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WildAboutThePurple

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Jan 5, 2018
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I have been close to this program for 30 years. I love this team along with the Football team. As we all know, there has been some pretty abismal teams, games, and moments throughout the years. No matter what happens from here on out, I will forever be grateful for what happened on the hardwood last year. I waited my whole life for that moment.
After what has transpired so far this season, all I can say is Wow!! We went from our mountain top all the way back to ground zero. By no means are we at ground zero in the talent department. Collins has worked tirelessly to bring in the best talent we have ever had. I believe a part of this seasons struggles have been due to the lack of a home court atmosphere. Every game is seemingly a road game this year which can take a toll on the coaches, players, etc.
Some theories I have on what has gone wrong, is the fact that we lost our “glue guy” in Sanjay Lumpkin. We lost our 3 point sniper off the bench in Taphorn and we lost a great NU alum and former player Pat Baldwin from the coaching staff. How much impact these losses have had on the teams performance is something we will probably never find out, but it is something to think about.
While watching tonights loss at Penn St. all I kept thinking about was how unprepared we were and how many silly plays we were making. We were getting absolutely manhandled on defense as their guys were scoring at will. Collins refuses to change defenses and continues to watch as our guys get blown by on the way to the hole. Even if they missed, they had second opportunites due to our lack of rebounding. Tonight, It truly looked like we were playing street ball with no game plan whatsoever, and no in-game adjustments. Collins seemed to not even contest with the official that we were getting hacked left and right when we went to the hole. That isnt the Chris Collins I know.
If you put together Bill Carmody’s stratigic defenses and offenses combined with Collins’ ability to bring in better talent I think we would be in a much better position this season. But that would never happen, so lets not go there.
In all, when the Cats lose it really breaks my heart and I know this season is going to be filled with plenty of those cold heart breaking nights.
I know that there are highly talented players on the way, but if they are coached to play the way the current roster is playing it isnt going to matter. We are going to get beat up by the better teams. Call last season a fluke, lightening in bottle, the start of a new era, or whatever you believe the future may hold.
I think Collins came to Evanston to do what he wanted to accomplish, and he did exactly that. Talking about Championships before this season was a big mistake on his part. Fitz approach is much better, lets just go 1-0 on gamedays.
Collins has upgraded the talent, but the jury is still out on weather he can really coach as well as he can recruit.
In my opinion we will find out what he is made of as a coach after 3 years in the new arena. If we arnt making any progress, its time for him to take a hike back to Duke. That is not slight toward him its just the reality of the situation. Carmody took us from point A-B. Collins has taken us from B to C. Will he be the one to take us to D? Only time will tell, but clearly he has earned the right to be given enough time to do so.
I hope we go on to win the rest of our games this year and I am proven wrong. I would be ecstatic, but we all know its most likely going to be a long season. Its okay, we have been through enough of those to survive.

I will go down with the ship with the rest of you diehards out there because what else do we have to do in the cold bitter winter Chicago has presented us with.

Stay warm Wildcat Nation. Remember we have an 8 game winning streak in Football. Get well soon Clayton Thorson. We need you to make it 9 in row August 30th at Purdue.

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!
 
I have been close to this program for 30 years. I love this team along with the Football team. As we all know, there has been some pretty abismal teams, games, and moments throughout the years. No matter what happens from here on out, I will forever be grateful for what happened on the hardwood last year. I waited my whole life for that moment.
After what has transpired so far this season, all I can say is Wow!! We went from our mountain top all the way back to ground zero. By no means are we at ground zero in the talent department. Collins has worked tirelessly to bring in the best talent we have ever had. I believe a part of this seasons struggles have been due to the lack of a home court atmosphere. Every game is seemingly a road game this year which can take a toll on the coaches, players, etc.
Some theories I have on what has gone wrong, is the fact that we lost our “glue guy” in Sanjay Lumpkin. We lost our 3 point sniper off the bench in Taphorn and we lost a great NU alum and former player Pat Baldwin from the coaching staff. How much impact these losses have had on the teams performance is something we will probably never find out, but it is something to think about.
While watching tonights loss at Penn St. all I kept thinking about was how unprepared we were and how many silly plays we were making. We were getting absolutely manhandled on defense as their guys were scoring at will. Collins refuses to change defenses and continues to watch as our guys get blown by on the way to the hole. Even if they missed, they had second opportunites due to our lack of rebounding. Tonight, It truly looked like we were playing street ball with no game plan whatsoever, and no in-game adjustments. Collins seemed to not even contest with the official that we were getting hacked left and right when we went to the hole. That isnt the Chris Collins I know.
If you put together Bill Carmody’s stratigic defenses and offenses combined with Collins’ ability to bring in better talent I think we would be in a much better position this season. But that would never happen, so lets not go there.
In all, when the Cats lose it really breaks my heart and I know this season is going to be filled with plenty of those cold heart breaking nights.
I know that there are highly talented players on the way, but if they are coached to play the way the current roster is playing it isnt going to matter. We are going to get beat up by the better teams. Call last season a fluke, lightening in bottle, the start of a new era, or whatever you believe the future may hold.
I think Collins came to Evanston to do what he wanted to accomplish, and he did exactly that. Talking about Championships before this season was a big mistake on his part. Fitz approach is much better, lets just go 1-0 on gamedays.
Collins has upgraded the talent, but the jury is still out on weather he can really coach as well as he can recruit.
In my opinion we will find out what he is made of as a coach after 3 years in the new arena. If we arnt making any progress, its time for him to take a hike back to Duke. That is not slight toward him its just the reality of the situation. Carmody took us from point A-B. Collins has taken us from B to C. Will he be the one to take us to D? Only time will tell, but clearly he has earned the right to be given enough time to do so.
I hope we go on to win the rest of our games this year and I am proven wrong. I would be ecstatic, but we all know its most likely going to be a long season. Its okay, we have been through enough of those to survive.

