Because you're dying to read them.... my thoughts on the Cats

[TheC]

So, I finally got a chance to watch a whole game from the 2021-2022 version of NU men's hoopsters. Here are some impressions:

1) Nance is a delight to watch this year. So glad to see him coming into his own. He is poised, confident and playing with a sense of urgency. He is the clear star of this team. I hope he can keep it up when the competition gets rougher and teams start keying on him. Athletic shot blocker with three-point range? I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some serious looks in next summer's draft.

2) While I understand the frustration around here with Beran, I also see why CCC keeps sticking with him. Beran clearly has the tools to be the second best player on this team and I am fine with CCC giving him every chance to get there. He is pretty smooth for someone his size. He can finish at the rim and also has true 3-point range. I realize he can disappear at times, but one of these days this season, he's going to have a breakout 20+ point night and hopefully take off. He looks the part to me. I'm certainly rooting for him.

3) How in the heck did Ryan Young score 20 points? All night, I watched him catch the ball wide open under the basket and wait 5 seconds before doing anything. He then appeared to fumble around with the ball and miss a bunch of layups. Then, I looked at the numbers and realized he only missed one or two shots all night and had 20 points!!! The kid is unexplainable.

4) I like Casey Simmons. I think this kid is going to end up an impact player this season. He still looks a little timid and sometimes lost, but that is to be expected in November. But he also has a fluidity to him and the way he stroked his two three-pointers last night got me juiced! I see him also having a breakout game at some point this season. Next year, he will be one of our stars - you heard it here first!

5) Ah..... Boo..... that was a rough night. He just looked out of sync. Hoping that was an anomaly. He hadn't been turning the ball over too much this season, I thought. But last night.... yikes! He still clearly is the engine of this team. I wish he could finish those drives and floaters though. What I don't understand is why he never ended some of those drives by just lobbing it up to Nance or Simmons or Beran. There were a few plays where it looked like he had drawn all the defense in the paint and had an easy lob to a big man, but he forced the floating shot instead. Hopefully, he was watching closely from the bench and learned a thing or two from Dixon III and...

6) Nicholson!!! SLAM!!!!! That was fun to watch!! That had to be great for the kid's confidence. He demonstrated some athleticism for sure. Those were manly dunks!! Of course, as exciting as those plays were, he also showed why he's mired on CCC's bench. He seemed to struggle to get any kind of inside position on the smaller FDU players. And the struggles he had getting the defensive rebound outleted to his guard was rather sad. He's got a ways to go and I don't see him getting anything more than mop-up time this season, but if he can keep developing, he might be a valuable piece in a year or two.

So... good win. At times, it looked like the team still struggled to score - especially with the second unit out there. I worry a little about BIG play with this offense, but guys will get better I'm sure. We'll learn an awful lot in the next few games.

 

[GatoLouco]

2) While I understand the frustration around here with Beran, I also see why CCC keeps sticking with him. Beran clearly has the tools to be the second best player on this team and I am fine with CCC giving him every chance to get there. He is pretty smooth for someone his size. He can finish at the rim and also has true 3-point range. I realize he can disappear at times, but one of these days this season, he's going to have a breakout 20+ point night and hopefully take off. He looks the part to me. I'm certainly rooting for him.

5) Ah..... Boo..... that was a rough night. He just looked out of sync. Hoping that was an anomaly. He hadn't been turning the ball over too much this season, I thought. But last night.... yikes! He still clearly is the engine of this team. I wish he could finish those drives and floaters though. What I don't understand is why he never ended some of those drives by just lobbing it up to Nance or Simmons or Beran. There were a few plays where it looked like he had drawn all the defense in the paint and had an easy lob to a big man, but he forced the floating shot instead. Hopefully, he was watching closely from the bench and learned a thing or two from Dixon III and...

Great review. Always love to read these. Couple of comments:

2) He can finish around the rim? His first possession was the first time I remember seeing him making an interior move. I literally have zero recollection of seeing Beran finishing in the paint where he was not alone for a dunk. And yesterday was against FDU. My hope is that he gets confident and knocks down 3 pointers. If he can do that, it's a big plus. It's easier for a 6'9 guy, being guarded by dudes used to guarding interior players, to get his shot up than it is for a guard.

5) It was the first game the ghost of dumb turnovers came back for this season. And it was not just Buie. We ended up with 18 turnovers. It was not a normal game though. Things get weird in blowouts, players start being a bit careless. I have confidence Buie will be (at least somewhat) solid.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Watched the FDU game on tv. Went to Evanston for the prior two. FDU was easily the worst of the 3 opponents (High Point, New Orleans, FDU).

