This is what it's all about!
Good to see them back on the floor
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I think this is going to be one of the saddest years for NU athletics since I was last in school. Hope I am wrong.
At least we didn't have to see a bunch of social media clips this year about how much better and more confident Miller Kopp will be.
Since you brought it up, C, I had much the same thought when I read this a few days ago about Kopp in The Athletic's Indiana preview: "... but the staff likes Kopp’s leadership and communication as value adds."
Honestly, I fully expect the basketball team to be 500 or better in the Big Ten this year. The talent is there, with upside.
I don’t see it, but I hope to be very wrong!
We didn’t have the Killer attitude. Too often other team’s Mopped the floor with us.
I'm trying to decide if that's good symbolism or not, the image of the entire team linked arm-in-arm walking out to open sea.
Ok I admit I'm surprised Matt Nicholson wasn't walking on water.
Maybe I over-estimated him.
Or maybe the team was searching for their drowning head coach...
These are jokes, people...
Maybe I over-estimated him.
Or maybe the team was searching for their drowning head coach...
These are jokes, people...
Coaches ID college basketball's top sleeper teams for 2021-22 season
Jeff Borzello surveyed anonymous coaches from each of the top conferences to ID the teams from their leagues that have flown beneath the offseason radar.
Coaches ID college basketball's top sleeper teams for 2021-22 season
Jeff Borzello surveyed anonymous coaches from each of the top conferences to ID the teams from their leagues that have flown beneath the offseason radar.www.espn.com
The article is behind the ESPN+ paywall. What was the gist of what they said about Northwestern? Assuming they mentioned us that is . . .
Northwestern looked like a surprise team nationally in late December last season, following consecutive wins over Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State to open Big Ten play. The Wildcats promptly lost their next 13 games. But most of the key players for Chris Collins' team return, with the exception of Miller Kopp, who transferred to league-rival Indiana.
"Nobody is talking about or even considering them," one Big Ten assistant said. "They return six of their top seven scorers and they won six games in the Big Ten. I'm not saying they are going to be in the top three, but I do think they can win 10-ish [conference] games -- which could get them to be a borderline tourney team."
"They're returning a majority of their production," another coach said. "They had momentum last year; if they can find that same team, they have a shot."
Thanks! I agree with everyhing they said, the talent is there to get to 10 wins in the BIG. For me the three biggest unknowns are: (1) in-game coaching; (2) Boo Buie consistently making good decisions on nights when his shot is not falling; and (3) Nance making the leap to a 16+PPG player. If Nance can be our consistent go to guy, with Audige/Buie as the big shot, big game closers, then I see the Cats being competitive for a tourney bid. As crazy as it sounds, it's not out of the question.
I'm glad somebody else is on the optimist bandwagon.
I don't see how we finish in the lower third of the league, but expect us to be in the upper half. Throw in Casey Simmons and improvement from Ty Berry, Nicholson's emergence, maybe something from Roper - there's a lot to like.
Nance will flourish if he plays the 4, with Young (and hopefully some Nicholson) at the 5. Beran can be the 4 who subs in for Nance. It seems so obvious... I have my fingers crossed that Collins realizes this and abandons that "Nance at the 5" nonsense from last year.
I like Nance at the 4 as well. But I have a feeling our transfer from FDU (Williams) didn't come here to sit on the bench. So I think there is real chance he starts at the 4, and Nance is at the 5. Hopefully, CC is flexible, because there will def. be teams where Young needs to be at the 5 with Nance at 4.
That being said Williams is an Evanston native, ETHS alumn so maybe it wasn't about starting but about coming home and getting a degree from NU.
He's a 4, but has the ability to take guys off the dribble if he has a larger defender on him.
According to Jeff Sagarin's final ratings Fairleigh Dickinson was 15 points worse than NU last year.
Elyjah Williams was their leading rebounder and 3rd leading scorer, but he also led the team in turnovers.
It seems like a big step up in competition to me, so I don't see him as a significant contributor. If he plays more than 10 minutes a game, something has gone wrong.
Thanks for the stats, that's interesting. I'm not saying you're wrong, but why take a transfer who is not gonig to contribute and plays less than 10 minutes? Give the time to Nicholson or Beran and let them develop in the front court.
NU needed bodies, even if just to have meaningful practices.
Fair, but when I think about transfers under Collins, I think about Chase Audige and Ryan Taylor. Both guys came to NU to play meaningful minutes and they did. Does CC have a history of taking practice/bench players?
Let's wait until the season starts before we declare someone to be just a "bench player".....
?? The point I was making was that I think he will get meaningful minutes because I don’t think CC has a history of taking role players as transfers.
