Let’s Sum It Up

[SDakaGordie]

UCONN - Great talent throughout lineup; Great coaching
NU - Some great talent in parts of lineup; limited by injury; Great coaching
Illinois - Great talent throughout lineup; Average / Below Average Coaching

Result - NU coaches gave us a small chance; Illinois had no chance due to being stubborn and playing their way or the highway.

 

[wildcatpn]

UCONN - Great talent throughout lineup; Great coaching
NU - Some great talent in parts of lineup; limited by injury; Great coaching
Illinois - Great talent throughout lineup; Average / Below Average Coaching

Result - NU coaches gave us a small chance; Illinois had no chance due to being stubborn and playing their way or the highway.

NU had a small chance? Wow will you do anything to fawn all over Collins. NU had zero chance. They were out of the game 2 minutes into it.

Collins has come along way and is a really good coach but stop with the small chance stuff against UConn because of coaching.

 

[Hungry Jack]

I thought a low scoring game gave Illinois a shot. Illinois had put up a decent 72 vs a good Iowa State defense, so I thought they might get 70ish vs UConn.

The first half was pretty ugly but close enough to that script.

The reality kicked in.

I so wish we were fully healthy for UConn.

 

[SDakaGordie]

NU had a small chance? Wow will you do anything to fawn all over Collins. NU had zero chance. They were out of the game 2 minutes into it.

Collins has come along way and is a really good coach but stop with the small chance stuff against UConn because of coaching.

Our coaching reality really bites you, doesn’t it?

Tell me about anyone who is objective, sees our team and says we should be as good as / better than we are. We have great coaching, dude!

 

[wildcatpn]

Our coaching reality really bites you, doesn’t it?

Tell me about anyone who is objective, sees our team and says we should be as good as / better than we are. We have great coaching, dude!

You’re clueless. I just said Collins is a really good coach. I’ve said over and over he’s become a really good coach and has a good staff.

You’ve said he’s been a great coach all along and that our coaching gave us a small chance against UConn. At what point did we have a “small chance” against UConn? Right before the ball went up in the air?

 

[SDakaGordie]

You criticized me for “fawning over Collins”; that’s not a fond statement and that’s what I am reacting to. I just presented more evidence as to why he’s a great coach. Do you agree he’s great?

 

[wildcatpn]

You criticized me for “fawning over Collins”; that’s not a fond statement and that’s what I am reacting to. I just presented more evidence as to why he’s a great coach. Do you agree he’s great?

The evidence you “just presented” as to why he’s a great coach is because he and his coaches gave NU a “small chance” against UConn?

Doesn’t something have to be true for it to be evidence?

Do I agree that he’s a great coach? I think he might be. I know for sure he’s gone from a coach who looked at himself and realized he needed to make some changes to be better and he did.

 

[NU Houston]

UCONN - Great talent throughout lineup; Great coaching
NU - Some great talent in parts of lineup; limited by injury; Great coaching
Illinois - Great talent throughout lineup; Average / Below Average Coaching

Result - NU coaches gave us a small chance; Illinois had no chance due to being stubborn and playing their way or the highway.

Illinois started the game with Hawkins single teaming Clingan, like there was any chance of success with that matchup. And on offense, they kept taking it to the basket against Clingan and either getting the shots blocked or challenged. Guerrier was terrible on offense. Poor decision making. He passed up open threes in order to drive and force contested shots. With better ball movement and an emphasis on finding open shooters, they could have stayed in the game longer.

Not a good look by the Illini.

 

[its_the_sauce]

Illinois started the game with Hawkins single teaming Clingan, like there was any chance of success with that matchup. And on offense, they kept taking it to the basket against Clingan and either getting the shots blocked or challenged. Guerrier was terrible on offense. Poor decision making. He passed up open threes in order to drive and force contested shots. With better ball movement and an emphasis on finding open shooters, they could have stayed in the game longer.

Not a good look by the Illini.

Not a good look by the Illini??? They made the Elite 8 and ran into a buzzsaw.

 

[SDakaGordie]

The evidence you “just presented” as to why he’s a great coach is because he and his coaches gave NU a “small chance” against UConn?

Doesn’t something have to be true for it to be evidence?

