Boy's AA tourney starts Thursday

[whitetrashgriz]

I went to the tournament to watch some great basketball and I was not disappointed. West is a good team ten deep but they chose this weekend to not shoot well and left the door open for Flathead to take advantage.

Flathead played well the Marquee match up of Howard and Osweiler was good Howard took it right at Flathead inside and out he finished with 21 points Osweiler had 12 points. Both are outstanding players but I think Howard's age and headyness was a factor in the game he really thinks well when teams keyed on him he kicked it out. When his team needed a bucket he took the game over.

Bozeman's shooting whoas started in the semis they struggled from the field and as many have said if you live by the three you die by the three.

The Tournament Champion is always the team that can strings together three straight games not always the team with the best record. GFHS did just that and I give a lot of credit to their coach Bob Howard he was masterful in the way he subbed defense for offense down the stretch and used all his players' strengths. I know we talk a lot about the greatness of Coach Cole but I think Coach Howard did an excellent job in preparing his team for the tournament; knocking off Butte, taking it at Flathead and handing Bozeman its worst loss of the season.

BTW to those who said it was a horrible game think about the fact these kids(15 to 18 year olds) have played their guts out for three straight days to play for the Championship, rarely are you best games on the third day. Also the student sections of both school did not complain. The Civic Center put on a nice tourney.

i was one who said it was a horrible game. and it was almost all bozemans fault! ask any player or person close the team, and they'll say the same. when was the last time you saw a boys team score 3 points in a quarter? they actually scored more points(21) in the fourth, playing junk minutes, then they did the first 3 quarters combined(18)! 12 points at the half? i understand that they played hard for three days, but i have played and watched many games, and never have seen such poor shooting. and really that's all it was. they played solid defense, and rebounded well. stayed out of foul trouble, but did have more turnovers then you'd like to see. sorry we dont see eye to eye, but i am just not used to watching such poor shooting, let alone in the biggest game, with this team!

[bozbobcat]

It was surprising to see a Bozeman High team play like that. They couldn't hit anything and I really think that Great Falls High did their job. The three point percentage was very poor, to say the least. But the Hawks did a good job, and I was rooting for them.

[Ponycat]

My observations from the tourney. I thought it was one of the better officiated tournaments I've been to.
--Osweiller is going to be super, but I over heard someone saying he is looking at transferring to Gonzaga prep. (just a rumor) any thoughts on this El Gato?
--Tatarka was the MVP of the championship game but no way was he the MVP of the tourney. Bobby carried them the first two games, especially against Butte.
--Edwards will be a project where ever he goes. Nice turnaround jumper but that is about all his moves consist of. I could see Krysko turning him into a legit Big Sky player. Butte also has a Sophomore guard that really impresses me. Butte and Great Falls will defiantly be the favorites next year.
--Jamison McBride is the most underrated AA player in the state. He shot poorly in the championship, but played great all-around games otherwise. I'll never understand why Cole had his best offensive player guarding Howard all game. You could tell it wore him out and affected his outside shooting.
--Tinkle's daughter is pretty amazing for a freshman. Missoula/UM better hope she stays with her roots because she will be looked at by bigger schools, only a Freshman...WOW. Bozeman should be heavy favorites to repeat next year.
--The Butte girls had a nice run, but that was some of the most boring basketball I've ever watched.

Lastly, Maybe I'm becoming an old fuddy duddy but the sportsmanship by fans was amazingly poor, from student sections, (which is a little understandable) to parents of star players acting like complete asses. Administrators, parents, and coaches just didn't put up with that siht in the not too distant 80's and 90's. Getting on refs is one thing (probably because that's why I'm horse today) but the chants and taunts to other teams was sad and in poor taste, IMHO.

[4everacatfan]

My observations from the tourney. I thought it was one of the better officiated tournaments I've been to.
--Osweiller is going to be super, but I over heard someone saying he is looking at transferring to Gonzaga prep. (just a rumor) any thoughts on this El Gato?
--Tatarka was the MVP of the championship game but no way was he the MVP of the tourney. Bobby carried them the first two games, especially against Butte.
--Edwards will be a project where ever he goes. Nice turnaround jumper but that is about all his moves consist of. I could see Krysko turning him into a legit Big Sky player. Butte also has a Sophomore guard that really impresses me. Butte and Great Falls will defiantly be the favorites next year.
--Jamison McBride is the most underrated AA player in the state. He shot poorly in the championship, but played great all-around games otherwise. I'll never understand why Cole had his best offensive player guarding Howard all game. You could tell it wore him out and affected his outside shooting.
--Tinkle's daughter is pretty amazing for a freshman. Missoula/UM better hope she stays with her roots because she will be looked at by bigger schools, only a Freshman...WOW. Bozeman should be heavy favorites to repeat next year.
--The Butte girls had a nice run, but that was some of the most boring basketball I've ever watched.

