Only the very best refs in the game know how to turn the flow of a game with the kind of calls that reverse team possession... usually by an offensive turnover or an offensive foul, without making the calls look like a blatant ‘homer’ job.
It is, after all the most logical way to describe at least half of Montana’s 19 turnovers Sunday. Dare we mention Washington's 26 free throw attempts compared to Montana's eight?
Combine those calls with the equally mysterious no-call of several blatant traveling offenses made by the home team, and you can certainly tilt the flow of a game. I don’t know whether these were Pac 10 referees (I hope not) or local referees looking to work their way into the Pac 10 officials’ rotation. But that six minute stretch would be good enough for a referee’s clinic.
But, given the circumstances, and the arena, I just didn’t expect to see things unfold as they did.
Because, in NCAA Division I basketball, when a game is widely broadcast on television (this time Fox SportsNW), who would expect it to happen?
This game took place under the lights and in the arena of the Pac 10’s hottest team, where the pre-game analysis focused on how much the 90-point-per-game-scoring Huskies would win by. Not whether they’d have to battle for every possession against an upstart Big Sky Conference team.
There’s no doubt that the word will probably get out about what happened Sunday. By then, we’ll all have moved on, with the Huskies still undefeated and nationally ranked.
Ironically, the people who could have explained what happened, didn’t. That's also a surprise.
Color analysts of the Fox Sports telecast were tacitly non-committal. You could tell by their verbal pauses and fumbles that they knew what was happening. In fact, the game’s color announcer at one point described Griz frosh Mathias Ward’s mysteriously questionable offensive foul as exactly that, before he re-worded his description to make it look like Ward’s foul was a freshman mistake.
Too bad. But... still, in retrospect, the announcer couldn’t have changed what was happening on the floor. It’s just that he came so close to explaining the scenario.
By the time the Huskies had ‘miraculously’ turned the flow of the game from a 12-point deficit to Montana to a seven-point lead with just under four minutes to play, the damage was done.
Ironically, even then what happened was almost not enough to help the Huskies. Down by seven, with 5:05 remaining, the Griz battled back, took a one-point lead, and later tied it before eventually falling behind again over the final 90 seconds.
That means, I guess, that it’s also correct to say the Griz, with a win still within grasp, couldn’t quite make the plays when they needed them.
This time the Griz committed three costly, unforced turnovers.
And they missed several open shots. Just barely. Final-minute misses by Anthony Johnson, Ryan Staudacher and Brian Qvale – three of them which I swear went entirely into the hoop before caroming out – could still have given the Griz the win.
A very hoarse Montana coach Wayne Tinkle in his post-game interview, didn’t want to describe the loss as something to learn from. How does a team learn from something like that? Well, good teams can, and do.
Regardless of what a coach or player will say in denying that lessons can be learned from losses like this, they can. That’s because good teams have to be ready to play against more than just the five opposing players. They have to be prepared to do what they can to counteract mystery calls in the same way they do other factors that make playing on another team’s home court more difficult than a game on a neutral court.
And so, this was a ‘good kind of’ loss for the Griz, because they played well enough to win. Lessons about how to prevent it from happening again can be learned.
Since there is solid proof on the game video of Montana’s steady improvement on defense, and offense. Several positive developments Sunday indicate the potential to transform Montana into a solid favorite as Big Sky play begins Friday against Northern Arizona.
For example:
• Brian Qvale took another giant step toward being becoming a dominant force in the paint on offense and defense, with 13 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots. Wow.
• Freshman Will Cherry turned into a big-time player with the ability to control games. The super frosh scored 15 points and proved himself on the court, despite turning the ball over six times. As he develops his game, things will start opening up for senior Anthony Johnson, who has been doubled and hounded in games of late. The maturity of Will Cherry instantly makes Montana a much better team.
• And Montana’s bench play was truly top level, with Derek Selvig, Michael Taylor, Ward, Vanny Bassy and Shawn Stockton providing quality play in limited minutes. When junior Raason Young relaxes, Montana will truly be multi-dimensional.
So, yeah, teams can learn from games like this. Here’s hoping that Montana will.
Nonetheless, they can’t think too much about this loss. Montana jumps into league play on Friday against Northern Arizona and on Saturday against the legitimate Northern Colorado Bears.
From here on, the games just keep getting more important. From here on, Montana players will have to figure out how to rise above factors -- whatever or whoever -- that unexpectedly change the flow of the game.
The best teams do. I have a feeling Montana will.