Beran stars against inferior players. When matched against average Big Ten guys, he struggles and often disappears. At least he did last season. With Nance continuing to improve, Beran will benefit and appear to be playing better, even if he isn't, because he "should" get better looks. On the other hand, he could actually improve, which is what we all want.

Ryan Young is an excellent player. Ball goes inside to him, good things happen. Imagine the results we'd see with Young and Nance together since both guys seem to have improved somewhat from last year.

Elyjah Williams is a below average player for the Big Ten, in my opinion. Too slow, lacks quickness. He benefits from playing with Ryan Young, but I can't see him doing much against Big Ten competition.

Simmons clearly has talent. I think everybody expects big things from him. Will have to learn how to defend stronger guys, especially if he's playing the 3. Will contribute this year.

Barnhizer was invisible in his 6 minutes. That was a bit disappointing. Nicholson was interesting to watch. Would love to see him get some minutes with Nance or Beran. Or even just minutes in general. Maybe against New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Buie probably didn't care at all about this game. Some players are like that, turning it off when the opponent is not capable of beating you.

The TV guys (especially Andy Katz) talked too much about how valuable Audige is to the team. The 4 guys who should play the most are Nance, Young, Buie and Berry. Audige should battle Greer, Simmons and Roper for playing time. I can see him at "small forward" so he doesn't have to handle the ball.

 

[Alan Smithee]

I agree with your comments about the overemphasis on Audige. He can be a valuable contributor to the team, especially when he remembers he’s one of five on the court.

 

[Smokejumper]

CCC made post game comments that we will see more of Nance and Young on the court at the same time as we get into conference play. He made the observation that we will need their size in conference play, but that with these quicker and smaller non-con opponents, he had the luxury of playing them at different times throughout the course of a game. As we get into conference play, we will need more big bodies - unfortunately, we only have 4 if you consider that Beran plays more like a 3-4. And 2 of those are newcomers - Williams can bang, defend, rebound and shoot while Nicholson needs time on the court to season and develop.

Will be really interesting to watch how these 2 develop over the course of conference play. Both will most likely get ample minutes, and IMHO our success will depend upon their ability to contribute plus minutes (moreso that the guard play of our first years).

Anyways, expect to see more Nance-Young lineups per Collins. And i’m hoping he has the courage to give Nicholson some minutes with Young and/or Nance during these next few games - primarily for development of the youngster for depth in conference play. Ultimately execution is about confidence and experience. Although FD was mop-up experience, it provided some moments (good and bad) for Nicholson to build upon.

 

[NUCat320]

I agree with your comments about the overemphasis on Audige. He can be a valuable contributor to the team, especially when he remembers he’s one of five on the court.

No way of measuring this via traditional plus-minus, but last year I thought Audige did a better job during the (relatively rare) times he was on the ball and Buie was playing the two. Audige has a scorer’s mentality, but it seemed that he took the distributor/setup role seriously when asked to take it.

Given that both Boo and Audige run hot and cold, it would be good to see Audige get more time there and take the ball late when Boo is off his game.

 

[Smokejumper]

No way of measuring this via traditional plus-minus, but last year I though Audige did a better job during the (relatively rare) times he was on the ball and Buie was playing the two. Audige has a scorer’s mentality, but it seemed that he took the distributor/setup role seriously when asked to take it.

Given that both Boo and Audige run hot and cold, it would be good to see Audige get more time there and take the ball late when Boo is off his game.

I agree with this. I think Audige is that type of player that has a short memory. So long as he plays within the framework that Collins expects of him, i think he can be a huge contributor to the lineup while he is out there - as fearless ball-handler, physical defender, and/or instant offense/shot creator when he runs hot (or BB needs a breather).

 

[TheC]

I agree with this. I think Audige is that type of player that has a short memory. So long as he plays within the framework that Collins expects of him, i think he can be a huge contributor to the lineup while he is out there - as fearless ball-handler, physical defender, and/or instant offense/shot creator when he runs hot (or BB needs a breather).

Someone on here posted it before I think, but I love the idea of Audige coming off the bench and providing some scoring for that second unit. With that group, we kind of need someone to take charge and go get buckets.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

CCC made post game comments that we will see more of Nance and Young on the court at the same time as we get into conference play. He made the observation that we will need their size in conference play, but that with these quicker and smaller non-con opponents, he had the luxury of playing them at different times throughout the course of a game. As we get into conference play, we will need more big bodies - unfortunately, we only have 4 if you consider that Beran plays more like a 3-4. And 2 of those are newcomers - Williams can bang, defend, rebound and shoot while Nicholson needs time on the court to season and develop.

