PurpleWhiteBoy said:

If I'm Clayton, I stay at NU.
Assuming he can handle the academics, he'd be foolish to leave - unless an Ivy came calling.
I'm assuming our coaches wouldn't make him suffer for staying.
After all, we made a commitment.

Don't worry though, the NCAA is adding two more scholarships in 2025 in its unrelenting quest to destroy the mid-majors and below.

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I really can't agree with this. Players want to play, and many other universities offer excellent academic opportunities. We've been critical in the past of players' transferring to schools that don't have the academic chops of NU. Obviously, I know nothing about Clayton personally, and I have no doubt that he's a fine young man, but who would want to stick around for 3 more years to ride the pine? In my mind, the only players who would do that are those who have come to grips with the fact that they are not going to become good college basketball players.

NJCat said:

16 other offers, mainly in the northeast, plus one from Cal. Visited UMass, BU and Rhode Island. He wasn't a bad prospect, just didn't pan out for NU.

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Thanks.

Interesting thought on Clayton taking a redshirt. I suppose that is possible.

Purple Pile Driver said:

I didn’t see Clayton looking disinterested at all. In fact, when Barkley scored he went wild. Same with Fitz and even Angelo. Had a bias towards the bench players, maybe, but certainly not disinterested.

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Unless he really hates/resents Northwestern (and I have no reason to believe that), I don't know how anybody in his position could watch that game and be disinterested. A front-row seat to watch your brothers slaughter another team? That would be super fun. I didn't see anything unusual about how he reacted or didn't react, but then again I don't usually watch the guys on the bench.

Admittedly, I never strapped it on, so I don't know what goes through a guy's head when he's on the bench and thinks he might be better (or even thinks he might be worse) than his teammates on the floor. That could do a number on you, to be sure.

Dove into some analytics sites - mostly told the obvious (Martinelli definitely the best player on the floor last night, NU completely overmatching Lehigh, Fitzmorris played the worst of the guys that got at least a few minutes) but I think the thing that stood out to me was how good Leach was on defense. Folks have alluded to his size and athleticism on this thread and if he can be an impact defender for us this year that is going to be huge.

PurpleWhiteBoy said:

Collins confused me a few weeks ago by saying some positive things about Clayton and the progress he'd made in the offseason.
He made it sound like Clayton was the #3 guard - or at least that was my fear.

Yesterday Clayton looked disinterested sitting on the bench (I was directly across) and either he's in the doghouse or Collins was just being nice to a guy he's given up on.

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I didn’t see Clayton looking disinterested at all. In fact, when Barkley scored he went wild. Same with Fitz and even Angelo. Had a bias towards the bench players, maybe, but certainly not disinterested.

No Chores said:

Given the 2025 class, and the 2024 freshmen, it's tough to imagine Clayton having any interest in sticking around. The only way that Clayton is going to see much, if any, playing time, is if we have a couple of injuries, and there is really no future in sitting and waiting for injuries. He's much better off if he moves on and gets out of the Big Ten. I suspect that the decision has already been made by Clayton and Collins based on the opening game. Did Clayton have other offers out of high school? Too lazy to look it up.

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I hear what you're saying and I believe it will largely be about how he and Collins talk about it, and what Collins tells him. The most obvious path for him forward was getting good enough to win minutes on the floor. If Collins doesn't think he got that done in the off season and tells him that, I can see Clayton red shirting the season to save that year of eligibility. If this is the case, riding the pine for an entire season when everyone knows he's leaving will be a true test of Clayton's character.

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TheC said:

Two-way guys are on the active roster some nights. They often come sit on the bench for games if they aren't playing in their G League game. I think we can say he's made it to The Show.

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Totally fair

There's just a much smaller margin for error in games for football as there just a handful of games played for the entire season. Lose 6 or 7 conference games in basketball and you're still in the race for the tourney. That many losses in football and you're Purdue.

NJCat said:

You mean they wouldn't Vassar him?

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Even if he's super stubborn, I would hope Collins learned from that experience and figured out a better way to do it since then.

AdamOnFirst said:

Well not yet, right now he's like a AAA guy who got added to the 40 man but is getting paid a half million dollars instead of $80k.

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Two-way guys are on the active roster some nights. They often come sit on the bench for games if they aren't playing in their G League game. I think we can say he's made it to The Show.

PurpleWhiteBoy said:

I'm assuming our coaches wouldn't make him suffer for staying.
After all, we made a commitment.

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You mean they wouldn't Vassar him?

PurpleWhiteBoy said:

I assume you mean 2023? 2024 is going to be good.

Parker Strauss did not play for UC-Riverside against Oregon. 10 guys saw the court for his team. Not sure if he is injured.
As a reformed critic of the reformed Chris Collins, that 2023 class is not his. It belongs to Gragg.
Its an outlier for Collins and it was Gragg's fault.
(But the old Collins still owns those minutes when Barnhizer was watching Casey Simmons play.)
Barkley seems like he should be able to contribute. He is not afraid.
Clayton? The +/- stats were flashing red very early last season.
Those numbers really haven't been wrong yet.

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You repeatedly say this but Barnhizer had a broken foot his 1st year. He was not fully heathy his first year.

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That matchup with osu soon for indy will be worth tuning into for sure. Cignetti will be coy national without a doubt if they make it to playoff. If army makes it they play nd I think their coach could have an argument too

No Chores said:

Given the 2025 class, and the 2024 freshmen, it's tough to imagine Clayton having any interest in sticking around. The only way that Clayton is going to see much, if any, playing time, is if we have a couple of injuries, and there is really no future in sitting and waiting for injuries. He's much better off if he moves on and gets out of the Big Ten. I suspect that the decision has already been made by Clayton and Collins based on the opening game. Did Clayton have other offers out of high school? Too lazy to look it up.

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If I'm Clayton, I stay at NU.
Assuming he can handle the academics, he'd be foolish to leave - unless an Ivy came calling.
I'm assuming our coaches wouldn't make him suffer for staying.
After all, we made a commitment.

Don't worry though, the NCAA is adding two more scholarships in 2025 in its unrelenting quest to destroy the mid-majors and below.

No Chores said:

Did Clayton have other offers out of high school? Too lazy to look it up.

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16 other offers, mainly in the northeast, plus one from Cal. Visited UMass, BU and Rhode Island. He wasn't a bad prospect, just didn't pan out for NU.

EagerFan said:

My understanding is that Clayton was supposed to red shirt last year, but got called up in the wake of the injuries. It seems reasonable that Collins may want him to red shirt this year instead, and we'll see how Clayton feels about that.

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Given the 2025 class, and the 2024 freshmen, it's tough to imagine Clayton having any interest in sticking around. The only way that Clayton is going to see much, if any, playing time, is if we have a couple of injuries, and there is really no future in sitting and waiting for injuries. He's much better off if he moves on and gets out of the Big Ten. I suspect that the decision has already been made by Clayton and Collins based on the opening game. Did Clayton have other offers out of high school? Too lazy to look it up.

"a sterling five years at Northwestern. "

More like a sterling two years, but glad he is on the road to the NBA.

Well, that money is nice for him. But at least he's staying at the nice hotels with room service and all the women in New York have long legs and brains.

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Zed Key is still around? He must be like 40 at this point. Well, I guess if you're too old for the NBA, you might as well play another year of college ball.

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