Do I agree that he’s a great coach? I think he might be. I know for sure he’s gone from a coach who looked at himself and realized he needed to make some changes to be better and he did.

We can agree to disagree if our chance was non-zero, which I believe, or zero, which you believe.

The evidence was today’s game.

Thanks for answering my question.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

You’re just using coaching as secondhand for defense here. You don’t build the #2 offense in the country without strong coaching.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

The evidence you “just presented” as to why he’s a great coach is because he and his coaches gave NU a “small chance” against UConn?

Doesn’t something have to be true for it to be evidence?

Do I agree that he’s a great coach? I think he might be. I know for sure he’s gone from a coach who looked at himself and realized he needed to make some changes to be better and he did.

The question to be asked is Which Head Coaches in the B1G would you trade CCC for? I think most NU fans will be able to count them on one hand and not use all of their fingers.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

You’re just using coaching as secondhand for defense here. You don’t build the #2 offense in the country without strong coaching.

There are two sides to the game. The Illini didn’t show any interest in defense all season. It was TSJ running like an out of control bull on offense, Luka Donic exploiting mismatches and generally getting up and down as fast as possible. I am not sure how you basically neglect half the game and it’s considered strong Coaching. Undie did nothing today to even attempt to stem the tide.

 

[wildcatpn]

The question to be asked is Which Head Coaches in the B1G would you trade CCC for? I think most NU fans will be able to count them on one hand and not use all of their fingers.

Agree with you there.

 

[JournCat]

Not a good look by the Illini??? They made the Elite 8 and ran into a buzzsaw.

I’m literally watching a replay of the 30-0 UConn run just for the schadenfreude of seeing the state school suffer … but this is the correct take. They missed wide-open shots because UConn took them out of their rhythm and ran on every rebound and steal the way they did to us.

 

[NU Houston]

Not a good look by the Illini??? They made the Elite 8 and ran into a buzzsaw.

30-0 was not a good look. A game plan of continuing to drive on Clingan was not a good look. Putting Hawkins as a single defender on Clingan was not a good look.

UConn's talent level wasn't THAT much better than Illinois'. They were better coached and were much more focused and disciplined on both ends of the court.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

30-0 was not a good look. A game plan of continuing to drive on Clingan was not a good look. Putting Hawkins as a single defender on Clingan was not a good look.

UConn's talent level wasn't THAT much better than Illinois'. They were better coached and were much more focused and disciplined on both ends of the court.

UConn’s talent is quite a bit more. There is a reason Clingan is a lottery pick despite not having a modern outside game offensively. He’s a game changer defensively and can run the shit out of that pick and roll. And he’s not their only lottery pick.

 

[SDakaGordie]

UConn’s talent is quite a bit more. There is a reason Clingan is a lottery pick despite not having a modern outside game offensively. He’s a game changer defensively and can run the shit out of that pick and roll. And he’s not their only lottery pick.

UofI’s offense is one of the best in the nation. Either they have as much / more talent or Underwood’s a great offensive coach. And we all know we can’t argue the latter.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

UofI’s offense is one of the best in the nation. Either they have as much / more talent or Underwood’s a great offensive coach. And we all know we can’t argue the latter.

Go ahead and take a look at an NBA mock draft and get back to me. Illinois is very talented, but it’s not close.

 

[SDakaGordie]

Go ahead and take a look at an NBA mock draft and get back to me. Illinois is very talented, but it’s not close.

Fair point. That makes my IL coaching argument less strong, but it makes my NU coaching argument much stronger.

 

[NUCat320]

Illinois was tied at 23 with 1:22 left in the first half. NU was down 36-15. Yes, NU “won the second half”, but it was not competitive.

Illinois competed for half the game. That said, I managed to flip it on at about 10-0 into the run, and those next ten minutes or so were just delicious.

 

[NJCat]

Illinois was tied at 23 with 1:22 left in the first half. NU was down 36-15. Yes, NU “won the second half”, but it was not competitive.

If they weren't "competitive ", what did Coach Hurley have to call time out with his starters on the floor with 5:00 left in the game?

 

[NUCat320]

If they weren't "competitive ", what did Coach Hurley have to call time out with his starters on the floor with 5:00 left in the game?

Because the deficit had gotten to 16 points, and win probability all the way down to 99.7%.