Will be really interesting to watch how these 2 develop over the course of conference play. Both will most likely get ample minutes, and IMHO our success will depend upon their ability to contribute plus minutes (moreso that the guard play of our first years).

Anyways, expect to see more Nance-Young lineups per Collins. And i’m hoping he has the courage to give Nicholson some minutes with Young and/or Nance during these next few games - primarily for development of the youngster for depth in conference play. Ultimately execution is about confidence and experience. Although FD was mop-up experience, it provided some moments (good and bad) for Nicholson to build upon.

I have to tell you, those comments by Coach Collins make me much more optimistic. Thanks for reporting that and I look forward to more of your insights.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Watched the FDU game on tv. Went to Evanston for the prior two. FDU was easily the worst of the 3 opponents (High Point, New Orleans, FDU).

Beran stars against inferior players. When matched against average Big Ten guys, he struggles and often disappears. At least he did last season. With Nance continuing to improve, Beran will benefit and appear to be playing better, even if he isn't, because he "should" get better looks. On the other hand, he could actually improve, which is what we all want.

Ryan Young is an excellent player. Ball goes inside to him, good things happen. Imagine the results we'd see with Young and Nance together since both guys seem to have improved somewhat from last year.

Elyjah Williams is a below average player for the Big Ten, in my opinion. Too slow, lacks quickness. He benefits from playing with Ryan Young, but I can't see him doing much against Big Ten competition.

Simmons clearly has talent. I think everybody expects big things from him. Will have to learn how to defend stronger guys, especially if he's playing the 3. Will contribute this year.

Barnhizer was invisible in his 6 minutes. That was a bit disappointing. Nicholson was interesting to watch. Would love to see him get some minutes with Nance or Beran. Or even just minutes in general. Maybe against New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Buie probably didn't care at all about this game. Some players are like that, turning it off when the opponent is not capable of beating you.

The TV guys (especially Andy Katz) talked too much about how valuable Audige is to the team. The 4 guys who should play the most are Nance, Young, Buie and Berry. Audige should battle Greer, Simmons and Roper for playing time. I can see him at "small forward" so he doesn't have to handle the ball.

A little harsh on Barnhizer…literally the first six minutes of his career after being out sick for over a week. Cut the kid some slack.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Someone on here posted it before I think, but I love the idea of Audige coming off the bench and providing some scoring for that second unit. With that group, we kind of need someone to take charge and go get buckets.

Audige can break down a defender and score. He is a good "on-ball" defender, but he is an inferior passer and was not good at the point last year, especially in the half court. I'd like to see him get time with Simmons at the 3. Or at least try that approach.

But I really don't see this whole "second unit" concept. I think it hurts the team! Its fine when you have ten athletes and you want to go all out / full court and guys actually get tired... but thats not our roster in any way. We have guys who are clearly better than other guys on the roster.

We need one lineup that is our best in a halfcourt/grinding game and we need one lineup that is our best in an uptempo game. Nance, Berry and Buie can (and should) play both styles. Young is very effective in the halfcourt. Greer seems like a halfcourt guy. We should play to our guys strengths and not be afraid to have substitutes who come in as needed.

 

[hdhntr1]

Watched the FDU game on tv. Went to Evanston for the prior two. FDU was easily the worst of the 3 opponents (High Point, New Orleans, FDU).

Beran stars against inferior players. When matched against average Big Ten guys, he struggles and often disappears. At least he did last season. With Nance continuing to improve, Beran will benefit and appear to be playing better, even if he isn't, because he "should" get better looks. On the other hand, he could actually improve, which is what we all want.

Ryan Young is an excellent player. Ball goes inside to him, good things happen. Imagine the results we'd see with Young and Nance together since both guys seem to have improved somewhat from last year.

Elyjah Williams is a below average player for the Big Ten, in my opinion. Too slow, lacks quickness. He benefits from playing with Ryan Young, but I can't see him doing much against Big Ten competition.

Simmons clearly has talent. I think everybody expects big things from him. Will have to learn how to defend stronger guys, especially if he's playing the 3. Will contribute this year.

Barnhizer was invisible in his 6 minutes. That was a bit disappointing. Nicholson was interesting to watch. Would love to see him get some minutes with Nance or Beran. Or even just minutes in general. Maybe against New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Buie probably didn't care at all about this game. Some players are like that, turning it off when the opponent is not capable of beating you.

The TV guys (especially Andy Katz) talked too much about how valuable Audige is to the team. The 4 guys who should play the most are Nance, Young, Buie and Berry. Audige should battle Greer, Simmons and Roper for playing time. I can see him at "small forward" so he doesn't have to handle the ball.

