Is Hell Freezing Over? The Rapture About to Arrive?

[T_Levine]

CBS Sports Cable or whatever the channel is called.

End of the post Tourney Wrap show. One of the announcers went through his 2017-2018 Pre-Season Top 25.

At Number 17

the Northwestern Wildcats


These young men better be watching, and working. And recruits....Graduate Transfers....The train is at the station. Are you on board?

 

[scru]

CBS Sports Cable or whatever the channel is called.

End of the post Tourney Wrap show. One of the announcers went through his 2017-2018 Pre-Season Top 25.

At Number 17

the Northwestern Wildcats


These young men better be watching, and working. And recruits....Graduate Transfers....The train is at the station. Are you on board?

I could get on board with the Few plan... sacrifice the future for a shot at the ring right now. Take a veteran team at its core and supplement it with experienced transfers. The Zags came damn close to a national championship with this model. Add two grad transfers to this NU team, say Darius Thompson and Sean Obi, and make a run at the ring next year. Experienced vets vs young one-and-dones.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Take a veteran team at its core and supplement it with experienced transfers....Add two grad transfers to this NU team, say Darius Thompson and Sean Obi, and make a run at the ring next year.

I agree with the principle. Getting immediate veteran help would be vital for NU's prospects next season. However, Obi is just about the riskiest and less experienced grad transfer big available this year. He has played a single season in college, and it was at highly devalued C-USA (ranked lower than the Ivy by some). At Duke he has barely played, because of injuries. Rooks (Cal's 7-1 265 C) or Michigan's 6-9 240 PF Donnal would be far safer and stronger bigs...not sure if any is interested in NU, but there is no particularly reason to think they wouldn't.

 

[EvanstonCat]

I could get on board with the Few plan... sacrifice the future for a shot at the ring right now. Take a veteran team at its core and supplement it with experienced transfers. The Zags came damn close to a national championship with this model. Add two grad transfers to this NU team, say Darius Thompson and Sean Obi, and make a run at the ring next year. Experienced vets vs young one-and-dones.

Absolutely. We can always go the grad transfer to fill in the holes next year.

 

[EvanstonCat]

I agree with the principle. Getting immediate veteran help would be vital for NU's prospects next season. However, Obi is just about the riskiest and less experienced grad transfer big available this year. He has played a single season in college, and it was at highly devalued C-USA (ranked lower than the Ivy by some). At Duke he has barely played, because of injuries. Rooks (Cal's 7-1 265 C) or Michigan's 6-9 240 PF Donnal would be far safer and stronger bigs...not sure if any is interested in NU, but there is no particularly reason to think they wouldn't.

Doubt it. Obi dominated. There's a reason Coach K took him. He wouldn't likely take Rooks or Donnal.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Doubt it. Obi dominated. There's a reason Coach K took him. He wouldn't likely take Rooks or Donnal.

There is a reason why coach K hardly ever sent him to actually play: injuries.
Why on earth should NU risk one of his 2 remaining spots on him, particularly when his only real exposure to collegiate basketball was at a minor conference?
As I already told you, if Donnal or Rooks had spent their Fr year at C-USA (or the Ivy which is ranked a bit higher) they would have put astronomical numbers.

There is a reason why they went to major conferences, while Obi went to C-USA. Right???

 

[EvanstonCat]

There is a reason why coach K hardly ever sent him to actually play: injuries.
Why on earth should NU risk one of his remaining 2 spots, particularly when his only real exposure to collegiate basketball was at a minor conference?
As I already told you, if Donnal or Rooks had spent their Fr year at C-USA or the Ivy (ranked a bit higher) they would have put astronomical numbers.
There is a reason why they got offers from major conferences, and Obi only one from C-USA.

And I tell you BS on Donnal or Rooks putting up astronomical numbers in C-USA or the Ivy. There's plenty of reasons why they got offers from major conferences - #1 being it's not that easy to project from HS to Division 1. There is a reason Coach K never thought of bringing them to Duke, but he did give Obi a scholarship. Coach K >>>> Felis Selvestris

Steph Curry put up numbers at Davidson and you probably thought he would never be able to do the same at a higher level. You probably thought Jeremy Lin wasn't any good because he went to Harvard.

 

[pawildcat]

I could get on board with the Few plan... sacrifice the future for a shot at the ring right now. Take a veteran team at its core and supplement it with experienced transfers. The Zags came damn close to a national championship with this model. Add two grad transfers to this NU team, say Darius Thompson and Sean Obi, and make a run at the ring next year. Experienced vets vs young one-and-dones.

Why would you have to sacrifice the future? You can still have several underclassmen and add a transfer or two. One of the Gonzaga players who hurt NU was Collins, a freshman, and his foul trouble (along with many others) hurt the Zags last night.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

There is a reason Coach K never thought of bringing them to Duke, but he did give Obi a scholarship.

And what makes you think that coach K wouldn't have offered Rooks or Donnal HAD THEY ACTUALLY BECOME AVAILABLE at the same time Obi did?

