ESPN Take on NU Hoops
- Thread starter NJCat83588
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But make no mistake.... this article isn't written for die-hard NU fans like you and me. Heck... there are only about 50 of us that will read that article. Its written for the fan of other BiG teams or the casual sports fan who happens to click on it because they are bored at work. The difference in coaching styles is THE story line of NU hoops at the moment until either CC succeeds wildly or starts to flame out.
Why isn't the story line of Minnesota hoops the difference between Richard Pitino and Tubby Smith?
Because Minnesota has had great recruiters in the past. NU has NEVER in modern history had a coach that has shown the kind of recruiting prowess CC has. It is certainly notable.
Minnesota just went from a coach with national championship experience to an inexperienced coach whose only claim to fame is his famous father. How do their approaches to the game differ? How are their locker rooms handled? How is it different having Pitino in a recruit's living room and not Smith? You could easily write half the preview on that topic if you wanted. But they didn't, because it's a meaningless topic now that Pitino is heading into his third season. Instead, their preview is a fairly detailed evaluation of their returning players, their freshman signees, and the team's prospects going forward. And that's for a program that, to the "casual sports fan," is almost as nationally irrelevant as Northwestern.
"Chris Collins is a better recruiter than Bill Carmody," while true, tells us absolutely nothing about how the 2015-16 team is going to perform on the court.
You're complaining because the article wasn't glowing about Carmody. If it had, I'm guessing you'd probably have no problem with it.
Regardless, NU bball's biggest story IS the new the coach right now, and the kind of recruits he's bringing that give optimism for the future. So the story absolutely hit the essence of the current storyline for our bball team, which is hit upon all time in this very forum.
Regardless, NU bball's biggest story IS the new the coach right now, and the kind of recruits he's bringing that give optimism for the future. So the story absolutely hit the essence of the current storyline for our bball team, which is hit upon all time in this very forum.
No it was complete garbage. The article did provide an excuse that Carmody was an awful recruiter (but that's not really completely fair) and said that Collins is different. So to someone that doesn't know and doesn't care, I guess that's a net positive, but they probably aren't really reading the article to begin with just like I didn't bother to read the equivalent article on Washington State.
The title of the article is looking ahead and all it did was look back at Carmody's lack of recruiting success and then say Collins has changed things by recruiting. Things that would be better to talk about rather than the recruiting ability of Chris Collins and Bill Carmody:
The system that Chris Collins wants/will run now that he has 2 full recruiting classes to that should fit his system.
Bryant McIntosh's mental acumen at the point guard spot.
Tre Demps and Alex Olah continued development as seniors
Tre Demps's ability as "Captain Clutch" (athletic department's words on his birthday facebook shout out) and how
that can keep us out of the close loses we had last season
The guard rotation or Demps, McIntosh, and Ash which I think will be the best in my memory.
How Lindsey and Law will compete for playing time on the wing.
Pardon, Falzon, Olah, and JVG at the 4-5 position actually making NU big and physical enough to compete in the big ten.
Please quote any of my posts in this thread which indicate that I want the article to talk about Bill Carmody at all, positively or negatively. Otherwise please respond to the posts I actually write, not the ones you dream up.
I agree. Those would all be great articles, and if they don't become articles, they should at least be topics for us to kick around here during the summer.
Who outside of NU gives a c**p? Basically he is saying that recruiting at NU is on an upswing and that O and D are different than they were. There is a blurb on every team and they are basically fluff pieces.
We all know that the success of the upcoming year's basketball team hinges on the continued development of Olah and Demps as the leaders of the team and the continued development of the sophs - McIntosh, Law and Lindsey and hopefully Skelly. But from a national perspective, until NU breaks down through the NCAA tournament door, the main issue will be when or if it will happen and why it hasn't happened in early years as others have done a good job in their posts pointing out.
That's what the 2nd half of my previous post was for, which you convieniently ignored.
I will say this -- good or bad, this article probably produced more clicks and comments than any five standard, here's-who-is-coming-back, here's-the-new-guys NU previews would have generated. This guy obviously knows nothing generates interest in NU basketball like a good, old fashioned Carmody-vs-CC debate.
Don't you think we all need to wait and see what NU BB looks like after Collins has a squad of all of his recruits?
Sad but true. But it's the same old tired arguments, would rather just move on. No one has changed their opinion as a result of these debates.......
Took the words right out of my mouth. "Looking ahead" this is not.
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Ooooo, never thought of that in this context. You're probably right, Idaho.
I can't believe the board is 59 messages into this discussion. If this is what results from unimaginative writing, let's hope Fred Mitchell from the Tribune never becomes a regular beat writer for NU.
The article was worthless as a preview article. Any die-hard, reads-college-hoops-in-May college basketball fan, if they know anything about NU hoops, knows the 'close but not cigar' story that was actual news half a decade ago.
The writer wanted to stir up some interest here (sheesh, isn't that kind of a sad station in life), or simply wanted to self-plagiarize an article from several months or years ago, because he was on a deadline.
I wonder what the reaction would have been if he wrote an incisive analysis of Vic's February surge, Mac's February fade, Lindsey's D, Olah's flashes of total dominance, Demps' absurd Michigan performances, and the circumstances surrounding JVZ's departure and where he fits in on a perimeter-oriented team.
Probably,
Post 1: (link) "pretty insightful article.
Excites me for this year."
Post 2: " cool. Good article. Thanks for finding it."
Post 3. (No post three.)
Why is Vic Law's skill set less appropriate for the Princeton offense? He is actually a pretty good passer (he made several really nice entry passes into Olah later in the season), has the potential to be a good ball handler for his size and ended up shooting 35.5% on 3-pointers. The weakest part of his game last year was driving to the basket (which suits the Princeton offense just fine). He is an elite athlete and a great rebounder for his size, but I assume that you don't have to be an average athlete to excel in the Princeton offense. Having a low interest in Law (if that's true) is hard to explain. Having a 6'8" athletic player on your team is never a bad idea at NU, even if he just plays 10 to 15 minutes of great defense and grabs a few precious rebounds. The biggest issue for Carmody iin recruiting was depth and adding Law could only have been a good thing.
You must have been watching a different V. Law then I. Yes, he did improve his overall play during the season he remains an average in the passing game, if far from a good ball handler and is the type of player who wants to be part of an up-tempo offense and still think he will a fulltime starter by his junior year. NU needs better than average athlethes, not average, if they are to compepete in the Big Ten.
Precisely. Why anyone would think Vic couldn't excel in the PO is beyond me. Hopefully he is continuing to work on creating his own shot, which seems more critical in the Collins offense than it was in the prior regime.
