Odds and Ends – 8/10/09

The theme of last week was commitments, with what a seemed like a large number of basketball prospects pulled the trigger and committed to programs last week. I should be updating the recruit list shortly because a handful of Bobcat and Griz prospects, have committed else where. As you may have noticed I posted a couple Lady Griz commits last week. I have also heard some rumblings of a few other commits and I am trying to verify. I actually was told last week of a potential 4th Bobcat men’s commit but I am now pretty sure that info was bogus. On with odds and ends.

• Matt Miller of Helena capital continues to create buzz on the internet recruiting sites, as new schools hope to become involved. According to an article posted early last week on HawgSports.com (the U of Arkansas site on Rivals.com) Miller has added Arkansas to his short list, thanks in large part to the respect Miller has for former Carroll College and Helena capital star and now Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino. Here is a quote from Miller.

“If Coach Petrino calls I will certainly listen,” Miller said. “First off, Arkansas is in the SEC and that speaks for itself. I followed Coach Petrino at Louisville and I know what he did there. He’s a coach I would like to play for at Arkansas.”

In an article appearing yesterday on BroncoCountry.com (a Boise State site on the Scout.com network). Miller’s short list continues to be Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State, Stanford, and Arizona State. He also states he is in no real rush to make his decision

Odds and Ends – 8/3/09

Before I get into this, I just want to mention that, I am hearing a lot of rumors about possible commits across the board in all four programs. It should be an interesting August for fans of the Montana D-1 basketball programs.

• John Green a 6-5 small forward from Oakland California seems to be leaning heavily towards the Griz right now. Portland State and Sac State seem to be a distant 2nd and 3rd right now. Green had a very good summer playing for bat Area Hoosiers and has improved his stock quite a bit in July. One source told me that he may be waiting to see if any “larger programs” show interest, but he is definitely someone to keep an eye on.

• I have heard from multiple sources that Joslyn Tinkle has been wow-ing the Stanford faithful with her play this summer with her Stanford team mates. Now everyone at Stanford had high expectation of a recruit who was ranked in the top ten in the country last year, but she seems to exceeding expectation. Despite Tinkle’s lofty ranking she is joining a team that has outstanding depth at the power forward and center position next year. It was expected that she could have a hard time carving major minutes next year but people are speaking a different tune now, they expect her to be a major contributor next year.

Odds and Ends – 7/25/09

I could not wait until Monday, this was getting too long.

• This week end there is a huge basketball AAU tournament in Las Vegas. Actually it is not a single tourney but a group at least three (each sponsored by a shoe company) all scheduled for the same days to Give coaches the Max bang for their travel buck. Additionally there are at least 3 different age groups and they cover both boy’s and girls. Just about every Gym in Las Vegas is being used this week end and there are thousands of basketball players in Vegas. From what I have heard, both MSU and UM have two coaches in Las Vegas, and I believe Binford’s Staff had at least one coach also in Vegas. I have to imagine Selvig had someone down there but I can not confirm.

July Evaluation Period: Grizzly Men

This is the second in a series of four posts, looking at what positions the Montana State men’s, Montana State women’s, the Montana men’s as well as the Lady Griz basketball programs may be looking to evaluate and ultimately fill roster spots next year. This post will cover the Montana men’s program.

The Grizzly program will graduate league MVP candidate PG/SG Anthony Johnson, as well as returning starters SF Jack McGillis and SG Ryan Staudacher, and bench player SF Vassy Banny. This will open up four scholarships for the coaches to work with. It appears that Tinkle is looking primarily at high school recruits but he does seem to at some JC’s on his radar, mostly at the wing position.

Odds and Ends – 7/06/09

Time for some miscellaneous odds and ends from last week.

• Matt Miller was featured in articles in both the Rivals Arizona State site an d the Scout Boise State site. Both sites claim Miller has narrowed his college list to Arizona State, Boise State, Stanford, Oregon and Oregon State and has taken unofficial visits to all five out of eleven offers. Between the two articles the positions of wide receiver, tight end, linebacker and safety were all mentioned as possible college positions. They also indicate he is not in a hurry to make his choice.

Griz recruit: John Green

I have heard that Wayne Tinkle’s Grizzly staff is recruiting John Green of Castlemont high school in Oakland high school. Green is a 6-5 to 6-6 combo forward who averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals last season for Castlemont who finished 17-9 for the season.

Green was named 1st team Oakland Athletic League player – future Montana player Will Cherry was the MVP. He plays on the Bay Area Hoosiers AAU team, which the Montana coaching staff has great connections with. I believe this is the same club will Cherry played for last year as well as current Griz recruit Thomas Frye