Right now, this team’s on the bubble. They’re not in yet, and every win in the B1G matters a lot. These aren’t going to be easy games, and each one builds your tournament resume. The reality is, there’s a big gap between the 7 guys getting minutes and the ones not seeing the floor. It's a steep drop this year, and we've got to be honest about that.
Now, with the week off between games, TV timeouts, and halftime, you’ve got plenty of time to rest and recover. That’s your opportunity to push the heavy-minute guys harder in games. This team, specifically Barnhizer, Berry, and Matt, lost valuable offseason time due to injuries. They need to gel, and that’s something the heavy minutes can help with. It gets them more comfortable and in sync. The B1G is tough, and we’re going to need those guys to play big minutes and play well if we’re going to compete.
There’s not much development happening for the end of the bench during garbage time. When the game’s already decided and you’re out there with other bench players, you’re not getting better. That’s not how growth happens. Growth happens in practice, and it happens in the offseason. If you’re redshirting or not getting significant minutes, your focus has to be on getting better in practice. That’s the time to develop, to push yourself without worrying about staying fresh for the minutes you’re playing in games.
The freshmen? They’ve flashed some talent, but from what I’ve seen, they’re not ready to contribute at a high level at this point in the season. And that’s okay, they’ve got time. What can be done is to work them hard in practice, develop them for the future. This season is about the core 7 guys getting those wins. That’s how NU is going to make it.
Look, I’m not going to question the coaching of the best coach to ever do it at NU. But we’ve got to understand where we are right now. Get the wins with the guys who are ready, develop the others in practice, and make sure we’re putting everything we’ve got into each B1G game. That’s how NU goes dancing again.
