Big Matt
- Thread starter Smolmania
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Ah...I think I was confused. I thought you meant that he drive to the basket from the free throw line. If you mean that he work on catching and making a face up 8-10 footer then I'm all about that. I just don't think you regularly want Nicholson putting the ball on the deck for a drive from the top of the key.
There were not the minutes for him early but the injury to Roper necessitated using him. Initial intent was probably to RS him
with no obvious backup to Beran and only 10 decent players on the roster, that would be a weird thing to plan on.
The closest to an obvious backup was Barnhizer who was in his second year and more physically mature. And that is pretty much how it worked out. Second backup might have been Hunger (for both Behran and Nicholson) and he was likely a RS candidate as well. Roper was more a backup for Berry and Martinelli seemed like the third guy in that list,. But when Roper went down, minutes for Martinelli. Also with the new rules, he could have played some games (10-12)and still kept his shirt
Out of necessity when Roper went down coupled with the effects of COVID and 6 games in 13 days. Roper has a much more mature body and had a number of ways to contribute. And even with Roper gone he got to what? 10 mpg in the 20 games he played in? Again, they coupld have still given him some minutes in 10-12 games and still RS him but their hands would have been tied had they used him early the way you suggest. Had Roper not gone down for the season, likely would have been able to navigate the system and keep his shirt. And he is definitely a guy you would rather see in his 5th year fully developed and playing 30 mpg than the extra 8-9 games at 10mpg that we needed to use him. He still was not ready but we had to use him. You might have more of a point if they went to using him 20-25 mpg but they did not
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I am of the opinion that with the transfer portal wide open, the idea of redshirting a player is borderline "quaint."
Not to mention that it is entirely possible that the player has no interest in going to college for 5 years.
Or the possibility that, if you redshirt the player, he graduates in 4 years and transfers elsewhere to go to grad school.
When you are down to 9 quality players, there's not much point in trying to protect a redshirt, especially when the guy you are trying to redshirt is a forward and your roster consists of 2 centers, 1 power forward, one small forward and 4 guards.
Redshirting in basketball has always been pretty quaint
Meh. I don't know about that. It's an effective tool for guys who aren't physically ready to contribute and need time to develop...typically bigs who haven't grown into their size yet. There have been loads of successful uses of it - particularly in cases where the player would have likely done as much harm as good getting playing time.
I'd bet we see very little of that going forward. You are (probably) thinking of the days before the transfer portal.
If a guy is totally useless to you AND he thinks he could use 5 years to get his degree, that would make sense.
Otherwise it doesn't, for most student athletes.
I'm sure there are a few exceptions.
You mean 10 recruited for scholarship players. Injuries or fouls will force 10 guys into PT over a season. Hunger goes down, nine left. Roper goes down, 8 left. Either run a tight seven man rotation or Mary plays and pray no more injuries.
Yeah - 10 guys who look capable of being Big Ten players. Once Hunger got hurt we were down to 9. I think if you looked at our roster rationally, either Hunger or Martinelli had to be the 9th man in the rotation because we were so thin at forward.
One complicating factor was Collins' wanting to play 3 guards all the time. Obviously, I didn't like that so much, wanting Barnhizer to play 15 minutes a night at the 3 as "the bigger lineup" with Beran at the 4.
When Roper got hurt, we were down to 3 guards, which made playing 3 guards at the same time much more difficult. With Martinelli forced to play, the team improved. Mainly because it gave Verhoeven/Martinelli/Barnhizer more time in the frontcourt when Nicholson was sitting.
"Verhoeven with either Beran or Barnhizer at the 4, plus 3 guards" was generally our worst lineup "type." They got outscored at a 68-61 pace when they played together. As mentioned many times - too small.
I was responding more to the idea that "Redshirting in basketball has always been pretty quaint". I don't agree with that, but I agree that it will be increasingly less likely as both players and coaches don't have the patience for development. The challenge is that developing players is how NU wins right now. Trade out freshman year Boo Buie for senior Boo Buie and this team may not be a tourney team.
I see BB as a 3. Do you think he is more of a guard? I think he has a really good handle for a 3 but would get stripped naked if defended by the 1 or 2 of the other team.
