BIG finally admits the foolishness of giving up our soul to play in MSG

[hdhntr1]

Agree that losing BMac was a killer and losing a player like that on most teams has a big impact. My only point is that you play the hand that you are dealt. No one was thinking we wouldn't have RAP. Folks thought that we were in great shape there with him and Falzon. But, stuff happens and teams either transcend that stuff or they don't. We didn't. Lessons learned.

Prior to losing BMac the second time, we had pretty much righted the ship. But that loss with Ash out as well and the other shortages made transcending something we could not do. Throw in the loss of Law and we had nothing left

 

[hoosboot]

Prior to losing BMac the second time, we had pretty much righted the ship. But that loss with Ash out as well and the other shortages made transcending something we could not do. Throw in the loss of Law and we had nothing left

Only thing I would alter is that I would change "could" to "did". The injuries sucked. WIsh that our seniors could have had a better regular season. Now time to fight for the right to play more games.

 

[willycat]

THe bench was made shorter from the beginning by one open scholly, Turner needing to sit this year, RAP being out and Falzon being about half speed after his injury. That has us down effectively to 9.5 before the season even started. Throw in whatever was happening with Brown and then the key injuries and we were running on fumes.

yes the short bench caused by injuries definitely hurt but why does NU seem to lately have an open scholly. The Vassar mess caused it for like three years but why this season.

 

[willycat]

We had plenty of places we could have gone and not had to play second fiddle. I don't have a problem with MSG honoring a long standing relationship with the Big East. What I have a problem with is the push by the BIG to go to MSG and accept those terms rather than go somewhere else (Chicago, Indy, Detroit, etc) where we would not have to change our schedule.

Maybe they could have played where the Nets play. Barclays Center? Just checked that the ACC holds their tournament there. All in all these post season conference tournament are useless but I guess the schools just care about the money.

 

[Max_Power]

yes the short bench caused by injuries definitely hurt but why does NU seem to lately have an open scholly. The Vassar mess caused it for like three years but why this season.

So this was not a planned thing. Two years ago, Collins offered Kipper Nichols who ended up with the Illini after NU could not free up the Vassar schollie. Last year, Collins offered Smith who also ended up with the Illini. He may have offered another player in the Spring.

So the reason there is an spot is that basically no one who Collins felt was worth giving the ride to committed. Honestly, he really can't afford to not hit on recruits right now because the guys on the bench have not shown they are ready.

The future is Nance, Young, Lathon and Kopp. Hope they are ready to go because NU needs a big infusion of scoring and defense.

 

[NJCat]

The future is Nance, Young, Lathon and Kopp. Hope they are ready to go because NU needs a big infusion of scoring and defense.

I like that future. Looking forward to next year!!!

 

[willycat]

So this was not a planned thing. Two years ago, Collins offered Kipper Nichols who ended up with the Illini after NU could not free up the Vassar schollie. Last year, Collins offered Smith who also ended up with the Illini. He may have offered another player in the Spring.

So the reason there is an spot is that basically no one who Collins felt was worth giving the ride to committed. Honestly, he really can't afford to not hit on recruits right now because the guys on the bench have not shown they are ready.

The future is Nance, Young, Lathon and Kopp. Hope they are ready to go because NU needs a big infusion of scoring and defense.

I get it but maybe using a schlorship on 5th year guard could have helped this season. Really hope they never again go with a 12 man team.

 

[Max_Power]

I get it but maybe using a schlorship on 5th year guard could have helped this season. Really hope they never again go with a 12 man team.

I believe they flirted with 5th years as well. Takes two to tango. Look, Collins never expected the storm that hit, disinterested moping Lindsey for the first 1/2 of season, bad B-Mac (what games did the media watch to give him honorable mention all big ten, clearly they did not watch the last three minutes of any game this year), mysterious disappearance of Brown and the list goes on .... I just don't get the hang up on this. Collins did not find a kid who fit so that's it. Any other conclusion involves pure speculation regarding the intent of NU and any recruit. While NU did not look like this year would be awful, NU is not alone as a team to make the tourney and they disappear in the BigTen. Lets just hope the Collins and the Cats can rebound like Nebraska and Penn State.

 

[Medill90]

Max Power

Nebby is a team that roared into the tournament, arguably improved its roster, and then tanked for a couple years. And now they are back in it.

Minny is also up and down. You'd think that with the their top performers, even with ISU kid getting kicked out, they'd be much more competitive. Especially after a great year last year.

There's no doubt that NU has turned a corner with the tournament seeding and win. But the fact is, NU has many several corners still to turn.

 

[JournCat]

Max Power

Nebby is a team that roared into the tournament, arguably improved its roster, and then tanked for a couple years. And now they are back in it.

Minny is also up and down. You'd think that with the their top performers, even with ISU kid getting kicked out, they'd be much more competitive. Especially after a great year last year.

There's no doubt that NU has turned a corner with the tournament seeding and win. But the fact is, NU has many several corners still to turn.

Nebraska? You're comparing us to a program that's never even won an NCAA tournament game??

 

[Medill90]

Nebraska? You're comparing us to a program that's never even won an NCAA tournament game??

WTF do I know?

 

[NUCat320]

Tribune article
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...g-ten-basketball-schedule-20180223-story.html

“I appreciate the sacrifices the teams made, the impact it had on our students,” Delany said. “Wasn’t good. Wasn’t healthy. I thought starting (the conference schedule) early was OK, but if you look at our schedules (through the years), we’ve been able to give everybody two-day prep (before games) in 99 percent of the cases.

There are four masters being served - CBS, FS1, ESPN, BTN. Their need for content drove the screwy schedule far more than the early tournament. I enjoyed the December games (though they were also crammed in for TV), but they didn't cause the inconsistency that they need to provide content for everyone with a live truck caused.

 

[ricko654321]

Where do you get 3 more days? And we only needed 4 to get to 10-8 same as last year. Teams had to play 2 weekday games several times, sometimes both away which screws with their studying. 3 games in 6-7 days was not unusual. Some times teams had to play 5 games in 12 days on occasion. Sometimes only one day between games. Allstate arena was bad enough but when you add the compressed schedule...

I agree in principle with most of what you guys are saying on this point. But I don't think that the B1G schedule was the reason that we struggled so much this year. All teams had to deal with it, I noticed others who had more ridiculous stretches than us. It was a level playing field within the conference, it was just dumb for everyone. Also, just would note that our problems this season started and became apparent far before the injuries to BMac and Vic...

(To be clear hdhntr sorry I responded to your post but this was in response to a group of like 10+ messages I saw... I prob agreed with you more than most)