best foul shooter should be on the court. Obviously, I don't know what I am talking about.

Montana always plays the Lady Zags tough. I think it is the chip on their shoulder about the Lady Zags should have offered them. They deserve all the credit in the world for pushing the Zags once again.

Today was about poor defense by the Lady Zags. Three Grizzlies scored 52 of Montana's 60 points and shot 18 of 31 (that's 58.1%). Time after time, Gfeller (Colfax), Fatkkin (Snohomish) or Stiles (Montana) made lay-up after lay-up. Help defense was in short supply and nobody wanted to stop the dribbler. If this is the type of defense the front court is going to play this year, it scares the he** out of me when we play Stanford, WSU or BYU or any team with some really good guards.

It should not have been to difficult to determine who to guard and who to double team especially since Montana made one (Yep just 1) 3-point shot all day. You could have had Zags sag all day into the key to keep the Griz from making lay-ups, but it did not happen.

Players (outside of the Truongs) did not play well, and coaches definitely did not coach well today. Cierra had a better offensive day, but she was beat often on defense. AV was not great but she did have 6 points but more importantly 10 big rebounds. YE missed a couple of bunnies but ended up with 8 points and 9 rebounds. MK had only 5 points (3 on free throws) and only 2 rebounds. A Abbey once again was essentially a no-show with 2 points (on 1-5 shooting), 1 rebound, 2 assists and 1 steal in 31 minutes. We need a lot more production from our senior leadership as this year progresses. As Skip likes to say, it was a win (a "W") in an away game. Lots of things to learn from this game (both players and staff).

Travel safe and start to prepare for Idaho State on Thursday.

ZagDad

**Zaglaw** · 11-14-2021, 07:03 PM

Wow! Rough crowd here. For what it's worth, I thought we started out terrible. The ball movement was poor and we seemed to be standing around. I did feel that we got over that for the most part fairly quickly. As far as the Truongs not playing together, recall that Kayleigh had 3 fouls in the first half which limited her somewhat. I actually like a lot of the substitutions today. We needed to get some different energy off the bench. As with the last game, I though Yvonne's play was strong. Bree looked better than the MSU game. I am confident she will continue to improve. I also though Mckayla looked a bit more comfortable today. I'm not as critical of the coaching as the rest of you, but I do respect your opinions.

Stanford is going to be a real test of this team. And very likely a good learning experience.

**SkipZag** · 11-14-2021, 09:03 PM

Third game of the season… and yes an ugly win in some respects. But if you want to look on the half full side… first road game against a team that wanted to win and played like it.That made for some good learning.

Defense isn’t there yet and I’m sure that will be a priority this week. And it will be a short week with another game on Thursday.

This week is back to the Kennel and hopefully playing in front of a lot of fans.

Plan on a number of games that don’t look good…. We are in the learning and growing phase with a lot of players gaining experience.

Go Zags!!

**upan8th** · 11-14-2021, 10:10 PM

Coach Fortier historically is not one who believes in "a lot of players gaining experience." How? By practicing, but not playing in games? She's always been more of the "been there, done that" school of coaching. That's okay. In the past, it's worked well for her. A majority of coaches, if a poll were taken, would subscribe to the same philosophy. Experience is gold.

But, then, why is she not starting both the Troungs (each w/two years experience), along side Melody(three years in the program), and Cierra (four years of college play)? Why is Yvonne coming off the bench (after last year's stellar finish)?
Harsh, & I'm sorry, but AV, & AO (despite their experience), playing a majority of the time, cannot be the face of this team. If they are, they're doomed. It's equivalent to starting Arsluaskas & Graves on the men's side because they've "got a ton of experience". The best players gotta play, some sage once said.

I'm afraid, with this coaching staff, it's going to take a loss to a team GU is expected to crush to effect a mindset change. And even that might not be enough.

**ZagDad84** · 11-14-2021, 11:47 PM

Originally posted by upan8th View Post

Coach Fortier historically is not one who believes in "a lot of players gaining experience." How? By practicing, but not playing in games? She's always been more of the "been there, done that" school of coaching. That's okay. In the past, it's worked well for her. A majority of coaches, if a poll were taken, would subscribe to the same philosophy. Experience is gold.

