The flagrant that wasn’t called on Nebraska’s big and the charge that KJ is took changed the game. Period. End of story. Can’t blow that 18 pt lead but that shit killed us.
Game Thread: Northwestern vs. Nebraska
- Thread starter mshelton33
- Start date
Given how that big man was swinging his elbows, I thought we finally had one. Incidentally tapping another man’s privates is much worse than breaking someone’s face apparently.
They don’t call charges anymore unless you’re pushing off with your arm. Not sure why they don’t just change the rules. You can watch the whole season and maybe see 2-3 old school offensive charges all year long.
Good chance we win the game today with a packed student section.
It’s not blaming. It’s just disappointment to not have had the chance to be a part of a better game experience. Win or lose.
So many opinions of how much we stink and, yet, we came within a hair of winning.
We did not loose because we only have two big offensive threats. We did not loose because we are forced to play freshmen. We did not loose because of lack of fan or student specific support. We did not loose because the zebras messed up badly a few calls, which they did.
If you want to summarize it we lost because, in the second half, we played as smart basketball as they play in Bloomington.
We were not smart on defense, we allowed very basic offensive schemes to work with botched switches and poor positioning.
We were not smart on offense, we scored 2 pts in 9 minutes where we did not set up Martinelli at all. Berry was being hounded. We continued to work hard to get him looks and found ourselves moving the ball endlessly around the perimeter without attacking the basket. Nick had to touch the ball more. Not necessarily to score, but to facilitate.
The one I saw trying to break this cycle was KJ. He ended up missing every shot, but he looked to be a threat. Did not work out, had a poor game. But the kid tried to be objective.
We did not loose because we only have two big offensive threats. We did not loose because we are forced to play freshmen. We did not loose because of lack of fan or student specific support. We did not loose because the zebras messed up badly a few calls, which they did.
If you want to summarize it we lost because, in the second half, we played as smart basketball as they play in Bloomington.
We were not smart on defense, we allowed very basic offensive schemes to work with botched switches and poor positioning.
We were not smart on offense, we scored 2 pts in 9 minutes where we did not set up Martinelli at all. Berry was being hounded. We continued to work hard to get him looks and found ourselves moving the ball endlessly around the perimeter without attacking the basket. Nick had to touch the ball more. Not necessarily to score, but to facilitate.
The one I saw trying to break this cycle was KJ. He ended up missing every shot, but he looked to be a threat. Did not work out, had a poor game. But the kid tried to be objective.
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KJ is going to be a good player for us. Was hoping his good shooting night at Oregon would carry over to this game. It didn't but he was aggressive and his shot just didn't fall today. When you play a true frosh you are gonna have your ups and downs.
Just look at Rutgers with Bailey and Harper two recruits anyone on this board would love to have at NU. They are struggling big time and may not make it to Indy. You just gotta live with it and give them the playing time and experience.
Just look at Rutgers with Bailey and Harper two recruits anyone on this board would love to have at NU. They are struggling big time and may not make it to Indy. You just gotta live with it and give them the playing time and experience.
It’s pretty easy to picture KJ being a very good player for the Cats.
No one that I know of is saying KJ won’t be a good player for us. You can say we didn’t play smart basketball and that may be true. The question then begs why? Coaching? Players lacking experience? Players without the requisite skill set? Honest question.
Look, nothing out there changes my opinion that we are playing with limited offensive weapons and the Frosh flat out aren’t ready. No shame to that. Not sure how that would be controversial . Frankly, I like this team way more than the Nance/Kopp Young editions despite the results.
We all have affection for Big Matt, but he's not a very good player. He fills the position, but let's not pretend like he is some game changer. He isn't even our leading rebounder at 7 feet tall.
I stayed away from pointing fingers regarding the playing smart. The blame probably lies in multiple places. Experience, execution, leadership on the floor, point guard specific play, coaching. We can play that game, but all I wanted was to offer my view on why we lost.
I am not negating we are flawed. Any team without its two best players woud be very flawed. I am not sure why you think I am disagreeing with that. But that does not negate we blew away a 20 point 2nd half lead. It happened with this roster. Being 20 up is overachieving, with this or any roster, but we were. Blowing that lead is underachieving, with this or any roster.
Finally, KJ, I think the overwhelming majority here are optimistic about his future. Not even sure there's anyone who isn't. The discussion is not about that, it's about how much we use players. Since Clayton burned his shirt, we should use both. I personally just don't see how Clayton should start or get more than 10-15. KJ is our future and even, right now, is way better than him.
Take yesterday as an example. I have not looked at the box score. I have zero statistics to say this other than my (possible lying) eyes: KJ was a mile better than Clayton, even if they were both bad. He tried to make things happen when Mullins, Clayton and Ciaravino were not. He created a few good looks. Ball did not go in, but he was not a bowling pin on the permiter dribbling and passing the ball around.
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Since you played the game at a high level, I was just curious as to what your thoughts were on why we appear to miss assignments on defense. I may be wrong, but I usually chalk that up to lack of experience. Many of CCC players have struggled their first year or even second year and then suddenly a light bulb comes on.
Lack of experience might be the main reason, good chance it is, I don't have the answer for that. But, like most things in life, is definitely not the only one.
Experience with a specific group is another big one, seasoned players or not, the more reps you have the less you miss assignments. We play iterations today for serious minutes we did not in the beginning of the year. I always go back to Syracuse and zone working for them while most teams at a high level bomb when doing it. It's reps, it's experience perfecting it with a group.
Conditioning and physical health come into play. The more tired or banged up you are the more you botch assignments. Same way NBA teams' records fall so much in back to back games. In our case, our guys do look worn out. Maybe I just want to see that as they've been through a lot, but I see Nick wearing something around his knee (and that's not even the foot which he actually mentioned on camera struggling with) and feels a bit like watching Barnhizer earlier and just wondering when is it all going to come crashing down.
Leadership on the court comes into play. Break downs on defense can happen because of execution, like going under when you need to go over the pick and roll on some guy, communication, like assuming another guy knows you switched... Regardless, they can be corrected, or minimized by someone on the court speaking up. It's not just, when gathering your team mates in a circle over a free throw, saying "let's go". It's about correcting certain executions.
Finally, there's leadership from the bench. What the coach does about it. Say we feasted on IL by forcing the Lithuanian kid to switch and be on Martinelli. I'd dare say we won the game on that. Well, the opposing coach can change strategy, not switch on that particular case. This type of coaching is very very hard to evaluate sitting on the couch, bit easier from the stands. It requires a level of attention and engagement that is really something for the sidelines. I don't know what could have been done yesterday. I was not engaged that deeply in our players actions.
I am sure there are more things to point out. In the end we gave up so many 2nd half points. And it did not feel it was because they were particularly hot, it just felt whatever they ran worked.
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I didn't play at a high level, but when I watch our man to man D, I find it fairly complicated. It relies on switching everyone except the 5, but it also involves a lot of hedging by off ball defenders that seems like there is a judgement call to be made by that defender. Am I actually switching or am I just hedging and then recovering to my man? When the guys execute it correctly, it is a beautiful, shut down D. But I can imagine younger guys messing up a lot until it becomes instinctual.
My objection was to the post claiming that we only have 2 players.
That is dumb - and unnecessarily pessimistic.
For what its worth, Evan Miyakawa's stat website continues to rank Nicholson as our best player, ahead of Barnhizer - at least the injured Barnhizer that played this year. Nicholson is now rated the 4th best defender in the Big Ten.
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