10 minutes with Travis

As the Montana men's basketball team opens its preseason practices, eighth-year head coach Travis DeCuire sat down with GoGriz.com to talk about the upcoming season, his roster and more.

GoGriz.com: What excites you the most as you enter your eighth season at your alma mater?
Travis DeCuire: "The thing I'm most excited about is that we return a good nucleus of a group that finished strong last year. We were hitting our stride as we got to the conference tournament, and really built some confidence in Boise. Now we bring back pretty much everyone from that group, and hopefully there's some carry over and enough hunger to want more."

GG: Talk more about the momentum your team displayed late in the year. How have you seen that continue throughout the summer and into the fall?
TD: "I thought our non-conference (in 2020-21) was decent. We were competitive against some high-level teams, and then we lost our way a little bit. We weren't earning the level of respect we wanted early in conference, and in some ways, we were fighting for our lives. When we got it back, I thought it led to great momentum.

Then, once the season ended, we hit the reset button and our guys realized they weren't good enough last year, and they weren't happy with the success we had. They wanted to go get more. I feel like the guys worked extremely hard in the spring and summer to improve in the areas that were necessary to get better."

GG: With nine returning players, in addition to a large incoming class, it feels like this team has some depth. How nice is it to have numbers and options as you work toward constructing a rotation?
TD: "Even though we have a large group, I'd still like to get to the point again where I have eight, nine guys who have consistent time and know what their minutes look like, know when they're going in and coming out. One, it helps with chemistry, and two, it creates a great flow. It also creates to style of play, having lineups that might play a little faster or spread the floor or be better defensively.

I think we have the pieces to do those things; we just have to put the pieces in the right spot."

GG: What are some areas that you've seen your team grow from March until now?
TD: "Strength. There are three to five guys who got significantly stronger. Bodies have changed. I think it will contribute to a mentality in terms of our approach on the defensive end and rebounding. Our ability to play through contact offensively should be better, as well. But strength also brings confidence, so hopefully we see that, too."

GG: Last season your team lost seven games by two possessions or less, including several in the final minute. How has that type of adversity made your team better?
TD: "Young teams lose close games; veteran teams win close games. Southern Utah is a prime example of a team that early – two, three years ago – lost a lot of close games. We had some close games with them that we pulled out when we won championships. That group found a way to win those games last year, including two against us, and it led to a championship. Montana State got older, you saw the results of that. Weber State was probably the oldest team in the league, you saw the results of that.

What we hope is that our growth and our maturity leads to stronger finishes in the last couple minutes of games. If you look at '17, it was pretty similar to last year for us, losing a lot of games in the final possessions, and we made a big jump from '17 to '18. Now that we're starting to gain some experience and maturity, we need to make that jump."

GG: Compared to last year, which was full of starts and stops and plenty of uncertainty, how nice was it to have a full summer with your team?
TD: "It was incredible. You don't know what you don't have until you lose it. For us last year, with a short turnaround, we thought we could get prepared in a short time, make up for lost time, maybe do a little less and create some flow. I think that we did a good job with what we had as a group, but when you're so young, and you have a group that's never had a postseason and you've got a number of guys who have never had a preseason, it was just very difficult for us to be the Griz that we typically are. I think we were a bunch of individuals who tried to come together and create a common goal and try to make it happen without due process. When you have a natural spring and summer, you now have a due process, and I'm excited to see the results of it."

GG: We talked about returning the entire nucleus from the end of last season, but you also brought in seven newcomers (one freshman, two transfers and four walk-ons). How is the team blending together?
TD: "I think it's been great. The biggest thing about the pieces that we added is that everyone on the team identified those as pieces that we needed to add. To be really thin at the wing position, to be really thin in the middle, and to know that our physical strength, our shooting away from the basket, our flow in terms of guys playing in the right positions all were things that caught up to us… Everyone accepted the new faces with open arms, because they know each piece makes us better."

GG: What was the highlight of your summer?
TD: "Just spending time with the guys, having them in the gym, being around them, observing them and their hunger to be the best student-athletes they can be. Academically, after a long year, to do as well as we did is a sign that the guys understand what's important in this process outside of just playing games."

GG: You've been in the gym with the guys since July, but starting this week – the official start of preseason practices – you get more hours. How will that change what you guys do?
TD: "You get to finish what you start. The first four weeks (during the summer) is 'Get as much as you can in an hour', but you walk away from each day wishing you have 15-20 more minutes. Now you don't have that issue. I just look forward to having the guys for longer stretches and put something on paper that I think we can accomplish."

GG: What are some things you will emphasize in the gym over the coming weeks?
TD: "Flow, transition, conditioning. We've spent a lot of time on situations on both sides of the ball, a lot of introductory stuff, a lot of review. Now we can put a lot more together and see the guys play more. It will become more competitive just because your competition stretches are longer. I'm just excited to see the guys get after it."

GG: What's the biggest area of growth needed before your season opener on Nov. 9?
TD: "Our biggest focus has been defensive rebounding and assist-to-turnover ratio. Those were two areas that were our Achilles' heel last year. If we would have had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, our record would have been completely different. If we were better on the defensive glass, there's four or five games that we would have won because we would have had leads or wouldn't have given teams second, third opportunities. Those are the two areas that we'll continue to focus on heavily right now, and that's where the strength that we talked about is going to be big."

GG: There's a buzz in the community right now for Griz Athletics. How excited does that make you to start your season and welcome fans back to Dahlberg Arena?
TD: You look at both home (football) games, and they've both been sellouts. You feel the environment. You feel the hunger in the community. The coolest part to me is walking into the football stadium and seeing my entire team down there, even when we don't have recruits here. That shows that one, they missed this, or two, there's a group that's never had this and they're excited to be part of it. I think our guys can't wait for their opportunity and they'll be highly motivated to be ready when it's time to put the ball in the air for a true crowd."

First practice 📸#GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/y4yRB9AByw
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) September 29, 2021

University of Montana Athletics

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