My story.

Kolin Wilson out of Gulf Shores, AL.

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Shelled out a heck of a lot of money to watch a blowout so might as well get my money’s worth and post my thoughts from up close.

— UConn’s guards were absolutely dialed in to disrupting Boo. I’ve rarely seen such consistent intensity from any team. It’s like they were challenged to completely neutralize him… and they did. Unfortunate for this to be his final game in purple.
— Clingan is next-level. More dynamic than Edey, though without the same level of touch around the rim. I thought CCC’s approach to attack him early was interesting but ultimately didn’t work.
— Barnhizer being injured makes sense. He was visibly gimpy. That said he clearly was able to make shots in the second half, which actually makes his first half somehow more brutal.
— Langborg should have had his number called more. Dude is automatic and I’ll miss his sweet stroke and confidence next year. That said UConn is just long and fast and clearly made it a priority to take him out of the game.
— Something no one is talking about: UConn was a fairly miserable 3-of-22 from 3. Can you imagine if they had even an average night? Scary.
— I’ve said this in another thread but don’t blame the refs. Did they let them play? Of course. But that’s the deal if you get down 40-18 at the half.
— Great NU turnout. On to reloading next year and not getting the 8-9 line. GO CATS.

I threw out the last 1:30 after Buie left the court for the final time as a Wildcat.
Mostly grim statistically, but interesting subtexts...


Our starting lineup got buried in this game. 33-12 to be exact. In 11.5 minutes.
It wasn't that bad when Preston was in for Hunger with the other 4 starters.
It was still bad, though. 16-9 deficit in 7.5 minutes.

Ryan Langborg played well on the offensive end of the court. He was the best Wildcat statistically.
His raw +/- of -24 jumps off the screen, however, along with Martinelli's -23.
It is difficult to know who was getting torched the most on the defensive end.

Collins replaced Martinelli with Mullins with 9:41 to play, Cats trailing 62-37.
That group then put up a 19-10 "win" over the next 8 minutes, making the final score less frightening.

A few thoughts... after Ty Berry was injured, Blake Smith began to get playing time and Nick Martinelli was suddenly playing 35+ minutes a game.
Martinelli's performance declined - almost certainly due to fatigue. His last two games against Wisconsin and FAU were not good.
On the other hand, when Blake Smith was on the court, NU played surprisingly well.
Ryan Langborg missed a few games due to injury but otherwise really stepped up his performance.

In Ty Berry's absence, the lineup that had really been successful had been
Buie/Barnhizer/Langborg/SMITH/ with either Hunger or Preston.
They had posted a 42-17 advantage in about 15.5 minutes thru the FAU game.
Unfortunately, that lineup never saw the court against UConn.
Smith's minutes were all in relief of Langborg and Barnhizer.
In a game where we really got crushed, the lineup of Hunger/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Smith/Buie put up a 12-4 victory in 2 segments totaling 6:40.

All of that leads me to the conclusion that were were somewhat defenseless when Martinelli and Langborg were in the game together.
We got outscored 56-25 in 23 minutes.

Regardless, losing to UConn is no embarrassment. It was a very good year that could have been much more had we been able to stay healthy.
Sorry to see Buie go out on a sour note, but thats how it goes - you tend to lose when your best player has a bad night.

Thanks to all who have read these "+/-" discussions this season. I've enjoyed looking at the team thru this lens.

Would provide some much needed IOL depth. Davidson grad transfer Gilbert Deglau. Originally from Richmond, VA

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Cats offer Overland Park, KS OL Brock Heath.

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Would love to know what was said to Barney by CCC when he came out. Unlike boo Collins shielded his mouth.

Just curious.

My strategy this year is to plant weeds, and let the grass take over.

Rick Pitino and Tom Izzo made it pretty clear how they feel.
Clemson's coach Brad Brownell went public in February with accusations that the Big 12 was gaming the NET by scheduling weak opponents in order to blow them out.
His team then dominated puffed-up NET darling Baylor in the NCAA tournament.
Major props to Brownell who 100% exposed the silliness and then backed it up on the court.
And of course NET darlings Mountain West, SEC and Big 12 have generally gotten their clocks cleaned in postseason play,
while NET deadbeats ACC, Big East and Pac 12 are pummeling teams the "experts" thought were good.

The NCAA needs to look at itself in the mirror. They clearly have no handle on things - and the metrics they rely upon are just a smokescreen with no genuine added value.
Somebody needs to intervene!

As I suggested long before the tournament started, a little common sense would help. Take the Top 3 teams from each of the major conferences automatically. If there is a tie, let the conferences themselves set the tiebreakers. The regular season has to count for something. Keep the conference tournaments. If the 6th place team wins it, then the 3rd place team loses its automatic bid. The penalty is confined to the conference, not used as an excuse to kick out a quality mid-major like Indiana State.