I will go down with the ship with the rest of you diehards out there because what else do we have to do in the cold bitter winter Chicago has presented us with.

Stay warm Wildcat Nation. Remember we have an 8 game winning streak in Football. Get well soon Clayton Thorson. We need you to make it 9 in row August 30th at Purdue.

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!
I am not ready to throw this on CCC. Sure, he can’t sit on his hands and continue to produce a putrid product like we saw last night. I think he will learn from his mistakes this year. Naming 4 co-captain’s should never have happened. It seems like this was done to appease ego’s. I don’t see any leadership on the floor. I would expect it is the same off the floor. Not sure how the captains are selected, but hope they selected by the team and we keep them to 2 players. The players will get it right and if there is really an attitude problem that brings down the team they will know it. CCC never should have allowed that to happen if true.

The season is toast now, so this should be about the improvement of Gaines, Benson, Brown, and Falzone. Pardon and Law will be the unquestioned leaders next season and Turner should step right in, but these guys need to get more experience and frankly they need to be able to make a difference in a game every now and then. These guys have that potential. BMac has been a program changer, but we shouldn’t run him into the ground with minutes. Skelly has been a good solider, but there needs to be a bench spark. Lindsey, I don’t know what to think and am not in the room, so CCC will need to figure this one out. Either way CCC has to get Brown out there more and live with the growing pains. 3 of the 4 guys needing experience are poor defenders. They seem to get a quick hook because of this, but the veterans aren’t exactly Dennis Rodman on D either.

CCC is having a rough year, like the team. However, he is light years better than what we have had and shouldn’t have a timeframe before we are kicking him back to Duke. That’s ridiculous at this point and barring some type of scandal shouldn’t be in the discussion the next 10 years. Players need to look in the mirror.
 
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I actually hadn’t “officially” thrown in the towel on this season until yesterday. I’ll check scores after the games, but that’s probably all for any emotional investment. Looking forward to the new arena.
 
I have been close to this program for 30 years. I love this team along with the Football team. As we all know, there has been some pretty abismal teams, games, and moments throughout the years. No matter what happens from here on out, I will forever be grateful for what happened on the hardwood last year. I waited my whole life for that moment.
After what has transpired so far this season, all I can say is Wow!! We went from our mountain top all the way back to ground zero. By no means are we at ground zero in the talent department. Collins has worked tirelessly to bring in the best talent we have ever had. I believe a part of this seasons struggles have been due to the lack of a home court atmosphere. Every game is seemingly a road game this year which can take a toll on the coaches, players, etc.
Some theories I have on what has gone wrong, is the fact that we lost our “glue guy” in Sanjay Lumpkin. We lost our 3 point sniper off the bench in Taphorn and we lost a great NU alum and former player Pat Baldwin from the coaching staff. How much impact these losses have had on the teams performance is something we will probably never find out, but it is something to think about.
While watching tonights loss at Penn St. all I kept thinking about was how unprepared we were and how many silly plays we were making. We were getting absolutely manhandled on defense as their guys were scoring at will. Collins refuses to change defenses and continues to watch as our guys get blown by on the way to the hole. Even if they missed, they had second opportunites due to our lack of rebounding. Tonight, It truly looked like we were playing street ball with no game plan whatsoever, and no in-game adjustments. Collins seemed to not even contest with the official that we were getting hacked left and right when we went to the hole. That isnt the Chris Collins I know.
If you put together Bill Carmody’s stratigic defenses and offenses combined with Collins’ ability to bring in better talent I think we would be in a much better position this season. But that would never happen, so lets not go there.
In all, when the Cats lose it really breaks my heart and I know this season is going to be filled with plenty of those cold heart breaking nights.
I know that there are highly talented players on the way, but if they are coached to play the way the current roster is playing it isnt going to matter. We are going to get beat up by the better teams. Call last season a fluke, lightening in bottle, the start of a new era, or whatever you believe the future may hold.
I think Collins came to Evanston to do what he wanted to accomplish, and he did exactly that. Talking about Championships before this season was a big mistake on his part. Fitz approach is much better, lets just go 1-0 on gamedays.
Collins has upgraded the talent, but the jury is still out on weather he can really coach as well as he can recruit.
In my opinion we will find out what he is made of as a coach after 3 years in the new arena. If we arnt making any progress, its time for him to take a hike back to Duke. That is not slight toward him its just the reality of the situation. Carmody took us from point A-B. Collins has taken us from B to C. Will he be the one to take us to D? Only time will tell, but clearly he has earned the right to be given enough time to do so.
I hope we go on to win the rest of our games this year and I am proven wrong. I would be ecstatic, but we all know its most likely going to be a long season. Its okay, we have been through enough of those to survive.

