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Collins’ Future

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Hungry Jack

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I had convinced myself that he had to go after this season regardless of results on the court.

Now I’m not convinced he has to go. I’m not saying I’m convinced he should stay, but I am wondering if he’s a better coach than I thought.

Izzo made some comments about Boo and Chase, and a few other statements about our play, that gives me pause (about firing CCC). Granted, Izzo always praises Collins but this time it was a bit more coachiness and less politeness after our second straight win in East Lansing.

Would love to have your take on CCC. Lots of season left.
 
I had convinced myself that he had to go after this season regardless of results on the court.

Now I’m not convinced he has to go. I’m not saying I’m convinced he should stay, but I am wondering if he’s a better coach than I thought.

Izzo made some comments about Boo and Chase, and a few other statements about our play, that gives me pause (about firing CCC). Granted, Izzo always praises Collins but this time it was a bit more coachiness and less politeness after our second straight win in East Lansing.

Would love to have your take on CCC. Lots of season left.
AD basically fired him last March.
 
Recruiting has fallen off a cliff.
No P5 offers among this class.

If they go to the dance, he’s earned the chance to stay. Anything else, he’s gotta be done.

He’s the fourth-tenured coach in the conference, behind Izzo, Painter, Fran.
 
Recruiting has fallen off a cliff.
No P5 offers among this class.

If they go to the dance, he’s earned the chance to stay. Anything else, he’s gotta be done.

He’s the fourth-tenured coach in the conference, behind Izzo, Painter, Fran.
Barring that miracle of any Tournament, I believe the decision has already been made.
 
Recruiting has fallen off a cliff.
No P5 offers among this class.

If they go to the dance, he’s earned the chance to stay. Anything else, he’s gotta be done.

He’s the fourth-tenured coach in the conference, behind Izzo, Painter, Fran.
Yep, that's the key. Recruiting is in bad shape. That is when I bailed on Carmody when it looked like his last class was going nowhere. We've reached that point with Collins. This is his last season barring a miracle.
 
Recruiting has fallen off a cliff.
No P5 offers among this class.

If they go to the dance, he’s earned the chance to stay. Anything else, he’s gotta be done.

He’s the fourth-tenured coach in the conference, behind Izzo, Painter, Fran.
I think that pretty much sums it. If we make the tourney (not that I think we will) one can make an argument we could be players in the portal.

I believe the AD had to have the "come to Jesus" conversation with Collins putting him on the hot seat. Just don't understand how that conversation needed to be public in the form of a statement. The ripples on recruiting were completely predictable.
 
The last 2 classes
Collins killed last year’s class himself. He’s lucky that Martinelli was local, or it would’ve been a class of one. IIRC, Martinelli committed after the vote of no-confidence.

And, of course, the same with was done to Carmody, in a different way, when he signed a two-year extension all the way back. (I’m pretty sure the more-important-than-we-realized Taphorn was Carmody’s only commit that season, but his offers were better than this classes’.) (Not starting any Carmody related war, just making the comparison that NU waits longer than other schools, as we know; I’ll have my popcorn if one breaks out tho.)

It would be interesting if NU made The Second Dance and, seeing a black hole at point guard, mid-majors were crawling over each other to come to NU in 23-24…

As for me, I’ll enjoy the win, and will also try to watch it. The purple flag is belatedly out today.
 
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Weren't people demanding the AD (or at least the athletic department) make a statement that "this will not be tolerated in the future?" or something along those lines? Well, okay, that is what the AD did in response to fan anger or so I thought at the time.
 
Weren't people demanding the AD (or at least the athletic department) make a statement that "this will not be tolerated in the future?" or something along those lines? Well, okay, that is what the AD did in response to fan anger or so I thought at the time.
Yes, this was a case of “tell us what we want to hear!” followed pretty quickly with “damn you for telling us what we wanted to hear!”

With that said, I still believe Gragg erred in making the public statement.
 
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Yes, this was a case of “tell us what we want to hear!” followed pretty quickly with “damn you for telling us what we wanted to hear!”

With that said, I still believe Gragg erred in making the public statement.
Absolutely. Never should have made a public statement. I don’t care what the Internet warriors are demanding. Need to say the words but needed to say it to CCC not us. Massive CYA. “Look we will suck next year, but don’t blame me, I tried to do something approach”!
 