College coaches are forbidden from recruiting players enrolled at other schools unless the players have already received a release.

Coach K made a decision several years ago, based on the information that he had at the time. I cannot speak for him, but I 'd bet that he wouldn't choose Obi over the other two back when he made the decision, especially if he knew then, what he knows NOW (which is the moment when NU must make a decision). He had no idea Obi would have the kind of problems he ended up having.

 

[willycat]

I could get on board with the Few plan... sacrifice the future for a shot at the ring right now. Take a veteran team at its core and supplement it with experienced transfers. The Zags came damn close to a national championship with this model. Add two grad transfers to this NU team, say Darius Thompson and Sean Obi, and make a run at the ring next year. Experienced vets vs young one-and-dones.

Agree that if a 5 * H.S. kid isn't coming to NU then by all means go the grad transfer route to fill holes at G and C. After watching Gonzaga make it the final game, I'm wondering why NU no longer gets recruits outside of the U.S.. The guys from Poland and France certainly helped Gonzaga and remember that some of the previous coaches top recruits not named Coble or Shurna were from Croatia , France and Canada. Also thought that I had read awhile back that Baldwin or someone else with NU ties had a strong presence overseas. It might just be time to strike while the iron is hot.

 

[Max_Power]

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders—the most famous of which is, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia”—but only slightly less well-known is this: “Never waste your time trying to change FeliSilvestris mind on any NU message board"! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha…(E-Cat falls over dead having drank the poison)

 

[NJCat]

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders: “Never waste your time trying to change FeliSilvestris mind on any NU message board"!

Very true. In fact, I would wager that no ones mind (Felis or otherwise) has ever been changed as a result of arguing on a message board......

 

[Hungry Jack]

CBS Sports Cable or whatever the channel is called.

End of the post Tourney Wrap show. One of the announcers went through his 2017-2018 Pre-Season Top 25.

At Number 17

the Northwestern Wildcats


These young men better be watching, and working. And recruits....Graduate Transfers....The train is at the station. Are you on board?

The Cubs won a WS.

The Eagles got back together (RIP Glenn Frey)

The Tasmanian Devil has been spotted in Australia.

Nothing is forever.

 

[EvanstonCat]

And what makes you think that coach K wouldn't have offered Rooks or Donnal HAD THEY ACTUALLY BECOME AVAILABLE at the same time Obi did?

College coaches are forbidden from recruiting players enrolled at other schools unless the players have already received a release.

Coach K made a decision several years ago, based on the information that he had at the time. I cannot speak for him, but I 'd bet that he wouldn't choose Obi over the other two back when he made the decision, especially if he knew then, what he knows NOW (which is the moment when NU must make a decision). He had no idea Obi would have the kind of problems he ended up having.

Yeah, Coach K has an established track record of offering bench players of teams like Michigan and Cal. Get a grip son.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Yeah, Coach K has an established track record of offering bench players of teams like Michigan and Cal. Get a grip son.

You don't get it.
Most bench player (especially bigs) at a decent major conference team, like Mich or Cal, would be superstars if facing the level of competition of the Ivy league (or the C-USA which is even lower)!

But again, coach K did NOT know a few years ago what he knows now. Even if we were to believe (I don't) that he would have ranked Obi ahead of Rooks and Donnal (had all 3 been transfers at the same time) that would have been based on what he knew at the time. 3 years later, coach K knows that Obi essentially played nothing at Duke at least b/c of injuries (we cannot assume he would have been a starter just b/c he was healthy)...in fact, he is supposedly healthy now, yet is transferring probably b/c he doesn't realistically expect to play much at Duke (if he'd have a scholarship to stay, which may or may not be the case).

 

[EvanstonCat]

You don't get it.
Most bench player (especially bigs) at a decent major conference team, like Mich or Cal, would be superstars if facing the level of competition of the Ivy league (or the C-USA which is even lower)!

But again, coach K did NOT know a few years ago what he knows now. Even if we were to believe (I don't) that he would have ranked Obi ahead of Rooks and Donnal (had all 3 been transfers at the same time) that would have been based on what he knew at the time. 3 years later, coach K knows that Obi essentially played nothing at Duke at least b/c of injuries (we cannot assume he would have been a starter just b/c he was healthy)...in fact, he is supposedly healthy now, yet is transferring probably b/c he doesn't realistically expect to play much at Duke (if he'd have a scholarship to stay, which may or may not be the case).

Shaking my head.

 

[NUCat320]

Agree that if a 5 * H.S. kid isn't coming to NU then by all means go the grad transfer route to fill holes at G and C. After watching Gonzaga make it the final game, I'm wondering why NU no longer gets recruits outside of the U.S.. The guys from Poland and France certainly helped Gonzaga and remember that some of the previous coaches top recruits not named Coble or Shurna were from Croatia , France and Canada. Also thought that I had read awhile back that Baldwin or someone else with NU ties had a strong presence overseas. It might just be time to strike while the iron is hot.

We definitely need to see the program return to the Carmody recruiting playbook.

 

[willycat]

We definitely need to see the program return to the Carmody recruiting playbook.