Williams is just getting used to different level of play and new teammates. He is trying to find his place and role. Barnhizer is just coming off illness and trying to get his legs under him. Audige will make his contributions but other guys are catching up. Overall deepest and most talented overall team I have seen at NU in a long time. They are still working on fitting together

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

A little harsh on Barnhizer…literally the first six minutes of his career after being out sick for over a week. Cut the kid some slack.

I didn't mean to be critical, I was just hoping that he'd show something in his first game.
I was watching another player.

 

[hdhntr1]

I didn't mean to be critical, I was just hoping that he'd show something in his first game.
I was watching another player.

That is a first

 

[clarificationcat]

Watched the FDU game on tv. Went to Evanston for the prior two. FDU was easily the worst of the 3 opponents (High Point, New Orleans, FDU).

Beran stars against inferior players. When matched against average Big Ten guys, he struggles and often disappears. At least he did last season. With Nance continuing to improve, Beran will benefit and appear to be playing better, even if he isn't, because he "should" get better looks. On the other hand, he could actually improve, which is what we all want.

Ryan Young is an excellent player. Ball goes inside to him, good things happen. Imagine the results we'd see with Young and Nance together since both guys seem to have improved somewhat from last year.

Elyjah Williams is a below average player for the Big Ten, in my opinion. Too slow, lacks quickness. He benefits from playing with Ryan Young, but I can't see him doing much against Big Ten competition.

Simmons clearly has talent. I think everybody expects big things from him. Will have to learn how to defend stronger guys, especially if he's playing the 3. Will contribute this year.

Barnhizer was invisible in his 6 minutes. That was a bit disappointing. Nicholson was interesting to watch. Would love to see him get some minutes with Nance or Beran. Or even just minutes in general. Maybe against New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Buie probably didn't care at all about this game. Some players are like that, turning it off when the opponent is not capable of beating you.

The TV guys (especially Andy Katz) talked too much about how valuable Audige is to the team. The 4 guys who should play the most are Nance, Young, Buie and Berry. Audige should battle Greer, Simmons and Roper for playing time. I can see him at "small forward" so he doesn't have to handle the ball.

A little harsh on Barnhizer…literally the first six minutes of his career after being out sick for over a week. Cut the kid some slack.

No kidding. The game was over and he touched the ball three or four times on offense 30 feet from the basket. His man didn't score. What was he supposed to do? Nicholson gave up offensive rebounds, had offensive players go right at him under basket, had the ball stolen, and had passes go through his hands. He also had a block after getting the ball stolen and couple of dunks against much smaller players. That's a lot of activity but the majority was not good. I think I will take invisible over that. It's hard to judge at this point but Nicholson is a decent athlete for his size (he's a big dude) but he doesn't appear to have a lot of explosiveness and his hands need a lot of work. Not just catching but holding on to the ball in traffic. I think he can make an impact at some point but it may be a while.

And when we play the better teams, we will absolutely need Audige. He's the most natural scorer on the team and the only guy capable of consistently creating his own shot. He needs to significantly improve his decision making but I don't think we can be a post-season team if he is not a huge part of the offense. And he led the team in steals.

 

[TheC]

Audige can break down a defender and score. He is a good "on-ball" defender, but he is an inferior passer and was not good at the point last year, especially in the half court. I'd like to see him get time with Simmons at the 3. Or at least try that approach.

But I really don't see this whole "second unit" concept. I think it hurts the team! Its fine when you have ten athletes and you want to go all out / full court and guys actually get tired... but thats not our roster in any way. We have guys who are clearly better than other guys on the roster.

We need one lineup that is our best in a halfcourt/grinding game and we need one lineup that is our best in an uptempo game. Nance, Berry and Buie can (and should) play both styles. Young is very effective in the halfcourt. Greer seems like a halfcourt guy. We should play to our guys strengths and not be afraid to have substitutes who come in as needed.

I'm wondering if the "second unit" is just something CCC is doing in these early cake-walk games to try guys out and figure out lineups that may work. I expect the subbing will be less fluid as the games get tougher.

 

[NUCat320]

Audige can break down a defender and score. He is a good "on-ball" defender, but he is an inferior passer and was not good at the point last year, especially in the half court. I'd like to see him get time with Simmons at the 3. Or at least try that approach.

But I really don't see this whole "second unit" concept. I think it hurts the team! Its fine when you have ten athletes and you want to go all out / full court and guys actually get tired... but thats not our roster in any way. We have guys who are clearly better than other guys on the roster.

