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GatoLouco said:

Benson or Rap can be argued they would have strenghtned our team had they stayed.

They did not set the world on fire, it was in a mid major environment, but they would have helped.

Don't think they fit the "really really" wish they had stayed though.

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During the Collins era, I always wondered "what-if" for Rapolas Ivanauskas as he had a compelling tool-set (and embodied Collins' affinity for stretch bigs). Even though he was a key player at Colgate, he was "a guy" against kenpom Tier A+B teams - in 6 games in '19 (NCAA-bound Red Raiders Squad), he had a 84.3 ORTG, 3.9%OREB, 18.2% DREB, 17-41/41.5% 2FG, 4-14/28.6 3FG. For perspective, 'Cats played 21 of 34 games last year vs Tier A+B teams, so in essence analogous to a B1G schedule.

He closed his D1 career playing 16.3% Min for Cincinnati, which was kp113 rated, and mid-tier in the American Athletic Conference - and he actually left the squad to play pro ball in Lithuania during that season. Which was understandable as I believe behind the scenes was tumultuous that season.

Maybe if we go alt-universe and pulled the grad transfer after 4 healthy years at Colgate, he may have been a solid contributor? -A notch above Tydus? He remains a pro in Lithuania, so it verifies he's got some chops.

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Huge get over top competition.

Really good to see the NU hoops recruiters close top recruits that can go anywhere.

Who's next?

Welcome, CB!

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He played more last year for a mediocre Notre Dame team in transition with a new coach, but it looks like they have recruited over him.

PurpleWhiteBoy said:

I have to admit I was wrong about Roper. Thought he was going to be a big loss.
Had the talent, but I guess the desire isn't there... or Shrewsberry has a bunch or good players.
Looking back though, Collins gave him lots of minutes as a freshman, but Roper made little to no progress his sophomore season.
He, like others, wanted to get up and down the court.

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He was injured a lot and that set him back and allowed other guys to step up. He would have played at the end of last year!

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One can become a pretty good hoops defender solely on the basis of smarts and effort (think Boo, Brooks, Berry). Add physical talent to that, and you have all-conference defensive capabilities (think Chase Audige, hopefully Angelo C someday).

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I have to admit I was wrong about Roper. Thought he was going to be a big loss.
Had the talent, but I guess the desire isn't there... or Shrewsberry has a bunch or good players.
Looking back though, Collins gave him lots of minutes as a freshman, but Roper made little to no progress his sophomore season.
He, like others, wanted to get up and down the court.

Yeah, if they are the best NU has lost, that's pretty good. I know we thought the sky was falling when Young and Nance left, and they were ok for their new teams, but NU got better after they left so we didn't feel that pain. I know I was worried about losing Boo and Barnhizer and have been happy to see they made it to their last years.

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Katatonic and Hkjb:

Your comments are insightful and fair. Enjoyed reading them.
It helps with my sanity.

Winners are guys who play hard, work hard and lead by example. They put in extra time trying to be the best they can be. They rejoice when teammates do well. They don't care as much about their stat line as they care about winning. They don't seek to demean their opponent - just defeat him.

A lot of good players do not fit that mold. Ty Berry, Nick Martinelli and Brooks Barnhizer definitely fit that mold. Other guys are not as committed or intense.

This year's team looks to have a very tight core. That tends to lead to success, especially in tight games.

Its a natural byproduct of identifying and recruiting "winners."

Benson or Rap can be argued they would have strenghtned our team had they stayed.

They did not set the world on fire, it was in a mid major environment, but they would have helped.

Don't think they fit the "really really" wish they had stayed though.

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lou v said:

As I explained in the story, Rivals has only ranked two of Northwestern's five commits -- West and Gill, who are both three-stars. That's why the class is in the 50s in the team rankings. Rivals doesn't have a national basketball analyst right now, so they are WAY behind in ranking players.

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It's possible that we have overrated Bennerman, Kropp, and Singleton, but if they have no ratings at all, of course the ranking is going to suck. I like the 247 ratings much better (#10 when I looked yesterday).

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IdahoAlum said:

It’s a technicality, but the NCAA did away with NLIs and the players will be signing financial aid agreements.

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That's like the difference between the "two minute warning" in the NFL and the "two minute timeout" in NCAA football. There's no practical difference except it gives us obnoxious pedants a chance to point out technicalities.