Just short at Bloomington
- Thread starter LansingCat
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They needed to get the ball inside with 3 minutes left. Those outside shots had no chance. The pass from Turner to Law should have been held. Law was in no position to catch that. Overall they fought hard and have improved every game. These early two conference games may hurt. It would have been nice to begin conference play with another month of playing together behind us.
Wait till Ash is healthy! Turner hurt us today with his turnovers. Wait till January!
Not having a true point guard makes the offense flow more smoothly, it appears. Meaning everyone touches the ball and they look for the best shot and they take it when it's there.
definitely should pounded it into Pardon again and again in the last few minutes. Overall they looked pretty good but missed some easy put backs but so did Indiana.
What a heartbreaker. I missed the game, but looking at the box score it seems two things hurt us. We didn't make our 3's including Ryan Taylor (< 30% as a team). And second, the bench scored 2 points That ain't gonna' get it done. But for a very new team to play a quality opponent that tight on the road is encouraging. An upset over UM would really set the tone for the rest of the season.
PS.... let's hope this is the only moral victory on the day for NU!!
The up side is, playing Indiana that tough at Indiana is a good sign. I feel like this team is growing. Lots of new players coming together; some young and some older but it is a new mix. I'm very hopeful that the freshman will mature and the chemistry is just starting to mix. This team will improve every game all season and end up in a good spot.
I can only take optimism from the game. Thought NU played well...made difficult shots at key moments.
Frankly, thought Indiana was physically superior to NU. That opinion could have flipped on more effective defense from Nance....or Benson...but Pardon can only guard one big at a time.
Gaines played massively better....much more restrained on offense....a different player. He is at the very top of Big Ten guards in terms of defense.
Thought the officiating was curious at times....thought both teams were hurt by no calls....and touch calls.
Frankly, thought Indiana was physically superior to NU. That opinion could have flipped on more effective defense from Nance....or Benson...but Pardon can only guard one big at a time.
Gaines played massively better....much more restrained on offense....a different player. He is at the very top of Big Ten guards in terms of defense.
Thought the officiating was curious at times....thought both teams were hurt by no calls....and touch calls.
The Freshmen are a long way off. Kopp showed a couple of flashes but is far from a B1G player. And Nance "needs work".
Yeah, it's the defense where they both get exploited, Don't know if they are all that bad at D, but it is just that our pther four defenders are so oocked in the opposition is going to look to exploit the weak link. But with Gaines' foul trouble, we really had no choice. It is valuable experience for them and they will learn. When Gaines is in there, with Law/Pardon/Taylot/Turner though,man do we look solid on D.
I thought you guys looked like a good team. I dont think Indiana is at its peak yet. I think you guys could make the tournament.
I don't disagree. But I also dont see much from other wings.
The Cats need something in the ballpark of some consistency from someone besides Law and Pardon.
I disagree generally with the sentiment oft expressed on this board that the frosh are "not big ten" and "a long way off."
One of them has started just about every game. There are other options. And I must be on drugs because I think he's been decent.
And Nance keeps getting inserted into the game....sometimes for long periods of time.
What is the expectation among the NU faithful, that the frosh will come in ready to play 30 minutes and be upper tier players from day 1.
Falzon, if he can heal up, gives NU something that Kopp does not right now. He's a more deadly threat from distance and cannot be ignored. Which softens the rest of the perimeter. Falzon's length helps on D as well.
One of them has started just about every game. There are other options. And I must be on drugs because I think he's been decent.
And Nance keeps getting inserted into the game....sometimes for long periods of time.
What is the expectation among the NU faithful, that the frosh will come in ready to play 30 minutes and be upper tier players from day 1.
Falzon, if he can heal up, gives NU something that Kopp does not right now. He's a more deadly threat from distance and cannot be ignored. Which softens the rest of the perimeter. Falzon's length helps on D as well.
Interesting to compare Falzon as a true freshman to Kopp and Nance. Aaron started 29 of 32 games, played 24 minutes a game, averaged 8.4 points and 3.4 boards. His was third on the team in made 3's. Yet some consider him to be a "bust" (which I think is ludicrous). Kopp and Nance have a LONG way to go to play as effectively as Falzon did his first year.
The Indiana game showed a lot more promise then negatives. It stings a lot because we could have won. I don't think anyone is saying scrap everything because that would be crazy. This team flashed a lot.
Freshman are well freshman. I like how Kopp still kept taking open looks even though he missed a few early. Nance was always always going to be a developmental prospect. Give him an off-season. He pretty obviously besides law has the most potential on the roster. I was expecting him coming in to be a beast come junior year I would have been happily surprised if he became a major contributor this season.
Taylor does a decent job at distributing. Give him some more time and he will be more comfortable and get better. He's been slowly improving throughout the season.
The main problem with this team is consistency scoring (we've heard that before). Also finding someone confident and skilled to make the difficult entry passes to pardon. It's easy to say he should touch it down low every possession because he should. His biggest thing do improve on from last season was passing and now he's pretty darn good at it. If the casual observer can see he needs the ball every possession you know the other team does as well. They put him in tough spots to get the ball but he works to get the ball and the offense helps him get some space. Just if someone can step up and get the toughee entry passes in pardon will put up monster numbers ever game.
Pardon and law are perfect examples of how well players that buy in Develop under Collins and staff. I could name former players he developed too but I'm not gonna start that debate
(edit to say I'm not content with the loss or thrilled with it. I waited a couple days to post this for a reason. I try to stick to the positive side with my posts while attempting to stay grounded and accurate. I think the negative gets talked about enough on any message board. There are lot of positives right now especially for the future. For this season they have to play to peak potential soon to make the tournament. There's a chance with pardon law and Taylor leading the way.)
Freshman are well freshman. I like how Kopp still kept taking open looks even though he missed a few early. Nance was always always going to be a developmental prospect. Give him an off-season. He pretty obviously besides law has the most potential on the roster. I was expecting him coming in to be a beast come junior year I would have been happily surprised if he became a major contributor this season.
Taylor does a decent job at distributing. Give him some more time and he will be more comfortable and get better. He's been slowly improving throughout the season.
The main problem with this team is consistency scoring (we've heard that before). Also finding someone confident and skilled to make the difficult entry passes to pardon. It's easy to say he should touch it down low every possession because he should. His biggest thing do improve on from last season was passing and now he's pretty darn good at it. If the casual observer can see he needs the ball every possession you know the other team does as well. They put him in tough spots to get the ball but he works to get the ball and the offense helps him get some space. Just if someone can step up and get the toughee entry passes in pardon will put up monster numbers ever game.
Pardon and law are perfect examples of how well players that buy in Develop under Collins and staff. I could name former players he developed too but I'm not gonna start that debate
(edit to say I'm not content with the loss or thrilled with it. I waited a couple days to post this for a reason. I try to stick to the positive side with my posts while attempting to stay grounded and accurate. I think the negative gets talked about enough on any message board. There are lot of positives right now especially for the future. For this season they have to play to peak potential soon to make the tournament. There's a chance with pardon law and Taylor leading the way.)
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He's been injured pretty much since that FY. So even if he plays he probably won't be as effective as if he had been healthy the last 2 years.
Falzon played big minutes as a Frosh because there were not a lot of choices. And he grew by playing We have more alternatives now than we had then. And a guy who has been in system for 2-3 years should have a more mature body and understand the system better as well.
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