Courtside Sitdown: Montana Edition

It’s NCAA tournament time and that means Courtside Sitdown is back as we look to dive deeper into the Badgers 2nd round matchup with the Montana Grizzlies.   We asked 5 questions of our guest and the answers may suprise you a bit!

We were joined by Bob Meseroll of The Missoulian – the hometown paper of the Grizzlies.  Bob is also a graduate of Wisconsin, way back in the day (’81 to be exact), so he has an interesting perspective on this matchup as a Badger and as someone that covers Montana.

Hope that you enjoy this and without further ado, here is our Courtside Sitdown: Montana Editon. 

MTB: The biggest story around these parts outside of the game itself is that former Badger Freddie Owens is an assistant on this coaching staff, but our question is how big of a factor is his knowledge of the Badgers system for Montana?

Bob: If there’s an advantage at all, it might just be psychological, feeling that they have an edge because there is someone on the staff with inside knowledge of the Badgers’ schemes. Ultimately, though, it’s the players who have to execute the system. And Freddie’s presence might have given the staff a little head start on the scouting report. The Wisconsin staff, I’m guessing, probably hadn’t looked at Montana until Sunday afternoon.

MTB: Montana comes in winning 14 games in a row, what can they take from that streak to help them against an overall bigger Wisconsin team?

Bob: I don’t know that whatever size advantage the Badgers might have is really going to faze the Griz because the Badgers don’t really play “big,” if you will. Their bigs are pick-and-pop guys and they’re not known as a team that crashes the offensive boards. As far as what they can take from their 14-game streak (they’ve also won 20 of their last 21), that would be confidence – a world of it. The Griz were down 11 in the both the Big Sky tourney semifinals and championship game and never panicked. They know they’re capable of scoring runs. Whether they’re able to get any kind of run going against a team as defensively sound as Wisconsin remains to be seen.

MTB: Looking back at NCAA tournaments past it’s been teams with really good guard play that do well and pull upsets, well Montana features two good ones in Will Cherry and Kareem Jamar.  How important is it for both of them to be active offensively if they are to win and what are their respective strengths and weaknesses?

Bob: The Griz could probably afford to have either Cherry or Jamar play a sub-par game and be OK, but they couldn’t afford to have both play below their capabilities. Cherry is the emotional leader of the team. He’s one of the top defenders in the nation – he’s ranked in the top 10 in steals – and it will be interesting to see if he’s able to raise any havoc against a Wisconsin team that makes few mistakes. He’s very quick to the rim and can finish when he gets there and he’s improved his 3-point accuracy from 17 percent as a freshman to something around 38 percent this season. Jamar has the strength and size to post up many wings he faces. He’s also a very capable jump shooter, as he showed in the Big Sky title game when he went 5 for 8 from 3-point range.

MTB: One of the things Wisconsin has struggled with is teams with a massive force inside because they simply don’t have the bodies to match up at times.  How important is the matchup between the Badgers Jared Sullinger and the Grizzlies 7 footer, Derek Selvig? Is this the spot that Montana may try to exploit Wisconsin?

Bob: The Griz might try to post up Selvig in the low blocks just to see how the Badgers react, but Selvig is far more dangerous on the perimeter. He might be the best passer on the team and is a 40-percent 3-point shooter. If the Griz do post him up and the Badgers double-team him, they better make sure they rotate well because Selvig will find the open man.

MTB: Not many Wisconsin fans have seen Montana play so give us an idea of the style of play from this team and what player that doesn’t jump out of the stats page could be a key for the Grizzlies? Also, give us your prediction for this matchup.

Bob: The Griz are most comfortable when they’re creating offense with their defense. It’s probably the best transition team I’ve covered in 15 years as the beat writer. They can also play a grind-it-out game. In their penultimate regular-season game they gutted out a 57-47 win over rival Montana State, which took the air out of the ball. One X-factor for the Griz might be undersized post Mathias Ward. He’s the best mid-range shooter on the team. My prediction? A low-scoring game (who says I couldn’t have a career in politics?).

Once again thanks to Bob for doing this as we know it’s a crazy busy time of the year for all of us and it’s greatly appreciated.  Make sure to check out his work for a great Montana perspective on this matchup from the Missoulian.