Let's talk about the future a little more

[IGNORE2]

We are not a tournament team. Therefore, there is need for upgrades. With that in mind, my thoughts for 2016:

PG - Mac is the guy. If we could add Vasser's speed to Mac, he becomes an All American. With experience, I think Mac raises to All B1G 2nd team within next couple years. And while I would like to see even better talent recruited, I believe Mac is acceptable on a very good B1G team. I'm curious what Vasser will become but expect CCC to bring in a star to this important tournament position with 2016 class.

Off guard - Demps isn't the guy. While he can play team ball, it's not his strength. You want Demps to close the half and the game. I assume that Ash will be like most our fresh this year. So to start the year, I send out Lindsey with Demps first in at guard. When Ash earns his minutes, I will worry about making a change.

Wing - With Lindesy manning the 2, Law has to run the 3. He has shown flashes offensively, but is a beast on the boards and defends well. If Ash starts earning minutes at the 2, then the Lindsey / Law battle begins - I hope it is even and epic. Until then, I play situational. Slide down Tap for O or Lumpkin for D. Mostly, the backup here blurs away. Depending on the set, small, big, o minded or playing heavy d - this slot is the swing play.

PF - While Falzon is the man, so was Law. My hope is we land vZ and he starts here. Back him up with Tap until Falzon earns minutes, then thank Tap for his time here. Without vZ, I'm torn between running Skelly or turning to Tap. I lean with Tap since I need Skelly on the 5 - but would this as the open battle throughout practice warmup and OOC until the answer reveals himself.

C - Olah anchors the squad as the lone senior starter. Hopefully another year of maturity and an outside shot at the NBA motivates the fella to dominate. I continue to believe that when Olah comes out, we run small and bring Skelly. I think it would be interesting to see how Vasser, Demps, Lindsey, Law and Skelly would do together.

Coach - I like the recruiting. I'm nervous about the coaching. The bad things I have noticed: too long to employ any zone D, I put a higher responsibility on the coaching for losing the close ones, lack of dramatic improvement from Olah. But CCC has pulled out 3 wins after I wrote the obituary, so I believe there is potential. He has the pedigree and hopefully dad continues to hang around the program. I'm much more bullish on the bball coaches than the fball coaches. I still think the strength coach and trainers need to be rethought for all programs.

I think we are peaking now and hope we can maintain it. Someone wrote that the fresh are no longer. I tend to agree. If we pull off a couple wins at the tourney, maybe the NIT is reachable.

 

[ColumbusCatFan1]

Some good stuff here, Bob.

1) Vassar's future is an interesting question. By all accounts he has great athletic ability, but is really raw. His development could accelerate with minutes, but where do they come from? When Mac needs a rest, Ash could move to point to get Lindsey more time at 2, but again, when does Vassar see the court. Situational substitution?

2-3) I'm in agreement that Demps will most likely go back to being an offensive spark plug coming off the bench, Law is the man, and that Lindsey switches between 2 and 3. This (3) might be where Lumpkin sees some (very?) limited time.

4) I think Taphorn will still have a role going forward. Collins values stretch 4's and having an experienced Tap to go along with a young Falzon will allow CC to keep the middle open frequently for Olah/future starting center. If the staff lands the prospect you're mentioning, maybe Nathan's minutes go down. To me a veteran, sweet shooting 4 still has a place. I think Sanjay has the most to lose in this scenario.

5) It'll be interesting to see where Skelly fits in. Back up center seems to make sense, but he would seem to fit better as a traditional 4. Minutes as match ups permit?

Postseason) As far as the NIT is concerned, the 'Cats would need sweep the rest of the regular season as well as taking two in the BTT. Maybe 3-1 (+2, with a good win in the quarters)...maybe. The CBI is a real possibility if Phillips changes his mind about the financials.

At the very least, the future for NU hoops looks bright.


















This post was edited on 2/23 3:57 AM by ColumbusCatFan1

 

[Katatonic]

One doesn't need a lot of game time to improve.

Hearn played a total of 25 and 47 minutes his 1st 2 seasons.

And xyzbobxyz is under-estimating Demps, Lumpkin and Tap.

 

[ColumbusCatFan1]

"One doesn't need a lot of game time to improve.