I will go down with the ship with the rest of you diehards out there because what else do we have to do in the cold bitter winter Chicago has presented us with.

Stay warm Wildcat Nation. Remember we have an 8 game winning streak in Football. Get well soon Clayton Thorson. We need you to make it 9 in row August 30th at Purdue.

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!
Blaming this seasons 's woes on Collins because he's not a screamer, or on the home arena, or on a player who couldn't score a lick or on a guy who was the 8th or 9th man off the bench is just wrong. The mention of Carmodyin comparison to Collins is a joke. They are in different leagues, literally. Finally they gave Carmody 12 years and your ready to send Collins packing after four and after he lead NU to it's first NCAA appearance is not very smart. Anyway congratulations on your first post but maybe next time put some thought in it.
 
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Blaming this seasons 's woes on Collins because he's not a screamer, or on the home arena, or on a player who couldn't score a lick or on a guy who was the 8th or 9th man off the bench is just wrong. The mention of Carmodyin comparison to Collins is a joke. They are in different leagues, literally. Finally they gave Carmody 12 years and your ready to send Collins packing after four and after he lead NU to it's first NCAA appearance is not very smart. Anyway congratulations on your first post but maybe next time put some thought in it.


I wasn’t camparing the coaches. I said Collins deserves 3 years in the New Arena to build something special again. I know a lot about basketball having played it in high school and coached AAU and Collins’ offense is terrible. You can’t play the way Duke plays at NU. Last season we had Lumpkin as a LEADER and lock down defender. And Tap came off the bench to spread the court and hit major shots to help us win at least 5 games. The loss of Baldwin is understated too. Im not saying Collins should be gone right now. All I am saying is that his offense is terrible and doesnt put his players in the best positions to score. He never changes defenses and is stubborn about wearing our guys out playing man to man against superior athletes. Just be thankful for last years lightening in a bottle and stick with football who is in much better shape. We will never compete with the one and done teams in bball anyways. To win on the hardwood at NU you must be innovative and creative. Collins is stubborn and I think the guys are getting tired of his motivational tactics which can only take you so far.
 
Welcome Wild!

Losing hurts so bad. I hate seeing what has happened this season so far. I dont see us getting to the tourney unless we make a miracle run at Madison Square. But the way I look at it, is that I lived to see us make it once. So many times we came up a rebound, a free throw, or a point blank shot short of making it to the Dance. But last season we didnt come up short. We are Top 20 in football. Sleep well Wildcat Nation. It could be a lot worse, and it definitely has been a lot worse as a Cat fan. I will go down with the ship. What goes down, must rise again.
Go Cats!!!
 
I wasn’t camparing the coaches. I said Collins deserves 3 years in the New Arena to build something special again. I know a lot about basketball having played it in high school and coached AAU and Collins’ offense is terrible. You can’t play the way Duke plays at NU. Last season we had Lumpkin as a LEADER and lock down defender. And Tap came off the bench to spread the court and hit major shots to help us win at least 5 games. The loss of Baldwin is understated too. Im not saying Collins should be gone right now. All I am saying is that his offense is terrible and doesnt put his players in the best positions to score. He never changes defenses and is stubborn about wearing our guys out playing man to man against superior athletes. Just be thankful for last years lightening in a bottle and stick with football who is in much better shape. We will never compete with the one and done teams in bball anyways. To win on the hardwood at NU you must be innovative and creative. Collins is stubborn and I think the guys are getting tired of his motivational tactics which can only take you so far.

Build something special again? Lol what? This is the most special time in the history of the program. We did something last year that we've NEVER done! The we have a bad stretch and we get posts like this? Terrible coaching? It's like you've completely forgot the tremendous, tremendous coaching accomplishment that was last year...

Seriously I'm with Willy on this one, and that doesn't happen often. You and some other posters truly need to get a grip,
 