We need one lineup that is our best in a halfcourt/grinding game and we need one lineup that is our best in an uptempo game. Nance, Berry and Buie can (and should) play both styles. Young is very effective in the halfcourt. Greer seems like a halfcourt guy. We should play to our guys strengths and not be afraid to have substitutes who come in as needed.

Do you have a data source on Audige not doing well on the ball? Or is it just, like, how you feel? Because I thought he played better when his first inclination was to pass — too often at the 2, it looked like he was afraid he wouldn’t get the ball back if he didn’t shoot it. Meanwhile, I though Boo was better off spotting up than taking threes off the dribble.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

No kidding. The game was over and he touched the ball three or four times on offense 30 feet from the basket. His man didn't score. What was he supposed to do? Nicholson gave up offensive rebounds, had offensive players go right at him under basket, had the ball stolen, and had passes go through his hands. He also had a block after getting the ball stolen and couple of dunks against much smaller players. That's a lot of activity but the majority was not good. I think I will take invisible over that. It's hard to judge at this point but Nicholson is a decent athlete for his size (he's a big dude) but he doesn't appear to have a lot of explosiveness and his hands need a lot of work. Not just catching but holding on to the ball in traffic. I think he can make an impact at some point but it may be a while.

And when we play the better teams, we will absolutely need Audige. He's the most natural scorer on the team and the only guy capable of consistently creating his own shot. He needs to significantly improve his decision making but I don't think we can be a post-season team if he is not a huge part of the offense. And he led the team in steals.

Unfortunately, I think at this stage Nicholson would foul out in 8-10 minutes of action. Hopefully he can contribute about 5 minutes of decent ball, but that was rough at points.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Do you have a data source on Audige not doing well on the ball? Or is it just, like, how you feel? Because I thought he played better when his first inclination was to pass — too often at the 2, it looked like he was afraid he wouldn’t get the ball back if he didn’t shoot it. Meanwhile, I though Boo was better off spotting up than taking threes off the dribble.

Well I said Audige was a good "on ball" defender and said he was not good at the point (on offense).
I base this on watching the team last year.
The stats back me up generally.
In Big Ten play, Audige had 3.3 turnovers with 2.7 assists per 40 minutes. 2.3 steals.
Buie had 3.1 turnovers with 5.3 assists per 40 minutes, 0.9 steals.

Buie certainly had the ball in his hands more than Audige, so for Audige to have more turnovers, I think it is clear he was looser with the ball.

On the defensive side, I'd take Audige. He is very athletic and plays hard.

I agree that Buie would shoot better as the 2 guard, assuming we had someone more capable at the point.
Greer and Buie had notable success when paired last year, but it was only about 50 minutes of game time, if I recall correctly. I think Collins may have picked up on that.

 

[NUCat320]

Well I said Audige was a good "on ball" defender and said he was not good at the point (on offense).
I base this on watching the team last year.
The stats back me up generally.
In Big Ten play, Audige had 3.3 turnovers with 2.7 assists per 40 minutes. 2.3 steals.
Buie had 3.1 turnovers with 5.3 assists per 40 minutes, 0.9 steals.

Buie certainly had the ball in his hands more than Audige, so for Audige to have more turnovers, I think it is clear he was looser with the ball.

On the defensive side, I'd take Audige. He is very athletic and plays hard.

I agree that Buie would shoot better as the 2 guard, assuming we had someone more capable at the point.
Greer and Buie had notable success when paired last year, but it was only about 50 minutes of game time, if I recall correctly. I think Collins may have picked up on that.

Okay, so you have no data that distinguishes he is better when playing the offensive two-guard versus the offensive lead guard. Just the overall data, which can’t tell you that.

I think he is a more controlled offensive player when he’s asked to initiate the offense. I think he could be capable at the point.

 

[GatoLouco]

CCC made post game comments that we will see more of Nance and Young on the court at the same time as we get into conference play. He made the observation that we will need their size in conference play, but that with these quicker and smaller non-con opponents, he had the luxury of playing them at different times throughout the course of a game. As we get into conference play, we will need more big bodies - unfortunately, we only have 4 if you consider that Beran plays more like a 3-4. And 2 of those are newcomers - Williams can bang, defend, rebound and shoot while Nicholson needs time on the court to season and develop.

Will be really interesting to watch how these 2 develop over the course of conference play. Both will most likely get ample minutes, and IMHO our success will depend upon their ability to contribute plus minutes (moreso that the guard play of our first years).

