SOURCE: RYAN YOUNG COMMITS TO NU
- Thread starter lou v
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I even knew Rohr slightly, as I was doing occasional part-time tutoring duty for the athletic dept in '58-'59 and a couple of times he signed my time sheet. As a person he seemed to be a class act and as a coach he certainly recruited some talent. Ruklick (sp?), Jones, Mantis, et al.
There was a 7-footer named McCoy from Indiana whom Rohr had recruited along with a high-school buddy named Stavreti (sp?). Frosh were of course ineligible then for varsity play, but McCoy showed much promise. The two buddies took a spring break down to Miami in their freshman year -- and never came back. Their stuff had to be packed and shipped from the dorm (I had part of that duty), and Rohr was not pleased. In its way, their departure was a precursor of transfers such as Walters later that damaged the program.
I believe Rohr was regarded about as highly as Parseghian (again, sp?) in Big 10 coaching circles at the time.
There was a 7-footer named McCoy from Indiana whom Rohr had recruited along with a high-school buddy named Stavreti (sp?). Frosh were of course ineligible then for varsity play, but McCoy showed much promise. The two buddies took a spring break down to Miami in their freshman year -- and never came back. Their stuff had to be packed and shipped from the dorm (I had part of that duty), and Rohr was not pleased. In its way, their departure was a precursor of transfers such as Walters later that damaged the program.
I believe Rohr was regarded about as highly as Parseghian (again, sp?) in Big 10 coaching circles at the time.
I also feel that Rohr and Parsegian(?) were two of the best coaches in NU history. Still have a program when the Wildcats played Kansas and a guy named Wilt Chamberlain at McGaw Hall on 12/7/1957. That team included Ruklick, Mantis, Jones, Campbell and Johnson and gave Kansas a battle down to the wire, before a standing room only crowd of around 10,000. Ah, memories.
After following those teams from small town Illinois, I arrived in Northwestern hoping for 5 years of excitement. And I found a great shot maker waiting for my enjoyment: Walt Tiberi, on the floor at the same time as Bill Woislaw. Then it was that slick wizard Rick LoPossa. Then it was Rich Falk followed by Jim Pitts and Don Jackson from Chicago Marshall High. All in the same 5 years.
The Wildcats were competitive and sometimes promised much more. I remember the excitement when Larry Glass and Jim Bragiel enticed Ron Kozlicki of Palatine to be a Wildcat.
So I don't understand the disdain for that period in a recent post?
Are you sure about Walt Tiberi.. He graduated in 1967. I played baseball with him that year.
So Tiberi was class of '67...I was wondering about that. Then my memory fails on the identity of the small in height but always attacking guard who was on the floor when I arrived in the fall of 1960?
ESPN now rates Ryan Young a 3 star and only a few centers lower than Lukas Kisunas who Verbal Recruits says has a NU offer
I just don't see how Young is rated where he is relative to Riley Battin. Young has got much better length and seemingly equal skills and shooting touch.
As long as he is four stars in the eyes of NU coaches, that's good enough for me.
Wouldn't that mean he was on the West coast? Not sure that does us any good
So maybe some of these sorts of posts are tongue-in-cheek, but it seems like we're getting a lot of people incorrectly assuming that every commit is exactly what Collins wants and needs.
It might be that Collins loves this guy. I really hope so. But it might also be that Collins considers him to be the best of several not-so-great big man options. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between. The reality is that we don't know.
I suppose that the rah-rah stuff can be nice, but it kind of obscures rational discussion...
Welcome to Homerville. You'll soon be insulted for making a perfectly reasonable point that makes some folks of the hyper-rah-rah variety unhappy. Recruiting rankings of current recruits magically rise and recruiting rankings of players from past regimes magically sink. It's a curious thing. At tiems with a smattering of selective amnesia.
I was in a state of suspended animation at the top of Carmody's 1-3-1 zone defense the last four years, so I missed it. My only information about it came from this board, so as far as I know, the team went to the Final Four. That deserves something better than "a heck of a." Use your imagination. I can only surmise that former breakthrough, break-your-ankles recruit Johnny Vassar had a lot to do with this run. I remember a few years back...man...that guy sure was hyped here.
Work that nasty wedge out of your shoulder. You can do this, cometclear!! Free yourself...
I thought the nasty wedgie was what they gave Vassar each day after he cleaned the toilets at the arena as his punishment for not transferring?
So let me get this straight, deluded trolls are taking shots at the 'cats after their most successful, history-making season. And it a great time to ridicule the program after NU has its most successful season and its five top scorers are back and they are bringing back two 4-star forwards and a slashing two guard who all fill voids on last year's team. Oh, let's take a shot by bringing up Collin's only recruiting error who is so damaged by his time at NU he is getting a four year free education at NU worth north of $300 K. Too funny! LOL!
Pretty sad, huh? Doesn't mean we can't enjoy the current success though! Go 'cats!!
Correction: I'm poking fun at fans who rewrite history and serially exaggerate. Collins and the team did a great job last year. The fans I most enjoy reading are the ones with some degree of objectivity and ability to be critical of their teams. That doesn't make them lesser fans. It makes them thinking individuals. As such, their analysis is more interesting and informative. On the other hand, some folks prefer the "rah-rah" cheerleader routine.
BTW, and you can look this up, I wrote positive things about Young before he committed. I specifically wrote that as a 4th or 5th recruit in a class for a program like NU, I like him quite a bit. That's eons from claiming that he was the "perfect guy" for Collins in this situation. But that's what you get when you value "rah-rah" over intelligent analysis.
I like to focus on the development and maturation of Lindsey, Law, McIntosh and Skelly have had over three years at NU. That is what hard work by the players and coaches creates. But you focus on the irrelevant points and try to alibi your biased perspective to the most successful NU team in its history. Focus on the fact that NU did not come back and beat the NCAA runner-up. Focus on the number of seats in the arena, grad transfers or that there are playing the season at RH. Let's not focus on the players and NU's most talented, deep and athletic group of players in its history. There is still work to do, but don't enjoy the upward trajectory of the program. That would be too easy. Harken back to a time when going under .500 in conference and making the vaunted NIT was our ceiling. Such great times! Being objective is not continuing to bring up a guy offered a free scholarship who did not pan out. Too bad those posters are too naive and clueless that that happens with every school from a power conference every season. Too funny!
And one publication just placed us at 2nd in the Big Ten!!! Yeah, nothing to be excited and "rah rah" about. Shame on us.
Reality is that this is an amazing time to be an NU basketball fan.
I don't understand what the problem is about being "rah-rah" about NU basketball on a message board that is, get this, dedicated to NU basketball. Losers focus on the negative. Johnny Vasser ain't walking through that door - get over it. Being rah-rah is not mutually exclusive with intelligent, critical analysis either. But given a choice, it always feels better to be positive than negative. Losers dwell in the past. NU basketball is a good place to be right now. Enjoy it.
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