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I have been close to this program for 30 years. I love this team along with the Football team. As we all know, there has been some pretty abismal teams, games, and moments throughout the years. No matter what happens from here on out, I will forever be grateful for what happened on the hardwood last year. I waited my whole life for that moment.
After what has transpired so far this season, all I can say is Wow!! We went from our mountain top all the way back to ground zero. By no means are we at ground zero in the talent department. Collins has worked tirelessly to bring in the best talent we have ever had. I believe a part of this seasons struggles have been due to the lack of a home court atmosphere. Every game is seemingly a road game this year which can take a toll on the coaches, players, etc.
Some theories I have on what has gone wrong, is the fact that we lost our “glue guy” in Sanjay Lumpkin. We lost our 3 point sniper off the bench in Taphorn and we lost a great NU alum and former player Pat Baldwin from the coaching staff. How much impact these losses have had on the teams performance is something we will probably never find out, but it is something to think about.
While watching tonights loss at Penn St. all I kept thinking about was how unprepared we were and how many silly plays we were making. We were getting absolutely manhandled on defense as their guys were scoring at will. Collins refuses to change defenses and continues to watch as our guys get blown by on the way to the hole. Even if they missed, they had second opportunites due to our lack of rebounding. Tonight, It truly looked like we were playing street ball with no game plan whatsoever, and no in-game adjustments. Collins seemed to not even contest with the official that we were getting hacked left and right when we went to the hole. That isnt the Chris Collins I know.
If you put together Bill Carmody’s stratigic defenses and offenses combined with Collins’ ability to bring in better talent I think we would be in a much better position this season. But that would never happen, so lets not go there.
In all, when the Cats lose it really breaks my heart and I know this season is going to be filled with plenty of those cold heart breaking nights.
I know that there are highly talented players on the way, but if they are coached to play the way the current roster is playing it isnt going to matter. We are going to get beat up by the better teams. Call last season a fluke, lightening in bottle, the start of a new era, or whatever you believe the future may hold.
I think Collins came to Evanston to do what he wanted to accomplish, and he did exactly that. Talking about Championships before this season was a big mistake on his part. Fitz approach is much better, lets just go 1-0 on gamedays.
Collins has upgraded the talent, but the jury is still out on weather he can really coach as well as he can recruit.
In my opinion we will find out what he is made of as a coach after 3 years in the new arena. If we arnt making any progress, its time for him to take a hike back to Duke. That is not slight toward him its just the reality of the situation. Carmody took us from point A-B. Collins has taken us from B to C. Will he be the one to take us to D? Only time will tell, but clearly he has earned the right to be given enough time to do so.
I hope we go on to win the rest of our games this year and I am proven wrong. I would be ecstatic, but we all know its most likely going to be a long season. Its okay, we have been through enough of those to survive.

I will go down with the ship with the rest of you diehards out there because what else do we have to do in the cold bitter winter Chicago has presented us with.

Stay warm Wildcat Nation. Remember we have an 8 game winning streak in Football. Get well soon Clayton Thorson. We need you to make it 9 in row August 30th at Purdue.

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!

I don't question your loyalty or passion. But your timing sucks for making your first post. Why not last year when the program finally made the Dance for the first time ever?
 
Best time ever? Right now we are the biggest bust of the season in college basketball. Just because we got all the breaks and made it ONCE doesnt justify anyone as the greatest coach. A good coach isnt measured by one season. One is judged by how he carries that success over. And obviously you people on here have never played basketball. This offense is stale and has been figured out by the other coaches. We come down the court and do hand offs to each other then throw up deep 3s or tough contested shots. When we go inside to Pardon, who is our only threat down there, he is exposed against bigger and longer teams. We arnt talented enough to play man to man and he continues to play man to man and thats why we have the most fouls in the history of NU bball right now. Stop living in the past. We are in big trouble.
 
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I wasn’t camparing the coaches. I said Collins deserves 3 years in the New Arena to build something special again. I know a lot about basketball having played it in high school and coached AAU and Collins’ offense is terrible. You can’t play the way Duke plays at NU. Last season we had Lumpkin as a LEADER and lock down defender. And Tap came off the bench to spread the court and hit major shots to help us win at least 5 games. The loss of Baldwin is understated too. Im not saying Collins should be gone right now. All I am saying is that his offense is terrible and doesnt put his players in the best positions to score. He never changes defenses and is stubborn about wearing our guys out playing man to man against superior athletes. Just be thankful for last years lightening in a bottle and stick with football who is in much better shape. We will never compete with the one and done teams in bball anyways. To win on the hardwood at NU you must be innovative and creative. Collins is stubborn and I think the guys are getting tired of his motivational tactics which can only take you so far.
Deserves 3 years? You are kidding right? He deserves 20 for doing something no one else could do, no matter if he did it with motivational tactics AND has a terrible offense. Have you followed the B1G over the years? Looked at the talent we have brought in and compared it to EVERY other team? We have increased our talent ( CCC and staff should get all the credit for that) but it still isn’t going to scare the rest of the B1G yet. We are just getting to a even footing to many B1G programs. There are a LOT of factors that go into winning and believe it or not some have to do with the players.
 
Deserves 3 years? You are kidding right? He deserves 20 for doing something no one else could do, no matter if he did it with motivational tactics AND has a terrible offense. Have you followed the B1G over the years? Looked at the talent we have brought in and compared it to EVERY other team? We have increased our talent ( CCC and staff should get all the credit for that) but it still isn’t going to scare the rest of the B1G yet. We are just getting to a even footing to many B1G programs. There are a LOT of factors that go into winning and believe it or not some have to do with the players.

Did you marry the first girl that laid you? Jeez, this attitude led too much time for BC. Collins is still the man IMHO. But I agree with wild, three years after this one. If he is not still developing the program, then there are other fish out there. No reason this school cannot appear in ncaas regularly with occasional B1G contention.
 
Tony Carr is averaging close to 20 ppg, Lamar Stevens and Michael Watkins if PSU are 4 star talents. Give some credit to PSU for their win.
 
But I agree with wild, three years after this one. If he is not still developing the program, then there are other fish out there. No reason this school cannot appear in ncaas regularly with occasional B1G contention.
That would make 8 full years. With brand spanking new facilities. But would have to eat around 4 years of his contract, which is unlikely.....
 