Anyways, expect to see more Nance-Young lineups per Collins. And i’m hoping he has the courage to give Nicholson some minutes with Young and/or Nance during these next few games - primarily for development of the youngster for depth in conference play. Ultimately execution is about confidence and experience. Although FD was mop-up experience, it provided some moments (good and bad) for Nicholson to build upon.

I'll translate what Collins meant: he will play Young with Nance when the team is in trouble.

 

[GatoLouco]

No way of measuring this via traditional plus-minus, but last year I thought Audige did a better job during the (relatively rare) times he was on the ball and Buie was playing the two. Audige has a scorer’s mentality, but it seemed that he took the distributor/setup role seriously when asked to take it.

Given that both Boo and Audige run hot and cold, it would be good to see Audige get more time there and take the ball late when Boo is off his game.

My memory is also of Audige doing surprisingly well when Buie was out. I did not expect it. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I remember.

 

[GatoLouco]

I didn't mean to be critical, I was just hoping that he'd show something in his first game.
I was watching another player.

IMO, he showed good things in the exhibition game. Perhaps an even better showing than Roper on that one (Simmons got in foul trouble and basically did not play). I thought and hoped he would get more minutes yesterday. And not in garbage time. But he didn't. Might have had something to do with coming back from being sick.

 

[rogerkim]

Do you have a data source on Audige not doing well on the ball? Or is it just, like, how you feel? Because I thought he played better when his first inclination was to pass — too often at the 2, it looked like he was afraid he wouldn’t get the ball back if he didn’t shoot it. Meanwhile, I though Boo was better off spotting up than taking threes off the dribble.

I also had this impression - that Audige played like he wasn't sure his teammates, particularly Boo, would pass him the ball if he gave it up.

But I wonder if Buie's tendency to also play "hero ball" fed into Audige feeling like he need to do so as well. "He never passes to me, so if I have the ball, I need to make the most of my opportunity."

Which gives me hope that, since Buie appears to be playing more in control this season and with a ball-distributor mindset, that Audige will be more assured that he will get his chances without having to force things. It was especially reassuring on that one play where Buie forced up a three early in the shot clock, he cleared said to his teammates, "my bad", recognizing right away that it was an ill-advised attempt. I love his mindset this season thus far. His 9-assist game was wonderful to watch...

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

That is a first

If you really look at my comments, I rarely disparage a player.
I have called Beran "soft" and said Gaines "was the worst player in our rotation."
I'm sure I commented critically on the play of Audige, Kopp and Buie last year as the losses piled up.

But I try to keep in mind that the players are not paid professionals and cut them some slack. If I criticize one guy, its almost always in the context of "that other guy is better."

My criticisms are regularly aimed at the coach (a paid professional adult) for not realizing what his players can and cannot do, for not getting the most out of his roster. Its a common theme for me and it REALLY triggers his staunchest supporters. I think we underperformed our talent last year. It would be easy to blame that on Miller Kopp or Anthony Gaines or Robbie Beran, but the stats argue against doing that.

I have been repetitive in my praise for Young in particular, but I've always liked Nance and Berry. I've come around on Buie, having looked deeper into the performance of the team when he plays (relative to others). I try to be fair with the players. I want our team to succeed.

I'm one of the most consistently optimistic voices regarding our players, in general. When most others were moaning about how bad we will be this year, I said we should win 9 games in the league, maybe more.

 

[BleedingPurple15]

And how about Greer? He's the model we should attempt to emulate in terms of the development and improvement he's shown over the years. I never thought I'd feel comfortable having him in there as a lead guard with the so-called second unit, but he's proven me wrong. He's never going to fill up the stat sheet, but he's generally dependable and under control, and can make some shots if he's set.

 

[FeralFelidae]

That's quite a change from calling for Collins to be fired in the middle of the season.

 

[Smolmania]

So, I finally got a chance to watch a whole game from the 2021-2022 version of NU men's hoopsters. Here are some impressions:

1) Nance is a delight to watch this year. So glad to see him coming into his own. He is poised, confident and playing with a sense of urgency. He is the clear star of this team. I hope he can keep it up when the competition gets rougher and teams start keying on him. Athletic shot blocker with three-point range? I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some serious looks in next summer's draft.

2) While I understand the frustration around here with Beran, I also see why CCC keeps sticking with him. Beran clearly has the tools to be the second best player on this team and I am fine with CCC giving him every chance to get there. He is pretty smooth for someone his size. He can finish at the rim and also has true 3-point range. I realize he can disappear at times, but one of these days this season, he's going to have a breakout 20+ point night and hopefully take off. He looks the part to me. I'm certainly rooting for him.