Right and as you know I was definitely a Carmody hugger, or NOT.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

We definitely need to see the program return to the Carmody recruiting playbook.

I suppose you are being sarcastic. But, anyhow, the fact that some very fine players are coming into NCAA basketball from overseas cannot be denied. BC had some limited success with foreign players. Not all work out, but then again, same can be said of local ones (even relatively highly touted ones, like Kale Abrahamson). I suspect CC could use someone like Hachad, VV, or Lucas (in his good nights) to name a few...not to mention the Euros in the F4... or Michigan's Moritz Wagner (from Berlin, Germany)...check out this video:

 

[NJCat]

But, anyhow, the fact that some very fine players are coming into NCAA basketball from overseas cannot be denied. I suspect CC could use someone like Hachad, VV, or Lucas (in his good nights) to name a few...]

Last time I checked, Canada was not overseas.....

And how soon they forget one of the best Foreign players, Alex Olah!!

 

[JournCat]

I think we'd need to have an assistant coach specialize in international players to build a real pipeline. Gonzaga has an assistant, Tommy Lloyd, cited online for being their point man on recruiting everyone from Ronny Turiaf to Karnowski. Carmody had Ivan Vujic on his staff for a while and at least one player from Eastern Europe on the roster for his whole tenure.

My perception is Gates and Baldwin are the key recruiters, and James functions as the in-house sounding board and source of 90-foot inbound plays. Either you replace one of those three or you send one of them abroad. Neither seems to make sense.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Last time I checked, Canada was not overseas.....And how soon they forget one of the best Foreign players, Alex Olah!!

Olah was a CC's player (although he found him in the program), so no need to mention him.
You may be confused about Hachad. He is Moroccan, and in fact plays for their national team. He did attend HS in Canada, so you can claim the NU coaches didn't actually have to travel overseas to recruit him (similar could be said about Olah, and many other foreign players, who finished HS in the U.S.).

 

[NJCat]

Olah was a CC's player (although he found him in the program), so no need to mention him.
You may be confused about Hachad. He is Moroccan, and in fact plays for their national team. He did attend HS in Canada, so you can claim the NU coaches didn't actually have to travel overseas to recruit him (similar could be said about Olah, and many other foreign players, who finished HS in the U.S.).

Fair enough.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

My perception is Gates and Baldwin are the key recruiters, and James functions as the in-house sounding board and source of 90-foot inbound plays. Either you replace one of those three or you send one of them abroad. Neither seems to make sense.

Actually, Baldwin played professionally in Bosnia and Croatia (former Yugoslavia) before joining the coaching ranks. So, he'd be the guy to specialize in Europe (and the area where he played is one that has proven fruitful for NU BkB recruiting).

 

[willycat]

Last time I checked, Canada was not overseas.....

And how soon they forget one of the best Foreign players, Alex Olah!!

Well it is over bodies of water.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Well it is over bodies of water.

Actually, I thought "overseas" could be used (in figurative sense) to mean any country other than your own.
Otherwise, it gets tricky since you could travel over the sea to reach any country (even if part of the journey is done by land). Say, you probably fly over the sea to reach Cancun from Miami or NYC, if you take the most direct route...you could also do the whole journey by ship...so, is Mexico overseas or not? I guess it may depend on the PoV.

 

[willycat]

I think we'd need to have an assistant coach specialize in international players to build a real pipeline. Gonzaga has an assistant, Tommy Lloyd, cited online for being their point man on recruiting everyone from Ronny Turiaf to Karnowski. Carmody had Ivan Vujic on his staff for a while and at least one player from Eastern Europe on the roster for his whole tenure.

My perception is Gates and Baldwin are the key recruiters, and James functions as the in-house sounding board and source of 90-foot inbound plays. Either you replace one of those three or you send one of them abroad. Neither seems to make sense.

Someone mentioned Baldwin's ties Croatia and that's who I remember being mentioned when NU recruited in Europe. There are a lot of pretty good ballplayers coming out of places like Germany, France, Spain, as well as some untapped countries in the African Continent and also Australia. A couple of guys like Vedran couldn't hurt.

 

[TheC]

Very true. In fact, I would wager that no ones mind (Felis or otherwise) has ever been changed as a result of arguing on a message board......

Hmmm...... maybe you are right.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

CBS Sports Cable or whatever the channel is called.

End of the post Tourney Wrap show. One of the announcers went through his 2017-2018 Pre-Season Top 25.

At Number 17

the Northwestern Wildcats


These young men better be watching, and working. And recruits....Graduate Transfers....The train is at the station. Are you on board?

I got us at number six! Beating Gonzaga in round of eight

 

[mikewebb68]

Very true. In fact, I would wager that no ones mind (Felis or otherwise) has ever been changed as a result of arguing on a message board......

Mine has been changed, on multiple occassions. For example, as I have previously posted, I was initially a Carmody supporter in the Carmody vs. Collins wars until I realized the people who were arguing for Carmody (Mystic, DocCatsFan) were posters who could not possibly be correct about anything.