Friz Hoops

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Krysto is doing a great job of getting out and being visible to the community.

Out-coached: Griz coaches get involved in tournament
By BOB MESEROLL, Missoulian sports editor




Play hard, play smart, play together.

To Larry Krystkowiak's coaching credo were added another two words Saturday: Have fun.

The Montana men's basketball coach and assistants Wayne Tinkle, Brad Huse and Andy Hill pooled their talent to defeat a group of KPAX-TV and Fisher Radio broadcasters in a game of 3-on-3 basketball at the Southgate Classic on a sunny afternoon in the Missoula mall's parking lot.



The important part, though, was simply that the Grizzly coaches were there.

"It really is a given that you need to get involved in various things," said Krystkowiak, who took the Griz to the NCAA tournament in his first year as head coach at his alma mater. "Our goal is to get the program and the community back to feeling good about Grizzly basketball. We just want to be out and among the people. I don't want to sound like a politician, but you want to be out and have fun with the kids."

Judging by the smiles of a couple hundred people ringing the court, they accomplished that goal.

An unofficial tally had the UM coaches winning 25-8 with Tinkle leading the way with nine hoops. Huse was next with eight, Hill had five and had Krystkowiak one bucket ... and a couple of air balls.

"The wind really picked up strong on both of those," Krystkowiak said, tongue planted firmly in cheek. "It moved my ball significantly past the hole."

Krystkowiak, though, made several nice passes to set up teammates for layups.

"Moving without the ball, that's the key, especially in old-man basketball," Krystkowiak said.

The Southgate Classic has grown from 67 teams in 1995, its first year, to a record 230 this year. The proceeds benefit the YMCA's Partners With Youth Fund.

"It's a scholarship program for underprivileged kids and families," said Roger Miller, senior program director for the YMCA, and chief organizer of the 3-on-3 tournament since its inception. "It funds kids to take part in YMCA programs, whether it be swimming lessons or day camps ... it doesn't matter. We don't turn anyone away."

Miller, friends with Huse since both were in grade school, was grateful for the participation of the Grizzly coaches.

"These guys are real civic minded," Miller said. "I hope next fall when it's time for these guys to start their coaching again that the community will really get behind them."

The coaches, of course, would like to see that, too.

"We want people to understand that we're not in a mode where we're expecting things," Krystkowiak said. "We want people to support us and we want to give back any way we can. We feel like we're a part of the community and hopefully people will remember that and when they don't have anything to do on one night when we have a ballgame, they'll come out and help us out."

The Griz coaches have a brief respite from their jobs in early June, but camps commence later this month and they'll hit the recruiting trail in July.

"Recruiting on paper's all done, but we're recruiting juniors now," Krystkowiak said. "We'll be gone the entire month of July all over the country - Kentucky, Indiana, Vegas, Chicago, Florida - at AAU tournaments all over. Three of us will be on the road at all times. The recruiting never ends.

"June, for a few weeks, is about as slow as it gets. You can kind of catch your breath, then we'll have a couple of weeks in August before school starts where it's the same. It's kind of a fun time to get reacquainted with our families, do a little gardening."

And maybe shoot a few hoops on a sunny afternoon.