I think the rebounding alone is enough for him to garner more than 10 minutes a game. I think Nance/Beran/Young/Williams get almost all the 4/5 minutes this year, so I'd put him in the 14-18 min/game range, and I think he'll earn a few starts based on matchups and on court performances.
In some other thread I made a comparison between Williams and MN’s Brandon Johnson. If I recall correctly Johnson had slightly better stats. But similar, overall. Johnson ended up being a solid contributor. So why not hope Williams is too? Mid major, bla, bla… dude is a veteran. I totally expect him to know how to fit in and make the team better
Besides, let’s face it, Beran gave us nothing last year. There was the fabricated universe where according to CC he was the most important piece on defense. Sure, you want to encourage the kid, give him confidence. But ultimately he gave us zilch.
Besides, let’s face it, Beran gave us nothing last year. There was the fabricated universe where according to CC he was the most important piece on defense. Sure, you want to encourage the kid, give him confidence. But ultimately he gave us zilch.
My take is that the guys Williams was playing against were not nearly as good as the guys our "regulars" faced in the Big Ten, so his statistics and our expectations must be significantly discounted.
Casey Simmons is the headliner of the freshmen joining the team and he is talking about the NBA, so I think Collins will play him right away. Hopefully he is a phenom. It is also possible that Julian Roper or Brooks Barnhizer will earn playing time, but not immediately.
You also have Ryan Young and Pete Nance deserving 25-30 minutes per game, you have Matt Nicholson and Robbie Beran coming off the bench, you have Boo Buie and Chase Audige both deserving to play and a reasonable expectation that Ty Berry will be a pretty good player for us.
Thats a lot of talented players competing for playing time. Admittedly, the main contenders at the "Miller Kopp" vacancy are probably Williams, Barnhizer and Simmons, but I see Williams as more of an insurance policy if those two freshmen are struggling.
Of course, we could always go with Young, Nance and 3 guards...
Casey Simmons is the headliner of the freshmen joining the team and he is talking about the NBA, so I think Collins will play him right away. Hopefully he is a phenom. It is also possible that Julian Roper or Brooks Barnhizer will earn playing time, but not immediately.
You also have Ryan Young and Pete Nance deserving 25-30 minutes per game, you have Matt Nicholson and Robbie Beran coming off the bench, you have Boo Buie and Chase Audige both deserving to play and a reasonable expectation that Ty Berry will be a pretty good player for us.
Thats a lot of talented players competing for playing time. Admittedly, the main contenders at the "Miller Kopp" vacancy are probably Williams, Barnhizer and Simmons, but I see Williams as more of an insurance policy if those two freshmen are struggling.
Of course, we could always go with Young, Nance and 3 guards...
Whe you type it all out like that, it shows there is a lot of talent like NU. I hope CC uses the really weak non-con schedule to mix and match and find the right combo for scoring and chemistry.
There's a very good chance you are projecting your desire (and mine) to see the Young/Nance combo as a non negotiable in our lineup.
I believe there's a better than good chance the lineup will, instead, consist of something like:
1) Buie
2) Audige
3) Williams
4) Beran
5) Nance
Why? Because that's CC's vision: five out, yada, yada. Last year, at some point during our 13 game losing streak, he moved Young to the starting five. With promising results IMO. It lasted 2 games.
So there's a chance Williams is seen as a fix to our overall softness with the Beran/Nance combo inside. Without actually moving Nance away from the 5. Positionless ball and all, you replace Kopp with more rebounding and toughness and you hope to not get killed on the boards as you were last year.
Anyway, about Williams, this is what I wrote in another thread when he transferred:
"From the fact he does shoot well, but not a lot, from three, I am assuming he is a 3/4. I don't care his numbers go down as he plays in the B1G. As long as he brings toughness, experience, he can contribute. I look at a comparable, Brandon Johnson (6'8 F) from MN:
-Last year at Western Michigan: 15.4/8.1
-At Minnesota: 8.9/6.3
Our dude:
-At FD: 13.9/7.6
-At Johnson's decrease rate, his projected NU numbers: 8.0/5.9
I'll take those stats."
Don't underestimate, mid major or not, the fact he's a 5th year senior. How much that brings, versus new blood, in terms of toughness/body strength, or experience in finding where you fit. How much better decisions you make, know your limitations, etc, etc. I would not be shocked to see Williams getting 25 minutes a night.
Edit: The big difference between the Williams and Johnson situation is that Johnson came into a Gopher roster that was very very short. It has a strong core of Carr/Robbins/Kalscheur, but it had no depth. So he had to play. Williams is looking at a significantly deeper roster
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