... If you put together Bill Carmody’s stratigic defenses and offenses combined with Collins’ ability to bring in better talent I think we would be in a much better position this season.

So let me get this straight. CC's offense is "stale," but Carmody's offense was "strategic?"

Carmody's offense began as an antique. He almost prided himself in that.

Collins is on the clock because the league has figured him out? But Carmody would be a suitable replacement for one aspect of CC's coaching game.

I dont't totally disagree with your points about CC's offense, but you might want to rethink those points of comparison. It doesn't do a whole lot for your argument.

It was pretty obvious the league figured out Billy C's "genius" after three years.
 
Losing hurts so bad. I hate seeing what has happened this season so far. I dont see us getting to the tourney unless we make a miracle run at Madison Square. But the way I look at it, is that I lived to see us make it once. So many times we came up a rebound, a free throw, or a point blank shot short of making it to the Dance. But last season we didnt come up short. We are Top 20 in football. Sleep well Wildcat Nation. It could be a lot worse, and it definitely has been a lot worse as a Cat fan. I will go down with the ship. What goes down, must rise again.
Go Cats!!!
The thing about college teams (FB and BB) is that things inexplicably seem to break without any visible, proximate cause. It was easy to take last year's team and result and project it onto this season and be confident. Any sane, informed person would do so.

I have come to expect this out of college sports. I think the intangibles are far more present and impactful than in pro sports, where a lot of causes of variation get weeded out. It's just the nature of the beast. This team is broken right now.
 
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Some of you are talking in this thread like one year of winning and a new arena solve all of NU's problems. I couldn't disagree more.

There are still MAJOR disadvantages to overcome, one of which will never go away - grade restrictions.

The patience and continuity of its recent history is one of NU's few distinct advantages over other programs. I hope Phillips and recruiters emphasize it to death.

It would be program suicide to kill that in three years with the one guy who got you there, demonstrated a faith that no one had and so far has shown loyalty to an average fan base (on a good day).

Sorry to get sucked into the trolling.
 
NU is not firing a history making coach who has the best recruiting class in its history coming in. Nice try. Epic failure of a post. Insert mic drop here.

Depends what NU wants from its BB program. But you have placed the cart in front of the horse. Nobody has said that it will even get to that point. We are having an unexpectedly bad season despite the best talent to ever don the NU jersey. But things could change this year (unlikely). Things could be different to the positive next year - with some faces gone, some fresh faces in. But, if Collins continues to bring in highly regarded classes (Glades will say stars are for losers) and yet he cannot get them to succeed, then he most definitely will feel his seat get warm. As NJ notes, 4 years is a lot of contract to eat but 2 is not.

I am simply responding to a thought pattern from above. Head in the sand, our coach is the best thinking, sucks. You have to critically evaluate your whole program including the HC and makes changes when and where necessary to get to the next level. That is what an AD is supposed to do.

So pick up the mic, place it back on the stand and go sit in the corner or I will pull out some more bulletin board material that illustrates how brilliant you truly are. (Shouldn't you be in daycare now? Geez, how young are kids with cell phones these days...)
 
So let me get this straight. CC's offense is "stale," but Carmody's offense was "strategic?"

Carmody's offense began as an antique. He almost prided himself in that.

Collins is on the clock because the league has figured him out? But Carmody would be a suitable replacement for one aspect of CC's coaching game.

I dont't totally disagree with your points about CC's offense, but you might want to rethink those points of comparison. It doesn't do a whole lot for your argument.

It was pretty obvious the league figured out Billy C's "genius" after three years.

I remember that.

It was all downhill from year 4 on.
 
Did you marry the first girl that laid you? Jeez, this attitude led too much time for BC. Collins is still the man IMHO. But I agree with wild, three years after this one. If he is not still developing the program, then there are other fish out there. No reason this school cannot appear in ncaas regularly with occasional B1G contention.
Any talk of NU forcing out CCC in the next 3 years is ludicrous. If we have a scandal would be the only way. He has already demonstrated to be far superior that anyone we have ever had. We kept Carmody way to long. That has nothing to do with CCC who already taking this program to places it has never been.

Yes, this year has been terrible so far, but it hardly a trend. Does the stock market go up every year? Go ahead and criticize his coaching and like any coach he makes mistakes, but running him off would take a repeated pattern of failure and CCC is far from that.
 
One rough year after a year of some lucky breaks leading to a historic moment is not worth calling for someones head. Seriously if we have vastly the same team perform the way they did last year compared to this year I am not putting that on coaching sorry. I have faith give Collins time we have seen mid season turnarounds before with him on less talented teams. Also Carmodys fault wasn't his X's O's he got quite a bit out of what talent he had. Just he didn't recruit. Collins is the coach I want though make no mistake. He's good but I don't see him as unfireable. Right now there is no reason to call for his job give him time relax.
 
One rough year after a year of some lucky breaks leading to a historic moment is not worth calling for someones head. Seriously if we have vastly the same team perform the way they did last year compared to this year I am not putting that on coaching sorry. I have faith give Collins time we have seen mid season turnarounds before with him on less talented teams. Also Carmodys fault wasn't his X's O's he got quite a bit out of what talent he had. Just he didn't recruit. Collins is the coach I want though make no mistake. He's good but I don't see him as unfireable. Right now there is no reason to call for his job give him time relax.

