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Barret Benson to...SIU?

catsattackfor3 said:
And the assistant is Brendan Mullins Bryan's older brother whom by the way was CCC choice to replace Billy Donlon on staff but turned it down to join his bro in Carbondale...ugh???
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Oh GREAT!! Now coaches are turning down NU to go to SIU, too!! And for what reason?!?! Who would dare to want to turn down NU for their brother?!?!

Kidding. I just wanted to go along with the sky-is-falling vibe and continue to ignore the circumstances.

BB's choice MIGHT be concerning. It's worth a long-term look. But I'm surprised everybody puts so much credence in the logic of a 21-year-old.

In the end, the loss of these guys are not the problems and their three one-year replacements are nowhere near the solutions for the program. When most of your first eight (if any next year) rotation guys are not playing at a B10 replacement level, I'm sorry, but who cares who the bodies are for the 10th-12th scholarships. And maaaaaaaaaaybe, just maybe Benson MIGHT have improved to a B10 replacement level.
 
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Just wanted to say....on the SIU thing....years ago when Weber was coach they played Georgia in the NCAA tournament at the United Center....SIU had a bunch of city ballers who pretty much kicked the crap out of Georgia....afterwards the Georgia coach crapped on SIU....SIU then went to the final 16, IIRC, and was victim of a bunch of bad calls. It was a very good, well coached team made up of a bunch of no names.
 
Medill90 said:
Just wanted to say....on the SIU thing....years ago when Weber was coach they played Georgia in the NCAA tournament at the United Center....SIU had a bunch of city ballers who pretty much kicked the crap out of Georgia....afterwards the Georgia coach crapped on SIU....SIU then went to the final 16, IIRC, and was victim of a bunch of bad calls. It was a very good, well coached team made up of a bunch of no names.
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Weber has always been a descent coach. His issues were generally recruiting
 
"Might" be concerning? We have finished 10th place or lower in 5 out of 6 Chris Collins seasons. Everyone predicts next year will be a pretty down "rebuilding" year. I think it's reasonable to ask whether CC is the long term answer. But I'll reserve judgment until we see whether Nance and Kopp can make a leap next year. But I have concerns.
 
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Medill90 said:
Just wanted to say....on the SIU thing....years ago when Weber was coach they played Georgia in the NCAA tournament at the United Center....SIU had a bunch of city ballers who pretty much kicked the crap out of Georgia....afterwards the Georgia coach crapped on SIU....SIU then went to the final 16, IIRC, and was victim of a bunch of bad calls. It was a very good, well coached team made up of a bunch of no names.
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Yup, that was a good team.
 
7th Cir. Cat said:
"Might" be concerning? We have finished 10th place or lower in 5 out of 6 Chris Collins seasons. Everyone predicts next year will be a pretty down "rebuilding" year. I think it's reasonable to ask whether CC is the long term answer. But I'll reserve judgment until we see whether Nance and Kopp can make a leap next year. But I have concerns.
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I look at it this way:

2014 - first year, didn't have a full offseason to recruit, Sina decommitted, Taphorn stayed but was a Carmody recruit.

2015-2019 - first cycle that began and ended with Law. Brought us to a never-before-achieved high in 3 years with increasing Kenpom rankings every year. Crashed and burned in final two years of cycle for any number of reasons discussed ad nauseum already.

2020-2022 - second cycle going through Sr years of Kopp/Nance. This is when we see if CC can replicate what he did in 2015-17, and if he can get us back in 3 years, with these highly-ranked recruiting classes, then I'm inclined to believe in him as a long-term answer.
 
Fitz51 said:
You know a good way to rebuild? To not have to give minutes to Barret Benson.
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That's a really fair point. But this is not the NBA where finishing dead last gets you a high draft pick. I still think you have to maintain competitive respectability. In my opinion, it's harder to recruit when the team is finishing last place in the conference and Benson may not get us to the tournament but I think he would have been a solid contributor. But your point about Nance and Jones getting experience is well taken.
 