3) How in the heck did Ryan Young score 20 points? All night, I watched him catch the ball wide open under the basket and wait 5 seconds before doing anything. He then appeared to fumble around with the ball and miss a bunch of layups. Then, I looked at the numbers and realized he only missed one or two shots all night and had 20 points!!! The kid is unexplainable.

4) I like Casey Simmons. I think this kid is going to end up an impact player this season. He still looks a little timid and sometimes lost, but that is to be expected in November. But he also has a fluidity to him and the way he stroked his two three-pointers last night got me juiced! I see him also having a breakout game at some point this season. Next year, he will be one of our stars - you heard it here first!

5) Ah..... Boo..... that was a rough night. He just looked out of sync. Hoping that was an anomaly. He hadn't been turning the ball over too much this season, I thought. But last night.... yikes! He still clearly is the engine of this team. I wish he could finish those drives and floaters though. What I don't understand is why he never ended some of those drives by just lobbing it up to Nance or Simmons or Beran. There were a few plays where it looked like he had drawn all the defense in the paint and had an easy lob to a big man, but he forced the floating shot instead. Hopefully, he was watching closely from the bench and learned a thing or two from Dixon III and...

6) Nicholson!!! SLAM!!!!! That was fun to watch!! That had to be great for the kid's confidence. He demonstrated some athleticism for sure. Those were manly dunks!! Of course, as exciting as those plays were, he also showed why he's mired on CCC's bench. He seemed to struggle to get any kind of inside position on the smaller FDU players. And the struggles he had getting the defensive rebound outleted to his guard was rather sad. He's got a ways to go and I don't see him getting anything more than mop-up time this season, but if he can keep developing, he might be a valuable piece in a year or two.

So... good win. At times, it looked like the team still struggled to score - especially with the second unit out there. I worry a little about BIG play with this offense, but guys will get better I'm sure. We'll learn an awful lot in the next few games.

No mention of Ty Berry? It's been some time since we had a guy who's willing to shoot the ball with no conscience who can actually make a shot. Don't particularly like when he's shooting those 3s off the dribble, but the young man can shoot the basketball.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Elyjah Williams is a below average player for the Big Ten, in my opinion. Too slow, lacks quickness. He benefits from playing with Ryan Young, but I can't see him doing much against Big Ten competition.

Williams looks slow but is faster and quicker than he initially appears. He is also a better ball handler and shooter. I am delighted he is on the team and expect him to be at a minimum, a solid contributor. Without Williams the frontcourt would be frighteningly thin (both in terms of numbers and body type)!

 

[hdhntr1]

I'll translate what Collins meant: he will play Young with Nance when the team is in trouble.

No, when the matchups warrant it.

 

[Hungry Jack]

I think the ceiling for Beran is a guy who spot up and hit and open 3 at the right time, and whose length can be problematic on defense. He is probably best suited to come off the bench against more favorable matchups, but I am not sure how that meshes with whomever plays the 5 at that point. Beran probably needs a guy like Young who can get him the ball from the inside.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

My memory is also of Audige doing surprisingly well when Buie was out. I did not expect it. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I remember.

Gato:

Statistically speaking (pts scored vs pts allowed) NU scored at a rate of 0.901 points for every point our Big Ten opponent scored. (removing garbage time)

Audige's personal rate was 0.866.
Buie's was 0.925.

Rest of team... Kopp 0.945, Nance 0.922, Young 0.914, Berry 0.912, Beran 0.889, Gaines & Greer 0.865.

When Buie and Audige were paired, the team performed at a 0.903 rate.
When Buie played without Audige, his rate went up to 0.988
When Audige played without Buie, his rate went down to 0.794

My feeling during the year was that Buie and Audige viewed each other as competitors and did not play well together. It is entirely possible that only Buie felt that way.

Then I worked thru the detailed box scores and discovered that Buie and Greer had played at a 1.105 rate when on the court together, best two man combo on the team, followed by "Nance and Young" 1.07 and "Young and Beran" 1.02.

On the negative side, Young with neither Beran nor Nance performed at a 0.698 rate.

 

[SDakaGordie]

If you really look at my comments, I rarely disparage a player.
I have called Beran "soft" and said Gaines "was the worst player in our rotation."
I'm sure I commented critically on the play of Audige, Kopp and Buie last year as the losses piled up.

But I try to keep in mind that the players are not paid professionals and cut them some slack. If I criticize one guy, its almost always in the context of "that other guy is better."