Reading comprehension. You klan guys really start to hyperventilate when any meaning conversation occurs.

No one on this thread is calling for CCC's departure. Nope, not me, not wild, not a single soul. We are talking in hypotheticals (that means things that have not happened, but could). IF CCC continued to have seasons like this one, for say three or four years AFTER this year, then I believe (as some other rational minds do too) that his seat should be hot. Yes, he brought us to the dance for the first time ever. But his name is not Jesus. Losing one's virginity to the dance does not make anyone the Savior.

BC brought the program from Darker times and into NIT land. But that was his ceiling and NU kept him around too long. IF CCC is not able to maintain a program that regularly dances, that sometimes competes for B1G titles, then his ceiling was to bring us to the dance.

ON THE OTHER VERY REASONABLE, POSSIBLE HAND - if this season was a fluke, and next year or the following, or the following, or the following - CCC brings us dancing again and can recreate and MAINTAIN the sense that our program is not the butt of a joke, but a respected competitive program among its peers that gives the impression that it will compete for B1G championships on occasion, then I think CCC truly is our version of Coach K and can write his own contracts until he croaks.

I hope I have made this simple enough for those under the koolaid influence to understand.
 
IF CCC continued to have seasons like this one, for say three or four years AFTER this year, then I believe (as some other rational minds do too) that his seat should be hot. Yes, he brought us to the dance for the first time ever. But his name is not Jesus. Losing one's virginity to the dance does not make anyone the Savior.
Precisely. He had a Unicorn season last year. This year could be his Black Swan, the worst record in the last 5 despite having the most experienced, talented team since most of us were born. The jury is most definitely still out, and it will be interesting to see the state of the NU program at the end of the 2020-21 season. Hopefully, this season is the outlier, not last.
 
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It was pretty obvious the league figured out Billy C's "genius" after three years.

"Figured out" in that he wasn't taking anyone by surprise, sure, but the NIT seasons featured some of the most efficient offenses in the conference, and we even led the Big Ten in scoring at least one of those years. Of course, lack of defense, rebounding, and overall talent were pretty significant problems offsetting that and keeping us from getting past the NIT.

Offense hasn't been Collins' strength, but he hasn't had top-tier scoring talent. We need to support a strong defense with a reasonably efficient offense that controls the tempo - that's how we made the tournament last year - until we get better scoring talent into the program. This year, the defense has been dreadful, the offense has been turning it over far too often, and the whole thing looks unrecognizable from last year. I'm not sure how much better this year can be, but I'm confident Collins will right the ship, and he deserves many years to do so considering our history and his place in it.
 
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Reading comprehension. You klan guys really start to hyperventilate when any meaning conversation occurs.

No one on this thread is calling for CCC's departure. Nope, not me, not wild, not a single soul. We are talking in hypotheticals (that means things that have not happened, but could). IF CCC continued to have seasons like this one, for say three or four years AFTER this year, then I believe (as some other rational minds do too) that his seat should be hot. Yes, he brought us to the dance for the first time ever. But his name is not Jesus. Losing one's virginity to the dance does not make anyone the Savior.

BC brought the program from Darker times and into NIT land. But that was his ceiling and NU kept him around too long. IF CCC is not able to maintain a program that regularly dances, that sometimes competes for B1G titles, then his ceiling was to bring us to the dance.

ON THE OTHER VERY REASONABLE, POSSIBLE HAND - if this season was a fluke, and next year or the following, or the following, or the following - CCC brings us dancing again and can recreate and MAINTAIN the sense that our program is not the butt of a joke, but a respected competitive program among its peers that gives the impression that it will compete for B1G championships on occasion, then I think CCC truly is our version of Coach K and can write his own contracts until he croaks.

I hope I have made this simple enough for those under the koolaid influence to understand.
How do I get one of those Klan Badges?
 
Watching us at Allstate struggle with Nebraska last week, I was struck by how much better some of the athletes they had on the floor were than ours. And that's Nebraska, not Michigan State. I thought we should have played some zone in that second half when they kept blowing by our defenders. Collins did a brilliant motivational job to get us to the Dance last year, but most of the time better talent will win, and ours is still catching up. We also struggled to get open shots in the second half of that game after missing tons of them in the first half. And rebounding has been a problem with an undersized center and no bulk underneath. So all in all, I'm not surprised by our record to date, and it could get worse.
 
... no bulk underneath ...

Boy, here's one I can't agree with more.

I know the whole world is moving toward a more European style. But when you look around, the teams that are winning have "that" size and bulk.

Too many teams including CC's NU are trying to overcompensate for changes in the game.
 
Boy, here's one I can't agree with more.

I know the whole world is moving toward a more European style. But when you look around, the teams that are winning have "that" size and bulk.

Too many teams including CC's NU are trying to overcompensate for changes in the game.


But when you look around, the teams that are winning have "that" size and bulk.

Yes!

Just look at the greatest team in basketball history, the Golden State Warriors.

Oh wait. Won 70 games with 3 small guards and two small swing men.....

Never mind.
 