It depends on the situation. If the person is not ready or does not give you a strategic advantage, no point in burning their shirt. If he better than any other option, is able to earn significant minutes and can help you, use him but if there is no real advantage, why not give you and the player future options? So a guy like Nance or Buie that you would play significant minutes from day one, you burn the shirt without any question, but for a guy like Martinelli who would have had a hard time getting minutes as a frosh, you don't unless you have to. You might not keep all and you might not want all for 5th season but at least you have options that you do not have if you use them This is especially true of Bigs but others could also use a year of conditioning. As it is for example, we reshirted Nicholson so he has two or three years left when he can really help and that is at least one year more than we could have had him otherwise
TThis is especially true of a school like NU where we are more of a developmental program and guys are often not fully ready for this level of play. As far as Martinelli, if Roper had been available, he would have been much more beneficial than Martinelli and there would not have been enough minutes to justify not saving the shirt. We would have been far better off not burning the shirt. But Roper was gone so there really was no choice
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Yes Barnhizer is a 3 - thats his natural position, because he's a good rebounder but has an outside shot and can handle the ball reasonably well.
He's the prototype 3.
What I was saying above is that
1. Collins preferred playing Buie and Audige nearly all the time, alternating Roper and Berry at the "small 3"
2. Roper got hurt. Now we were down to 3 guards (Buie, Berry, Audige)
3. This meant Barnhizer had to play more at the 3.
4. It also meant Martinelli had to play, in relief of Beran.
The net result is that we played better. We won 3 and lost 4 when Roper played more than 10 minutes in Big Ten games. We won 9 and lost 4 otherwise. (9 and 5 including the conference tournament)
Collins was not really playing 3 guards but more a guard or two and wings. Berry is a perfect example of that. In a pinch he could log some guard minutes but he is much more a small forward than a guard and he was never really used as a guard. Barnhizer also can play guard but he too is more of a multi role player playing anything from 2-4. So in reality we were never playing 3 guards
Berry was never used as a guard. He always has played as a 3. Barnhizer played mostly between the 3/4 positions though he could also play in the 2 position Barhizer was more in relief of Behran and Martinelli played more as a 3 than anything. Really thery are more designated as wings which are more 3s than anything else.
I disagree entirely. Berry is listed at 6'2" 190 lbs. Thats a guard.
Barnhizer is listed at 6'6" 215 lbs. Thats a classic small forward.
That may be what they look like, but it's not what they played. Collins plays a line-up of Lead Guard, Wing, Wing, Wing, Center. Sometimes the third wing is more of a "Stretch four". Whom we decide to call a guard or a forward is kind of meaningless. I'll listen if you have stats from the second half of the B1G season that contradict this, but to my eyes, by the time they got to the latest 8-man rotation, Brooks was doing more traditional guard stuff (ball-handling, assists, penetrating, etc.) than Berry.
Almost seems like calling someone a "guard" or a "forward" is what's "quaint."
This is absolutely true. I can count the number of possessions Barney served as the point guard over the final ten games of the season on my fingers and toes. I can count the number of times Berry did with my ears.
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Took me about 2 minutes for this heart warming tribute to Big Matt. You're all welcome:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He's Big Matt, he's our man
The tallest player in the land
He dominates the court with ease
Making plays that make us all freeze
Oh Big Matt, you're our star
Our Northwestern hero, by far
With every dunk and every block
You make our hearts skip a beat, like a shock
He towers over everyone
With his height, he's second to none
Our opponents tremble at the sight
Of Big Matt, ready to fight
Oh Big Matt, you're our star
Our Northwestern hero, by far
With every jump shot and every steal
You make us all cheer and feel the thrill
We sing this chant to show our pride
For Big Matt, who always provides
He's a legend, in every way
Northwestern's champion, day by day
Oh Big Matt, you're our star
Our Northwestern hero, by far
With every play and every score
You make us all want to scream for more!
Note: created with chat GPT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He's Big Matt, he's our man
The tallest player in the land
He dominates the court with ease
Making plays that make us all freeze
Oh Big Matt, you're our star
Our Northwestern hero, by far
With every dunk and every block
You make our hearts skip a beat, like a shock
He towers over everyone
With his height, he's second to none
Our opponents tremble at the sight
Of Big Matt, ready to fight
Oh Big Matt, you're our star
Our Northwestern hero, by far
With every jump shot and every steal
You make us all cheer and feel the thrill
We sing this chant to show our pride
For Big Matt, who always provides
He's a legend, in every way
Northwestern's champion, day by day
Oh Big Matt, you're our star
Our Northwestern hero, by far
With every play and every score
You make us all want to scream for more!
Note: created with chat GPT
I guess you could call MN a guard…won’t make it true to the rest of Bball nation.
NU started a 3G, S4, C lineup every game that I remember.
