Sammy Fatkin is going to enjoy every moment of this: A Lady Griz preview

Sammy Fatkin could have walked away after that freshman year at Arizona, could have said, Yeah, I'm good, this isn't what I thought it would be, and moved on with her life, could have left basketball behind.

But she didn't. It's like she knew something was out there, something different, something better, a program and a coach that made college basketball what she always thought it would be, could be.

She joined the Lady Griz, played the back half of the 2018-19 season, the first part of the next, then stepped away from the game, frustrated again.

This time she did leave basketball behind. It felt like the end. Maybe what she was looking for wasn't even out there. Maybe it was a pipe dream, an ideal that only set her up for disappointment, never to be realized.

She moved on, but the fire to compete never got snuffed out. Her love of the game never retired. So, after sitting out the 2020-21 season, she put out some feelers. Certainly, someone might want a skilled guard, someone who can make the game look ridiculously easy with her smooth style.

She didn't have to look far. Montana had a new coach, someone who knew her, knew her story, knew her experiences, someone who thought he could make it right, give her the program she'd always believed was out there.

And she flourished. She scored 19 points in her first game under Brian Holsinger, 25 in her third. Then disaster struck. A foot injury in early February that kept her out one week, then two, then three, then a month.

She returned for the regular-season finale, played 11 minutes, played 19 more as Montana opened the postseason at the Big Sky tournament in Boise, pressing and pressing in what she believed would be her final collegiate game if the Lady Griz didn't win.

They didn't. It was over. For them, for her, right when she'd finally found what she'd been seeking all those years. This program, this coach, this team.

She didn't want it to be over, couldn't believe it was over. Then, last spring, the NCAA told her it didn't have to be. She was given a one-year extension, one final chance to go all in.

"This culture is special," said Fatkin. "To have the chance to be a part of it as long as I can is a privilege."

She and her teammates, who feel like they've been practicing, preparing for the season ahead, since they returned from Boise -- because they have been, wearing out the nets on the baskets inside Dahlberg Arena on an almost daily basis – have finally embarked on a new season.

Montana held its first official practice of the season on Monday.

Last year at this time, everything was new, for all of them. The coaches were working together for the first time. The roster had gone through a major overhaul. Players were getting used to the coaches, the coaches were getting used to the players, and away they went, into the unknown.

They won 19 games, the most for Montana since 2015-16, the final season of that guy, Robin Selvig, and when his revered name is mentioned with something you've accomplished, it's usually a good thing.

There were highs. The 9-2 start, the 12-3 record at home, the electric win over Montana State, witnessed by more than 4,000, a sign that they are still out there, ready for more of it, ready to make their return on a more consistent basis.

There were lows. The one-point losses at Northern Arizona, then at Idaho. The seven-point lead at Northern Colorado with one minute left in regulation that turned into an overtime loss. The nights when Montana, maddeningly, didn't have its best stuff.

"There were moments when we were the best team in the league, playing-wise. Then there were times, whatever it was, mental, not enough depth, we just weren't great," said Holsinger.

It was probably to be expected under a first-year coach, both the highs and the lows, glimpses of what could be, a work in progress. "Unfortunately, experience is the best teacher. It just is."

Now? Everything's different, more settled. "I'm excited. It's a different feel. We're in a good place. I really like our team. We're much further along in every way. Offense, defense, culture, everything."

It's another year of transition, personnel-wise, with seven new faces, half the team's roster of 14, but this time they are all standing on a foundation that was laid down last season, giving this year's team a head start that Holsinger's first squad never had.

"Everything was new last year. We didn't know what to expect," said Fatkin. "Coming into this season, there is a trust that has been built, there is an expectation, the bar has been raised, perspectives have changed.

"The culture is only building stronger, and that's what makes it so much more special this year. It's player-led. Obviously, Brian is the top tier of that, but as players we're holding each other to higher standards, and we're doing it the right way."

It's what Holsinger wants. He's the captain of the ship, but he wants the players to be the engine, with the upperclassmen on the helm, steering it in the direction they want to go.

It's how Selvig built the Lady Griz into a dynasty. Freshmen redshirted, underclassmen paid their dues and the upperclassmen made absolutely sure it wasn't their class that allowed Montana to take even one step in the direction of mediocrity.

It's how you go to 21 NCAA tournaments in the span of 33 seasons. It's why dozens and dozens of former Lady Griz possess a deep sense of ownership in the program. Selvig was the face but the program was always theirs. It was built on their sweat, their blood, their devotion.

It's why these Lady Griz will be going out of town next week, to the team's weekend retreat. They'll depart as 14 individual players, return as one, with one goal, one mindset. They'll decide what they want from the season ahead, not be told by an autocratic head coach. And that's where the power lies.

"We're still individuals. The retreat goes a long way to bringing us together as a collective team, working toward a collective vision," said Holsinger. "It's such an important time.