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Technically speaking this should be one of his better teams- Chase, Boo, and Beran have been around for years. The issue is even if he exceeds expectations this year unless he hits a home run in the portal next year’s team is likely to be awful.
 
Technically speaking this should be one of his better teams- Chase, Boo, and Beran have been around for years. The issue is even if he exceeds expectations this year unless he hits a home run in the portal next year’s team is likely to be awful.
Doesn’t Audige have one more year if he wants it? Boo and Beran gone, so those will be losses.
 
Boo and Beran can have their Covid years as well. I think VerHoeven is the only one who "can't" come back.

Correct, Verhoeven is the only player out of eligibility. Audige/Buie/Beran can all grad transfer for their final year if they choose to, of course.
 
Boo and Beran can have their Covid years as well. I think VerHoeven is the only one who "can't" come back.
Yeah but at some point these guys have to get on with their lives!
Beran and Audige graduated in the spring and are (presumably) already in grad school.
I'm pretty sure you have to be enrolled in order to play!!!
Buie will probably get his undergrad degree this year and move on if a more prominent program comes calling.

But that stuff doesn't matter. We need to play THIS season. There's always transfers to fill in for the departures.
 
Yeah but at some point these guys have to get on with their lives!
Beran and Audige graduated in the spring and are (presumably) already in grad school.
I'm pretty sure you have to be enrolled in order to play!!!
Buie will probably get his undergrad degree this year and move on if a more prominent program comes calling.

But that stuff doesn't matter. We need to play THIS season. There's always transfers to fill in for the departures.
Beran and Audige go for a PhD and later become affectionally known as professors Robbie and Chasey. They do it with flair, wearing impeccable glasses and being described as having an "European" sense of fashion.
 
Beran and Audige go for a PhD and later become affectionally known as professors Robbie and Chasey. They do it with flair, wearing impeccable glasses and being described as having an "European" sense of fashion.
If they work fast, either guy can demand to be called "The Doctor" during their 2024 games.
 
Chase will obviously be a professor of statistics. First subject in the syllabus will be "Stats are for losers". Second will be "Why shot selection does not matter".

Robbie will be a professor of a newly created Kellogg course "How to not be as good as your co workers, but still climb the ranks faster" - special guest speaking appearances by Pete Nance and Ryan Young
 
Chase will obviously be a professor of statistics. First subject in the syllabus will be "Stats are for losers". Second will be "Why shot selection does not matter".

Robbie will be a professor of a newly created Kellogg course "How to not be as good as your co workers, but still climb the ranks faster" - special guest speaking appearances by Pete Nance and Ryan Young
Robbie will teach a course about dogs. Regret not writing my dog book now so I could interview him and work in a Northwestern sports angle.
 
Kopp (kind of) returns, upon finishing his college ball career with 5 degrees from IU. That's Covid eligibility rules for you.

NU won't offer him a permanent position but he will be featured in new student acclamation week with a lecture titled "How to survive at NU through months of constipation".
 
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Chase will obviously be a professor of statistics. First subject in the syllabus will be "Stats are for losers". Second will be "Why shot selection does not matter".

Robbie will be a professor of a newly created Kellogg course "How to not be as good as your co workers, but still climb the ranks faster" - special guest speaking appearances by Pete Nance and Ryan Young

I laughed at both of those assessments, but honestly, I think thats last year and the year before for both Audige and Beran.

Maybe its wishful thinking, but I think both guys are finally "getting it."
Audige is passing better and shooting more responsibly. Beran has actually ventured into the paint and gotten fouled. His rebounding is improved so far this year.

Of course, after the Pitt debacle, things looked really bleak. I hope that was just a really bad gameplan.
Roper's return helps a lot defensively, but he's scrappy on offense too.

This team has a chance if we continue to try to score points inside.
 
Collins killed last year’s class himself. He’s lucky that Martinelli was local, or it would’ve been a class of one. IIRC, Martinelli committed after the vote of no-confidence.

And, of course, the same with was done to Carmody, in a different way, when he signed a two-year extension all the way back. (I’m pretty sure the more-important-than-we-realized Taphorn was Carmody’s only commit that season, but his offers were better than this classes’.) (Not starting any Carmody related war, just making the comparison that NU waits longer than other schools, as we know; I’ll have my popcorn if one breaks out tho.)