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catstime16 said:
By all accounts Barrett B was a very hard worker and a very good teammate. He
graduated (in 3 years) and also won some type of Athletic/Academic award? The
young guy apparently wants a chance to grab some extended minutes and play some
hoops! I would say congrats! Good luck and Godspeed. Northwestern is a wonderful place
but not the be-all and end-all.
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This 1000x. Likely the last competitive season for BB to play hoops- he took care of business getting his degree so if he wants to go to a lesser school so he can be more successful on the court personally and stats wise I say more power to him.
 
7th Cir. Cat said:
"Might" be concerning? We have finished 10th place or lower in 5 out of 6 Chris Collins seasons. Everyone predicts next year will be a pretty down "rebuilding" year. I think it's reasonable to ask whether CC is the long term answer. But I'll reserve judgment until we see whether Nance and Kopp can make a leap next year. But I have concerns.
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I agree 100% with your statement, and reflected similar questions in my last paragraph.

I wrote "BB's choice MIGHT be concerning."
 
Sec.112 said:
I agree 100% with your statement, and reflected similar questions in my last paragraph.

I wrote "BB's choice MIGHT be concerning."
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I too have concerns, most specifically about the handicap Collins faces in recruiting due to the fairly strict academic requirements, and what players that leads him to recruit -- namely, taking "best available" in some years and winding up putting all his eggs in one basket for lead guard.

However, Benson is not part of that concern. He was by all accounts a solid prospect who did not quite develop as planned. Collins probably told him that it would be a rebuilding year and a starting role was no sure thing, and Benson went somewhere he could play. All good.
 
7th Cir. Cat said:
"Might" be concerning? We have finished 10th place or lower in 5 out of 6 Chris Collins seasons. Everyone predicts next year will be a pretty down "rebuilding" year. I think it's reasonable to ask whether CC is the long term answer. But I'll reserve judgment until we see whether Nance and Kopp can make a leap next year. But I have concerns.
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Might want to recheck that "10th place or lower in 5 of six seasons" claim...
 
7th Cir. Cat said:
OK, PPD be completely honest. You saw the news and thought to yourself: "Oh, he's transferring to Southern Illinois, that makes total sense." Because I was VERY surprised. My take is that Lou was pretty surprised too and he follows the program as closely as any non-coach.
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Am being honest and had no idea where he would go. However, I did expect a lower tier or mid major type of program. That makes sense to me.
 
7th Cir. Cat said:
Everyone needs to stop trying to rationalize this move. There is something amiss in Evanston. We all speculated that Benson (who is from Illinois) maybe wanted to explore the country and go west and use his film degree. Given that he graduated in 3 years and obviously takes school seriously, we thought maybe he wanted to go to the Ivy league and get a masters. Nope. He wanted to stay at home, but it just seems like he wanted to be done with NU. If he had gone to Loyola it would have made sense to me (good program, solid academics) this move strikes me as more of an indictment of the atmosphere at Northwestern than anything else. He just wanted out of Northwestern. I'm done drinking the Kool-Aid. There is a lot of smoke right now.
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SIU is not staying at home. There is something in your Kool-Aid. There are countless D1 schools that are closer than Carbondale.
 
IGNORE said:
Well that changes everything. Instead of averaging 9.8, it’s 9.7.

But if we remove the outliers, the 5th and 14th, then he has averaged 9.75. Hmm, seems about right.
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But for Northwestern basketball, a 5th place finish is damn near a miracle. He gets a boatload of credit for that. But the next few years will tell.
 
lunker35 said:
SIU is not staying at home. There is something in your Kool-Aid. There are countless D1 schools that are closer than Carbondale.
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Come on....he’s going to a school in Illinois and he’s from Illinois. In what world is that not considered staying at home? People say that CPS kids who go to U of I are choosing their hometown school. What’s the difference?
 
TheC said:
But for Northwestern basketball, a 5th place finish is damn near a miracle. He gets a boatload of credit for that. But the next few years will tell.
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He achieved an actual miracle for taking us to the tournament. Which is why he should get slack for the last two years and next year. But at some point you are what your record says you are and that 5th place finish may have just been an amazing anomaly. Hey may be the long term answer but this is the first time since he was hired that I have doubts. And for the record I thought and still think he was the right hire at the time.
 