"We'll go through the things this team wants to be about this year. We'll guide them, but really this is about them understanding and deciding what they want to accomplish this year, from a cultural standpoint."

Things already are ahead of last year, as you'd expect. On Tuesday, at the team's second practice, when the ship was getting off course, it wasn't Holsinger who stepped in and corrected things. It was Carmen Gfeller.

"She calls everybody in, they go back out and we're better because it was her voice and not necessarily mine, though we've worked hard to be on the same page. That's a perfect example of the growth," said Holsinger. "It's how championship teams do it."

The pieces are in place for Montana to become a championship team in 2022-23.

Gfeller is back after earning first-team All-Big Sky Conference honors a year ago, when she was so steady, so consistent, scoring in double figures in all but six games, the highlight her 34-point demolition of Montana State in a 71-57 win inside Dahlberg Arena that exorcised at least a few demons.

Fatkin was averaging a team-high 13.6 points at the time of her injury and on her way to her own All-Big Sky honors had she not been sidelined. Six seasons after beginning her career at Arizona, she is combining that talent with an appreciation that can only come with viewing one final season as a gift.

The only other returning upperclassman is senior Katerina Tsineke, the rare non-post player who can change a game defensively in her team's favor with her quickness, strength and physicality. She did it last season on a number of occasions. She'll do it again this year.

"Proven. Those are proven players within the league," said Holsinger. "There is a different level of urgency, a different level of understanding what the college game is about when you have that kind of experience. It's impossible to replicate."

Haley Huard, as a freshman, started last season's final 21 games. Another freshman, Dani Bartsch, played in 29 of 30 games. Lisa Kiefer returns, as does Willa Albrecht, who played in six games prior to Christmas before sitting out the final two-thirds of the season with an injury.

Of Montana's seven newcomers, five are true freshmen, two are the type of transfers that had people who follow women's college basketball going, Wait, what? How did that happen?

Both happened in much the same way Fatkin rediscovered her love of the game. Gina Marxen and Keeli Burton-Oliver just needed to find the right landing spot, the right program, the right coach.

Marxen, then at Idaho, was the 2018-19 Big Sky Freshman of the Year. She was voted All-Big Sky as a sophomore and junior. And then she put basketball aside, along with her three-year totals of 954 points and 199 made 3-pointers.

She sat out last season, decided in the spring she wasn't done and found what she wanted at Montana, which was a shock to the Power 5 schools who also courted her.

"Experience is the first thing that comes to mind. She's been there, done that," said Holsinger. "She has a lightness to her that just brings a calmness to our team. When your point guard is calm and positive, that really helps."

You'll fall hard for her as well. She is a fierce competitor who has a habit of doing it with a smile on her face, unable to contain her joy of playing, which is a combination that endears her to her home fans, which she'll have plenty of for the first time in her college career.

"Sammy and Carmen are very serious competitors. Gina will smile. And her ability. She plays with a great pace, she can really shoot, she understands where the ball needs to go. She brings a ton. All those things lead to more confidence for our team," said Holsinger.

A backcourt of Fatkin and Marxen, former Seattle-area rivals now playing together? Yes, please.

"She's amazing. She's awesome," said Fatkin. "I grew up playing against her. We've always been rivals but always had this mutual respect. To be able to wear the same jersey and be on the same team, I'm really excited. She's been great for the team. She fits right in with us and what we stand for."

Burton-Oliver's story, at least how she ended up at Montana, is complicated. But this isn't: She was named the Washington Class 4A Player of the Year by the Associated Press as a junior, the Class 4A Player of the Year as a senior by the Washington State Girls Basketball Coaches Association.

The kid can play, which is why she was on the team first at Arizona State, then, briefly, at Washington State. But there also is this: She hasn't played in a game since her senior year of high school, which, to date it, was pre-pandemic times.

"She has moments of looking dominant and moments when she looks like she hasn't played in two years, which she hasn't," said Holsinger. "There was always going to be an adjustment.

"She expects herself to be a dominant force, but two years is a long time not to play. I'm always telling her, relax, give yourself some grace."

If many of us remember watching Marxen play in her pre-Montana life, when Idaho came to town, few of us have ever seen Burton-Oliver on the court. That will change in less than a month, at the Maroon and Silver scrimmage on Oct. 25.

"I'm excited to get her on the court. What that looks like, I don't know yet," said Holsinger. "I'm excited for her to put a uniform on and play in front of fans. That will be her first step in coming back and being the kind of player I think she can be."

Montana signed Mack Konig (Milton, Ontario), Alex Pirog (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Libby Stump (Ferndale, Wash.) and Draya Wacker (Melstone, Mont.) to National Letters of Intent last fall.

And can they ever play, but don't take our word for it. "To see talent that was better than I was as a freshman, that's so special and encouraging and will only elevate the program more," said Fatkin. "The building that's happening in the program is special to be a part of."