It would be interesting if NU made The Second Dance and, seeing a black hole at point guard, mid-majors were crawling over each other to come to NU in 23-24…

As for me, I’ll enjoy the win, and will also try to watch it. The purple flag is belatedly out today.
Martinelli is only at NU because Duke hired the Elon coach as an assistant.
 
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I had convinced myself that he had to go after this season regardless of results on the court.


Izzo made some comments about Boo and Chase, and a few other statements about our play, that gives me pause (about firing CCC). Granted, Izzo always praises Collins but this time it was a bit more coachiness and less politeness after our second straight win in East Lansing.

Won't link the source, but here's part of the transcript ...

"Shit, I’m happy for Chris. He did a hell of a job and he’s gone through a lot himself, people over there ripping him for this and that. Not easy at Northwestern to do what he’s done and losing some players he lost. He deserves a lot more credit on this whole thing than maybe I gave him early. He did his job and he got those guys ready. I told Audige after the game, I told Buie, and this is the greatest coaching thing I can tell Chris – those guys just shot shots last year. I thought they threw up shots and I didn’t think they guarded very well. And right now that might be as good a defensive team – they held Auburn to 42 or (43) points – that I’ve seen as far as come at you and get after you. And they’re all experienced guys and they’re all at the perimeter, then they rotate guys inside. He’s done a hell of a job getting Audige to become more of a passer. He really played under control compared to last year. Maybe it was the haircut and the whole look. I give him a lot of credit, I told him that after the game. I thought even Boo Buie, there were no crazy shots and he guarded. That was a better Northwestern team because of the way they guard. They’re a very good defensive team."
 
Won't link the source, but here's part of the transcript ...

"Shit, I’m happy for Chris. He did a hell of a job and he’s gone through a lot himself, people over there ripping him for this and that. Not easy at Northwestern to do what he’s done and losing some players he lost. He deserves a lot more credit on this whole thing than maybe I gave him early. He did his job and he got those guys ready. I told Audige after the game, I told Buie, and this is the greatest coaching thing I can tell Chris – those guys just shot shots last year. I thought they threw up shots and I didn’t think they guarded very well. And right now that might be as good a defensive team – they held Auburn to 42 or (43) points – that I’ve seen as far as come at you and get after you. And they’re all experienced guys and they’re all at the perimeter, then they rotate guys inside. He’s done a hell of a job getting Audige to become more of a passer. He really played under control compared to last year. Maybe it was the haircut and the whole look. I give him a lot of credit, I told him that after the game. I thought even Boo Buie, there were no crazy shots and he guarded. That was a better Northwestern team because of the way they guard. They’re a very good defensive team."
Yup. I was driving to Detroit last night and listened to the game call on the FM feed of the MSU station. In the postgame with Izzo, you could tell he was a bit flabbegasted with some of his players, but he spoke very specifically about NU in ways that I have never heard other (hoops) coaches speak. It certainly made me think about Collins.

But the points in this thread about recruiting are hard to refute. That said, he has recruited well before, but more recently we have gotten 4* guys who have not developed. We need better player development.
 
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Yup. I was driving to Detroit last night and listened to the game call on the FM feed of the MSU station. In the postgame with Izzo, you could tell he was a bit flabbegasted with some of his players, but he spoke very specifically about NU in ways that I have never heard other (hoops) coaches speak. It certainly made me think about Collins.

But the points in this thread about recruiting are hard to refute. That said, he has recruited well before, but more recently we have gotten 4* guys who have not developed. We need better player development.
It was an interesting press conference. Very candid about the opponent. Kind of the anti-Fitz press conference as far as that goes. He also mentioned that Nicholson and Roper both wanted to play at MSU but didn't get offers. I'm not sure what he meant by "he deserves a lot more credit on this whole thing than maybe I gave him early." Doesn't seem that flattering to me.

He was also pretty whiney. Mentioned that we are a bad free throw shooting team but we shot well that game. Mentioned that Nicholson banked one in. Spent a lot of time talking about injuries. Lots of teams have tight rotations and injured rotation players.
 
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It was an interesting press conference. Very candid about the opponent. Kind of the anti-Fitz press conference as far as that goes. He also mentioned that Nicholson and Roper both wanted to play at MSU but didn't get offers. I'm not sure what he meant by "he deserves a lot more credit on this whole thing than maybe I gave him early." Doesn't seem that flattering to me.