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TheC said:
But for Northwestern basketball, a 5th place finish is damn near a miracle. He gets a boatload of credit for that. But the next few years will tell.
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I single 5th place, and yes, a Dance. We have gone round and round. Some of his players, couple of important pieces from the prior regime. And history shows we have finished much better than fifth in history.

BC also finished fifth and provided multiple post season berths. Was he great? No. Larry Glass never finished less than 9th. Is he one of the best NU MBB coaches? Nope.

I think you, and most here, are bright enough to accept a single season, a single factor does not create a legacy. To determine the value of the contribution, to consider for HOF - whether at a school or in a national institution, to begin the argument of GOAT, you must look at the whole picture.

That picture is not pretty. There are bright spots: NCAA berth, highest rated recruits (stars are for losers, right Glades?), so very high moral players. But the bad parts are growing to such volume to distort the picture.

Art is in the eye of the beholder - so for some, a growing number, the value of the picture is in question. For others, like mike, the big is a masterpiece. There is no right answer, as of now. The longer CCC remains at the helm, the clearer the picture will become. To debate the picture is fair and exactly what this type of Board is here to do.
 
IGNORE said:
I single 5th place, and yes, a Dance. We have gone round and round. Some of his players, couple of important pieces from the prior regime. And history shows we have finished much better than fifth in history.

BC also finished fifth and provided multiple post season berths. Was he great? No. Larry Glass never finished less than 9th. Is he one of the best NU MBB coaches? Nope.

I think you, and most here, are bright enough to accept a single season, a single factor does not create a legacy. To determine the value of the contribution, to consider for HOF - whether at a school or in a national institution, to begin the argument of GOAT, you must look at the whole picture.

That picture is not pretty. There are bright spots: NCAA berth, highest rated recruits (stars are for losers, right Glades?), so very high moral players. But the bad parts are growing to such volume to distort the picture.

Art is in the eye of the beholder - so for some, a growing number, the value of the picture is in question. For others, like mike, the big is a masterpiece. There is no right answer, as of now. The longer CCC remains at the helm, the clearer the picture will become. To debate the picture is fair and exactly what this type of Board is here to do.
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Wait.... we're discussing HOF and GOAT? I thought we were just discussing whether we still support CCC as coach. I still support him as coach and would like to think things are going to be good again in the near future. But, if not, then it would be time to move on. I also liked Carmody a lot for a while there too. He was great for NU. But in the last couple years of his tenure it became clear that he couldn't quite get over the hump (the NCAAs hump) and that his recruiting was getting worse. That was when I finally decided it was time for a change. We're not there yet with CCC. Though the last two years have been a huge disappointment, he did get over that hump once and his recruiting continues to be outstanding on paper.
 
catsattackfor3 said:
Not saying what you may know is true or false but said assistant coach had been saying himself he had two offers on the table and took the one south
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same back at you can't say what is true on not on that end - i wonder if the coach considers "someone reached out to see i would have interest in going to NU" is an offer compared to actually being on a list of names in pool A, pool B, and pool C and given phone or on-campus interviews ?

either way doesn't matter!
 
7th Cir. Cat said:
Come on....he’s going to a school in Illinois and he’s from Illinois. In what world is that not considered staying at home? People say that CPS kids who go to U of I are choosing their hometown school. What’s the difference?
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Have you ever been to Carbondale? It’s 30 minutes from Arkansas. It’s another world down there.
 
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Couldn’t have said it better myself, TheC. The only
lunker35 said:
Have you ever been to Carbondale? It’s 30 minutes from Arkansas. It’s another world down there.
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Ha! But a kid from Morgan Park could say the same thing about Urbana.
 
7th Cir. Cat said:
Couldn’t have said it better myself, TheC. The only


Ha! But a kid from Morgan Park could say the same thing about Urbana.
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Except Champaign is 2ish hours from Chicago and not 8 hours.....you are closer to almost every B1G school than you are SIU. I’m just saying going there is by no means staying close to home.
 
Except Champaign is 2ish hours from Chicago and not 8 hours.....you are closer to almost every B1G school than you are SIU.