Best time ever? Right now we are the biggest bust of the season in college basketball. Just because we got all the breaks and made it ONCE doesnt justify anyone as the greatest coach. A good coach isnt measured by one season. One is judged by how he carries that success over. And obviously you people on here have never played basketball. This offense is stale and has been figured out by the other coaches. We come down the court and do hand offs to each other then throw up deep 3s or tough contested shots. When we go inside to Pardon, who is our only threat down there, he is exposed against bigger and longer teams. We arnt talented enough to play man to man and he continues to play man to man and thats why we have the most fouls in the history of NU bball right now. Stop living in the past. We are in big trouble.
Fairly certain this is a troll account and not a legit poster. Stop living in the past? You mean all the years of not making the Dance?

Pro tip; when you troll, try to make your position somewhat believable....Most fouls in NU Basketball history? Lol tell me more....
 
Just look at the greatest team in basketball history, the Golden State Warriors.

Oh wait. Won 70 games with 3 small guards and two small swing men.....

LOL ... you never fail, Mystic.

You might want to consider that details aren't really your strength.
 
But when you look around, the teams that are winning have "that" size and bulk.

Yes!

Just look at the greatest team in basketball history, the Golden State Warriors.

Oh wait. Won 70 games with 3 small guards and two small swing men.....

Never mind.
*Cough* 95-96 Bulls
Also NBA and College are different.
Look at Okafor, Swannigan (forgive my spelling), Kaminski (forgive my spelling).
 
... but the NIT seasons featured some of the most efficient offenses in the conference, and we even led the Big Ten in scoring at least one of those years.

Styre, I beg your pardon for this one statement. I've been good about this. Just let me set the statistical record straight.

In eight of the other nine years, their offensive efficiency was either ninth or tenth in the league. (In the ninth year, they had seventh best efficiency.)
 
Styre, I beg your pardon for this one statement. I've been good about this. Just let me set the statistical record straight.

In eight of the other nine years, their offensive efficiency was either ninth or tenth in the league. (In the ninth year, they had seventh best efficiency.)

Yes, this would be due to the "lack of talent" thing I mentioned. Mike D'Antoni wouldn't have been able to get those teams to score points.
 
I have been close to this program for 30 years. I love this team along with the Football team. As we all know, there has been some pretty abismal teams, games, and moments throughout the years. No matter what happens from here on out, I will forever be grateful for what happened on the hardwood last year. I waited my whole life for that moment.
After what has transpired so far this season, all I can say is Wow!! We went from our mountain top all the way back to ground zero. By no means are we at ground zero in the talent department. Collins has worked tirelessly to bring in the best talent we have ever had. I believe a part of this seasons struggles have been due to the lack of a home court atmosphere. Every game is seemingly a road game this year which can take a toll on the coaches, players, etc.
Some theories I have on what has gone wrong, is the fact that we lost our “glue guy” in Sanjay Lumpkin. We lost our 3 point sniper off the bench in Taphorn and we lost a great NU alum and former player Pat Baldwin from the coaching staff. How much impact these losses have had on the teams performance is something we will probably never find out, but it is something to think about.
While watching tonights loss at Penn St. all I kept thinking about was how unprepared we were and how many silly plays we were making. We were getting absolutely manhandled on defense as their guys were scoring at will. Collins refuses to change defenses and continues to watch as our guys get blown by on the way to the hole. Even if they missed, they had second opportunites due to our lack of rebounding. Tonight, It truly looked like we were playing street ball with no game plan whatsoever, and no in-game adjustments. Collins seemed to not even contest with the official that we were getting hacked left and right when we went to the hole. That isnt the Chris Collins I know.
If you put together Bill Carmody’s stratigic defenses and offenses combined with Collins’ ability to bring in better talent I think we would be in a much better position this season. But that would never happen, so lets not go there.
In all, when the Cats lose it really breaks my heart and I know this season is going to be filled with plenty of those cold heart breaking nights.
I know that there are highly talented players on the way, but if they are coached to play the way the current roster is playing it isnt going to matter. We are going to get beat up by the better teams. Call last season a fluke, lightening in bottle, the start of a new era, or whatever you believe the future may hold.
I think Collins came to Evanston to do what he wanted to accomplish, and he did exactly that. Talking about Championships before this season was a big mistake on his part. Fitz approach is much better, lets just go 1-0 on gamedays.
Collins has upgraded the talent, but the jury is still out on weather he can really coach as well as he can recruit.
In my opinion we will find out what he is made of as a coach after 3 years in the new arena. If we arnt making any progress, its time for him to take a hike back to Duke. That is not slight toward him its just the reality of the situation. Carmody took us from point A-B. Collins has taken us from B to C. Will he be the one to take us to D? Only time will tell, but clearly he has earned the right to be given enough time to do so.
I hope we go on to win the rest of our games this year and I am proven wrong. I would be ecstatic, but we all know its most likely going to be a long season. Its okay, we have been through enough of those to survive.

I will go down with the ship with the rest of you diehards out there because what else do we have to do in the cold bitter winter Chicago has presented us with.

Stay warm Wildcat Nation. Remember we have an 8 game winning streak in Football. Get well soon Clayton Thorson. We need you to make it 9 in row August 30th at Purdue.

