It’s an adventure around the rim when our bigs get the ball. I think Buie would have another 50 plus career assists if he played with Pardon for a couple of seasons. It’s tough when you need to make sure your pass leads to an uncontested shot. Offense aside, our bigs need to rebound better. Nicholson should be good for 6 a game, even in limited minutes, with at least a couple of offensive rebounds. That’s the easiest way for him to get points. It was refreshing to see Hunger with a put back. He’s limited physically and a little undersized, but he has good footwork and nice moves around the basket. Preston fouled me while I was typing this.

Want good players? In this day and age, they will be paid. By NU or other schools.

I had a nice talk with Jacob Schmidt. I sent a general email with questions and he set up a call with me. It sounds like they are working hard and have had some success, but the playing field will continue to get more competitive. They do not yet have the "large donors" but are working on it. It is NU'S only official NIL.

To me, as "athletic supporters", this is the area of greatest need. The stadium will be built. The STH money and donations go to something other than players. The university has a 13B endowment.

Help TrueNU help the players

@lou v talked to UteNation publisher Alex Markham about Utah's season and what to expect in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Cool!

Nfm

The Wildcats dominated an inefficient Arizona State team that doesn't have a lot of size or try very hard.
I threw out the last minute and a half of garbage time.
I changed the name of the last column from "Net +/-" to "Game +/-" to reflect that the number is an estimate of how much each player contributed to the final margin of victory or defeat.


Berry had a very nice game, bouncing back from a couple of bad ones. Ryan Langborg would probably tell you "I played like crap." (1 for 9, 3 turnovers)
Boo Buie was subbed out 4 times for a total of 3 minutes and we got outscored 8 to 0. When Buie was in the game, NU toyed with ASU (63-36)
Jordan Clayton got in for one series, turning the ball over on offense and joining his teammates in giving up a 3 pointer. Collins immediately pulled him.
NU was not effective on offense for the third consecutive game when Matt Nicholson was at the 5.
When Preston was on the floor, both teams scored at a fast pace (17-14 over only 6+ minutes)
NU was +10 when Luke Hunger was on the court. He entered the game when it was 18-10 after 11 minutes.
With Barnhizer/Langborg/Berry/Buie, NU went on a 16-2 run over the next 6:30.

Of all the lineups Collins has used this season, the Nicholson/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Berry/Buie group has outscored our opponents 39-10 in about 15 minutes of action.
The lineup of Hunger/Barnhizer/Berry/Langborg/Buie is now up 62-30 after 28 minutes of play.

David Braun addressed the media and fielded questions for more than a half hour after locking in his first recruiting class as Northwestern head coach. Here are our takeaways from what he had to say.

Northwestern (8-2) hits the road for the first part of the "neutral site" series with Arizona State (6-4). The game will be played at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, next year's will be at the United Center.

Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 pm CT and the game will air on ESPN 2. There will not be postgame availability from Chris Collins or players.

David Braun addressed the media and fielded questions for more than a half hour after locking in his first recruiting class as Northwestern head coach. Here are our takeaways from what he had to say.

is starting to concern me a little bit. Nice all-around game but he has’t hit both free throws in a while. He’s 11 for 21 in his last 5 games. Weird. Hopefully a few extra days off will clear his head. He and Boo draw most of the fouls so we will need those points in close games. We were 4 for 9 today.

Will do my best to update with signees and their tape as they become official today, but might lag… busy “actual work” day for me today.

Timi Oke is the first signee of the day, aided tremendously by geography (kids can sign based on their local time):

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First State-side signee is Matthew Smith, the silent commit who makes it official. Still a weird process to me, but all’s well that ends well:

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Callen Campbell is in… big dude from Michigan, gonna face a large jump in competition:

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Next up is Braxton Strong, a one-time silent commit who actually decided to go public:

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Sean Martin joins the class, a late flip from Toledo who flashes good movement skills:

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Idrys Cotton sticks with his longtime NU commitment despite uncertainty swirling around his position coach and multiple other P5 opportunities:

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The Wildcats went down to the desert and ran away with a 65-46 win over Arizona State.

Voters just needed to see more from Martinelli before they were sure. Go Cats!

Four of Northwestern's last seven commits were silently committed to the Wildcats for three weeks or more before they announced their decision. @lou v talked to each of them about their process and the reasons to keep their decisions under the radar.

Here is our initial analysis of Northwestern's recruiting class and how it stacks up historically, geographically and by position.

At least the Fire Department likes us.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stori...ruck-in-northwestern-purple/?linkId=254861021

Reportedly 4 players have declared for the draft and 14 players are in the transfer portal. Coach Kyle Whittingham is interviewed saying, "We have so many guys in so many situations .. so many moving parts."

Transfer Portal headed quarterback Barnes is also interviewed confirming he will be playing and that he is "treating it like any other game."

Several starters that won't be playing are identified by name.

Here is a link:

From 5 Hours Ago

Martinelli and Langborg carried the team to an ugly win. Berry was deadweight for the 2nd straight game.

NU struggled to score when Nicholson was on the floor for the 2nd consecutive game.
To be exact, he and his teammates went 5 for 16 on 2 point attempts and 2 of 15 on 3 pointers.
16 points on 31 field goal attempts.
Because his teammates were shooting so badly, Nicholson was -3 for the game.
Those same teammates scored much more effectively when Preston was on the court.
So that creates a conundrum. Why have our shooters been so bad in the last two games when Nicholson is on the court?
The team overall played better with Preston in the game. No doubt about that..
NU made 6 of 7 from inside the arc and 5 of 15 from outside with Preston playing center.
27 points on 22 field goal attempts.

One thing I have noticed is that Nicholson is no longer the sole screener and he is also screening away from the ball this year - to try to get shooters open.
These were changes I suggested many times last year. All we did last year was have Nicholson running around setting ball screens, almost always for Buie.
Over and over and over. Very predictable.
The problem is - it seems to not be working... when Nicholson is on the floor, we struggle to do anything on the offensive end.
Buie can't get past the defender as easily, everybody is missing a lot of shots.
The pick and roll dunks for Nicholson are greatly reduced and he rarely gets the ball thrown into the post, unless its a lob off of penetration.

So its a problem that NU needs to solve.

He just de-committed from Oregon State, understandably. And his mom liked my reply telling him to come play for the ‘Cats. Does he still have a spot?

@lou v talked to Illinois recruiting guru @EdgyTim to get his read on Northwestern's 2024 QB commit, Ryan Boe.

I hope they come back sometime this season.

No. 25 Northwestern (7-2, 1-0 Big Ten) 'hits the road' to play DePaul (2-7) at Wintrust Arena today at 4:30 pm CT. The game will air on FS1.

The Wildcats still carry their 25th ranking for now as the next round of AP voting has not taken place since they lost to Chicago State.

Hey Gang,

This already came up in another thread, but just wanted to let anyone know who doesn't already that we will having a Las Vegas Bowl watch party at Beermiscuous at 2812 N Lincoln, right off of the Lincoln/Racine/Diversey intersection! Outside food is welcome, so feel free to bring snacks, holiday sweets etc with you if you come!

This venue is already pretty battle-tested as we had viewing parties for Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois there. We'll definitely be there by 6pm, hope to see some of you there!

Thanks,
Sam, John, and Scuzz/The West Lot Pirates