The only thing better would have been to be a few years younger, right Sammy?. "I wish I had four years with them. I am blessed to be able to play with them and learn from them. They are teaching me endless things."

Holsinger knew how important his first recruited freshman class would be, even if it had to come about in a rush after he was hired in April 2021.

"We worked really hard in a short amount of time to get the right talent and the right character," he said. "Now that they're here, it's even better than we thought. All of them are the highest of character. Great families, really nice kids, and then they can play."

Prior to the season starting, Holsinger added a walk-on from Missoula who fits the same mold: Lauren Dick, daughter of former Griz basketball player Ryan Dick.

What Montana's starting unit looks like, what its rotations and bench become, only time will tell. After all, it's still September. The regular-season opener against North Dakota State is more than a month away.

"We're deeper this year, which is great. What that looks like at this time of the season, it's hard to tell. But over the next month, we'll figure it out more and more," said Holsinger. "Where does everyone fit to make us the best, most difficult team to play against? That will be established over time."

Montana's nonconference schedule will challenge the Lady Griz in ways last year's games in November and December didn't, at least collectively.

After opening with the Bison, Montana will turn around and play at Colorado State, a WNIT team a season ago. Then there is Loyola Marymount's tournament over Thanksgiving, when the Lady Griz will face Wichita State and California.

And that leads to December, when Montana will face three NCAA tournament teams on the road: Washington State, South Dakota and Gonzaga, and host Grand Canyon, a WNIT team.

"We're going to face challenges throughout the year. To get a good preseason schedule prepares us for anything we might face in conference," said Fatkin.

"We'll face it head on and give it our best shot. It's going to be really good for us to have those challenges early on and see what we're made of."

Montana will get 14 games at home, bookended by the opener against North Dakota State on Monday, Nov. 7, and the regular-season finale against Idaho on Monday, Feb. 27.

The games will be played inside Dahlberg Arena, which Holsinger remembers from his time as a visiting assistant coach, particularly when Montana blitzed his Washington State team 90-78 in a WNIT game at the end of the 2013-14 season.

Then, last season, he had the opportunity to coach the home team, to sit on the other bench, to have that crowd behind him and his team.

"It's better than I thought, the advantage," he said. "It's such an advantage knowing you have this community of support behind you."

That home-court edge played a major role as Montana rallied past Idaho in the fourth quarter last season. Then there was the Weber State game, when the Lady Griz got outscored 37-17 over the second and third quarters and USS Montana was dead in the water and fans were sitting on their hands.

Then something good finally happened. And the crowd got into it, which got the home team going and the visiting team rattled. Fatkin and Tsineke combined to score the opening 10 points of the period for Montana, and Sophia Stiles about brought the roof down with her game-winning buzzer-beater.

"It's completely unique and I want to continue to make it a bigger advantage," said Holsinger. "Get down, get some momentum, a small wave becomes a tidal wave. The crowd gets going and everyone gets confident. We want to be dominant here."

It's September and doesn't feel yet like basketball season, but it's opening week whether we're ready or not. Soon enough the Maroon and Silver scrimmage will be here, then North Dakota State, then the start of league in late December.

Then it will be January, February, then March, which is when all this hard work either pays off or it doesn't. And that's sports, where what you get isn't always what you've earned. A bounce goes your way or it doesn't.

What a team hopes to do is eliminate that bounce. Just win the game through the first 39 minutes so that the final 60 seconds are a mere coda, an undramatic one.

"I think we're coming in with a different edge this year, a different fire and competitiveness," said Fatkin, whose last game was a 75-57 loss to Northern Arizona in the Big Sky quarterfinals in Boise. "The upperclassmen, we don't want to feel that feeling again."

But she's not looking that far forward. Through all of this, Sammy Fatkin has learned to appreciate the every-day, the steps that it takes to get from start to finish, embracing each of them, a gift the NCAA didn't have to give her.

No longer 18 years old with seemingly all the time in the world sitting in front of her to accomplish her basketball goals and realize her dreams, she doesn't allow a practice to be wasted. She values the relationships and what everyone is doing together, always together.

"The most wins you can get is the ultimate goal, but if I've learned anything, it's all about the journey, not the wins and losses," she said.

"If I can make any impact, it's just leaving the program in a better place. I want to reach the success we know we're capable of and walk away with no regrets, knowing we did everything we could and gave everything we had."

A gift like the one she's been given demands nothing less.

University of Montana Athletics

Sammy Fatkin is going to enjoy every moment of this: A Lady Griz preview

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Players Mentioned

Willa Albrecht

Dani Bartsch

Keeli Burton-Oliver

Lauren Dick

Sammy Fatkin

Carmen Gfeller

Haley Huard

Lisa Kiefer

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

Alex Pirog

Sophia Stiles

Libby Stump

Katerina Tsineke

Draya Wacker

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