Zach Green
Photo by: Ruth Shellenberg
Zach Green Bounces Back
10/16/2015 3:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bobcat forward regains bounce in recovery from injury
Zach Green will never forget the moment.
"When I went down I heard it pop," 6-4, 195 lb sophomore wing said of the leg injury that ended his senior season at Mesquite High School in Arizona almost before it began. "That was (one of the worst) days of my life. I couldn't play for the whole season. My team struggled without me. It was just hard to watch."
Fast forward a year, and Green was a contributor at small forward for the Bobcats from the beginning. He scored 14 points in Montana State's opener at UCLA and added 11 three nights later at Grand Canyon. Those were his only double-digit scoring games of the season, but he started 17 of the team's 30 games and was a stabilizing force and solid contributor even when not putting up eye-popping numbers.
After what Bobcat head coach Brian Fish ended a freshman season that "effective, about where it should have been," and especially impressive "when you consider he was coming back from a major injury," he is even more encouraged at the dawn of 2015-16. "Zach is the most improved player in the program to this point," Fish said. "I'm very happy with the work he's done to improve his body. His attention to detail, his total commitment, shows me he wants to be a really good Bobcat."
The improvement and commitment are fueled by a work ethic Fish describes as "elite." MSU men's basketball strength coach Ricky Ramirez agrees. "Since the first day he stepped into the weight room he works really hard," he said. "(When) you tell him to change something, he fixes it. He gets after it every time he's in the weight room."
Ramirez enjoyed an "a-ha!" moment with Green after the rising sophomore returned after time at home in the Phoenix area early in the summer. "When he came back I almost didn't recognize him," Ramirez said. "He got so big, so strong. Most of it was summer training, and once he came back he was a totally different person."
Green said the tentative, grinding nature of his freshman year at Montana State had everything to do with the leg injury, but not much with the leg itself. That, he said, was basically healed by the time he arrived in Bozeman.
"It wasn't physically bothering me," said the former prep star whose junior season put him on the recruiting radar of Pac 12 schools. That's how Fish, then an assistant at Oregon, became acquainted with him. "It was more of a mental thing. Now that I'm over it I know I'm not going to get hurt again, (which happened) probably mid-way through or toward the end of last season. That's when Coach (Kenya) Crandell said, too, that he could really see me playing with more confidence."
Ramirez agreed. "I thought last year (Green's struggle) was more mental," he said, acknowledging that a big part of that was the leg. "Coming in as a freshman you don't know the system, and as a new coach you don't know his system, his expectations. So getting into a new program of lifting, and with a year of training and a year of coaching working with coach Fish, has helped him get ready for this new season."
Fish said Green's vertical jump was measured at 43 inches in September, and Green attributes his physical rejuvenation to work he's done in the weight room and with Ramirez. "I can feel myself jumping better," Green says. "Part of that is the work in the weight room that Ricky gave us, jumping and everything. It was really intense. It was intense, but it was smart."
MSU's second-year head coach likes what he's seen so far from his second-year wing. "He's been really good so far."
"When I went down I heard it pop," 6-4, 195 lb sophomore wing said of the leg injury that ended his senior season at Mesquite High School in Arizona almost before it began. "That was (one of the worst) days of my life. I couldn't play for the whole season. My team struggled without me. It was just hard to watch."
Fast forward a year, and Green was a contributor at small forward for the Bobcats from the beginning. He scored 14 points in Montana State's opener at UCLA and added 11 three nights later at Grand Canyon. Those were his only double-digit scoring games of the season, but he started 17 of the team's 30 games and was a stabilizing force and solid contributor even when not putting up eye-popping numbers.
After what Bobcat head coach Brian Fish ended a freshman season that "effective, about where it should have been," and especially impressive "when you consider he was coming back from a major injury," he is even more encouraged at the dawn of 2015-16. "Zach is the most improved player in the program to this point," Fish said. "I'm very happy with the work he's done to improve his body. His attention to detail, his total commitment, shows me he wants to be a really good Bobcat."
The improvement and commitment are fueled by a work ethic Fish describes as "elite." MSU men's basketball strength coach Ricky Ramirez agrees. "Since the first day he stepped into the weight room he works really hard," he said. "(When) you tell him to change something, he fixes it. He gets after it every time he's in the weight room."
Ramirez enjoyed an "a-ha!" moment with Green after the rising sophomore returned after time at home in the Phoenix area early in the summer. "When he came back I almost didn't recognize him," Ramirez said. "He got so big, so strong. Most of it was summer training, and once he came back he was a totally different person."
Green said the tentative, grinding nature of his freshman year at Montana State had everything to do with the leg injury, but not much with the leg itself. That, he said, was basically healed by the time he arrived in Bozeman.
"It wasn't physically bothering me," said the former prep star whose junior season put him on the recruiting radar of Pac 12 schools. That's how Fish, then an assistant at Oregon, became acquainted with him. "It was more of a mental thing. Now that I'm over it I know I'm not going to get hurt again, (which happened) probably mid-way through or toward the end of last season. That's when Coach (Kenya) Crandell said, too, that he could really see me playing with more confidence."
Ramirez agreed. "I thought last year (Green's struggle) was more mental," he said, acknowledging that a big part of that was the leg. "Coming in as a freshman you don't know the system, and as a new coach you don't know his system, his expectations. So getting into a new program of lifting, and with a year of training and a year of coaching working with coach Fish, has helped him get ready for this new season."
Fish said Green's vertical jump was measured at 43 inches in September, and Green attributes his physical rejuvenation to work he's done in the weight room and with Ramirez. "I can feel myself jumping better," Green says. "Part of that is the work in the weight room that Ricky gave us, jumping and everything. It was really intense. It was intense, but it was smart."
MSU's second-year head coach likes what he's seen so far from his second-year wing. "He's been really good so far."
Players Mentioned
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