Remove Berry and NU had zero back up guards.
Btw, how does NUSports identify Berry - I think same as BB - both as guards. Though BB is clearly a 3.
A “guard” is still a thing, but forwards increasingly do not exist.
Thunder ( cue AC-DC ) Great pregame crowd pleaser and student section fuel with highlights of his thunderous dunks and blocked shots. Big men nicknames need to have a power connotation to them. Chocolate Thunder was among the best nicknames in the history of the game.
GOUNUII
Here are my stats....
# of general basketball websites that list players positions as "wings" = 0.
Torvik and a few others attempt to expand the semantics by assigning "Player roles" - his own descriptions, of course. We can all argue about those, if you want to. (Role is not position)
Buie - Scoring PG
Audige - Combo G
Berry - Wing G
Barnhizer - Wing F
Beran - Stretch 4
Nicholson - C
Verhoeven - C
Roper - Wing G
# of general basketball websites that list players positions as "wings" = 0.
Torvik and a few others attempt to expand the semantics by assigning "Player roles" - his own descriptions, of course. We can all argue about those, if you want to. (Role is not position)
Buie - Scoring PG
Audige - Combo G
Berry - Wing G
Barnhizer - Wing F
Beran - Stretch 4
Nicholson - C
Verhoeven - C
Roper - Wing G
One thing to keep in mind is technically, the player makes the decision to redshirt. Yes, the coach will ask, but ultimately it's up to the player. My son and two teammates redshirted this year, each for different reasons. Another was asked to redshirt but said no because he had a pro contract waiting for him in Germany and wasn't going to be there long term. He played sparingly and left after a few games.
One thing to keep in mind is that at least for the next few years, getting significant PT as a younger player will be tough. Lots of COVID-year guys are still hanging around, and my impression is that reclassifying and playing a year or two at at some kind of basketball factory post-HS is getting more common. My son had an AAU teammate (NU looked at him) who reclassified twice, went to a Horizon League school, redshirted, and now is in the portal. He has four years of eligibility and is probably 22 now.
He played as a small forward or wing whatever you prefer. Second leading rebounder and 2/3 in steals but only a secondary ball handler and never on the floor where that was his real responsibility. Dorry but to me that is not really a guard
That is how he was used. Again he was second in rebounding and steals but had no primary ball handling responsibility.
There are plenty of 6'5/6" guards arpound. Talking about the way both were used, Barnhizer was used much more as a guard than Berry ever was
I know people have weighed in on this already, but here is my wishlist for Big Matt, in what I consider to be order of priority:
- A primary low-post move: jump-hook would seem to be the best option, but whatever it is, it needs to be something reliable enough to be an option for every half-court possession. Having one would give the team another option to get points, other than having Chase or Boo bail us out when the shot clock is winding down. Especially if it draws a foul and gets him to the line.
- Improved free-throw shooting: regardless of our team roster, I expect MN to be big offensive contributor. But if he can't improve his FT shooting percentage, he will be a liability to have on the court at the end of the game when we are protecting the lead. In addition, the more he develops #1, the more opposing defenses will be tempted to foul him to prevent the easy basket and take their chances with him on the charity stripe. He needs to become a decent enough shooter to punish them for doing that. He ended the year at 47.8%. I think he needs to be in the 60-70% range for this to avoid being a big liability. (70% is around the historical NCAA average)
- Stamina: Tydus is gone next year, so I think Luke Hunger is the only player currently on the roster that can back up Matt at center. He will need to play more minutes than this year's 21 per game. While I don't expect him to jump up to 30 mpg, I think 26 to 28 minutes played would be helpful. He is most valuable to the team when he is on the floor and able to be a defensive force protecting the paint, not when he's on the bench.
- Improve positioning for rebounding, particularly offensive rebounds: Assuming that our team shooting percentage doesn't undergo the same transformation that the defense underwent, one of Big Matt's best ways to contribute is to improve our second chance rate. Our offensive rebounding percentage as a team was 27%. (For context, Purdue was 37%!). If he could help raise that percentage to 30% (which would take us from 166th to 75th in the nation), that would be huge. Becoming a dominant rebounder, particularly on the offensive glass, is certainly within his achievable skillset.
- A short-to-mid range jumper: something in the 6-8ft range, with a 40%+ accuracy, would increase his offensive versatility and make him significantly harder to defend. But I would rather he develop the other 4 things on this list first.
I have not even read your post and feel compelled to comment on the impeccable formatting. It sooths my mild OCD.
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