Hearn played a total of 25 and 47 minutes his 1st 2 seasons."


This could be the case, but the depth the 'Cats are building in the backcourt seems like it will be stronger than when Reggie was around. Vassar, IHMO, seems like an intutive player, someone that would improve much faster by being on the court and learning from his mistakes...kind of similar to a young Demps.

I completely understand why CC didn't redshirt Johnnie, but in hindsight (seeing how well Mac has taken the role of lead guard) going with the extra year might have been the better play. We'll see.

 

[NURoseBowl]

Would've like to have seen Vassar get at least a couple minutes at the end of the last game. Any time on the floor helps, and things weren't much in doubt the last 3-4 minutes. JMO.

 

[IdahoAlum]

"PG - Mac is the guy. If we could add Vasser's speed to Mac, he becomes an All American. With experience, I think Mac raises to All B1G 2nd team within next couple years. And while I would like to see even better talent recruited, I believe Mac is acceptable on a very good B1G team. I'm curious what Vasser will become but expect CCC to bring in a star to this important tournament position with 2016 class."

If BMac truly is a second team all-BIG by next year, I can't see us recruiting over him. I'd say he's going to be the man for four years.

 

[IGNORE2]

I tend to agree about him remaining the man IF he rises to 2nd B1G next year. More likely, hope he reaches it by junior year.

Regardless, I think a 2016 top PG is a must. Like a quarterback, they should be recruited annually - but no less than bi-annually - need them in tournament play. (I'm not talking one and done 5* - rather a strong 4*). In this event, CCC has options including redshirts. Heck, a strong PG recruit could come in and RS for Macs JR year and back him up in the SR year. That leaves CCC with an experienced, bigger, older stud PG for 3 years.

And if Mac goes down with a nasty injury, the season is not lost.

If Vasser pans out, he backups up Mac throughout - and becomes a better injury insurance policy. Rarely have we seen the IFs work out at NU.

 

[IGNORE2]

Maybe I'm under-rating those three - but I am working with the body of evidence, not the potentials.

Demps - always has been impressive at the end, but only rarely demonstrates all the attributes of a 2. He usually does not create assists, does not defend well. And having observed him start and come off the bench, I much prefer him off the bench if I have that luxury. Between Ash and Lindsey, I expect to have that luxury.

Lumpkin - I love this kids energy and willingness to play any position. BUT if I have XX minutes and if I have guys fresh enough to play, then who do you want among: Lindsey, Law, Falzon, Tap, maybe vZ, Skelly at the F positions? Those are six guys that I run out ahead of Lumpkin. While Skelly may see some time at the 5 and Lindsey at the 2, you still have plenty of talented fresh legs before you reach Lumpkin. So who does Lumpkin take minutes from in your assessment?

Tap - Another player I love. Came in a 2/3 in my mind and has reformed himself into a 3/4 - and done so quite well. But like Lump, I look at the depth. You begin to run out of minutes. Instead of simply stating who you feel is underrated, how about posting your depth chart or minutes allocation. Every time I come close to suggesting a RS for Pardon, people jump all over me. Assume we land vZ, who plays when and where?

I think Tap loses his minutes if Falzon develops next year. Seemingly, Falzon is better talent, Tap has experience edge. When Falzon catches up to the college game, he does what Tap offers as a stretch 4, only better and faster. A Law ?Lindesey combo at the 3, vZ / Falzon combo at the 4 and a Olah / Skelly combo at the 5 leaves few meaningful minutes for Tap or Lump.

 

[Carlos Thomas]

Where is this "does not defend" stuff come from? Do you see any of the Big Ten top guards blowing past him? He has the size, strength and speed to stay in front of them...and contest all shots.

In regards to assists, he is 2nd in assist and he has shown that he is the only one that can get into the lane at will. Drive and dish as needed. In regards to not doing what a #2 can do? What else do you want? He is;
1st in scoring 2nd in assists1st in turnovers per game (lowest) amongst starters4th in rebounds1st in personal fouls per game (lowest) amongst starters. Never has fouled out of a NCAA game.
And, if you look at all his stats, year over year, they are all trending in the right direction. Furthermore, if you look at the stats over the course of a season, they get better as the year goes along. When most people get to conference play, all of those stats go down, especially scoring (Crawford, Cobb, Shurna). None of those players improved in all the important areas year over year. None. You can go back many years to try and find a player that played and graduated from Northwestern that improved in points, assists, rebounds, FG% year over year.

