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Collins keeping Northwestern's eye on the ball for Ohio State

Northwestern hosted media availability for head coach Chris Collins and players Boo Buie and Matthew Nicholson ahead of their Saturday night matchup with Ohio State. Here are our takeaways from what they had to say:

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BASKETBALL Collins keeping Northwestern's eye on the ball for Ohio State

Northwestern hosted media availability for head coach Chris Collins and players Boo Buie and Matthew Nicholson ahead of their Saturday night matchup with Ohio State. Here are our takeaways from what they had to say:

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Jalen Brunson

Boo Buies college career got me thinking of a dominant college basketball player who people thought would just be a great college player and at most be a reserve/bench player in the pros of play in Europe. He did not jump the highest or was the quickest player but he knows how to use his body to make space when driving to the bucket and has become a good three point shooter and a star in New York for a team which could win the NBA title. Boo has some of these same attributes and I can certainly see him take a similar professional path. Both players are extremely well liked, somewhat poo pooed by the media and have great court vision.

Nicholson gets his own thread

Best game of the season - by far - for Nicholson, and a lot of us have been hard on him this year. It's not just that he put some crooked numbers in the box score, it's that a light switch seemed to go on to tell him he can go up for rebounds and be active all over the place. I really can't complain about him tonight. He was fantastic.

BASKETBALL Northwestern's conditioning

Collins has always rode his stars but the conditioning across the board from these guys this year is just astonishing. I'll keep plugging away and eventually get national or at least P6 numbers for you guys but even just in the Big Ten, Brooks Barnhizer (36.1) and Boo Buie (36) rank second and third in minutes per game.

They're only behind Dug McDaniel from Michigan (36.2), who was suspended for six away games and I expect that'll fall off as he plays more. Not to mention Ryan Langborg who is in eighth at 33.3 minutes per game.

NU is one of two teams in conference to play four guys 30+ minutes per game: Buie, Berry, Langborg, Barnhizer. The other is Michigan, the worst team in the league right now.

There's no one in the Big Ten winning the way Northwestern is right now, this is an unparalleled level of conditioning and stamina.

  • Poll
Collins: Stay or Go Criteria

What finish to the season should get Collins fired?

  • Collins should always be fired short of winning the Big Ten Tournament or a miracle NCAA run

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • Collins she be fired unless the team makes the NCAA

    Votes: 11 11.8%
  • If this team is on the NCAA bubble and a high NIT, Collins can be retained

    Votes: 12 12.9%
  • Collins should be retained if the team makes the NIT

    Votes: 15 16.1%
  • Collins should be kept if they win another couple games but still miss the NIT

    Votes: 18 19.4%
  • Collins should not be fired this year at all

    Votes: 36 38.7%

Thought I’d redirect our discussion on this from some other threads and see where the group is at given the little mini-streak here. Where does everybody stand on Collins given the final season result?

Lujan and Co

I know this has been brought up in several posts, but it’s now been two weeks since we supposedly hired Lujan as OC. Is NU simply not going to announce the coaching changes (both departures and arrivals) and we‘ll magically have new coaches appear at spring practice? The absence of communication regarding the coordinators (the most important coaches after the head coach) is bizarre at best.

Refs

First off that win was awesome!

I need to rant though as going into OT I believe the foul differential was 22-9 and Buie was getting manhandled on every drive and cut. I watch a ton of Colorado State hoops too because a family connection and I can say without a doubt the B1G refs are truly awful. They don’t call a fair game and it was unbelievably evident again tonight. We would have won without OT if it wasn’t 5-8. I don’t get it and how change never happen. End rant.

CCC and staff.

Loved what they did today. CCC outcoached ole Undie. Hawkins got his, but I thought putting the small guys on him was the right move. Isolating Boo on Domsak or Goode was awesome. Those two had no chance to stop Boo. Inserting Big Matt and not expecting him to hang out at the line guarding Hawkins freed up Matt to help down low. Coverage at the three was much better. Barney guarded well and Ty stayed with TSJ when he had to. The 🧙 had them switching at the right time. At any rate, there was A LOT of adjustments from the debacle in Rantoul. There were plenty of well designed in bounds plays and the weave with Matt getting in the way opened up the driving lanes. Didn’t just roll out the same game plan and hope we executed better. Good job.

Transfer Portal

Now that we are having a little sustained success, I am hoping that we may be an attractive spot for guys that we recruited that chose other schools. Christie’s brother chose Minnesota at the start of last season when things looked grim for Collins and the program. Gonzaga is obviously at a different level than our program but Braden Huff may get homesick. I am sure there are other players that we recruited who are looking at the program differently. Transfer portal could be our friend for some of those guys who aren’t completely happy at their current schools. And they have already gotten through admissions. Our big wins are national news and the game day atmosphere is night and day from when they were being recruited. Of course, NIL will likely be a factor so who knows.

FB RECRUITING Braun visits 2025 Loyola Academy prospect

Per Edgy's story, head coach David Braun and an unnamed linebackers coach (Vokolek, maybe?) visited nearby Loyola Academy to check out S/LB Donovan Robinson yesterday.

Here's the link:

FB RECRUITING 2025 QB on NU's radar

Here's someone to keep an eye on, per today's Recruiting Rumor Mill:

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The three-star quarterback from St. Louis (Mo.) De Smet loved his time at Missouri over the weekend and seeing the vision for the future from coach Eli Drinkwitz, position coach Kirby Moore and others. Missouri is definitely one of the teams to watch but it also feels early for Duff.

He’s planning to narrow down his list more by the spring and Nebraska, Kansas State, Kentucky, Illinois, Northwestern and others are reaching out as well.

Story:

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