I have long held (with significant board opposition) that we were very close to being a solid BIG10 team and were actually improving over those down years after our first tourney. Virtually every one of our games was very competitive and close up to the end. (This was unlike many, many years of our NU history). What was frustrating to me was watching us lose close games. Nance and Kopp and Beran and early Boo just could not get it done in the clutch. More recently, with later Boo especially, we won a lot more of those. Did Lowery have something to do with our recently winning more close games? Likely some, as his defensive coaching prowess made us even more competitive than we would have otherwise been. But I do not believe he was the main reason we won more close games. And I don’t believe Collins is that much better of a close-game coach. The players win those games in virtually all cases. Boo, and the on-court implications of having him be such a difference-maker, won those games for us. We don’t have Boo now, but we have some experienced players that I think can be clutch for us. But it will be a dog fight for every game and we will be an underdog, just like it has been every year Collins has been our coach (to his credit). Go Cats!