My criticisms are regularly aimed at the coach (a paid professional adult) for not realizing what his players can and cannot do, for not getting the most out of his roster. Its a common theme for me and it REALLY triggers his staunchest supporters. I think we underperformed our talent last year. It would be easy to blame that on Miller Kopp or Anthony Gaines or Robbie Beran, but the stats argue against doing that.

I have been repetitive in my praise for Young in particular, but I've always liked Nance and Berry. I've come around on Buie, having looked deeper into the performance of the team when he plays (relative to others). I try to be fair with the players. I want our team to succeed.

I'm one of the most consistently optimistic voices regarding our players, in general. When most others were moaning about how bad we will be this year, I said we should win 9 games in the league, maybe more.

And if Collins was, hypothetically, an adequate or a great coach, respectively, NU would win how many BIG games in each scenario? What is Collins worth?

 

[TheC]

No mention of Ty Berry? It's been some time since we had a guy who's willing to shoot the ball with no conscience who can actually make a shot. Don't particularly like when he's shooting those 3s off the dribble, but the young man can shoot the basketball.

I am excited by him. However, my fading memory of last night was that he hit a couple 3's early and then was kind of quiet. I don't remember a lot from him, but that's because I am using my memory.

 

[FeralFelidae]

And if Collins was, hypothetically, an adequate or a great coach, respectively, NU would win how many BIG games in each scenario? What is Collins worth?

If his players have developed during their time here, then Collins gets credit for developing players. There are coaches who aren't the best at Xs and Os, but they thrive on developing the players. If his players are winning games for him, then he gets credit for developing them.

 

[IGNORE2]

Someone on here posted it before I think, but I love the idea of Audige coming off the bench and providing some scoring for that second unit. With that group, we kind of need someone to take charge and go get buckets.

I have said that I think he would make a very good sixth man.

 

[GatoLouco]

Gato:

Statistically speaking (pts scored vs pts allowed) NU scored at a rate of 0.901 points for every point our Big Ten opponent scored. (removing garbage time)

Audige's personal rate was 0.866.
Buie's was 0.925.

Rest of team... Kopp 0.945, Nance 0.922, Young 0.914, Berry 0.912, Beran 0.889, Gaines & Greer 0.865.

When Buie and Audige were paired, the team performed at a 0.903 rate.
When Buie played without Audige, his rate went up to 0.988
When Audige played without Buie, his rate went down to 0.794

My feeling during the year was that Buie and Audige viewed each other as competitors and did not play well together. It is entirely possible that only Buie felt that way.

Then I worked thru the detailed box scores and discovered that Buie and Greer had played at a 1.105 rate when on the court together, best two man combo on the team, followed by "Nance and Young" 1.07 and "Young and Beran" 1.02.

On the negative side, Young with neither Beran nor Nance performed at a 0.698 rate.

I meant when Buie was injured and Audige started as PG. my memory is of being shocked he was adequate.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I meant when Buie was injured and Audige started as PG. my memory is of being shocked he was adequate.

I don't recall Buie being injured. He played at least 23 minutes in every game except 3, two of which he was in foul trouble. I remember Collins just deciding to make Audige the point guard because Buie was struggling to score and we were losing.

 

[GatoLouco]

I don't recall Buie being injured. He played at least 23 minutes in every game except 3, two of which he was in foul trouble. I remember Collins just deciding to make Audige the point guard because Buie was struggling to score and we were losing.

Then that’s it. Memory failing me

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

And if Collins was, hypothetically, an adequate or a great coach, respectively, NU would win how many BIG games in each scenario? What is Collins worth?

Thats a good question. Most people would concede Chris Collins is a good recruiter and has raised the overall talent (or depth of talent) on the team. Some of that "credit" has to go to whomever shelled out the money to upgrade the facilities.

So if we start winning, it could be that he Collins is great at identifying and landing talent. That he is great at "coaching them up" as Fitz likes to say and then "below average" at strategy and in-game decisions. Its some combination of those factors.

The only thing you can truly evaluate is "how well he uses the roster." From my perspective, you look at the amount of time the players are on the court, the lineups used and the results. The guys who perform the best have to play the most (in general). The guys who don't play as well have to play less. So performance should be correlated with playing time. The higher the correlation, the better the coach is doing at maximizing his team's results. If two lineups are getting 20% of the minutes each and we're playing better with 8 different lineups the rest of the time, I'd consider that a bad indication. If our scores with 4 minutes to go look a lot better than our final scores, I'd consider that a bad indication.

To be fair though, you can't say "Collins is a bad recruiter" "Collins has a bad eye for talent" "Collins is bad at developing his players" and "Collins is a terrible game coach" when the team goes 10-10 in the Big Ten. The good and bad have to come to something rational.