When conference play starts and ends, Tre is scoring more. Not saying he is better than anyone. What I am saying is, "You want him on the court as much as possible." He can play in the Big Ten and folks cannot stay in front of him. Even Aaron Craft at fits with Demps (averaged 14.6 ppg versus Aaron Craft).

I think we need to put the ball in his hands more. He is the only guy that pushes the ball up the court if he gets a whiff of a fast break. And the result is always positive when he pushes it.

 

[IGNORE2]

So we got vZ! That fills the last schollie so let's look again.

PG - Mac, Vasser
2 - Lindsey, Demps
Wing - Law, Lump
PF - vZ, Tap
C - Olah, Skelly

Nobody except KY plays 10. 8 is most common, so I see Vasser and Lump with the least minutes here. Ash and Falzon have to beat and earn minutes from Tap - and sending Lindsey to the wing in place of Lump.

I know, I'm under rating Lump, Demps and Tap. CCC will never sit the frosh.... But who do you all think plays and how much?

 

[Katatonic]

Hearn is close.

Improved in all areas except in FG % btwn his JR and SR seasons.

Nash also improved in all areas except for FG%.

Juice had his best season his SR yr - tops in FG%, rbds, assists and steals for his NU career.

 

[Katatonic]

Originally posted by ColumbusCatFan1:
"One doesn't need a lot of game time to improve.

Hearn played a total of 25 and 47 minutes his 1st 2 seasons."


This could be the case, but the depth the 'Cats are building in the backcourt seems like it will be stronger than when Reggie was around. Vassar, IHMO, seems like an intutive player, someone that would improve much faster by being on the court and learning from his mistakes...kind of similar to a young Demps.

I completely understand why CC didn't redshirt Johnnie, but in hindsight (seeing how well Mac has taken the role of lead guard) going with the extra year might have been the better play. We'll see.

Could very well be (hope so - the combo of BMac, Lindsey, Ash and Vassar should be very, very good if Lindsey progresses, Vassar sees a jump in his skill level and Ash turns out to be the real deal).

But if I were to choose btwn Sobo, Cobb and Hearn from 2012-13 and BMac, Demps, Lindsey and Sobo right now, I'd probably go w/ the former.

If everything works out, then the BMac, Lindsey, Ash and Vassar combo should be the best.

Anyway, the point is that one doesn't necessarily need immense amount of playing time to see drastic improvement from one yr to next (Kafka is the prime example on the football side).

 

[Katatonic]

Originally posted by xyzbobxyz:
So we got vZ! That fills the last schollie so let's look again.

PG - Mac, Vasser
2 - Lindsey, Demps
Wing - Law, Lump
PF - vZ, Tap
C - Olah, Skelly

Nobody except KY plays 10. 8 is most common, so I see Vasser and Lump with the least minutes here. Ash and Falzon have to beat and earn minutes from Tap - and sending Lindsey to the wing in place of Lump.

I know, I'm under rating Lump, Demps and Tap. CCC will never sit the frosh.... But who do you all think plays and how much?

Well, unless the team next season gets extra-ordinarily lucky, can count on some missed time due to injuries.

But assuming no extended periods of missed time.

1 - BMac, Demps (unless we see Vasser's improvement, Demps will bring the ball up when Mac is sitting)
2 - Demps, Lindsey (Ash may get some minutes if he is as polished as he seems)
3 - Law, Lumpkin/Taphorn
4 - Skelly, Tap/Falzon
5 - Olah, vZ (Skelly in a pinch - such as when foul trouble arises)

If everything works out, probably won't see anyone avg'ing into the 30 mins range, so that means everyone stays fresh.

I agree that even if Lumpkin improves his offensive game (don't think it is as bad as some make it out to be; has a pretty good FG/3P %s, but seems more inclined to pass up the shot and concentrate on doing the dirty work - which is fine), which should be helped playing the 3-spot instead of the 4-spot, he'll see fewer minutes as Law's back-up.

Going 2-deep or more at each position will allow the team raise the intensity on D.

