San Francisco vs. Montana Preview
By Mark Kramer
By Mary Harvill, exclusive to West Coast Convo
USF Dons (3-2) vs. Montana Griz (2-2)
Date and Time: Sunday, November 30, 2014 at 3:00 PST
Location: University of San Francisco Campus – War Memorial Gymnasium
Video: http://thew.tv/live
Audio: http://new.livestream.com/thewtv/USFmbbaudioonly
Meet the Teams
San Francisco
Back at home on the “left coast” after the Gulf Coast Showcase last week in Estero, FL, the Dons will be prepared to deliver a definitive victory over the Griz of Montana. Last year the Dons travelled to Montana for the game winning by 1 point over Montana (75-74) without their starting senior point guard Cody Doolin who quit the team after an altercation at practice with another teammate after arriving in Montana in the days leading up to the game. USF remarkably moved forward from that sad event in spectacular fashion (though nobody has revealed why the altercation took place to begin with. USF closed out the year in WCC conference play tied for second place with BYU with a 13-5 record, the team received an invite to the NIT post-season tournament though they lost in the first round game against LSU and Coach Rex Walters earned WCC Coach of the year honors. Cody returned to USF to complete his degree (how refreshing for a change, an athlete who put his academics first to graduate) and has a new home at UNLV to play out his final year of college eligibility. Everyone landed on their feet after last year’s fracas.
Things are much more settled for the Dons this year and the Dons rose to the challenge presented at the Gulf Coast Showcase by the likes of Florida Gulf Coast University and Evansville though the team lost both games. They played well in their opening game of the tournament against Hawaii and there isn’t anything to suggest that the Dons won’t play well in this year’s contest against Montana. Look for Kruize Pinkins, Mark Tollefson and Tim Derken to efficiently rack up points with Derrell Robertson and Matt Glover continuing to make positive contributions on the floor. USF will have had enough time to analyze their two losses in the season thus far and make adjustments to keep a comfortable distance from Montana.
Montana
The Griz were the 2nd place finishers in the Big Sky conference in 2013-2014. Brand new Head Coach, Travis DeCuire has taken charge of a team that is comprised of only one returning starter from last year, senior guard Jordan Gregory and has gotten major contributions from other members of the team primarily Martin Breuning a redshirt junior forward formerly from Washington, guard off the bench Brandon Gfellar from Colfax, Washington who added 15 points in Montana’s game against Carroll College, and Oakland native Mario Dunn at point guard. Look for freshman forward Fabijan Krslovic and Jermaine Edmonds, Jr. to add points as well. The Griz aren’t shy about taking shots averaging 44% from the floor and 70% in free throws so far this season. Interesting coaching side note, former WSU head coach, Ken Bone is one of DeCuire’s assistant coach.