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Not to be a pessimist

EvanstonCat

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Gold Member
May 29, 2001
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But, I don't think we're ready to win the B1G this year.

I also am not sure we have what it takes to make it past the 2nd round in the tourney, though I'm willing to be surprised.
 
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NU could surprise. Yes, I know the prior posters were trying to be funny.

But the reality is that the first tier of Big 10 teams are the teams who made the tourney last year and have most of their returning players coming back: 1. Md Turtles - really willing to do anything to get back to being a basketball power, 2. MSU, 3. IU - doesn't play defense, but should be one of the better offenses in the Big 10 or 14; 4. Purdue and their team of centers who miraculously appear and love W. Lafayette; Middle Tier - Teams 5-10 UW and Bo Ryan's last hurrah team before he retires, UM, OSU, Iowa, UofI and yes, NU, Bottom Tier: 11. Minny, 12. UNL, 13. PSU and 14. Rutgers. Now NU has the talent to beat anyone in the middle tier and some of the top tier teams at home. Considering the overall strength of the top 10 teams, I think it is a realistic possibility that 8 teams make the tourney and I see no reason why NU should not finish higher than UofI or Iowa with Aaron White and Ravonte Rice no longer at their respective schools. That being said the Big 10 is a gauntlet and it will be battle to finish with a 10-8 conference record but the talent is there and the ride will fun to watch.
 
We need to stay healthy

For the first time I can remember, NU can withstand the loss of any 1 player. Mac goes down? Demps and Ash pick up the slack. Olah? JVZ and DP. The depth throughout the team is unmatched by any NU team since I started following NU basketball 41 years ago.
 
For the first time I can remember, NU can withstand the loss of any 1 player. Mac goes down? Demps and Ash pick up the slack. Olah? JVZ and DP. The depth throughout the team is unmatched by any NU team since I started following NU basketball 41 years ago.
you started following NU BB 41 years ago? Wow. I just started when Shurna was a sophomore, immediately after I heard about Coble not wanting to go to Europe. I thank Shon Morris for getting me into NU BB and it's now my favorite sport at NU, and the one where I believe we have witnessed the most progress.
 
you started following NU BB 41 years ago? Wow. I just started when Shurna was a sophomore, immediately after I heard about Coble not wanting to go to Europe. I thank Shon Morris for getting me into NU BB and it's now my favorite sport at NU, and the one where I believe we have witnessed the most progress.
Yes, we have had lots of progress in basketball the past half dozen years or so, but then we had a LOT FARTHER TO GO in that sport. Hopefully, Chris Collins is the basketball version of Gary Barnett.
 
Yes, we have had lots of progress in basketball the past half dozen years or so, but then we had a LOT FARTHER TO GO in that sport. Hopefully, Chris Collins is the basketball version of Gary Barnett.

Sorry but what Barnett pulled off will dwarf anything Collins does until Chris wins the Big 10. NU has had more recent success in BB than NU football had pre-Barnett. Twenty win seasons under Carmody aren't exactly chopped liver. And the Stack/Aaron/Jenkins/Rathel/Goode 1983 team was also decent.
 
you started following NU BB 41 years ago? Wow. I just started when Shurna was a sophomore, immediately after I heard about Coble not wanting to go to Europe. I thank Shon Morris for getting me into NU BB and it's now my favorite sport at NU, and the one where I believe we have witnessed the most progress.

Yes, I was a freshman in 1974. My first weekend on campus I went to the NU-ND football game, with 50,000+ other people (they used to have bleachers from McGaw set up behind the north end zone). That was my introduction to Wildcat football. Greg Boykin from Kent Roosevelt was the best player. He was a load.
 
For the first time I can remember, NU can withstand the loss of any 1 player. Mac goes down? Demps and Ash pick up the slack. Olah? JVZ and DP. The depth throughout the team is unmatched by any NU team since I started following NU basketball 41 years ago.
That is actually a very significant and exciting statement. The ramification are huge not just for the big injuries that end a season but the one game injuries where the team doesn't take a loss because a guy sits out and perhaps bigger still the injuries that will never happen because the guys are not injuring themselves by playing fatigued. A lot of injuries come when a guy is playing at the ragged edge.
 
Yes, I was a freshman in 1974. My first weekend on campus I went to the NU-ND football game, with 50,000+ other people (they used to have bleachers from McGaw set up behind the north end zone). That was my introduction to Wildcat football. Greg Boykin from Kent Roosevelt was the best player. He was a load.

55,000 fans. Greg Boykin didn't play in that game because of injury. Jimmy Pooler was our tailback that year. In fact, our three best players (Boykin, Shaw, and Maly) were all lost for the 1974 season in a single preseason scrimmage. It was my first game as a player, or more properly, benchwarmer, at NU. I couldn't believe the players started punching out the ceiling panels in the wild scene in the locker room before taking the field for the kick-off. Do you remember it was 14-3 at halftime? Freshman Marty Szostak, in his first game as a starter, forced two fumbles that killed two first half ND drives. We should have saved some of that ceiling tile busting enthusiasm for the second half because they scored 5 TDs to win 49-3. My first loss as a player in over three years. My second loss ever. There were more to come.

Greg was a load. I probably lost a quarter of an inch in height trying to tackle him. One helmet to helmet collision I had with him on a dive play stands out as the hardest collision I ever had in football.

What dorm were you in freshman year?
 
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What dorm were you in freshman year?

Hinman House. In fact, I lived there all 4 undergrad years. Got a single on the 4th floor Junior year next to the sun deck between CCS, and on the second floor over the passage to Lindgren House Senior year. Hinman Friars played some good IM football (losing to Reggin in the playoffs one year) and indoor hockey.
 
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