He was also pretty whiney. Mentioned that we are a bad free throw shooting team but we shot well that game. Mentioned that Nicholson banked one in. Spent a lot of time talking about injuries. Lots of teams have tight rotations and injured rotation players.

He's right, without that one we would have been 20-24 from the line and won by 6. Game changer.
 
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But the points in this thread about recruiting are hard to refute. That said, he has recruited well before, but more recently we have gotten 4* guys who have not developed. We need better player development.

Exactly. It's harder to see Beran as an anomaly after the underachievement of Falzon, Ivanauskas, and even Nance to a certain extent. The most frustrating part about this team is if Beran could be a 10-15 ppg scorer (not an unprecedented thing to ask of a 4-star in his senior year), we'd contend for the dance.
 
It was an interesting press conference. Very candid about the opponent. Kind of the anti-Fitz press conference as far as that goes. He also mentioned that Nicholson and Roper both wanted to play at MSU but didn't get offers. I'm not sure what he meant by "he deserves a lot more credit on this whole thing than maybe I gave him early." Doesn't seem that flattering to me.

He was also pretty whiney. Mentioned that we are a bad free throw shooting team but we shot well that game. Mentioned that Nicholson banked one in. Spent a lot of time talking about injuries. Lots of teams have tight rotations and injured rotation players.
Did he also mention that Nicholson and Roper would be starting for his team?
 
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It was an interesting press conference. Very candid about the opponent. Kind of the anti-Fitz press conference as far as that goes. He also mentioned that Nicholson and Roper both wanted to play at MSU but didn't get offers. I'm not sure what he meant by "he deserves a lot more credit on this whole thing than maybe I gave him early." Doesn't seem that flattering to me.

He was also pretty whiney. Mentioned that we are a bad free throw shooting team but we shot well that game. Mentioned that Nicholson banked one in. Spent a lot of time talking about injuries. Lots of teams have tight rotations and injured rotation players.
Everybody seems to want to dump on MN. Even Izzo!

He was not very happy with his own team. That was quite evident.
 
Everybody seems to want to dump on MN. Even Izzo!

He was not very happy with his own team. That was quite evident.
7'1" 270 lbs players like MN get tired when the coach has them running all over the court on both offense AND defense.

I give him credit for his effort although I was surprised he raised his arm to be subbed out after we turned a 25-20 deficit into a 38-35 lead late in the first half. It was only a 7:15 segment.

And the banked-in free throw was a clever technique to break the Spartans' spirit.
 
7'1" 270 lbs players like MN get tired when the coach has them running all over the court on both offense AND defense.

I give him credit for his effort although I was surprised he raised his arm to be subbed out after we turned a 25-20 deficit into a 38-35 lead late in the first half. It was only a 7:15 segment.

And the banked-in free throw was a clever technique to break the Spartans' spirit.
There are things I like about MN. I like that he can be a presence at the rim on defense. I like that we finally have a center who can take the feed on the slip-screen and jam it through with authority. But at the same time, I haven't seen a center in a while who is as inept as MN is at making layups at the basket. He had multiple scoring opportunities from two feet in against a smaller opponent and he missed them horribly. Like, really horribly. He really is the anti-Ryan Young in many ways. I don't how he hasn't developed that two-foot game after three years in the program. The guy should be doing Mikan drills all-day, everyday. Because if he could score, he would be really something for this team.
 
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It was an interesting press conference. Very candid about the opponent. Kind of the anti-Fitz press conference as far as that goes. He also mentioned that Nicholson and Roper both wanted to play at MSU but didn't get offers. I'm not sure what he meant by "he deserves a lot more credit on this whole thing than maybe I gave him early." Doesn't seem that flattering to me.

He was also pretty whiney. Mentioned that we are a bad free throw shooting team but we shot well that game. Mentioned that Nicholson banked one in. Spent a lot of time talking about injuries. Lots of teams have tight rotations and injured rotation players.
Here it is. I don't think the comment about giving Collins enough credit was bad, he was referring to what he said in his opening remarks about the game. Check out his comments around 9:00, about how Collins has improved the defense, and made Audige more of a passer, "played under control" ("maybe it was the haircut"), "Boo no crazy shots and he guarded":

 
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