If some conferences deserve at least 4 teams, okay. Just spell out before the season begins that the Big Ten, ACC, Big East and SEC get 4 teams automatically.
The Mountain West gets 3. The Pac 12 gets 3. The Atlantic 10, West Coast and the American get 2.
Just spell it out - based on the previous season. Be transparent! Reward conference wins and losses. Make the conference games matter a lot!
Do not incentivize teams to schedule weak opponents and blow them out. Do not penalize teams severely for losses in the non-conference.

So thats 32 conference tournament winners plus 3 more from the 4 top conferences, plus 2 more from 2 conferences, plus 1 more from 3 conferences.
Total of 51 automatic bids. Every automatic qualifier deserves their bid. No whining about "bid-stealers."
Then (and only then) does the NCAA get to start selecting 17 at-large teams, with their flawed metrics.
Give them something to do... but stop the charade.

Using this approach, Houston, Iowa State, Tennessee, Alabama, Duke, UConn, Marquette, Creighton, Purdue, Illinois, NC State, Arizona, Gonzaga would have all automatically qualified.
Thats 13 of the Sweet 16.
Alabama would have been in a tiebreaker with South Carolina for the 4th SEC spot, but an obvious "at-large" candidate.
Clemson would not have qualified automatically, having finished 11-9, in a 3 way tie for 5th in the ACC.
San Diego State would not have automatically qualified, having finished 5th in the Mountain West.

Seton Hall would have received an automatic bid. Pitt's automatic bid for finishing 4th would have gone to NC State.

Thanks for reading. If the NCAA adopts this approach the world will be a happier place.

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“A Northwestern football offer is a huge deal. It's like getting recognition for all the hard work and dedication I’ve put in. It's not just about playing the game; it's also about being able to provide for my family one day and hopefully continuing my playing career at a higher stage.”

“It's also about the academic prestige of Northwestern, the chance to grow both on and off the field. Getting a degree from Northwestern could open up many opportunities for years to come.”

Wilson is an exceptional back with contact balance, vision and unselfishness.

Yes... over a month ago. Without a serviceable defensive big man there is really no hope.

Great Boo editorial today....

I can’t seem to find it anywhere and I’d like to record for those lonely nights 😂. Anyone have any idea when it is being replayed? I can’t find anything.

No time to lick their wounds after Friday's loss.

My story.

Sprinkle hire

Small personal connection: When I was a sportswriter for the Billings Gazette, Danny's dad, Bill, made a coaching stop at one of the local high schools and I got to know Bill. Also, later on when I wandered into the tech world, a young lady came up to me one day and introduced herself as Lacey Sprinkle, now Lacey Gallik, daughter of Bill and brother of Danny. She knew of me from my sportswriting days.

Should be interesting now that Washington is in the Big whatever. My wife and I plan to drive to Seattle in September to watch the Wildcats take on the Huskies in their league debut. We may want to catch a flight that way in winter to see how Danny does against CC.

My one real gripe about tonight is we did not take the air out of the ball and limit possessions.

I said it to the guy next to me… why are we not shooting under 10 seconds every time? Similar to Carmody’s game plan in games against super talented teams.

Would we have won if we did? Probably not because UConn is so talented but Chris not adjusting our style of play when we played an Uber talented “run and gun” team was a major coaching blunder. (And I admit I was wrong on him… he’s a great coach.)

Any updates on spring football practice.

Thank you Boo and well done Coach Collins.

This is just the beginning. Go Cats.

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I mean, maybe this is rationalization ... but to me, I think it's really a great reflection of where we are / can be as a program.

The national perspective about us last night -- certainly wasn't that we were overmatched, lucky, happy to be there, out of our element, a dream season etc.

It was this - a great program, great culture, a bit shorthanded, that played a bad half ... then showed what kind of program we were by how we played in the second half. That injuries kept us from being a potential Sweet 16 team. Certainly Coach Hurley's comments didn't hurt. Neither did beating Purdue, Illinois, Dayton, and Florida Atlantic, as well as Nebraska and Michigan State. We were a really good team that played 1 bad half. Not because we were scared, but because good teams can play a bad half against a tough opponent. (See Kansas, for example.)

But it's a really important national perspective to have that this isn't a 1 year flash in the pan. Only 14 of 362 programs have won first round games in both of the last two seasons. They've built something on the court - and all of you fans who live in the area have created a unique home court advantage.

We certainly lost but they were beyond awful. We’ve had bad officials all year but this was an abortion. UConn was able to get away with an insane number of fouls that go uncalled and we breathe heavy and it gets called. Disgusting.

UCONN is clearly very good, but we did ourselves no favors playing pretty poorly.

Nothing to lose second half, bombs away.

Northwestern's season came to a close with a 75-58 loss to No. 1 UConn. Here are our takeaways from tonight's game.