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!

There isn't much in the way of X's and O's in what troubles NU hoops right now. The stars aligned last year on a team with just enough talent and chemistry and toughness to take advantage of it. This year, it's a whole new chemistry, a different and more difficult challenge (validation) and the underlying talent gap is being exposed in the process. NU is a very poor shooting team. Only one of our big men plays big. The lack of quality recruiting classes after the B-Mac class really hurts. They may have looked good on paper at the time, but too many of the players in those classes turned out to be very limited in what they could do against BIG competition.

I believe CC's future success is entirely dependent on his next two recruiting classes. He needs 2 high quality bigs and a high quality wing guard in this next class. Not another stretch 4 in 2019. A true center, a true power forward type and a wing guard that can fill it up deep and off the dribble. Then he has to score big with the 2020 class. He'll have 4 schollies, and he will need to get another center and 3 guard/forwards that can put the ball in the hoop. Gotta get more kids that can score at this level of competition.

The 2018 freshmen are a good start but not nearly enough to get us where all of us want the program to be. The window of our best recruiting opportunities is there, but it will close soon. Collins and Philips understand windows of opportunity for new coaches at aspiring programs like ours. Thus the acceleration of the improved facilities. Had they waited as we expected, they may have become of little value to CC.

I think I will know with confidence how bright CC's future is at NU once I see what the 2019 class looks like. If it's really strong in filling his needs, he's got a chance to achieve his goals. But if he takes a step back from the standard set in the 2018 class ( one who's strongest feature is developmental potential), his chances go down significantly.

GOUNUII
 
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I have been close to this program for 30 years. I love this team along with the Football team. As we all know, there has been some pretty abismal teams, games, and moments throughout the years. No matter what happens from here on out, I will forever be grateful for what happened on the hardwood last year. I waited my whole life for that moment.
After what has transpired so far this season, all I can say is Wow!! We went from our mountain top all the way back to ground zero. By no means are we at ground zero in the talent department. Collins has worked tirelessly to bring in the best talent we have ever had. I believe a part of this seasons struggles have been due to the lack of a home court atmosphere. Every game is seemingly a road game this year which can take a toll on the coaches, players, etc.
Some theories I have on what has gone wrong, is the fact that we lost our “glue guy” in Sanjay Lumpkin. We lost our 3 point sniper off the bench in Taphorn and we lost a great NU alum and former player Pat Baldwin from the coaching staff. How much impact these losses have had on the teams performance is something we will probably never find out, but it is something to think about.
While watching tonights loss at Penn St. all I kept thinking about was how unprepared we were and how many silly plays we were making. We were getting absolutely manhandled on defense as their guys were scoring at will. Collins refuses to change defenses and continues to watch as our guys get blown by on the way to the hole. Even if they missed, they had second opportunites due to our lack of rebounding. Tonight, It truly looked like we were playing street ball with no game plan whatsoever, and no in-game adjustments. Collins seemed to not even contest with the official that we were getting hacked left and right when we went to the hole. That isnt the Chris Collins I know.
If you put together Bill Carmody’s stratigic defenses and offenses combined with Collins’ ability to bring in better talent I think we would be in a much better position this season. But that would never happen, so lets not go there.
In all, when the Cats lose it really breaks my heart and I know this season is going to be filled with plenty of those cold heart breaking nights.
I know that there are highly talented players on the way, but if they are coached to play the way the current roster is playing it isnt going to matter. We are going to get beat up by the better teams. Call last season a fluke, lightening in bottle, the start of a new era, or whatever you believe the future may hold.
I think Collins came to Evanston to do what he wanted to accomplish, and he did exactly that. Talking about Championships before this season was a big mistake on his part. Fitz approach is much better, lets just go 1-0 on gamedays.
Collins has upgraded the talent, but the jury is still out on weather he can really coach as well as he can recruit.
In my opinion we will find out what he is made of as a coach after 3 years in the new arena. If we arnt making any progress, its time for him to take a hike back to Duke. That is not slight toward him its just the reality of the situation. Carmody took us from point A-B. Collins has taken us from B to C. Will he be the one to take us to D? Only time will tell, but clearly he has earned the right to be given enough time to do so.
I hope we go on to win the rest of our games this year and I am proven wrong. I would be ecstatic, but we all know its most likely going to be a long season. Its okay, we have been through enough of those to survive.

I will go down with the ship with the rest of you diehards out there because what else do we have to do in the cold bitter winter Chicago has presented us with.

Stay warm Wildcat Nation. Remember we have an 8 game winning streak in Football. Get well soon Clayton Thorson. We need you to make it 9 in row August 30th at Purdue.

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!
OH no, not Carmody carping again!? What ever happened to "in it for the long haul?" Probably out the window with long attention spans.
 
Nobody's calling for Collin's head, I agree. But it's very clear there's several people here who just don't like him, whether it's because he replaced Carmody and achieved more, or for some other random reason, I don't know. Either way, Collins has earned himself 6-8 years automatically because of last season. Does he stick around that long? Who knows (if I was in his position, a job offer elsewhere will always look enticing because of NU's inherent disadvantages). But that said, nobody is forcing him out any time soon, and that's how it should be.
 
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