Meanwhile, UConn got to 99.9% at 14 minutes remaining and never dropped below that against Illinois, so I guess Illinois was less competitive?

The premise of the thread — NU gave UConn a game but Illinois did not — is a real stretch. There are lots of reasons to be proud of NU, and this was an incredibly fun season, but I like to think that NU fans are smarter than to hang our hat on “the Cats were being doubled up by UConn at halftime but made it close when they got the deficit to 16.”

It’s a weird, losery construct for a thread. And not a single person watching the game thought NU was going to pull out the greatest five-minute comeback in NCAA hoops history.

 

[SDakaGordie]

Because the deficit had gotten to 16 points, and win probability all the way down to 99.7%.

Meanwhile, UConn got to 99.9% at 14 minutes remaining and never dropped below that against Illinois, so I guess Illinois was less competitive?

The premise of the thread — NU gave UConn a game but Illinois did not — is a real stretch. There are lots of reasons to be proud of NU, and this was an incredibly fun season, but I like to think that NU fans are smarter than to hang our hat on “the Cats were being doubled up by UConn at halftime but made it close when they got the deficit to 16.”

It’s a weird, losery construct for a thread. And not a single person watching the game thought NU was going to pull out the greatest five-minute comeback in NCAA hoops history.

You totally missed the point. It was about coaching. And feel free to call me “losery” directly.

 

[Secho99]

If they weren't "competitive ", what did Coach Hurley have to call time out with his starters on the floor with 5:00 left in the game?

I mean, give our guys credit for not quitting but UConn’s guys looked like they were ready to get it over with and go have dinner.

We have so many things to be proud of with this team, I don’t really get why some on the board seem to be doing a sort of victory lap because we made our 30-point deficit look a little better in the end than the other teams they crushed.

 

[NUCat320]

You totally missed the point. It was about coaching. And feel free to call me “losery” directly.

My apologies. A thread about NU’s superior coaching, as evidenced by NU’s competitive performance as compared Illinois’ uncompetitive performance against UConn, is flawed. This is because neither Illinois nor Northwestern were in the game against UConn.

Though, if one team were to claim a competitive performance, it would be the one that was tied 18 minutes into the game and not the one that got as close as 16 points with five minutes left.

(The UConn game reminded me of my constant optimism during the zero-win 99-00 season. “If we get stops on the next three possessions, and we get threes after those stops, we’ll be within 15 points, and that’s striking distance.”)

 

[SDakaGordie]

My apologies. A thread about NU’s superior coaching, as evidenced by NU’s competitive performance as compared Illinois’ uncompetitive performance against UConn, is flawed. This is because neither Illinois nor Northwestern were in the game against UConn.

Though, if one team were to claim a competitive performance, it would be the one that was tied 18 minutes into the game and not the one that got as close as 16 points with five minutes left.

(The UConn game reminded me of my constant optimism during the zero-win 99-00 season. “If we get stops on the next three possessions, and we get threes after those stops, we’ll be within 15 points, and that’s striking distance.”)

Thanks for the reply but I still think the issue is that Undie showed his inability to coach / be flexible, while we had lots of easy opportunities to make the game much closer. He also could have learned from our game but chose not to. Our coaching was no doubt superior, and never mind if we had our full squad.

 

[hdhntr1]

UCONN - Great talent throughout lineup; Great coaching
NU - Some great talent in parts of lineup; limited by injury; Great coaching
Illinois - Great talent throughout lineup; Average / Below Average Coaching

Result - NU coaches gave us a small chance; Illinois had no chance due to being stubborn and playing their way or the highway.

Sorry but any chance we had was knocked out in the first half. IL was able to hang with them for a half. Like it or not a big part of coaching is recruiting and Underwood has done very well in that regard. But have to say in this case it appears that whatever was said at half time by him was the wrong thing

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

What a bizarre thread.
I like our players. The guys we had this season were or are quite talented... but not world beaters. They play hard. Thats good.

We got blown out by UConn from the opening tip. We were down 22 at halftime. The game was over. Yes, we could have played better with Nicholson and Berry available. They were not available.

How does any of that reflect on the coaches - other than the fair statement that Underwood should be embarrassed by his team's performance in the 2nd half?

It does reflect positively on our players that they kept trying, but I would have been disappointed if they hadn't.