Montana Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Grizzlies
By TJ Miller
Key Non-Conference Games
Georgia State
Montana will host a Georgia St. team that played in the NCAA tourney last season as the Sun Belt tournament champions. The Panthers return most of its starters including D’Marcus Simonds who averaged a scorching 21.2 ppg. Without a doubt, this game will feature two of the top guards in the country in Simonds and Rorie. A win for either team would be an early step in the right direction. And you have to love DeCuire’s decision to test his experienced team early.
Islands of the Bahamas Showcase
The field isn’t exactly stacked with giants but Montana will face some decent opponents in this November tournament. If they take care of business in a quarterfinal matchup with Incarnate Word, Montana will get Miami (OH) or North Dakota State next. They will get a third game against either Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic, Towson, or Pepperdine. It’s a realistic goal for Montana to come out of this tournament undefeated on the season.
Creighton
The Grizzlies will travel to play at Creighton November 28th. This will be the Grizzlies first chance of the season to score a huge win. While the Bluejays lose their top two scorers Marcus Foster and Khyri Thomas they still figure to be contending for an NCAA tourney bid. Montana shouldn’t be intimidated as Coach DeCuire has scheduled several tough major conference opponents in his few years as HC. Montana really needs a win here if it has any chance at getting an at-large bid this season.
Arizona
A few weeks later Montana travels to Tucson to play the Wildcats. This feels like another winnable game for Montana. Sean Miller will have a talented but incredibly young roster after losing essentially all of his top scorers from last season. Still, you have to go back all the way to 2011-12 to find the last time Arizona lost a non-conference home game. San Diego State knocked off what turned out to be an NIT Wildcats team that year. Montana will try to play their part in doing likewise.
South Dakota State
Montana will end their non-conference slate facing off against a fellow solid mid-major team on December 22nd. You can’t mention SDST without bringing up Mike Daum. I can’t wait to see how DeCuire wants to approach stopping Daum. It’s possible Montana rotates defenders on him or even brings double teams. Montana only has 2 home games in the month of December and winning at South Dakota State will be no easy task. The good news is DeCuire’s decision to play quality mid-major and major competition away from home should prepare his team well even if it’s not enough to garner an at-large bid.