Lastly, Maybe I'm becoming an old fuddy duddy but the sportsmanship by fans was amazingly poor, from student sections, (which is a little understandable) to parents of star players acting like complete asses. Administrators, parents, and coaches just didn't put up with that siht in the not too distant 80's and 90's. Getting on refs is one thing (probably because that's why I'm horse today) but the chants and taunts to other teams was sad and in poor taste, IMHO.

To echo a few of your sentaments the Osweiler rumor I heard was dad spouting off that their is no competition in the state of Montana for his kid. Well I would disagree with that I thought the Bison handled him well and Capital and Butte he only got six points.

The MVP issue I checked it out because I thought it was odd. This was one reporter's decision it was not voted on by the media it was the same knuckle head from the Montana Standard that said Bison player Kody Swartz undercut (aka. cheap shotted) Gilder Thursday night. Also as Thatcher pointed out to all that would listen it was NOT intentional and Swartz along with Howard went to the hospital with a card from the team Friday morning to see Tyler and his mom (very classy).

I do not know if you could pick one MVP but to say 15 points and 9 rebounds is not a good game is weird. I know it was not his best but Howard is an exceptional player and I know many of you think he is a lock for here but Tinkle was at everyone of his games this weekend.

Granted it was convient because his daughter was playing but he was there. I hope whoever comes in realizes this particular Montana kid should be a priority.

The sportsmanship thing - kids are kids and I agree it got out of hands at times example I went to Butte High to stand for two hours in a packed gym to hear CMR kids call Butte kids "inbread" and Butte kids turn around and chant "Brokeback Mountain" at the Rustlers. Absolutely aweful and
it took at least 10 minutes before an adminsistrator from CMR stepped in and told them to stop. Where are the principals at these games out drinking coffee?

But the worst sports were the parents Osweiler's dad ran down the court after the West game and started pumping his fist and pointing to his kid at the West student section way out of line. I also heard and it was confirmed by my Butte cop buddies that semi final night they had to drag off a couple West parents that sat in the Flathead parent section and tried to pick a fight with them. Championship night was not as bad but there was definetly one loud mouth guy in the Great Falls section that would not stop screanming at the refs even when the game was in the bag, I had to laugh because I was sitting behind in the top part and saw Kathleen Howard(Bobby's mom) who by the way I was very suprised is really quiet during the game lean over some people at the end of the game and tell the guy to shut up. I wanted to tell her thanks. So if someone here knows her tell her I said thanks because the guy was obnoxious.

All in all I thought it was a great tournament but the seating was difficult in between games people were suppose to let others who's teams were playing in and that did not happen. IMO no game should ever start at the State Tournament after 10:00 pm, that was ridiculous.

I also thought Jamison McBride is a great player too.

My favorite coach was Bob Howard he did a great job with those players and especially it has to be difficult coaching your own kid but Howie(as he was known to us in the P.E. center in the late 70's) was a class act, I haven't seen him in a few years but he has cleaned up nicely. The MET was the Best place to watch the Lady Bulldogs play from

Good post Pony Cat

[Ponycat]

But the worst sports were the parents Osweiler's dad ran down the court after the West game and started pumping his fist and pointing to his kid at the West student section way out of line. I also heard and it was confirmed by my Butte cop buddies that semi final night they had to drag off a couple West parents that sat in the Flathead parent section and tried to pick a fight with them. Championship night was not as bad but there was definetly one loud mouth guy in the Great Falls section that would not stop screanming at the refs even when the game was in the bag, I had to laugh because I was sitting behind in the top part and saw Kathleen Howard(Bobby's mom) who by the way I was very suprised is really quiet during the game lean over some people at the end of the game and tell the guy to shut up. I wanted to tell her thanks. So if someone here knows her tell her I said thanks because the guy was obnoxious.

Those were the two incidents I was talking about. The guy in the G.F. crowd was a father of one of the players (I won't say the name so as not to embarass the kid). I didn't see it but heard about it, and know a lot of people appreciated and thanked Kathleen Howard for saying something to him.