Bit of hyperbole, Lunker. I was born and reared not many miles from Carbondale. It is far closer to 6 hrs drive from Evanston. Went often to SIU in childhood, and occasionally in adult years. It has its good points.

I once married an Evanston girl. (We remain married, 55 1/2 years later.) Am familiar with the attitude that anything outside Cook County is "downstate" and inherently less worthy. Such thinking, in my opinion, is both elitist and ill-founded.

I hope young Mr. Benson finds satisfaction at SIU. Whether you or I would make the same choice isn't particularly relevant.
 
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CappyNU said:
Or...and stay with me here...Benson wanted a guaranteed shot at playing time, which was not necessarily going to happen at NU. I've seen no indication that Collins has ever been anything but brutally honest about where players stand in regards to playing time for an upcoming season. By going to SIU, a school that is graduating 6 seniors and where the only other bigs on the roster for next season will be a 6'8" redshirt freshman 2-star and a 6'9" redshirt freshman 2-star, Benson will be playing a lot, at a lower level, where he will almost certainly have better stats than if he stayed here.

The only smoke here is in your mind. Note how none of our incoming recruits seem to feel that there is a problem with the atmosphere at Northwestern.
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I wonder how much Rap’s experience of going from last guy on the bench to MVP of his team and a trip to the dance had to do with his (and Falzon and Ash’s) decision(s)
 
WildcatWillie said:
Except Champaign is 2ish hours from Chicago and not 8 hours.....you are closer to almost every B1G school than you are SIU.

Bit of hyperbole, Lunker. I was born and reared not many miles from Carbondale. It is far closer to 6 hrs drive from Evanston. Went often to SIU in childhood, and occasionally in adult years. It has its good points.

I once married an Evanston girl. (We remain married, 55 1/2 years later.) Am familiar with the attitude that anything outside Cook County is "downstate" and inherently less worthy. Such thinking, in my opinion, is both elitist and ill-founded.

I hope young Mr. Benson finds satisfaction at SIU. Whether you or I would make the same choice isn't particularly relevant.
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I would say that such thinking (yours I mean) in my opinion, is biased and homerish.

I have been to Carbondale. SIU is not an academic institution of higher learning. It is non-stop 24 hour partying with girls who wear a ton of makeup (but admittedly look great doing it), are way too easy especially when they are loaded, as they almost always are, and I don’t think the people I knew who went there did an ounce of work during the time they were there. Outside of the drinking and the partying, there isn’t really anything else down there. For those who I knew that attended, it was perfect for them.

I don’t know if it is “less worthy,” but it is definitely a different world than Cook County or even DuPage or Kane. Closer to Mississippi and Arkansas I saw others say - probably true (haven’t looked at a map) geographically, but also in the sense that if the State of Illinois had an SEC school in everything but sports, then SIU is what I would imagine it to be. The people down there (locals, but also the students, many of whom hail from the South of the State of Illinois) speak like they are from Mississippi and Arkansas. I think families in the area back in 1861 sent their sons to fight for the Stars and Bars. I could barely understand their English, if you could call it that. And they held world views that would fit in with the Deep South in more ways than one. Trump country without a doubt. Hell, you’re already pretty much South of the Mason Dixon Line, figuratively speaking at least, once you get down to Peoria. Carbondale is Mississippi Burning to us Yankees in Cook County. Mr. Benson may have his reasons for going there. If getting drunk and laid is high on his list, then it’s probably a winner.
 
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Doug Collins, Jerry Sloan, John Malkovich and my wife all grew up in southern Illinois. They turned out pretty good.
 
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wildcat1066 said:
Doug Collins, Jerry Sloan, John Malkovich and my wife all grew up in southern Illinois. They turned out pretty good.
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Yes, when I think of turning out well, I think of John Malkovich. Him, Christopher Walken, Gary Busey and Steve Buscemi. To me, those are the guys who exemplify normal and balanced and well-turned out.
 
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Yep, Collins was a Benton star. As was Rich Yankus, a 6-9 C who went on to be a star at Georgia Tech. Two big time talents from a small town.
 
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