 

[Gladeskat]

The myth that Kafka made a drastic improvement between 2008 and 2009 rears its head again. Nobody ever considers that he may have improved steadily for 2+ years backing up Bacher but hardly had a chance to show it.

A better example might be Markshausen.

 

[IGNORE2]

I cannot see vZ backing up Olah. He plays starter minutes and seems to be the perfect fit for the 4. Tall, athletic, high percentage FG. No outside game, horrible FT%. I read him to be a 6'10"+ version of Lumpkin - but one that has played the position for a long time.

First unit - Mac (scorer and distrib), Lindsey (shooter), Law (hopefully grows as a scorer and shooter), vZ (10&6) plus Olah (fingers crossed for break out year) - no defensive liabilities with plenty of O

First subs - Demps (scorer and shooter), Taphorn (shooter), Skelly (not sure what he will become)

RS - Pardon and maybe Falzon or Ash (maybe even Vasser...) - essentially break glass in case of emergency because the 2015 class is large and would be a mass departure if something doesn't change their eligiblity

I just don't seeing running more than 8 deep consistently except in case of injury.

 

[Katatonic]

Originally posted by Gladeskat:
The myth that Kafka made a drastic improvement between 2008 and 2009 rears its head again. Nobody ever considers that he may have improved steadily for 2+ years backing up Bacher but hardly had a chance to show it.

A better example might be Markshausen.

We don't know if Kafka made a drastic improvement prior to that (probably made some improvement), but would not be surprised if he made his greatest improvement btwn '08-09 since that matches up w/ the timetable of the off-season workouts w/ Baz - which both Kafka and Persa have given a lot of credit for their improvement in the passing game.

 

[Katatonic]

Originally posted by xyzbobxyz:
I cannot see vZ backing up Olah. He plays starter minutes and seems to be the perfect fit for the 4. Tall, athletic, high percentage FG. No outside game, horrible FT%. I read him to be a 6'10"+ version of Lumpkin - but one that has played the position for a long time.

Except, that's not what CC is looking for in a 4; CC prefers a stretch-4.

And while Lumpkin may not shoot a lot of 3s (or just shoot in general), he is fairly efficient at it (37.5% - same as BMac and higher than Demps for the season).

 

[IGNORE2]

Not sure this true either. When healthy, CCC has had stretch 4 in Tap and bruiser in Lumpkin. He has gone with Lumpkin.

Next year, I think your stretch is Tap until Falzon proves otherwise. Your bruiser becomes vZ.

 

[Katatonic]

That's b/c Tap isn't the defender that Lumpkin is and it's not like Lumpkin can't hit the 3 (he just doesn't shoot much period).

Also, on the premise of Tap playing some 4 next season, it has do w/ Skelly and/or Falzon seeing time at the 4 - giving CC more options than he has now, in addition to Tap getting even bigger/stronger in the off-season.

In addition, after the IU game, I reassessed the situation and think that Lumpkin will still play some at the 4.

 

[The one and only ACE]

I think you guys will see Mac scoring more each year...

as he gets comfortable, He can score in a variety of ways and very quickly.

 

[Katatonic]

Re: I think you guys will see Mac scoring more each year...

I'm hoping the opposite.

Mac can score, but it'll say more about the rest of the team if his scoring goes down and his assist totals go up.

 

[IGNORE2]

I think Skelly has an uphill battle. I see him as the backup 5 until Pardon unseats him. Since you can throw vZ at the 5 for a few minutes in the game, I hope CCC does not use Pardon unless there is a clear improvement over Skelly. If Pardon plays, then I would like to see him average at least 10 minutes a game.

And while Lump can hit the three, he plays more like a PF and Tap plays more like a stretch 4. I think CCC will want both options. Therefore, I think vZ becomes the primary PF option and Tap remains the stretch 4. Again, if Falzon unseats him, I would hope he averages at least 10 minutes a gmae and sees some spot starts when match-ups are favorable.

I think if we see Lump - it means vZ was a failure or got hurt. Not the end of the world but a downer.

 

[Katatonic]

Lumpkin plays the 4 out of necessity.

Next season, only time we'll probably see Lumpkin at the 4 is against smaller frontcourt lineups/shooters (like IU this season).

In HS, Lumpkin was a wing.