But, then, why is she not starting both the Troungs (each w/two years experience), along side Melody(three years in the program), and Cierra (four years of college play)? Why is Yvonne coming off the bench (after last year's stellar finish)?
Harsh, & I'm sorry, but AV, & AO (despite their experience), playing a majority of the time, cannot be the face of this team. If they are, they're doomed. It's equivalent to starting Arsluaskas & Graves on the men's side because they've "got a ton of experience". The best players gotta play, some sage once said.

I'm afraid, with this coaching staff, it's going to take a loss to a team GU is expected to crush to effect a mindset change. And even that might not be enough.

Basketball is a game of matchups. Today, 3 players took it to the Lady Zags and CLF refused to change her scheme to adjust to the players with the hot hand. Change the defensive scheme, change the players or who the players are matching up against, play zone. Lay-up after lay-up was made by the UM Grizzlies. There is a reason Gfeller, Fatkkin, and Stiles shot 58% for the game and the entire Montana team made only 1 3-point shot (they did not need to take any, we gave them the lane). Should have been easy enough to keep those 3 players, or at least 2 of them, from beating you. Letting the same 3 players beat you over and over again for four quarters is simply not acceptable. I don't see how anybody learned anything except 3 of the best players on the floor had an "M" on their jersey.

At the end of the game when Montana had to foul, why were two of the worst free throw shooters on the team (historically) on the floor when one of the best free throw shooters was sitting on the bench. What was CLF trying to prove?

CLF has the record to justify the benefit of the doubt, but today she and the team did little to instill much confidence. Have a long way to go before Thursday and certainly before Saturday. Let's hope CLF and the team make the best use of their time.

ZagDad

**SkipZag** · 11-15-2021, 07:38 AM

I guess the question is… what were the coaches wanting to get out of this game? What are the coaches wanting to accomplish out of the OOC? I know they are playing one game at a time but what are their seasonal goals?
I know some are questioning who’s starting… and minutes played. I look at the stats every game before commenting… sometimes they tell a different story.
Did the refs have an impact in this game? We got called 4 or 5 times for start up traveling by 3 different players questioning the call. We were called 3 times for moving screens again being questioned. Do you figure that into the game?
Are the coaches in mid season game form? ZD brought up 2 good points at the end. Both could be game changers.

These are all early season questions…. Hopefully in a few weeks we have a few questions answered.

Now for Idaho State….

Go Zags!!

**ZagDad84** · 11-15-2021, 08:25 PM

Here are some post game summaries of the Lady Zag vs Montana Game.

From GoZags:

WBB Takes Down Montana on the Road, 67-60
The Zags scored 31 points from the bench

Link: https://gozags.com/news/2021/11/14/w...oad-67-60.aspx

From the Slipper Still Fits"

Zags push through rough shooting afternoon in win over Montana
Kaylynne Truong came up with 15 big points off the bench.

Link: https://www.slipperstillfits.com/202...n-over-montana

From the University of Montana Athletic Department:

Bulldogs hold on, win 67-60

Link: https://gogriz.com/news/2021/11/14/w...win-67-60.aspx

From the Spokesman-Review:

Gonzaga women continue string of games against Big Sky opponents at Montana

Link: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...s-against-big/

ZagDad

**Spike#1** · 11-16-2021, 08:05 AM

Originally posted by upan8th View Post

Coach Fortier historically is not one who believes in "a lot of players gaining experience." How? By practicing, but not playing in games? She's always been more of the "been there, done that" school of coaching. That's okay. In the past, it's worked well for her. A majority of coaches, if a poll were taken, would subscribe to the same philosophy. Experience is gold.

But, then, why is she not starting both the Troungs (each w/two years experience), along side Melody(three years in the program), and Cierra (four years of college play)? Why is Yvonne coming off the bench (after last year's stellar finish)?
Harsh, & I'm sorry, but AV, & AO (despite their experience), playing a majority of the time, cannot be the face of this team. If they are, they're doomed. It's equivalent to starting Arsluaskas & Graves on the men's side because they've "got a ton of experience". The best players gotta play, some sage once said.

I'm afraid, with this coaching staff, it's going to take a loss to a team GU is expected to crush to effect a mindset change. And even that might not be enough.

I agree, Ejim is completely undervalued, she should be getting much more floor time, regardless of who the other 4 are. She could be and SHOULD BE the face of the program for the next 3 years.

Announcement

Lady Zags head to Missoula - Bring on the Lady Griz

Lady Zags head to Missoula - Bring on the Lady Griz

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment