You all know I am as pessimistic as they get on here. Yet, for some strange reason, I do think we will avoid the next year hangover this time. I'm not saying we'll win the BIG or even finish second. There are a lot of factors at play that go into that such as how other teams develop and how often that ball bounces your way from night to night. But... I do think this team will be better.
I think back to that Auburn game last November. Watching that game, I thought Northwestern looked like one of the worst college basketball teams I'd seen in a long time. They couldn't shoot. They could barely execute their offense. It was so ugly. As the game went on, I realized we were still hanging in there and one could begin to really see how good our defense was looking. However, it left me saying to myself, if we could just resemble a high school level offense, we might win this game. Alas, we did not.
By the end of the year, the offense was starting to look a lot better. Certain plays were run crisply. Boo was figuring out what he could and couldn't do. We still struggled to be consistent though, which held us back from being a really good team.
My hope (dare I say, expectation) is that with all the experience coming back, and a couple transfers that seem to be able to shoot the ball, our offense might look a lot sharper. If we can keep that tough-minded, hard-working attitude that was so much fun to watch last year, then I do think this team will be better - maybe even a lot better.
Wow, I watched the Auburn game and thought we might be one of the best NU teams in a while. Taking #13 Auburn down to the last possession. What a different lens through which we view.